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General => Technology & Hardware => Topic started by: philo-sofa on March 23, 2010, 05:10:41 pm

Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on March 23, 2010, 05:10:41 pm
It appears that all the cool sites have a recommended system builds page - however GetSome now has the distinction of having the best :) I've organised this into four sections posted and linked below:


Budget Systems (http://www.getsome.co.nz/showthread.php?51303-PC-Build-Recommended-Systems-Thread-February-2011&p=1050625&viewfull=1#post1050625)


Gaming Systems (http://www.getsome.co.nz/showthread.php?51303-PC-Build-Recommended-Systems-Thread-February-2011&p=1050626&viewfull=1#post1050626)


Overkill Systems (http://www.getsome.co.nz/showthread.php?51303-PC-Build-Recommended-Systems-Thread-February-2011&p=1050627&viewfull=1#post1050627)


HTPC Builds (http://www.getsome.co.nz/showthread.php?51303-PC-Build-Recommended-Systems-Thread-February-2011&p=1050628&viewfull=1#post1050628)



Please note that each piece of hardware links to a pricespy or manufacturer ordering page for the product. Any comments or suggestions for new/better/better value hardware are welcomed - the thread itself will be updated roughly once a month. If you have any questions about the rigs, or what to get please post a new thread in the Hardware Forum for us all to answer - posts here querying about builds will be moved.


Recommended PC Builders (for those that don't want the joy of building their own l337 rig):

Playtech (http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=504/ID=13573/SID=731847356/productdetails.html) (GetSome Partners)
Computer Lounge (http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentlist.asp?parttypeid=508&t=26)
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - August 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on March 23, 2010, 05:10:52 pm
Budget (~ $850):

(http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb305/philo-sofa/1-Budget.jpg)
 

Mobo   -   Gigabyte GA-F2A75M-D3H (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1432994) - $125

CPU   -   AMD A6-5600K (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1390695) - $160
      
RAM   -   DDR3 1600 2x2GB (http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?cols=161%2C1170%2C1199&o=produkt_pris_inkmoms&l=s65133728#rparams=l=s72718604) (4GB Total) - $35
      
GPU   -   On-CPU
      
HDD   -   Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 64MB 1TB (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1282059) - $100
      
Optical   -   Lite-On iHAS324 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=444956) - $30
      
PSU   -   Cooler Master Elite Power 400W (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=482282) - $45
      
Case   -   Antec Three Hundred (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=294113) - $50
      
Monitor   -   Samsung S23B300B (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1226731) - $200
      
Speakers   -   Creative Inspire T3130 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=469602) - $50
      
KB & Mouse   -   Logitech Wireless Desktop MK320 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=599946) - $45


Total - $840




Budget Gaming (~ $ 1,500):

(http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb305/philo-sofa/2-BudgetGamer.jpg)


Mobo   -   ASUS P8Z77-M (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1167996) - $180
      
CPU   -   Intel Core i5 3570K (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1189950) - $310
      
RAM   -   DDR3 1600MHz CL9 2x2GB (http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?l=s72718441&cols=&o=produkt_pris_inkmoms#rparams=l=s72718445) (4GB Total) - $35
      
GPU   -   Nvdia GTX 660 2GB (http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=v2033) - $360
      
HDD   -   Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 64MB 1TB (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1282059) - $100
      
Optical   -   Lite-On iHAS324 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=444956) - $30

PSU   -   Antec High Current Gamer 520W (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=684670) - $110
         
Case   -   Antec Three Hundred (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=294113) - $80
      
Monitor   -   Samsung S23B300B (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1226731) - $200
      
Speakers   -   Creative Inspire T3130 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=469602) - $50

Keyboard   -   Logitech Ultra-Flat Keyboard (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=88283) - $30

Mouse      -   Logitech Gaming Mouse G300 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=952152) - $40


Total - $1,525
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - August 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on March 23, 2010, 05:11:04 pm
Gaming (~ $2,000):

(http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb305/philo-sofa/3-Gamer.jpg)


Mobo   -   ASUS P8Z77-M (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1167996) - $180
      
CPU   -   Intel Core i5 3570K (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1189950) - $310
      
RAM   -   DDR3 1600MHz CL9 2x2GB (http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?l=s72718441&cols=&o=produkt_pris_inkmoms#rparams=l=s72718445) (4GB Total) - $35
      
GPU   -   AMD HD 7950 (http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?l=s83003492&cols=531,532,6716&o=produkt_pris_inkmoms#prodlista) - $460
      
HDD   -   Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 64MB 1TB (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1282059) - $100

SSD   -   Intel 330 Series 120GB (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1196157) - $140
      
Optical   -   Lite-On iHAS324 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=444956) - $30
      
PSU   -   Antec High Current Gamer 520W (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=684670) - $110
      
Case   -   Antec P280 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1008698) - $175
      
Monitor   -   ASUS VE248H  (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=736830) - $280
      
Speakers   -   Creative Inspire T3130 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=469602) - $50
      
KB   -   Razer Arctosa (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=479870) - $85
      
Mouse      -   Logitech Gaming Mouse G300 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=952152) - $40


Total - $1,995


Optional CPU Cooling   1      Arctic Freezer i30 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1080711) - $60

Optional CPU Cooling 2     Antec Kühler H2O 620 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=828022) - $195
 



SRS Gaming (~ $3,500):

(http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb305/philo-sofa/4-SeriousGamer.jpg)


Mobo    -   Asus P8Z68-V/GEN3 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=991014) - $320
      
CPU   -   Intel Core i7 2600K (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=771839) - $430
      
RAM   -   DDR3 1600MHz 2x4GB (http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?l=s73279738&cols=1170,1199,161&o=produkt_pris_inkmoms#prodlista) (8GB Total) - $130
      
GPU   -   AMD HD 7950 (http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=v1977&t=1269) - $750
      
SSD   -   Crucial m4 64 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=866383) - $195
      
HDD   -   Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 32MB 1TB (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=737608) - $140
      
Optical   -   Samsung SH-222BB (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1013985) - $35
      
PSU   -   Corsair AX-650 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=911535) - $240
      
Case   -   Silverstone Raven RV02B-EW (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=849381) - $350
      
Monitor   -   Samsung S23A750D (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=856954) - $630
      
Speakers   -   Logitech Z-313 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=615409) - $60
      
KB   -   Logitech G510 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=750752) - $150
      
Mouse   -   Logitech G500 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=476632) - $85


Total - $3,515


Optional Soundcard          ASUS Xonar D1 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=335568) - $125

Recommended CPU Cooling 1     Antec Kühler H2O 620 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=828022) - $100
     
Recommended CPU Cooling 2     Thermalright Venomous-X (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=550565) - $125 & Scythe Slipstream 120mm 1600rpm (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=274914) - $40
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - August 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on March 23, 2010, 05:11:16 pm
Uber Gaming (~ $5,300):


(http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb305/philo-sofa/5-UberGamer.jpg)


Mobo  -  ASUS P8Z68 DELUXE/GEN3 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=991011) - $475
   
CPU  -  Intel Core i7 2700K (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=994045) - $495
   
RAM   -   DDR3 1600MHz 2x4GB (http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?l=s73279738&cols=1170,1199,161&o=produkt_pris_inkmoms#prodlista) (8GB Total) - $90
   
GPU   -   AMD HD 7970 (http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=v1967&o=produkt_pris_inkmoms#rparams=l=s83003594) - $980
   
SSD  -  OCZ Agility 3 Series 240 GB (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=885132) - $540
   
HDD   -   Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 64MB 2TB (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=984881) - $210
   
Optical   -   Samsung SH-B123A (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=674889) - $120
   
PSU  -  OCZ ZX Series 850W (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=860470) - $290
   
Case  -  Corsair Obsidian 800D (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=464690) - $530
   
Monitor   -   Samsung S27A950D (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=856956) - $950

Soundcard -  ASUS Xonar D1 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=335568) - $125

Speakers  -  M-Audio AV40 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=234318) - $250
   
KB  -  Razer Blackwidow Ultimate (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=878868) - $200
   
Mouse  -  Logitech G500 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=476632) - $85


Total - $5,335


Recommended CPU Cooling 1     Antec Kühler H2O 620 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=828022) - $100
     
Recommended CPU Cooling 2     Thermalright Venomous-X (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=550565) - $125 & Scythe Slipstream 120mm 1600rpm (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=274914) - $40




OMFGWTFHAX rig (~ $11,000):

(http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb305/philo-sofa/6-OMFGWTFHAX.jpg)


Mobo  -  Asus Rampage IV Extreme/BF3 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1028084) - $800
   
CPU  -  Intel Core i7 3960X (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1004522) - $1,450
   
RAM  - Kingston HyperX DDR3-2133 CL11 4x4GB (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1029430) (16GB Total) - $460
   
GPU   -   3 x AMD Gigabyte HD 7970 Windforce 3X (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=1109395) $3,150
   
SSD  -  2 x Vertex 3 240GB (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=835963) - $1,360
   
HDD  -  WD Green 3 TB (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=842984) - $275
   
Optical  -  Asus BW-12B1LT (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=7956291) - $230
   
PSU  -  Enermax MaxRevo 1500W (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=639515) - $510
   
Case  -  Corsair Obsidian 800D (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=464690) - $530
   
Monitor  -  Dell U2711 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=539896) - $1,120 or Samsung S27A950D (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=856956) - $950

Soundcard -  ASUS Xonar D1 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=335568) - $125
   
Speakers  -  M-Audio AV40 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=234318) - $250
   
KB  -  Logitech G19 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=403463) - $250
   
Mouse  -  Razer Mamba (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=386800) - $190


Total - $10,700



Recommended CPU Cooling 1     Corsair Hydro Series H100 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=893987) - $230
     
Recommended CPU Cooling 2     Prolimatech Genesis (check selected RAM for height clearance) (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=841194) - $125 & 2x Scythe Slipstream 120mm 1600rpm (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=274914) - $80
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - August 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on March 23, 2010, 05:11:30 pm
mini-ITX HTPC:

(http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb305/philo-sofa/NSK-1.png)


Mobo   -   ASUS P8H67-I B3 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=839346) - $200
      
CPU   -   Intel Core i3 2120 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=805978) - $215
      
RAM   -   DDR3 1600 2x2GB (http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?cols=161%2C1170%2C1199&o=produkt_pris_inkmoms&l=s65133728#rparams=l=s72718604) (4GB Total) - $65
      
GPU   -   Onboard
      
HDD   -   Seagate Momentus XT 500 GB (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=618725) - $170
      
Optical   -   Samsung SH-B123A (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=674889) - $130
            
Case & PSU   -   Antec ISK 310-150 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=555265) - $150
            
KB & Mouse   -   Logitech Wireless Desktop MK300 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=443423) - $60


Total - $990 (exclusive of TV tuner + remote if required)



Optional Low-Profile Bracket Soundcard          Auzen X-Fi Forte 7.1 (http://staticice.co.nz/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=X-Fi+Forte+7.1&spos=1) - $250




HTPC:

(http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb305/philo-sofa/7-HTPC.jpg)


Mobo   -   ASRock H67M (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=789416) - $150
      
CPU   -   Intel Core i3 2120 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=805978) - $215
      
RAM   -   DDR3 1600 2x2GB (http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?cols=161%2C1170%2C1199&o=produkt_pris_inkmoms&l=s65133728#rparams=l=s72718604) (4GB Total) - $65
      
GPU   -   Onboard
      
HDD   -   WD Green 2TB (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=527179) - $130
      
Optical   -   Samsung SH-B123A (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=674889) - $130
            
Case & PSU   -   Antec NSK 2480 & Antec Earthwatts 380w (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=209764) - $195
      
KB & Mouse   -   Logitech Wireless Desktop MK300 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=443423) - $60


Total - $945 (exclusive of TV tuner + remote if required)



Optional Soundcard          ASUS Xonar D1 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=335568) - $125
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: Virus. on March 23, 2010, 05:22:03 pm
Awesome list philo.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: Alroys on March 23, 2010, 05:35:48 pm
Quote from: philo-sofa;1089654

Budget Gaming (~$ 1,400):

      
CPU   -   AMD Athlon II X2 245 ([url]http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=455668[/url]) - $160
      


Youve ether written down the wrong price or part, as a "AMD Athlon II X2 245' is around $100 not $160.

My guess would be you ment x4 630, as thats around $160

Other than that looks good :sunnies:
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: broncos on March 23, 2010, 05:41:14 pm
wow---well done bro, though would be nice to get a price with them building
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on March 23, 2010, 05:45:25 pm
Quote from: Alroys;1089677
Youve ether written down the wrong price or part, as a "AMD Athlon II X2 245' is around $100 not $160.

My guess would be you ment x4 630, as thats around $160

Other than that looks good :sunnies:

Cheers, corrected.
 
Quote from: broncos;1089678
wow---well done bro, though would be nice to get a price with them building

It's intended primarily for self-builders... on the other hand it's also for people who just want to know what components should go in without building. For those that want to go down that route I've added a section in the OP on Playtech and CL's building services, cheers for the idea dude.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: Ngati_Grim on March 23, 2010, 05:48:32 pm
You buggers building your own computers are clever bastards.

That is all.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: Alroys on March 23, 2010, 05:56:12 pm
Quote from: philo-sofa;1089653
Recommended PC Builders (for those that don't want the joy of building their own l337 rig):

Playtech ([url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=504/ID=13573/SID=731847356/productdetails.html[/url]) (GetSome Partners)
Computer Lounge ([url]http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentlist.asp?parttypeid=508&t=26[/url])

 
Damit
Was just about to post that... :D
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on March 23, 2010, 05:58:36 pm
Awesome thread.

The pictures make it awesome.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: BloodDonor on March 23, 2010, 06:06:27 pm
nice work philo

want to be able to give +100 rep :D
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: Raped_ByA_Spoon on March 23, 2010, 06:19:04 pm
Did you have a moment creating the OMG Hax system, I had a small one looking at it.  There is two minor adjustments I would make however.  First a second monitor, and second a high class prostitute.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: broncos on March 23, 2010, 06:24:54 pm
Quote from: Ngati_Grim;1089682
You buggers building your own computers are clever bastards.

That is all.

 
qft
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on March 23, 2010, 06:26:42 pm
Quote from: Raped_ByA_Spoon;1089701
Did you have a moment creating the OMG Hax system, I had a small one looking at it.  There is two minor adjustments I would make however.  First a second monitor, and second a high class prostitute.

Well, as far as monitors go I'm of the general opinion that one 2560x1440 panel is enough, if it were to go any further it would be to triple 1080p Eyefinity setup - however with that even two 5970's will be worked out quite hard, which restricts the gaming experience a bit.  I see where you're coming from, but overall I think one bigass monitor is still the best solution.  I disagree wholeheartedly on the prostitute thing though; clearly presenting a rig like that will make any girl tingle with excitement and anticipation till she melts into your heavy gamer musculature.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: pyro on March 23, 2010, 06:31:45 pm
Does GetSome have any deals with Playtech as I'm likely to be upgrading to an i5 system this week or next and its a toss up between buying from CL or Playtech.

Well done on the thread Philo, very well laid out.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: ~SoL1D_Sn4Ke~ on March 23, 2010, 08:47:11 pm
Thanks for this bro, quit good ideas there :rnr:
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: Nostargate on March 24, 2010, 07:28:59 am
Must spread rep :( :( :(
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: EskemoJoe on March 24, 2010, 07:32:51 am
Quote from: Nostargate;1089940
Must spread rep :( :( :(

Me too *slits wrists*

What is the deal with monitors over 1080p. You can get a fairly decent HD monitor for $270 but if you step it up to the next notch, a 2560x1600 30" you are looking at upwards of $2k. For gods sake i could get 6 monitors for that, why are they so expensive?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: Kopfjaeger on March 24, 2010, 08:31:39 am
like most tech there is a 'sweet spot' for everything, look at HDDs where the price per GB now means 1TB and even 1.5TB HDDs are competitive.  I had a similar issue on deciding which monitors to buy....3x22 TN Dells for $1500 or 1x24" IPS panel for $1200.  Now that i've had Eyefinity for a while i would rather get one larger quality/hirez monitor for gaming and just use the wing monitors for general use.

Excellent list Philo, BTW iFocus have 40GB Intel SSDs for $200 ATM, might be useful in a budget gaming rig ?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: decap on March 24, 2010, 08:47:44 am
Kopfjaeger - instead of getting one larger one, you should just get a 120hz. It will fit really well with your other monitors and gaming at 120hz is fucking amazing
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on March 24, 2010, 12:09:18 pm
Cheers for all the positive comments folks.  Keep the suggestions coming!


Quote from: Kopfjaeger;1089954

Excellent list Philo, BTW iFocus have 40GB Intel SSDs for $200 ATM, might be useful in a budget gaming rig ?


Chu chur.  Have added the SSD as an option at present - unsure as to whether to add it in by default to the $2,200 rig. It seems like a good piece of kit to have on something of that price range, but am keen to avoid creeping price growth, particularly in the cheaper systems.  Any thoughts on that?


Quote from: pyro;1089713
Does GetSome have any deals with Playtech as I'm likely to be upgrading to an i5 system this week or next and its a toss up between buying from CL or Playtech.

Well done on the thread Philo, very well laid out.


Thanks man.  I don't believe we have any discount deals set up yet, but if I have time tonight I'll jump on and confirm what the situation is.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: pablo d on March 24, 2010, 12:25:20 pm
Quote from: philo-sofa;1089653
however GetSome now has the distinction of having the best :

them's fightin' words :E
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: Nostargate on March 26, 2010, 08:23:09 am
Side note...SRS Gaming guy will get all the bitch's with that gear on, and cross platform mw2 ownage.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: Alroys on March 26, 2010, 11:55:39 pm
Was just looking at the SRS gaming pc and was wondering if a mobo with x8/x8 crossfire support would be a better opton than a x16/x4.
Was thinking of something like the Asus P7P55D-E PRO (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=517759 (http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=517759)), just i know if i was spending 3K ish on a pc i would like the option to use crossfire in the future, especially if it is only an extra $30 or so.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on March 27, 2010, 01:48:15 am
The difference is $50 (does that change your perception of the value?). I still agonized over it, but at the end of the day I figured the number of people who'll actually be well placed to go beyond the top single card is so small it's better to keep the extra cash. That having been said, I want to check the model I've chosen has the PCIe switching chip for it's SATA and USB 3 devices, if not I'll have to change it to the pro anyway.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on April 12, 2010, 03:35:41 pm
Updated 12/04/10
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - April 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on May 04, 2010, 09:36:08 pm
Updated 09/05/2010 and added mini-ITX HTPC build.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - May 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on July 03, 2010, 03:58:09 pm
Updated 03/07/2010
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - July 2010
Post by: ArtanisNZ on July 03, 2010, 04:11:23 pm
Soundcards like XONAR or something? onboard sound blows
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - July 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on July 03, 2010, 04:13:44 pm
Hmm good point. Wouldn't fit into the OMGWTFHAX rig, but the $3000+ systems could do with the option. Suggestions for a good gaming/general duties card?
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - July 2010
Post by: Speakman on July 03, 2010, 04:15:24 pm
i still laugh at the pic for SRS GAMING


i know people like that
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - July 2010
Post by: ArtanisNZ on July 03, 2010, 04:28:04 pm
I'm saving my pennies atm for Xonar D1 $149 from the like of CL

http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=11928
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - July 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on July 03, 2010, 04:34:12 pm
Quote from: JontyB;1284253
i still laugh at the pic for SRS GAMING


i know people like that


Dude... that's a self-photo. I 4m t3h 0ff3nd3d :(

Quote from: ArtanisNZ;1284255
I'm saving my pennies atm for Xonar D1 $149 from the like of CL

[url]http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=11928[/url]


K will add that in for now. Any other suggestions sound-card wise (Azuntech X-Fi?) please make em here!
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - July 2010
Post by: Speakman on July 03, 2010, 04:45:46 pm
Quote from: philo-sofa;1284256
Quote from: JontyB;1284253
i still laugh at the pic for SRS GAMING


i know people like that

Dude... that's a self-photo. I 4m t3h 0ff3nd3d :(



OHNOES :/
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - July 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on July 28, 2010, 04:25:46 pm
Updated 28/07/10 - overall it's been an interesting month for GPUs, with Nvidia actually making significant inroads (!)

Starting with the entry level systems, the 'Budget Gamer' now has a GTX 460 768MB; due to the stellar performance of this 'OMG Nvidia made a good card again' model and an actual rise in the price of the HD 5770, it was an easy swapto make - I anticipate by next month you'll be able to get a 1GB model for the same price as todays 768MB. In fact given the frankly astounding ~90% average scaling SLI'd GTX 460s give (in both average and minimum FPS) the 1GB 460 in SLI very nearly replaced the HD 5870 in the 'SRS Gamer' segment, only losing out due to the associated costs/complexity of multi-card setups and immature drivers.

Perhaps even more suprisingly however the GTX 470 also moves in to replace the HD 5850 in the 'Gamer' PC; steadily improving production methods for the 470 have lowered voltages which in turn reduce temps/noise, whilst improved drivers have opened up a decent gap between the GTX 470 and the slower HD 5850. This, combined with price rises for ATI and drops for Nvidia means that I'm quite comfortable recommending the GTX 470 at $500 over the $460 HD 5850. In spite of the same improvements in the GTX 480 (slightly lower temps/noise and better drivers), the card just remains too hot (it can deform cables FFS) and loud to recommend.

ATI however fires back at least one salvo courtesy of Sapphire; interestingly takeing the ultra-high end segment that Nvidia tends to dominate. Whilst the 'OMFGWTFHAX' rig is supposed to be a system so extreme no ones likely to build it, even theoretically cooling four GTX 480 cards is ridiculously difficult and complicated, whilst powering them is right on the limit of what is possible. As such two of the new Sapphire 5970 4GB cards, with core/memory speeds and overclocking potential identical to that of a stock 5870, combined with lower temps and noise than 5870, presents a better option. Doing this also allows this system to ditch the outlandish PC80 case and Gigabyte X58A-UD9 motherboard for arguably better options, as well as providing space for a discrete soundcard. Win.

Other hardware has seen a slight but noticable general decrease in price, largely due to an appreciating NZ dollar..... however this not being an economics lecture so I'll STFU and just say now's a good time to buy hardware IMO ;)
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - August 2010
Post by: Equity on August 08, 2010, 08:28:12 pm
ty-very helpful
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - October 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on October 16, 2010, 02:57:58 am
Updated 16/10/2010 (fuck yea fri nite wooo-hoo!)

Nvidia loses ground again to ATI - with the 5870 now being so cheap it's actually taken the place of everything above the GTX 460. In fact it's such good value it's the only game in town for gaming systems above $2k. However these are cheap as the new AMD (yes AMD not ATI) HD6000 series is right around the corner - I'd recommend holding off for these for all new builds given their purported amazing mid-level performance (around 5870 levels for around $300), and impending take-over of the high-end.

In other news, SSDs are getting cheaper, HDDs are getting cheaper, and memory is.. getting cheaper (their price-fixing schemes must have run slightly aground again). The first next gen CPUs and mobos - Intel's midrange P67 and 'Sandy Bridge' LGA 1155 will be out before the end of the year, with AMD's Next Gen AM3+ and long awaited 'Bulldozer' CPU (sadly not AM3 compatible) expected mid-2011, and Intels X58 replacement (LGA-2011 and 4-8 Core 'Sandy Bridge') expected in about 12 months.

Overall, if I were buying anything other than a budget system, I'd hold off, as we're about to see a round of processor and graphics refreshes within the next few months. Fuck me those 5870s are cheap tho.....


EDIT: ok the 5870s just jumped up in price by $60 to annoy me. Still not all that dear tho.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - October 2010
Post by: ticallista on October 30, 2010, 09:04:13 am
Hmm..In the process of replacing my P35 so I should wait huh....

Then again, I could wait forever :D.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - October 2010
Post by: philo-sofa on December 19, 2010, 05:57:28 pm
Updated 19/12/2010 - just in time for Christmas :)


Much changing of the guard for GPUs as both Nvidia and ATI are now competitive; their releases and price changes causing some swapping of parts along with a large number of outright changes. The GTX 460 (1GB of course) and HD 6950 are where the value is for 99% of gamers at present, however we should see the price of the HD 6970 and the GTX 570 dropping by around $100 in the near future as supply shores up, making them truly competitive offerings. For now the GTX 580 remains king of the hill, albeit at an exorbitant price, whilst the dual-GPU HD 6990 remains a part to be found sometime in Q1 2011.

CPU and motherboard wise, most things are still waiting on the first iteration of Intel's Sandy Bridge (LGA 1155) in Jan '11, so not much change there - I'd still recommend anyone doing more than a budget build wait a month for the new hardware. This will be followed by AMD's all new mega-super Bulldozer core a bit after mid-year with its attendant AM3+ boards (which look like having a longer platform lifespan than LGA-1155). Next up are Intel's 6+ core Sandy Bridges with dual PCIe (possibly 3.0) x16 slots in late 2011. One new CPU core very nearly in retail is AMD's Atom competitor. Codenamed Brazos, this looks to up the grunt available to low-power netbook/HTPC builds, whilst substantially increasing the graphics power - rumours abound that Intel is about to allow Nvidia to build Atom chipsets with onboard GPUs as a result.  


Happy building!
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - December 2010
Post by: krasher on January 06, 2011, 12:29:33 am
Nice review on the new intel stuffs.  http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i5-2500k-and-core-i7-2600k-review/3

Do want!

Nice thread Philo. Very useful.

Moar review. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sandy-bridge-core-i7-2600k-core-i5-2500k,2833-19.html
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - December 2010
Post by: camy205 on January 06, 2011, 12:51:26 am
Ugh it's so hard too keep up! Thx 4 update philo.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on January 17, 2011, 02:40:20 am
Updated 17/01/2010 - Now is a great time to be building a system :)

The second generation Intel Core i5 & i7 are now part of all mid to high-end systems, with a refresh to the 2500K and 2600K (all non 'K' chips are un-overclockable) and their P67 motherboards sweeping the mid range to the very high end - only the insane 'OMFGWTFHAX' system keeps an older CPU due to the need for X58s many PCIe slots.  It's also thus the only system that really went down in price lol - Sandy Bridge brings quite the performance gain, but there's an attendant cost increase.  Lower end systems remain AMD due to their value (and TBH these pack a hell of a punch in any case).  

Graphics wise, no major releases are expected for the future till the dual-GPU HD 6990 monster is unleashed sometime in Q1 (if ATI can work out how to power and cool the thing). Price drops for AMD (nee ATI) and Nvidia's refreshed lines have seen the pair take pretty much even honours. Expect another round of price cuts from AMD for the HD 6870 and possibly HD 6970.

Memory wise, prices continue to drop (OMFG the price fixing schemes aren't working!), resulting in decreased cost for most systems, and a bump to 8GB+ memory amounts, which are starting to become useful, in the high-end.  

Finally, to those wondering why HTPCs havent moved to Sandy Bridge yet: dual core Sandy-Bridge processors (i3 2100 & 2120) aren't yet available in NZ, ETA is currently end of Jan afaik.  



Happy building all!
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Mayhem_Lee on January 17, 2011, 07:07:49 am
So im not crazy in noticing sandybridge doesnt have full speed PCie slots aka 16x 16x or 16x 8x 8x??

well there's one board but it only does 8x 8x. Any idea why this is philo?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on January 17, 2011, 10:37:13 am
^^ Yep :) Sandy Bridge processors, like the LGA 1156 processors before 'em, have the equpiment for generating PCIe lanes on the CPU itself, and simply put, the CPU only puts out 16 full speed PCIe 2.0 lanes, so that's all it has to work with - there are only 16 graphics lanes there.

For dual card setups more expensive boards use a switchable 'PLX' chip that divides those 16 lanes up into either a single x16 or x8, x8 - the really high end boards will use an Nvidia NF200 chip which in addition to dynamicly switching the number of lanes each card gets, uses some high-speed signalling hax to increase bandwidth.  Nvidia claim it's effectively x16, x16 but it's probably more like 24 lanes dynamically allocated.

The are some other PCIe lanes on a motherboard - they're provided by the southbridge chip on the motherboard and drive all the x1 and x4 slots as well as connect in extra components like USB 3.0 controllers.  Interestingly as they're full-speed 2.0 lanes an enterprising motherboard make could probably combine them, and make a x8, x8, x8 board albeit that the third slot would have high latency and USB 3.0 would 'cut out'.

But yeah, for the most part there are only 16 PCIe 2.0 graphics lanes on Sandy Bridge; that's all it has to play with.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on January 27, 2011, 08:21:45 pm
Updated 27/01/2011 - trying to keep this updated more often

Sandy-Bridge (SNB) has actually gone up in price lol, however due to a bit of mobo tweaking, some new releases from AMD and Nvidia (the 1GB 6950 and the currently 'not in stock' GTX 560 it was designed to beat) along with some trimming we've cut a few hundred dollars from the midrange PCs, making SNB more attractive - note that unless you run a 2560x1440 or greater res monitor you won't need more than 1GB of video memory for now.

Other than that, there are a few housekeeping changes changes - the budget Corsair CX-400 is out of stock and a Silverstone unit takes it's place, while the ASUS DRW-24B3ST takes over DVD duties from our previous hard-to-find Samsung model. Similarly whilst the LanCool PC-K62 remains a great case, the lack of stockists (still only CL sadly) see it replaced with the excellent new CM 690 II Advanced. Also for the midrange, the Microsoft Sidewinder X6 debuts, replacing Logitechs frankly overpriced gaming keyboard, whilst finally making an appearance in the high end is the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7 board, with an NF200 chip for x16, x16 goodness on SNB. Next update will be in a few weeks to bring HTPCs up to date once dual-core SNB (or maybe AMDs fusion?) chips arrive.


Build well (and use an anti-static wristband)!


EDIT: swapped HD 6950 1GB for Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti, performance of each card @ stock is dependant on the game however it averages out to be identical. However, the factory overclocked Gigabye card comes with a 10% O/C out of the box, and should manage another 10% (that's a whopping 21% improvement if the user wants to max it out), making it a much better choice than the HD 6950 (which tops out at ~6%).

In fact a GTX 560 Ti fully overclocked should come in very close to a fully overclocked HD 6970. I forgot how awesome things get when both GPU companies are competitive :D
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Death Dealer NZL on February 05, 2011, 08:25:36 pm
I need some expert hardware advice as I'm upgrading my MoBo to a MSI P55 GD85 (1156)
The CPU I'm looking at is a Intel i5 661 3.33 GHz for around $330 but Should I splash out and buy a Intel i7 875k 2.93 Ghz fpr $540.

My main concern is the extra $210 spent on the i7 worth it for playing games as this what the upgrade is all about, or should I go i5 and use the $210 for better Ram memory.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: kongkiwi on February 17, 2011, 11:00:29 am
Great thread, good work.

I'm surprised more people don't build in this country???

In regard to the Auzentech Xfi, I had one and it never went right, cracks, pops, etc, RMA'd, new card same thing, conflict with rig i guess somewhere, switched to other rig, same issues, now just run G35, which is better imo.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on March 07, 2011, 12:48:05 am
Sandy-Bridge Builds are no longer 'on-hold' :)


Quote from: Kongkiwi;1360896
Great thread, good work.

I'm surprised more people don't build in this country???

In regard to the Auzentech Xfi, I had one and it never went right, cracks, pops, etc, RMA'd, new card same thing, conflict with rig i guess somewhere, switched to other rig, same issues, now just run G35, which is better imo.

Glad you like it :)  Have generally read good reviews but will have a look into the reliability of the Azuntech X-Fi.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Codex on March 13, 2011, 01:39:43 am
auzentech xfi was the biggest nightmare card I have ever owned, issue after issue. Do not recommend
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Greaver on March 13, 2011, 11:10:31 am
Links in OP need updating Philo

Great work by the way - You should push dasa out of the way and mirror this on Atomic : P
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on March 14, 2011, 12:02:41 pm
Yeah should get aroubnd to fixing those links sometime soon and cheers! DASA though, seems to know more than me about this sort of thing - no matter how much as it pains me to admit it ;)
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on March 18, 2011, 07:48:38 pm
Updated 18/03/2011 - HTPCs updated ti take advantage of Sandy Bridge's awesome CPU and integrated GPU power.  Other than that a few minor housekeeping changes - small processor speed increases in the lower end due to old models being phased out, a change to the 2-platter 1TB Samsung HDD for the midrange and to the 990X CPU for the hax build, as well as updated B3 stepping motherboards and price reductions all round.  Oh, and I updated the links in the OP :)
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Codex on March 18, 2011, 09:37:43 pm
^The man
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on March 19, 2011, 01:56:54 am
^The same avatar, I have
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Codex on March 19, 2011, 02:23:55 pm
^You and Arni are pricks
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Nostargate on March 19, 2011, 08:28:14 pm
Oh hai.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Mayhem_Lee on March 19, 2011, 08:35:49 pm
back on topic guys
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: GhostOfGallipoli on March 19, 2011, 08:58:59 pm
wats goin on dis thread
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: pop on March 20, 2011, 02:30:25 am
no 6990?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Kopfjaeger on March 20, 2011, 05:27:12 pm
i'm predicting this thread will get rather busy once the BF3 recommended specs get released

BTW anyone seen the new Corsair H60 listed anywhere ?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: pop on March 20, 2011, 07:09:47 pm
would AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition and a cheap 90$ mobo like Gigabyte GA-MA74GMT-S2 be fine? im budget i guess
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on March 20, 2011, 08:54:59 pm
Quote from: GhostOfGallipoli;1369991
wats goin on dis thread


(http://www.getsome.co.nz/image.php?u=5056&dateline=1300520057)
 
Quote from: pop;1370036
no 6990?


I've read a few reviews, but I'm not convinced of the benefits of Quad-Fire, particularly with minimum frame rates (in some cases two 6990s lose out to a pair of GTX 580s).  Definitely something I' like to include, but I might wait a bit for more mature drivers and definitive reviews.
 
Quote from: Kopfjaeger;1370149
i'm predicting this thread will get rather busy once the BF3 recommended specs get released

BTW anyone seen the new Corsair H60 listed anywhere ?


Nah, not even in Aussie as far as I can tell. And yeah, roll on that BF3 :)
 
Quote from: pop;1370182
would AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition and a cheap 90$ mobo like Gigabyte GA-MA74GMT-S2 be fine? im budget i guess


I'd never buy a Gigabyte motherboard without the a 'D' or 'UD' on the end of its product code, as that gives it solid capacitors and other 'durable' features.  That having been said it's a good combo, but for the price you may be able to do a bit better.  If you're planning a build or half build chuck up a thread with your plans maybe?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: krasher on March 20, 2011, 10:20:05 pm
I had a look and some reviews but the new i3 at same speed as the x6 core with a much better upgrade path for future.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/15

(http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4083/35039.png)
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: pop on March 20, 2011, 11:04:30 pm
I'm really only getting it because i'm a cunt and want to tell my friends my pc has 6 cores :P and it's cheap. I was actually thinking about getting a Phenom II x2 555 BE to try and unlock 2 extra cores because I am that cheap :P. I might fork out extra for a motherboard that has usb 3.0. Upgrading from a pentium 4 so anything will feel like flying compared to it.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on March 25, 2011, 07:07:05 pm
25/03/2011 - Minor update to checking prices.. and changing the hax build to reflect the fact that the AMD HD 6990 (as pop said) is the best card out there right now - in fact cheaper and faster than the GTX 590 (or three GTX 580s when both are overclocked), and that the Corsair AX-1200, whilst a fantastic PSU (possibly the best ever made!) is riding on its name a little - the Coolermaster 1200w gold unit is also frankly amazing :)


Ahh hardware -progress give me a semi - you know that current smallest definable object (sorta a name [kinda] for logic gates - the building blocks of processors) at the 32nm process are ~133 atoms wide?  Holy. Fucking. Shit.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Arnifix on April 01, 2011, 02:57:10 am
Coincidentally, this is also the width of Ghost's penis.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: broncos on April 10, 2011, 09:13:58 am
going to build a pc, welll buy the bits anyhow.......will get 1 or 2 each month....  where are all of these sorced from philo?   looking at prob the 2 grand one....oops my bad just found it...
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Mayhem_Lee on April 10, 2011, 12:52:54 pm
Post a thread of what you looking at buying and let them IT Geeks post away :)
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: camy205 on April 10, 2011, 03:31:39 pm
Quote from: pop;1370182
would AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition and a cheap 90$ mobo like Gigabyte GA-MA74GMT-S2 be fine? im budget i guess

I have the cpu and it is great. Apparently it is a great overclocker as well. Like if you have good cooling you can get it to 4.00Ghz

EDIT: Oh no wait its a AMD Phenom II X6 1055T, but its way cheaper and quite good
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: broncos on April 10, 2011, 07:13:45 pm
Quote from: mayhem_lee;1375333
Post a thread of what you looking at buying and let them IT Geeks post away :)

 
dunno, guys ideas ,2 grand budget........... list me some stuff  anything to get first?( before prices change?)
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: swindle on April 10, 2011, 07:27:32 pm
You ought to start a thread, packed to the brim with details.

Budget, priority use, secondary use, size, portability etc etc
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Arnifix on April 16, 2011, 05:59:22 pm
Philo, why did I ignore you and buy an Asus mobo. Thing has been a right cunt for two days.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: 3viction on May 10, 2011, 10:28:49 pm
Okay so I haven't been keeping up with everything these days. My mate wanted a computer and said he wanted to spend 1500 so I saw the gaming system and thought sweet perfect.

Gaming system - $1485 - not including shipping
Mobo   -   MSI 870A-G54 - $170
CPU   -   AMD Phenom II X4 955 - $215
RAM   -   DDR3 1600MHz CL9 2x2GB - $100
GPU   -   AMD Radeon HD 6850 - $310
HDD   -   Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB - $65
Optical   -   ASUS DRW-24B3ST - $45
PSU   -   Antec Neo Eco 520C 520W - $90
Case   -   Antec Three Hundred - $90
Monitor   -   ASUS VH242H - $280
Speakers   -   Creative Inspire A200 - $45
Keyboard   -   Logitech Ultra-Flat Keyboard - $30
Mouse    -   Logitech MX518 - $45

But then I saw this on trademe.. $1099 - free shipping to chch
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Desktops/No-monitor/auction-375352391.htm
CPU: AMD Phenom II 955 Quad Core(x4) 3.2Ghz (total is 12.8Ghz) 8Mb Cache Black Edition
Motherboard: ASUS M4N68T-M V2, Nvidia Chipset
Memory: 8Gb Dual Channel DDR3-1333
HD: Seagate/Western Digital 1TB SATA II
Optical Drive: Liteon 24x SATA Dual Layer DVD Writer -Fastest Speed Available
Graphic: Nvidia Geforce GTS 450 1GB GDDR5
Audio: 8-Channel High definition Audio
USB: 4 at back 2 on top, 1 x ESATA on top as well
Network: Ethernet Port, Gigabit Lan, Broadband ready
Case: ZALMAN Z7-PLUS Solid Quality with exellent cooling system, Front 120mm LED Fan, Side/Back 120mm Fans
Power Supply: 500W PSU

Now obviously it has a crappy PSU but apart from that, it wouldn't be hard to find a monitor for that build. Whats the 450 like compared to the 6850 though? Also has a 1tb hdd instead of 500gb and 8gb instead of 4gb.. Should I recommend him this or is philos build still better in the long run?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Kopfjaeger on May 11, 2011, 09:43:48 am
'(total is 12.8Ghz)', wow thats some serious OC ;) wonder if they just drowned the whole thing in LN2 ?

OT, avoid generic PSU and the 6850 will spank the GTS450.  i'd take a 500GB F3 over anything Seagate or is it actually a WD ? unless your working with massive video/photo files the extra RAM won't do much.

my2c
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Speakman on May 11, 2011, 10:31:16 am
going with the new build ensures you have receipts and parts warranty as well as better GFX, faster RAM and better HDD. and of course the newer gen Motherboard
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Benji77 on May 13, 2011, 08:58:01 am
Just going to ask here as I don't want to make a new thread.

Corsair HX1000 still one of the best for around that money? Look for a 1000W for $300-$400
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: mycoolcar on May 13, 2011, 09:43:36 am
I'm going to say yes, with this (http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=10785) and this (http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=13507) coming close.

Sounds like review reading time for you.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on July 17, 2011, 06:50:41 pm
Updated 17/07/2011

Tired of waiting for Bulldozer to actually show up, so have updated everything.  There are some minor changes to prices and products (such as hard drives, memory and CPU cooling due to availability) as well as a universal movement from Sandforce 1200 to Sandforce 2200 solid state drives where present, with a resultant near doubling of speed.  

A welcome and easy change is from P67 to the new and superior Z68 motherboards in our very prevalent LGA-1155 (Sandy Bridge) PC's - as a result of Z68, the gaming rigs now all have included SSD's, due to the awesomeness of SSD caching (http://www.anandtech.com/show/4329/intel-z68-chipset-smart-response-technology-ssd-caching-review/2) and shome shiny new cases to boot. At the upper end, all PC's now have 8+GB of RAM due to its cheapness and can observe a pro Nvidia graphics movement (with the GTX 560 Ti, GTX 570 and GTX 580 ruling the upper end).  

In the budget end we also see AMD's powerful new Llano CPU's take up home - increasing cost by $200, but bringing quad core (with each core being much faster) and critically very functional basic gaming capabilities to even our cheapest system. HTPC's stay with Intel for now due to their lower price and power consumption (though this may change with incoming cheaper Llano CPUs and boards) with a few minor changes and speed upgrades.


Mmm.. power :D  Now for AMD to bring out Bulldozer, and Intel Sandy-Bridge E...
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: J Bomb on July 23, 2011, 10:01:20 am
Thanks for the update philo, this thread is really helpful. Looking at popping my build a pc cherry this year.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Mayhem_Lee on August 15, 2011, 09:31:39 am
Quote from: philo-sofa;1401234
Updated 17/07/2011

Tired of waiting for Bulldozer to actually show up, so have updated everything.  There are some minor changes to prices and products (such as hard drives, memory and CPU cooling due to availability) as well as a universal movement from Sandforce 1200 to Sandforce 2200 solid state drives where present, with a resultant near doubling of speed.  

A welcome and easy change is from P67 to the new and superior Z68 motherboards in our very prevalent LGA-1155 (Sandy Bridge) PC's - as a result of Z68, the gaming rigs now all have included SSD's, due to the awesomeness of SSD caching ([url]http://www.anandtech.com/show/4329/intel-z68-chipset-smart-response-technology-ssd-caching-review/2[/url]) and shome shiny new cases to boot. At the upper end, all PC's now have 8+GB of RAM due to its cheapness and can observe a pro Nvidia graphics movement (with the GTX 560 Ti, GTX 570 and GTX 580 ruling the upper end).  

In the budget end we also see AMD's powerful new Llano CPU's take up home - increasing cost by $200, but bringing quad core (with each core being much faster) and critically very functional basic gaming capabilities to even our cheapest system. HTPC's stay with Intel for now due to their lower price and power consumption (though this may change with incoming cheaper Llano CPUs and boards) with a few minor changes and speed upgrades.


Mmm.. power :D  Now for AMD to bring out Bulldozer, and Intel Sandy-Bridge E...


The gaming build has a 6950 2gig instead of the 560Ti you update the list again since this post philo old boy?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on August 15, 2011, 02:26:06 pm
Quote from: mayhem_lee;1410629
The gaming build has a 6950 2gig instead of the 560Ti you update the list again since this post philo old boy?
Cheers for bringing that up.  It wasn't quite a typo so much as my being as clear as mud. At stock (and let's face it that's where the majority of people leave their cards) the 6950 is faster than the GTX 560 Ti and as such it's 'just right' for the $2,200 build.  The GPU market is refreshingly competitive - what I was meaning is that Nvidia have pretty much cleared AMD out of the higher end builds - of the four 'gaming' builds the one you mentioned is the only one with an AMD card, however the price vs performance differential is razor thin, so whilst Nvidia is a bit dominant overall it makes sense to have the 6950 in that dollar build - basically I overstated Nvidias dominance a bit, albeit that they are ahead.

... of course that's until the 28nm Southern Islands (including one code named 'New Zealand'!) come out, allegedly before the end of the year and well ahead of Nvidia's new cards.



*rubs hands together in glee*
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Aquila Rossa on August 15, 2011, 02:37:44 pm
Some of the 6950s flash to 6970s too, which makes them even better value. The only reason I grabbed a GTX570 was because it was an open box deal for only 400 bucks, otherwise it would have been Radeon for me too.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Mayhem_Lee on August 15, 2011, 02:53:48 pm
Quote from: Aquila Rossa;1410736
Some of the 6950s flash to 6970s too, which makes them even better value. The only reason I grabbed a GTX570 was because it was an open box deal for only 400 bucks, otherwise it would have been Radeon for me too.

people have had issues with it and some cards wont do it.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: 5loth on August 15, 2011, 02:57:14 pm
Quote from: mayhem_lee;1410746
people have had issues with it and some cards wont do it.

hardly anyone has issues with it, its probably around a 95%+ success rate?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Aquila Rossa on August 15, 2011, 03:12:33 pm
Quote from: mayhem_lee;1410746
people have had issues with it and some cards wont do it.

that is why i said:
Quote
Some of the 6950s
. it must be possible to find out which cards are most likely to flash with success.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on August 15, 2011, 07:38:39 pm
Even some non-refernce cards flash to it. Even if they don't their is only a little bit of soldering to fix that (differrent for each card though)
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on August 15, 2011, 08:34:48 pm
Not all current cards can do it, 5loth is right.  If you know what you're doing the vast majority should be able to be do it tho (just use a shader unlocker to modify the card's BIOS) and in most cases significantly oerclocked up to 6970 speeds.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on August 15, 2011, 11:07:38 pm
Pretty sure AMD haven't been crippling them and it's just some of the card makers changing the board to stop flashing. Or did I miss the headlines?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Aquila Rossa on August 15, 2011, 11:09:51 pm
Pity it's not possible with a GTX 570.

you guys agree with this from MS:

Quote
Should the pagefile be placed on SSDs?

Yes. Most pagefile operations are small random reads or larger sequential writes, both of which are types of operations that SSDs handle well.

In looking at telemetry data from thousands of traces and focusing on pagefile reads and writes, we find that
•Pagefile.sys reads outnumber pagefile.sys writes by about 40 to 1,
•Pagefile.sys read sizes are typically quite small, with 67% less than or equal to 4 KB, and 88% less than 16 KB.
•Pagefile.sys writes are relatively large, with 62% greater than or equal to 128 KB and 45% being exactly 1 MB in size.

In fact, given typical pagefile reference patterns and the favorable performance characteristics SSDs have on those patterns, there are few files better than the pagefile to place on an SSD.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Kayne on August 17, 2011, 09:25:30 pm
Sorry if this has been asked before, But the Uber Gaming build, Is the extra cooling needed, or only if you are planning on overclocking? And should it definately run BF3 on high deetz with very little fps lag? I realise that BF3 release specs haven't been released yet, but maybe you guys have an estimate?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on August 17, 2011, 10:03:06 pm
The cooling isn't needed if you aren't overclocking.  However even the 'auto overclock' should give you ~4.4GHz stable, so it's well worth spending a little extra on the cooling, even if you're only going to tell the motherboard to do the work for you. For BF3 - I'd first of all wait, but given the 'demo rigs' for BF3 have apparently been using a mildly overclocked 2600K and a single GTX 580, the uber build should be able to handle it very well yes :)

One the game is out, an dif it really is all that great we'll slap together a build or two specifically for it.  However the top end will likely be pretty close to the 'uber build'.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Kayne on August 18, 2011, 08:53:09 pm
Cheers man ^_^. I've worked out that it's going to take me around 3 months to get enough money to buy a pc like this, So with BF3 coming out in 2 months, we should have more than enough time :)
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on August 18, 2011, 10:28:16 pm
I dispute your maths there chief ;)
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on August 19, 2011, 03:29:05 pm
Hi

Does anyone know much about these foxcon cases?

http://pricespy.co.nz/product.php?p=488481
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Chassis/detail_overview.aspx?ID=en-us0000114

They are a pretty good price, they look nice too, but I can't find any reviews on them.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Emrico1 on August 19, 2011, 03:33:05 pm
Looks more like an office box to me, would it be for a gaming rig? You could probably get something with more room and better cooling.
Although the website says 'good cooling' and shows a side vent :D
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on August 19, 2011, 03:37:38 pm
Quote from: Emrico1;1412716
Looks more like an office box to me, would it be for a gaming rig? You could probably get something with more room and better cooling.
Although the website says 'good cooling' and shows a side vent :D

na, not a gaming rig.  I'm going to be upgrading my gaming computer for BF3, I want to stick my old parts in a horizontal case which I can connect to my TV and use it as a HTPC.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Emrico1 on August 19, 2011, 03:40:20 pm
Looks perfect for that man.

I was going to do that too but I've decided this rig will run Bf3 and I'll get another so I can has 2.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on August 19, 2011, 05:37:17 pm
Foxconn employies went on a suicide streak about a year, all I know about them
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: desertergreg on August 21, 2011, 09:43:28 am
Quote from: philo-sofa;1410731
Cheers for bringing that up.  It wasn't quite a typo so much as my being as clear as mud. At stock (and let's face it that's where the majority of people leave their cards) the 6950 is faster than the GTX 560 Ti and as such it's 'just right' for the $2,200 build.  The GPU market is refreshingly competitive - what I was meaning is that Nvidia have pretty much cleared AMD out of the higher end builds - of the four 'gaming' builds the one you mentioned is the only one with an AMD card, however the price vs performance differential is razor thin, so whilst Nvidia is a bit dominant overall it makes sense to have the 6950 in that dollar build - basically I overstated Nvidias dominance a bit, albeit that they are ahead.

... of course that's until the 28nm Southern Islands (including one code named 'New Zealand'!) come out, allegedly before the end of the year and well ahead of Nvidia's new cards.



*rubs hands together in glee*

That truly is clear as mud. So do I get a 560 ti or  a 6950? At a glance the 560's are chePer...

But then my 4830 plays bc2 on low fine, in theory will it play bf3 on low fine? Is an upgrade gpu really only an upgrade to medium settings? And is that even worth it?

Do I already know the answer which is wait for bf3 to come out before I make a call to upgrade?

How many more questions am I allowed?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on August 21, 2011, 09:46:17 am
BF3 will be very taxing don't expect the 4830 to play it at all, go grab a 6950 currently the best bang for buck (http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6950-1gb-vs-geforce-gtx-560-ti-review/12)

http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=300/ID=16313/SID=920130071/productdetails.html

vs

http://www.playtech.co.nz/afa.asp?strOrderBy=Title&strKeyword=560+ti&CATID=301&SubmitType=GO&idWebPage=39234&page=1&ListOptions=Submit
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: ChineseKiwi on August 21, 2011, 11:03:05 am
A couple of questions Philo in regards to those builds:

Why the Seagate 500GB over the faster Samsung F3? Also I'm more than sure people can spare an extra $20 for a 1TB.....

The Antec Neo Eco 620W is a good bit cheaper than the Antec HCG 620W while both are extremely similar. The saving on the PSU negates the extra for 1TB, resulting in a better value system.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on August 21, 2011, 09:23:28 pm
Quote from: desertergreg;1413180
That truly is clear as mud. So do I get a 560 ti or  a 6950? At a glance the 560's are chePer...

But then my 4830 plays bc2 on low fine, in theory will it play bf3 on low fine? Is an upgrade gpu really only an upgrade to medium settings? And is that even worth it?

Do I already know the answer which is wait for bf3 to come out before I make a call to upgrade?

How many more questions am I allowed?
Only one more question is allowed! The 560 Ti and 6950 are both good cards.  If you don't want to overclock, go with the 6950, if you do want to mess around with overcloking and BIOS', then either are good.

Quote from: ChineseKiwi;1413189
A couple of questions Philo in regards to those builds:

Why the Seagate 500GB over the faster Samsung F3? Also I'm more than sure people can spare an extra $20 for a 1TB.....

The Antec Neo Eco 620W is a good bit cheaper than the Antec HCG 620W while both are extremely similar. The saving on the PSU negates the extra for 1TB, resulting in a better value system.
Have to agree on the 1TB hard drive, as much for capacity as speed (there isn't all that much performance difference IRL) have edited the gamer build accordingly (left the 500GB in the ultra budget build tho).

Diagree on the Neo Eco 620w, which just isn't as well built, or as efficient (80+ vs 80+ bronze), it also doesn't come with a fucking power cable for goodness sake.  I'm aware a lot of people have spare ones, but some don't and frankly I can't be bothered explaining they need to pick up one separartely because Antec are so tight with their Neo Eco series. For a mere $15 extra, the included power cable, better components and superior efficiency of the High Current Gamer is well worth it IMO.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Emrico1 on August 21, 2011, 10:41:02 pm
(http://www.popularvirals.com/images/owned/owned-funny-godzilla-639.gif)
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on August 22, 2011, 12:54:09 pm
I'm going spam you with more questions about your choices just cause I <3 you. (By spam I mean one)

Your Budget Gaming has the X4 955. Reason being? The i3 2100 is on par if not faster, and performs better in a lot of games. I would understand if you would to argue that if you overclock the X4 955 then it would become the better option but with stock cooling and mildly restricted airflow overclocking would be limited.

I guess what I'm trying to say is; Why don't you build a billion systems to cater for everyone's needs then we won't have this problem ;)
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on August 22, 2011, 02:57:30 pm
They're broadly comparable CPUs (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=289&i=2.5.3.4.6.25.26.27.28.29.30.31.32.33.34.35.36.37.38.39.40.41.42.43.45.46.47.48.49.50) - the Intel is a little faster for gaming, but loses out in other areas.  For the same price, I'd rather have a chip that can O/C another 10% with stock cooling or 20% with an aftermarket cooler.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Aquila Rossa on August 22, 2011, 07:24:32 pm
I wonder if this could be a new contender for SSD in these system recommendations. New Kingston has performance of the OCZs using sandforce but also has the Intel long life nand chips. http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/45558-kingston-hyperx-240gb-ssd-review-13.html

Also, what is the reliability on the F3 Samsung 1TB drives? I am thinking that four of them running RAID10 would kick ass yet still offer redundancy.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on August 22, 2011, 07:56:47 pm
Unfortunately by the nature of these things, we'll have to wait till they've been on the market a while before any given SSD can be assumed to be more reliable than another :/  Even if it's the best drive evar for reliability wise it'll take a while to prove itself (firmware wise in the case of the Kingston). It does seem that the issue with the current drives may be that 25nm NAND - if so the Vertex 3 Max IOPS (and for that matter the Kingston you linked) should be pretty solid.  Till that's confirmed one way or the other I'm thinking Intel 510 and Crucial m4 series (same controller) drives will take the place of SF-2000 drives completely.

As for RAID 10 - the issue isn't throughput it's latency :) SSD's offer <0.1ms latency vs ~12ms for hard drives. If you're interested I rabbit on about latency vs speed in the first few paragraphs of my old Vertex 2 review (http://www.getsome.co.nz/showthread.php?68654-GetSome-Review-The-OCZ-Vertex-2-Solid-State-Drive-%96-Now-with-Sand!).
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Aquila Rossa on August 22, 2011, 08:12:50 pm
I did not mean in place of an SSD, I meant RAID 10 as well as a SSD.
On another note, i was looking at the transfer rates of revo drives. fast as. pity they cost so much. must be an option to consider for any 'ultimate' or money no object system though
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on August 22, 2011, 08:50:19 pm
I don't really see the need ever for RAID 10, with the exception of a very few apps like video conversion and SQL etc?  Unless you go the whole hog with a ZFS file system you seem more likely to lose your data even with mirroring!  Love the Revodrives too :) seems a pity we have to choose between those kind of speeds and a third GPU tho - one thing X79 might bring is those kind of speeds (via four striped drives) with three GPUs.. not that that's an honest RL dilemma for me sadly lol.

There's a $50k PCIe SSD thing on a server at work.  AFAIK it's 1.3TB of SLC with a > 150,000 IOPS - I imagine stealing it quite often...
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Aquila Rossa on August 22, 2011, 09:54:18 pm
Quote
I imagine stealing it quite often...

lolz

Yeah, RAID 10 is possibly not worth it, but when the F3 drives are only 70 bucks or so then what the heck, worth trying just for the sake of it.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on August 28, 2011, 03:31:07 pm
28/08/2011 - Minor edit to move all SSDs over to the Crucial m4 (cheers to 5loth and others for bringing up the true extent of growing issues with Sandforce-based drives), and to avoid memory which doesn't like Sandy-Bridge or isn't rated to run at its 1.5v (cheers to Aquila for that suggestion) as well as move to schmexy new large 27" monitors, new power supplies (welcome to the NZ PSU market proper OCZ!) and a few other tidy ups and price updates.

Have some fairly severe doubts about Bulldozer if I'm honest, but all will be revealed soon... if AMD don't push back release again.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: 5loth on August 28, 2011, 03:54:22 pm
I would imagine if Bulldozer was going to give Sandy Bridge/Sandy Bridge-E a run for its money AMD would have been showing us that already, but they haven't.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: desertergreg on August 30, 2011, 02:20:34 pm
Quote from: OldLadyWithAGun;1413181
BF3 will be very taxing don't expect the 4830 to play it at all, go grab a 6950 currently the best bang for buck ([url]http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6950-1gb-vs-geforce-gtx-560-ti-review/12[/url])

[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=300/ID=16313/SID=920130071/productdetails.html[/url]

vs

[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afa.asp?strOrderBy=Title&strKeyword=560+ti&CATID=301&SubmitType=GO&idWebPage=39234&page=1&ListOptions=Submit[/url]


hey can anyone tell me the difference between the XFX 6950 above and the XXX version also avail through playtech? I presume it isnt as straight forward as extra $10 gets you better performance?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Growler on August 30, 2011, 02:28:40 pm
The $409 has slightly higher clocks (830,1300 vs 800,1250)  so factory OC i guess
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: desertergreg on September 01, 2011, 08:24:07 am
righto, done. now we wait...*rubs hands in anticipation*

...one new psu later and I'm sorted, bc2 on highest settings yay!

Weird tho, card wasn't clocked at all, in fact instead of 830 MHz it setup at 590. What's up with that?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: camy205 on September 27, 2011, 11:35:36 am
Another question sorry, is it nessecary to go to 8gb ram from 4gb and should I upgrade my 5850?



Processor:    
AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1055T Processor (6 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory:    
4096MB RAM
Hard Drive:    
1X500GB 1X1TB
Video Card:    
ATI Radeon HD 5850
Monitor:    
Samsung P2250

All good?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on September 27, 2011, 04:43:20 pm
Not sure, with BC2 + TS + Steam I remember it used to use about 3.5 gig/4 since I got 8 I haven't bothered checking usage. BF3 might need that extra 4 gig
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Froglotion on September 27, 2011, 05:51:08 pm
I'd put my money on video card personally. If you plan to play with lots of programs running at the same time, then memory will help. Otherwise 4GB should be fine. Hell I know people that play BC2 with 2GB..... it can't be toooo bad :P
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Benji77 on September 27, 2011, 06:00:45 pm
i would upgrade both. RAM is so cheap these days.

I just got 12GB for around $100
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: SheepShagger556 on September 27, 2011, 06:43:30 pm
Quote from: Benji77;1427108
i would upgrade both. RAM is so cheap these days.

I just got 12GB for around $100
This.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Emrico1 on September 27, 2011, 09:56:24 pm
Quote from: camy205;1426865
Another question sorry, is it nessecary to go to 8gb ram from 4gb and should I upgrade my 5850?

Processor:    
AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1055T Processor (6 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory:    
4096MB RAM
Hard Drive:    
1X500GB 1X1TB
Video Card:    
ATI Radeon HD 5850
Monitor:    
Samsung P2250

All good?

What motherboard/PSU/case do you has? I've gone for the el-cheapo 2x 5850 idea (maybe you can too) and I'm confident it will be ok. Nobody has really mentioned RAM tbh.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on September 27, 2011, 10:42:52 pm
Quote from: Emrico1;1427269
What motherboard/PSU/case do you has? I've gone for the el-cheapo 2x 5850 idea (maybe you can too) and I'm confident it will be ok. Nobody has really mentioned RAM tbh.
Speaks the truth. Well considering 4GB is almost the minimum these days, nobody should be worrying about memory. If you need more than 4GB of RAM to play the game I'd be seriously concerned with the underlying game engine. 1GB OS + ~3GB maximum for a single game should never* be an issue.

*Applies to this point in time only.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on September 27, 2011, 10:54:20 pm
Yeah, if building new with RAM prices why not.  Else just wait, if BF3 does (surprisingly, as Xeno says) need > 4GB then just whack another 4 in there at that point.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: camy205 on September 29, 2011, 12:41:11 pm
Yeah i'll do that then, it seems to handle the beta just fine suprisingly. Might by a new video card, case and mobo for my birthday once I get the money
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on September 29, 2011, 01:23:25 pm
Monpepe chucked up a brief performance link, it basically said >4GB made no difference at all with BF3, so you should be schweeet camy :)
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Nostargate on September 29, 2011, 01:42:31 pm
I almost have a good build.

i5 2500k
some average mobo
8 gig ram
1tb sata3 hdd
but only had enough left to get a 5830...it was either that or a nv 550TI...so i'm guessing low as fuck to get any fps.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Cowwie on October 14, 2011, 09:23:22 pm
What is a good cheap case that has good ventulation and is able to house a 6950 with out a fuss?.

How it looks from the outside is a non issue.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Benji77 on October 14, 2011, 09:40:21 pm
Coolermaster CM690II
or
Fractal R3
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Speakman on October 15, 2011, 01:02:01 am
CM690 is the way to go mate. plenty of room inside, great cable management, and plenty of room for fans


can fit a 6970 with plenty of room to spare
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Mayhem_Lee on October 15, 2011, 01:05:56 am
Quote from: Cowwie;1435428
What is a good cheap case that has good ventulation and is able to house a 6950 with out a fuss?.

How it looks from the outside is a non issue.


Tbh you cant beat this case http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=15777


 (http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=15777)
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Kayne on October 15, 2011, 10:10:48 pm
Is it a bad idea to buy each part separately (not installing them. My motherboard is on all the old technology, I think my graphics card is AGP or something, aswell as cpu being on old technology aswell, Possibly even ram too?)

Will parts get outdated badly within 6 months, or have a significant price drop, and on top of that, would their most likely be a part at the same price 6 months after?

see sig for current pc, el oh el.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Mayhem_Lee on October 15, 2011, 10:43:57 pm
Quote from: `Kayne;1435773
Is it a bad idea to buy each part separately (not installing them. My motherboard is on all the old technology, I think my graphics card is AGP or something, aswell as cpu being on old technology aswell, Possibly even ram too?)

Will parts get outdated badly within 6 months, or have a significant price drop, and on top of that, would their most likely be a part at the same price 6 months after?

see sig for current pc, el oh el.

What are you wanting to upgrade for? BF3 or just general use and some older games?

Be best to just save up as much as possible and then buy something. prices will drop a bit in that time and you dont have hardware sitting there you cant use haha
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Kayne on October 15, 2011, 10:50:27 pm
My first computer was one with dos, where I had to get my brother to help me launch police quest.
My second computer was worse than this one, It was able to run windows xp, but I think it barely survived on wow's lowest settings.
Now My 3rd computer, my current one, is this shit.

My aim is to buy a pc that will last, that will blow bf3 out of the water and back, and just be a nice high end pc for a good while.

Reason I was asking is because i'm on a first year apprentice's wages... Its lower than minimum wage, lets keep it at that lol. I can't stop spending the money I save because it's the first time i've ever had easy access to money (never had pocket money, etc). I was hoping that mentally, Saving for a 300$ part at a time (or so) will make me want to spend less, than trying to save for the "impossible" 5k ;p
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Cowwie on October 16, 2011, 09:25:09 pm
Thanks for the suggestions, managed to cram it into my ancient antec case but regardless i still need to get a better case for summer, this one tends to cause problems during the warmer periods of the year
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: kongkiwi on October 17, 2011, 02:22:15 pm
Quote from: `Kayne;1435806
My first computer was one with dos, where I had to get my brother to help me launch police quest.
My second computer was worse than this one, It was able to run windows xp, but I think it barely survived on wow's lowest settings.
Now My 3rd computer, my current one, is this shit.

My aim is to buy a pc that will last, that will blow bf3 out of the water and back, and just be a nice high end pc for a good while.

Reason I was asking is because i'm on a first year apprentice's wages... Its lower than minimum wage, lets keep it at that lol. I can't stop spending the money I save because it's the first time i've ever had easy access to money (never had pocket money, etc). I was hoping that mentally, Saving for a 300$ part at a time (or so) will make me want to spend less, than trying to save for the "impossible" 5k ;p


Lots of poeple on this forum have their old stuff for sale.  Hit them up, make a thread, whatever you think is best.  If you said to me "hey Kong, how about I give you $200 bucks for that GTX260 and GB Mobo" I would probably say "sure, glad to let it go."  If $$$ is an issue, this is what I would do....
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Aquila Rossa on November 04, 2011, 05:34:18 pm
have people noticed that HDD prices have doubled in the last few weeks? A WD 1TB Black was just over 100 bucks a few weeks ago but now they are well over $200 with a 2 per customer limit. It is the same at PB tech etc. Is it a new model or is there a HDD stock shortage or something?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Benji77 on November 04, 2011, 05:36:12 pm
stock shortage. theres flooding.

http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/24706-hdd-shortage-to-get-worse
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Emrico1 on November 04, 2011, 05:43:39 pm
yeah, I won't be buying a HDD for a while...
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Aquila Rossa on November 04, 2011, 05:45:57 pm
Cheers. I missed that one. I knew about the flood but only thought it affected people heading there for sex change operations :) (apart from the millions of civs there). Been busy as with study. Even the old stock of Spinpoint F3s have been doubled in price. Just as well I grabbed my external when i did.

Quote
For the average consumer this translates into higher prices and IDC expects hard drive prices to go up by about 10 percent in Q4. However, as we reported yesterday, prices have shot up well beyond 10 percent.

I wonder if the impact was underestimated or it is a case of price gouging?

Btw, see how much that extra 0.1Mhz on the 2700k will cost you? CL have a pre order price up now.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on November 05, 2011, 12:44:46 am
0.1Ghz not mhz.............
Would still pay for higher-binned chip
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Kayne on February 06, 2012, 01:54:03 am
Okay, The beast (see sig) just died. I'm not going to try to fix it. Instead I've decided that the only way I'm going to be able to save for a PC is if I buy each part separately.

http://www.getsome.co.nz/showthread.php?51303-PC-Build-Recommended-Systems-Thread-September-2011&p=1050626&viewfull=1#post1050626

T (http://www.getsome.co.nz/showthread.php?51303-PC-Build-Recommended-Systems-Thread-September-2011&p=1050626&viewfull=1#post1050626)he "Srs gaming" pc,

Is that still a decent build? Is there anything thats ~10-100$ more and makes a big difference?

I'll be honest, I'm not very computer savy.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: pop on February 06, 2012, 02:31:56 am
the hdd would cost more now.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on February 06, 2012, 04:22:58 am
I do need to update these, however not much has changed no. I'd grab the ~$500 HD 6970 given that most modern 6950s aren't unlockable, but that's about it TBH.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on February 06, 2012, 06:25:33 pm
I'd wait for Ivy-bridge and the 7 seris of GPUs and in the mean while grab the RAM, PSU, Case, HDD and anything else not getting an upgrade for the next few years
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on February 06, 2012, 06:54:34 pm
Quote from: O-L-W-A-G;1467237
I'd wait for Ivy-bridge and the 7 seris of GPUs and in the mean while grab the RAM, PSU, Case, HDD and anything else not getting an upgrade for the next few years

TBH given the compatibility between existing boards and Ivy, as well as how cheap a 2500K is, it's not like he can't upgrade now if he needs.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on February 07, 2012, 08:37:34 pm
Il give you that but defiantly wait for 7xx
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on February 07, 2012, 09:39:58 pm
Updated 07/02/2012 (except for HTPC builds to come soon).

AMD's awesome 'CPU-with-a-decent-onboard-GPU' chips continue to impress, with the newly released, fully overclocking-unlocked 3870K proving an almost free upgrade.  Unfortunately AMD's utterly crap FX series processors count them out of everything above the entry level. Primarily because they're sp slow (don't believe any fanboy ranting, or polite reviews - they're utterly shit) but also because AMD seem to live in a fantasy land and have takinen the interesting step of essentially stopping production of the faster Phenom II X4 (yes Phenom II was faster and it's the FX series' predecessor!) and pricing the FX's as if they were actually half-decent: AMD I am disappoint, put down the bong and design some good chups again FFS. Other than that the odd cpu tweak (and price increase due to zero competition) has occurred, with the only significant change being the 'never gonna buy it' $10K rig's new LGA-2011 3960X Sandy Bridge-E processor.

Hard drive prices have of course shot up (tho TBH I don't believe they're doing much more than gouging now) and I've tried to find the best value drives there are.  We also see some Z68 'G3' boards with true PCI-E 3.0 compatibility around, which have been swapped in, in place of older LGA-1155 boards in the mid to high range. SSD prices are down and in the high end the AMD HD7970 and HD 7950 makes an appearance, pleasing OLWAG immensely (they're included in anticipation of some severe price drops). We're still waiting on Nvidia's new GPUs to drive down prices and likely drive up performance which will be very interesting, along with the new Intel Ivy-Bridge processors - both are due in April.

This is the first time where I can say it's actually a worse time to buy a computer than it was previously; prices are up and performance has plateaued (and this is compared with 4-5 months ago). Caused can largely be tracked down to Thailand being flooded and AMD being a failboat. Our best wishes are with Thailand our utter scorn is to be heaped upon AMD (except for the excellent Llano A8, A6 & A4 series!).

Happy Building!
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Speakman on February 07, 2012, 09:51:04 pm
Quote from: philo-sofa;1467486
essentially stopping production of the faster Phenom II X4


So THAT'S why I couldn't find one for the life of me for a mates budget build :/ Bastards
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on February 07, 2012, 10:00:18 pm
Yep. Upgrading AM3 board users may, from time to time find an occasional small batch of imported of X4 960T CPU's (they're made from slightly factory-broken X6's) along with a steady supply of Phenom X6 1090T's. For new budget builds I do highly recommend the Llano A8-3870K CPU (actually generally faster than the FX series too lawl) but for any build with a discrete GPU... Intel is now the only sane choice sadly.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on February 07, 2012, 10:33:31 pm
I'm only pleased by green camps stuff ATM, red camp has far too many shitty drivers.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on February 07, 2012, 10:43:14 pm
Catalyst 12.1 (which ironically don't support the 7000 series??) is a dramatic improvement, almost up to Nvidia level in terms of functionality TBH.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on February 08, 2012, 10:34:19 pm
Bwahahahahaha see how long that lasts.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: angle on February 24, 2012, 07:32:00 pm
If you are thinking of building your own PC (Personal Computer), or need practical information about PC hardware or software, you have come to the right place. With easy to follow step by step guide combined with many images even a beginner can build, configure and setup their own PC.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Kayne on May 24, 2012, 10:29:30 pm
And i'm back to excite you all with another post that makes one's mind think.

http://pricespy.co.nz/list.php?l=44996&view=m

A (http://pricespy.co.nz/list.php?l=44996&view=m)nything wrong with that? Could you guys suggest a good water cooling set up, is it possible to set it up with the two gpus, Should i get something from the 600 series instead? Because of the PCI - E 3.0? Is 2.0 and 3.0 even compatible with each other?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: pop on May 24, 2012, 11:22:23 pm
think that case would be a tight fit I think, here is what you are probably aiming for:
(http://www.mnpctech.3dpixelnet.com/picture_library/fractal_design_arc_midi_dual_loop_ces_2012_mnpctech.jpg)

Dual loop
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Kayne on May 25, 2012, 10:52:37 pm
So I'm needing a "Full tower / Server" case?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: pop on May 26, 2012, 12:03:07 am
would make life easier, do you really need 2 graphics cards and a water cooling setup?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on May 26, 2012, 12:41:54 pm
Playtech had the crucial 64s on sale for 100$ the other day. Do you really need the D2X? I highly doubt you do unless you have the cans or speakers to match.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on May 26, 2012, 05:44:20 pm
Will update this thread soon!


`Kayne - IMO:


- Drop the 3770K for a 3570K (still not much point having an i7 for gaming)

- Swap the power supply for an FSP Group Aurum 650-750w (don't need more than that and they're very good value)

- Upgrade the GPU to either an HD 7970 (if you're ok with just overclocking it within the drivers) or a GTX 670 (if you refuse to O/C at all) with the savings from the two above

- As OLWAG says, unless you're a true Audiophile you probably don't need a sound card either TBH.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Kayne on May 27, 2012, 11:58:44 am
Sweet as, I don't know much about computers. I'm trying to learn what a good idea is and all but I really don't SEE anything (as in, no visual evidence. Just graphs and peoples words)

I've said this many times, and I'm just wanting you all to know my childish reasoning.

This will be the first computer I've ever bought / built. I've always had the bottom end of computers, Never been able to play the latest games. I can't even play games like zombie panic / css on full detail >_>. So I want my first pc to be over powered, To do every game max detail, raddy ra, raddy ra. I'll probably learn I shouldn't do this when it becomes time to upgrade, But i'd like to learn this for myself, and just be happy with a good computer ;)

As for speakers, I'm going to buy a $900 sony mini speaker system, just for music and shit. I've noticed that songs sound better / worse / quiet (the same songs) on different devices, so I thought if I just spend a tiny bit on a sound card, I'll be happy hah

Water cooling, Was because i've heard "You can over clock the FUCK out of things". Refers to the whole "blowing games out of the water" thing.

Power supply, I just didn't know what to get so I thought i'll just get one that would def cover it . hahaha.

and one question, the 3770k, is that still ivy bridge?... <- Feel like a dick saying that because it shows how much I don't know about pc's. I hear a good name and that's all I care about, Lol
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Codex on May 27, 2012, 12:54:10 pm
Quote from: `Kayne;1487360
and one question, the 3770k, is that still ivy bridge?... <- Feel like a dick saying that because it shows how much I don't know about pc's. I hear a good name and that's all I care about, Lol

http://bit.ly/Ksl2yW should answer your question.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on May 27, 2012, 01:19:15 pm
Quote from: `Kayne;1487360
Sweet as, I don't know much about computers. I'm trying to learn what a good idea is and all but I really don't SEE anything (as in, no visual evidence. Just graphs and peoples words)

I've said this many times, and I'm just wanting you all to know my childish reasoning.

All good man. Tho as above there are a couple of Q's you could hypothetically google ;)

Quote from: `Kayne;1487360

Water cooling, Was because i've heard "You can over clock the FUCK out of things". Refers to the whole "blowing games out of the water" thing.

Buy a decent all on one w/c and yeah you should be able to O/C a 3570.

Quote from: `Kayne;1487360

Power supply, I just didn't know what to get so I thought i'll just get one that would def cover it . hahaha.

It's almost universal to buy overpowered power supplies amongst enthusiasts TBH. A good 650w should cover any 'single card' system'

Quote from: `Kayne;1487360

and one question, the 3770k, is that still ivy bridge?... <- Feel like a dick saying that because it shows how much I don't know about pc's. I hear a good name and that's all I care about, Lol

You mena the 3570K? Yes it surely is. Also bear in mind 'K' processors are the only Intel ones that can overclock.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on May 27, 2012, 09:37:36 pm
Just adding to what philo said only the chips with a K or X as a suffix can properly overclock by increasing the multiplier due the FSB now controlling the PCI frequency and some other things as well so you'd be lucky to get 110mhz from 100(stock). Just an FYI and ask Xsannz for proper water cooling systems as he has a bit of know how in that area. If you just go down the road of a closed loop system take a peak at the http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=216/ID=16255/SID=803632156/productdetails.html if you just want to fiddle around a bit without cooking eggs. This if you want to push the chip as far the cooler allows you to http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=15255

You can still go for a sound card if you want but it's only really worth it if you want to invest in some decent cans (~200$) and a decent sound card (~100$) and if you do decide on that send a PM CK's way.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Kayne on May 27, 2012, 11:40:29 pm
Quote from: Codex;1487369
[url]http://bit.ly/Ksl2yW[/url] should answer your question.


Yeah sorry :P, I just instant reply as if it was a conversation :F
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: 3viction on July 08, 2012, 03:10:46 pm
Any chance this thread could have an update? Looking at buying a pc or two soon. Know it takes quite a bit of time but I find this thread really helpful!
Thanks in advance :D
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on July 08, 2012, 03:18:02 pm
Yeah k, will update this by midweek?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: CSfaith on July 08, 2012, 04:43:22 pm
Far Philo, do it now. Stop being so slack, lololol :P
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: 3viction on July 09, 2012, 07:01:05 pm
Quote from: philo-sofa;1493186
Yeah k, will update this by midweek?
Awesome thanks heaps Philo!
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on August 29, 2012, 08:27:50 am
Yeah, an update would be great. I always use this thread.

Trying to figure out graphics cards is too hard for my brain to handle on its own.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Codex on August 29, 2012, 08:34:24 am
660ti or greater
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on August 29, 2012, 02:32:21 pm
I heard Philo died. Will he be updating this thread?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Mayhem_Lee on August 29, 2012, 03:48:28 pm
Quote from: Spacemonkey;1500610
Yeah, an update would be great. I always use this thread.

Trying to figure out graphics cards is too hard for my brain to handle on its own.

670Gtx do it
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Emrico1 on August 29, 2012, 03:59:52 pm
Quote from: Mayhem_Lee;1500680
670Gtx do it

This
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on August 29, 2012, 04:26:19 pm
Quote from: Xenolightning;1500672
I heard Philo died. Will he be updating this thread?

I'm going to write some kind of automated program that will countine to post here on my behalf after I die.

In fact, we all should set one up. 1000 years from now, we'll all still be posting here, long after we have all died.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on August 29, 2012, 05:32:34 pm
Post count > life
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Arnifix on August 29, 2012, 07:05:31 pm
Quote from: Spacemonkey;1500684
I'm going to write some kind of automated program that will countine to post here on my behalf after I die.

In fact, we all should set one up. 1000 years from now, we'll all still be posting here, long after we have all died.
I think you are severely underestimating how long most of us will last. Half the forum is so pickled in alcohol that it'll be 1000 years before enough blood gets through to start the processes of bodily decay. And the other half are, like, negative 50 years old.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on August 30, 2012, 10:52:40 pm
Quote from: Spacemonkey;1500610
Yeah, an update would be great. I always use this thread.

Trying to figure out graphics cards is too hard for my brain to handle on its own.
7850 for midrange and 670/680 for higher end.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Codex on August 31, 2012, 09:46:49 am
^You're brave
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Dr. Acula on August 31, 2012, 10:34:49 am
Quote from: Xenolightning;1500672
I heard Philo died. Will he be updating this thread?

Seems that way, or he's lost deep in the jungles of the Amazon where reception, even in this day and age is nonexistent, 'cause I'm still waiting to see if he got my payment for his 7970 >.<
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on August 31, 2012, 11:06:40 am
We need a new Philo. Who will step up to take his place?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on August 31, 2012, 11:09:14 am
Quote
philo-sofa
Super Moderator

Join Date: 2nd August 2007.
Last Activity: 14 Hours Ago

His ghost roams the forums!
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Emrico1 on August 31, 2012, 11:53:51 am
Sounds like he is travelling or on the move. TO THE GHOSTMOBILE!
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on August 31, 2012, 11:58:59 am
If there's something strange...
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on August 31, 2012, 12:15:31 pm
with your PC Build...
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Dr. Acula on August 31, 2012, 12:22:10 pm
Who ya gonna call?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Codex on August 31, 2012, 02:48:08 pm
Thought you were programming spam bots to replace us monkey

Get on to that shit
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on August 31, 2012, 02:52:37 pm
Quote from: Codex;1500965
Thought you were programming spam bots to replace us monkey

Get on to that shit

I already did. Set it up for everybody last night.

Then killed everybody, as per the plan.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Codex on August 31, 2012, 03:57:39 pm
Oh... I see...
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Emrico1 on August 31, 2012, 04:04:36 pm
I am of the like of this

funny.gif
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: toofast on August 31, 2012, 08:26:30 pm
Quote from: Spacemonkey;1500926
His ghost roams the forums!

I believe he has gone overseas. That or the ghost thing.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on September 02, 2012, 06:45:04 am
Many deals of Apple Samsung pads. Please go buy visit site get good deal
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on September 05, 2012, 04:50:37 am
Quote from: Xenolightning;1500672
I heard Philo died. Will he be updating this thread?

 
Quote from: Spacemonkey;1500925
We need a new Philo. Who will step up to take his place?

 
Quote from: Emrico1;1500937
Sounds like he is travelling or on the move. TO THE GHOSTMOBILE!


(http://www.how-to-draw-cartoons-online.com/image-files/ghostbusters-9.gif)



Oh yeah, sorry moved to the UK (via Aussie and Jewbai). Shit got a little hectic prior to departure so didn't have time to update all this... got a week before I start work so will update it before then.


p.s. aww you guys missed me (i.e. me writing random crap about computers)!

xox
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on September 05, 2012, 07:48:11 am
Bloody Skynet has taken over Philo's account.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Codex on September 05, 2012, 08:49:59 am
Yes I will buy your 20 ipads for 1000 dollars
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on September 05, 2012, 09:11:31 am
Quote from: Xenolightning;1501110
Many deals of Apple Samsung pads. Please go buy visit site get good deal

Full money back gaunatee, email me at sjrejfkh@yahoo.com with your credit card detaisl
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Emrico1 on September 05, 2012, 09:50:29 am
Shut up and take my money
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: .osiRiS on October 02, 2012, 07:05:12 pm
Ok what is the best bang for buck setup that you can make for $2K

Will be for gaming majority from MMO to Dota to FPS.

SSD not necessary but if they are well worth it then add it in.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on October 02, 2012, 08:00:02 pm
http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=375/ID=17393/SID=712334944/productdetails.html
http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=756/ID=17493/SID=105703998/productdetails.html
http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=235/ID=13589/SID=943766687/productdetails.html
http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=254/ID=15299/SID=306285679/productdetails.html
http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=599/ID=18457/SID=242841683/productdetails.html
http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=274/ID=18491/SID=726573037/productdetails.html
http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=181/ID=14862/SID=350581208/productdetails.html

Use the extra 150$ to put into a better GPU/CPU/Mobo/HDD/SSD/Whatever else there is.
Highly suggest the 7850 as it can be OCed to 7950 speeds or if you're in camp green the 670 would be another decent choice.
The motherboard can be changed if you don't mind Gigabyte and/or one with less features
SSDs aren't nessacry and you might want to wait for them to drop in price, the WD Blacks are still pretty fast with Windows 8
If you have a decent set of headphones and/or speakers a sound card such as the Asus DG or DS is recommended
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Codex on October 03, 2012, 10:31:01 am
Once you go SSD you don't go back

Kind of like going white
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: The Demon Lord on October 03, 2012, 11:11:44 am
SSDs really do make you happy in your Pants.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Emrico1 on October 03, 2012, 11:42:50 am
SSD > other upgrades
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Nostargate on October 03, 2012, 12:30:23 pm
Quote from: Emrico1;1504439
SSD > other upgrades

What about a W/C system that the coolant was replaced with jizz?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Emrico1 on October 03, 2012, 01:16:50 pm
Quote from: Nostargate;1504445
What about a W/C system that the coolant was replaced with jizz?

Could be better. You might even be able to overcock to five jizzabytes.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Codex on October 03, 2012, 04:10:22 pm
I thought a jizzaflop would be better
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on October 03, 2012, 04:13:22 pm
Quote from: Codex;1504471
I thought a jizzaflop would be better

At least 1.21 jizzaflops!
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xsannz on October 03, 2012, 04:46:07 pm
what are you talking about a jizzaflop is after your processor has completed a jizzacycle.. then it flops waits a few cycles then it's ready to jizzacycle some more.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: The Demon Lord on October 03, 2012, 05:10:21 pm
Quote from: Xsannz;1504477
what are you talking about a jizzaflop is after your processor has completed a jizzacycle.. then it flops waits a few cycles then it's ready to jizzacycle some more.

Speak for yourself....

With some voltage tweaks, I have eliminated the Jizzaflop between Jizzacycles
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Nostargate on October 03, 2012, 06:15:51 pm
Thread is finally back on track.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xsannz on October 03, 2012, 06:57:22 pm
Quote from: The Demon Lord;1504481
Speak for yourself....

With some voltage tweaks, I have eliminated the Jizzaflop between Jizzacycles

i heard that it's not voltage it is that with the little blue avigra tablets mixed into your watercooling mix?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: .osiRiS on October 03, 2012, 08:14:48 pm
Attention everyone who posted after my initial post. Fuck You for being useless.

That is all. Now spend my money bitches.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Codex on October 03, 2012, 08:36:09 pm
Who let you out of alfs dungeon osi?

Thought chains could hold the god of farming!
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Kayne on October 03, 2012, 10:50:55 pm
CAUZ IM N00B AND DONT KNOW COMPUTERS AND LIEK AM ALSO SPENDING 2 GRAND IN A WEEK OR TWO ON ONE

Which set up is better?

Quote from: O-L-W-A-G;1504370
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=375/ID=17393/SID=712334944/productdetails.html[/url]
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=756/ID=17493/SID=105703998/productdetails.html[/url]
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=235/ID=13589/SID=943766687/productdetails.html[/url]
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=254/ID=15299/SID=306285679/productdetails.html[/url]
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=599/ID=18457/SID=242841683/productdetails.html[/url]
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=274/ID=18491/SID=726573037/productdetails.html[/url]
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=181/ID=14862/SID=350581208/productdetails.html[/url]


Or

Quote from: `Kayne;1501128
Decided to man up and just buy a computer instead.
Had my friend help me get the parts together, I don't want to post this in the Recommended build thread as i've posted too many "gone-nowhere" posts there.

([url]http://iforce.co.nz/i/kqyjyacm.w2t.jpg[/url])

Was planning to spend the 300$ left over from 2nd option on a dell ultra sharp 23"

Edit : ahahaha, just read what I wrote in that old post. Lol'd
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Craigor on October 04, 2012, 02:02:38 pm
Quote from: `Kayne;1504512
Everything Kayne Said:
CAUZ IM N00B AND DONT KNOW COMPUTERS AND LIEK AM ALSO SPENDING 2 GRAND IN A WEEK OR TWO ON ONE

Which set up is better?


Or


Was planning to spend the 300$ left over from 2nd option on a dell ultra sharp 23"

Edit : ahahaha, just read what I wrote in that old post. Lol'd

What I Did:
TL;DR
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on November 14, 2012, 12:48:56 pm
Oh for God's sake has no one taken this over already... Fine, I'll update the thread when I get, say five rep's. I'm not specifying positive or negative but everyone here has always been so nice I feel I don't need to.

Quote from: `Kayne;1504512
CAUZ IM N00B AND DONT KNOW COMPUTERS AND LIEK AM ALSO SPENDING 2 GRAND IN A WEEK OR TWO ON ONE

Which set up is better?

Quote from: O-L-W-A-G;1504370
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=375/ID=17393/SID=712334944/productdetails.html[/url]
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=756/ID=17493/SID=105703998/productdetails.html[/url]
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=235/ID=13589/SID=943766687/productdetails.html[/url]
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=254/ID=15299/SID=306285679/productdetails.html[/url]
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=599/ID=18457/SID=242841683/productdetails.html[/url]
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=274/ID=18491/SID=726573037/productdetails.html[/url]
[url]http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=181/ID=14862/SID=350581208/productdetails.html[/url]


Or

Quote from: `Kayne;1501128
Decided to man up and just buy a computer instead.
Had my friend help me get the parts together, I don't want to post this in the Recommended build thread as i've posted too many "gone-nowhere" posts there.

([url]http://iforce.co.nz/i/kqyjyacm.w2t.jpg[/url])

Was planning to spend the 300$ left over from 2nd option on a dell ultra sharp 23"

Edit : ahahaha, just read what I wrote in that old post. Lol'd


Take the second build by your mate, swap the frankly stupid CPU for this (the one OLWAG suggested): http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=/ID=17393/SID=712334944/productdetails.html

and the motherboard for this (OLWAG's suggestion there is... a bit overpriced): http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=/ID=17477/SID=916819817/productdetails.html

and that looks good to go for ~$NZ 1600 (sans monitor). Upgrades to ~NZ 2k : grab a GTX 670 (+$120) and a 240GB Intel 330 Series (+$200 ish).
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Kayne on November 14, 2012, 09:47:14 pm
Should of told me last saturday :P

Bought my build, FINALLY, last saturday

Specs are..

 - Cooler master gladiator 600
 - AMD FX-8320 3.5ghz 8-core
 -  GIGABYTE 990FXA - UD3 AMD 990FX
 - 128gb Samsung 830
 - Seagate 2TB SATA3 7200RPM 6gb/s 64mb
 - 8gb RAM G.Skill Ripjaws 1600Mhz
 - Hyper 412slim CPU fan
 - EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: private_hell on November 14, 2012, 10:41:56 pm
Quote from: philo-sofa;1508731
Oh for God's sake has no one taken this over already... Fine, I'll update the thread when I get, say five rep's. I'm not specifying positive or negative but everyone here has always been so nice I feel I don't need to.

you forgot to pass the mantle over before you left..... and the hundle masses were lost and wandered aimlessly for thosands of millennia - or 6 months what ever came first :D
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Cowwie on November 15, 2012, 07:59:05 pm
What is a good mid range cpu cooler for ocing a 3750k?, other than the hyper 212 evo.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Codex on November 15, 2012, 08:16:55 pm
perhaps:
http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=16349
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Mayhem_Lee on November 15, 2012, 08:37:35 pm
Quote from: Cowwie;1508960
What is a good mid range cpu cooler for ocing a 3750k?, other than the hyper 212 evo.

How much over-clocking are you wanting to do? The Ivy bridge run's a tad warmer then the old sandy minge
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Emrico1 on November 15, 2012, 10:18:45 pm
Quote from: Cowwie;1508960
What is a good mid range cpu cooler for ocing a 3750k?, other than the hyper 212 evo.


http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=/ID=16342/SID=976449007/productdetails.html

D (http://www.playtech.co.nz/afawcs0139235/CATID=/ID=16342/SID=976449007/productdetails.html)on't fuck around... My good man.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: O-L-W-A-G on November 16, 2012, 06:35:21 am
Put that in a push pull config and you'll be set.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Cowwie on November 16, 2012, 07:14:10 pm
Quote from: Emrico1;1508991

D[/URL]on't fuck around... My good man.


lol at first i thought that was a link to this thread

 http://www.gpforums.co.nz/thread/458730/?s=

Knowing of Arctic Silver and that it's a good brand I went ahead and purchased some thermal cleaner and some new thermal grease (or so I thought). I made the very stupid mistake of buying (until two hours ago I never knew it existed) thermal adhesive instead of thermal grease. As I'm sure you can gather I used it on my heatsink/cpu... needless to say the heatsink didn't sit in 100% perfect and I knew I'd need to take it off and sit it properly.. my baby started crying and I went to help him... then I found out I was in the schtoop.

 
Quote from: Mayhem_Lee;1508970
How much over-clocking are you wanting to do? The Ivy bridge run's a tad warmer then the old sandy minge


Nothing to extreme im sticking with plain old air cooling, im aiming for a moderate oc, Codex's suggestion pretty much matchs what im aiming for.

thanks for the suggestions so far
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on November 18, 2012, 06:21:52 pm
Is the 600 series worth it?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Mayhem_Lee on November 18, 2012, 06:54:22 pm
Compared to?
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: The Demon Lord on November 18, 2012, 07:16:46 pm
Quote from: Spacemonkey;1509196
Is the 600 series worth it?

if you have the money, then yes
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on November 20, 2012, 02:47:48 pm
Ahh, damnnit, 5 reps ;) Ok I'll slap something together folks! (this weekend perhaps)

Quote from: Spacemonkey;1509196
Is the 600 series worth it?

Generally speaking it gives slightly better value/performance/efficiency than AMDs lineup does, yes.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Mayhem_Lee on November 20, 2012, 04:06:50 pm
Quote from: philo-sofa;1509401
Ahh, damnnit, 5 reps ;) Ok I'll slap something together folks! (this weekend perhaps)



Generally speaking it gives slightly better value/performance/efficiency than AMDs lineup does, yes.

670 ftw or 680 reference? Not looking to OC just run straight out of the box. I need the blower style cooler to exhaust from the case I'm using, not much room (Fractal Node 304)

And how shit will a 27" monitor be with 1920 x 1080p res? Vs the alienwares monitor with same res? Chasing 120hz screens....

And welcome back update us!
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: philo-sofa on December 09, 2012, 03:33:55 pm
9/12/Year of Our Lord 2012: Have updated budget, budget gaming and gaming, rest to follow. Happy Jesus day for the 25th everyone.

A few updates - Keyboards in the United Kingdom have the @ and " keys transposed which is just weird. Also given the six month gap, you see a lot of other hardware changes. AMD and Nvidia change places repeatedly; inspite of the general win of Nvidia's Kepler architecture over AMD's GCN, a round of harsh price-cuts at the Red camp see it win in value, for everything barring the GTX 660 level (where it draws even but thus loses due to some still-inferior drivers). On the CPU front we see Intel's 'Ivy-Bridge' 3570K win for every single non-extreme gaming rig, but amazingly for the first time since... we started this thread, there's serious competition from a truly modern AMD processor - with the AMD 'Trinity' A6-5600K proving AMD aren't out (yet). The Piledriver CPU cores aren't quite able to provide a true enthusiast CPU (again stay with Intel for now for true gaming builds) but the impressive packaged graphics in the 5600K means that for the first time our budget build is truly becoming capable of basic gaming.

In other news SSDs are becoming so cheap, they're nearing the point where they'll be in every build, some... new speakers, keyboards and monitors are out and computers are getting stupidly cheap now.

Will update the rest as soon as possible.
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: GhostOfGallipoli on August 02, 2013, 08:02:20 pm
this is old and unloved now :(
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Emrico1 on August 03, 2013, 03:00:34 am
Like me
Title: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Growler on August 03, 2013, 09:53:07 pm
Put in a potato cam
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on April 15, 2014, 08:53:59 pm
OHAI, I IS MOD. I IS PRANNING TO UPDATE DIS FREAD.

STAY POASTED

I PLAN TO POAST, PRICESPY & SINGLE STORE PRICES
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: mycoolcar on April 15, 2014, 08:56:00 pm
bullshit
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on April 15, 2014, 08:56:42 pm
bullshit
Y U MEAN 4 :<
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: mycoolcar on April 15, 2014, 08:57:24 pm
cos u no play games now.

and i no play. pew pew.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - August 2010
Post by: Pigdog on March 05, 2015, 12:58:31 am

OMFGWTFHAX rig (~ $11,000):

Sigh
*unzips*
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Pyromanik on June 10, 2016, 10:51:49 pm
bullshit
Y U MEAN 4 :<

He wasn't, just fuck'n call'n it like a bawss.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: .osiRiS on June 13, 2016, 02:55:17 pm
$2k Budget - Want to play BF1 on pretty settings

What's the best spend for my money.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Craigor on June 13, 2016, 02:59:19 pm
I have a PC that can run BF1 on pretty settings for you

you can have it for $2000, I'll even throw in the postage

Core i3
4gb ram
Integrated graphics
Slightly used
May have been taken out of the bin

Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Pyromanik on June 16, 2016, 09:43:17 pm
Think he mighta meant BF11, or whatever the fuck they're up to now.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on June 17, 2016, 06:19:06 am
Think he mighta meant BF11, or whatever the fuck they're up to now.

The Battlefield series learnt how to count from Microsoft.


1942
2
2142
1943
3
4
1
Title: Windoze
Post by: Tiwaking! on June 17, 2016, 06:25:18 pm
Think he mighta meant BF11, or whatever the fuck they're up to now.

The Battlefield series learnt how to count from Microsoft.
Everyone knows that the best Battlefield game was Battlefield 3.11
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Pyromanik on June 20, 2016, 06:42:28 pm
Think he mighta meant BF11, or whatever the fuck they're up to now.

The Battlefield series learnt how to count from Microsoft.

CE
1942
Vietnam
2
2142
BC
Heroes
1943
BC2
3
4
hardline
1

You missed some. So bad at counting they even forgot the number sometimes. A rookie mistake.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Apostrophe Spacemonkey on June 21, 2016, 08:45:16 am
I didn't know there was a Battlefield Embedded Compact version.

Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: AvatarFACE on June 21, 2016, 07:22:38 pm
I didn't know there was a Battlefield Embedded Compact version.
(Not sure if trolling or do not know)

He's including Codename Eagle which was what BF 1942 was based on.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Pyromanik on June 22, 2016, 10:20:12 am
Definite trolling, but not sure about the latter. Assuming he does, SM's been around the block for some time.
I actually thought the same thing as I made the post, heh.
Great minds, or predictability of a monkey, or something like that.

Also, that moment when you learn Rallisport Challenge on Xbox used the same engine as BF'42.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: AvatarFACE on June 23, 2016, 01:20:25 pm
Did not know that, I have that game somewhere.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on June 23, 2016, 02:29:05 pm
$2k Budget - Want to play BF1 on pretty settings

What's the best spend for my money.

What do you need? Just the box?

Components:
- Core i5
- 16GB DDR4
- Mobo - Some socket 1151
- (Probably) AMD 480x
- Case
- PSU

http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=25723 (http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentview.asp?partid=25723) - $920
AMD 480x ~$500
Case ~$200
PSU - Corsair RM650x - $220

Comes in @ about $1850. That'll set you pretty solid.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: toofast on July 18, 2016, 07:00:57 pm
Anything good coming up soon, or is the i5-6600k + Z170 still the best way to go? Is pairing it with a GTX1070 overkill, if I just want good future proof, and the ability to run triple screen.

EDIT: and the possible chance of using a VR system on it.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on July 19, 2016, 09:43:40 am
If you want "the best" gaming options:
- 6600K (or 6700K, but there is no discernible difference in gaming performance)
- Z170
- DDR4 > 3000Mhz
- GTX1070

You can gain about an extra 5-10% by opting for 3200+ DDR4 as opposed to it's 2400 counter part. I came across a (I think Toms hardware) where they did a bench on memory.

Something like the following would have you away laughing.

ASUS Maximus VIII Ranger Intel Z170, DDR4, ATX, LGA1151 Motherboard
Intel Skylake Core i5-6600K 3.50Ghz, 6MB, LGA1151, Unlocked Processor, No Fans       
Corsair CMK32GX4M2B3200C16 Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-3200 CL16

~$1100
+$900 GTX 1070
+ $200-300 for an M.2 SDD

Should have zero issues running VR on that.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: toofast on July 20, 2016, 05:38:18 pm
So what is the logical step down from the GTX1070? If i was looking to spend 400 odd, am i better looking at a slightly older model with a chance of discounting, or is there something reasonable within the newer models.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on July 20, 2016, 08:13:42 pm
The GTX1060 is wayyyy too overpriced in the current market, sitting at about $700.

The closest to $400 RRP is the RX480, at $500. I'm hesitant to recommend them after their launch issues. But I think an AMD driver "patched"  the power issues.

For VR, you wouldn't want anything less than a GTX970, or a R9 390X.

Rough equivalence:
- GTX980 ~= GTX1060
- R9 390X ~= RX480
- GTX980Ti ~= GTX1070
- GTX970 ~= R9 390X

You can pick up a second hand GTX970 for about $350, which is probably your best option.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: toofast on July 21, 2016, 02:17:14 am
Well I am buying from the UK, so price seem to be a bit better on the GFX cards. Seems like a 970 or a r9 390 is about 200pounds. Just not sure which one to go for, since on paper the 390 wins with more memory and bigger bus, but nvidia have always seemed to have an edge on the software side of things.

I ended up with: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/DJr4qk (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/DJr4qk)

Not entirely sure about the cooler, was reccommended on the site, but I am sure there may be a better one to get. Cool Master Hyper 212 seems to be reasonably cheap (30 pounds), but i am sure there will be a downside. Is arctic mx-2 still the best way to go for paste as well?
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Lias on July 21, 2016, 12:27:36 pm
The 212's are just insanely good value for money, I have one and love it.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on July 21, 2016, 01:23:34 pm
Get the R9 390 over a GTX970. It's better in almost every scenario. There's no issues with the R9 3xx series, so jump on one if you can find it.

The Hyper 212X, the included thermal is really good anyway, so no need to buy MX-2. If you did want to get custom TP, then MX-2 is still the best shit around, followed closely by AS5.

What you've put together is good.

Maybe look at getting an M.2 SSD over a SATA SSD, they are faster on all accounts. But a little more expensive, and not as portable. The Samsung Pro are up to twice as fast.

But great build, and very similar to what I'd buy right now. If not what I will buy in the next week. I think my PC is dying :<
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: AvatarFACE on July 21, 2016, 07:30:21 pm
My PC has been giving me troubles past few weeks, going to have to start saving up, want to be playing games not fiddling with my computer. Hesitant to build it myself as I'ts been quite a while. Don't be surprised if you see me asking questions here in a couple months. Thanks for the info guys.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: toofast on July 22, 2016, 08:46:23 am
Thanks for all the help so far Xeno. Looking at M.2 just opens another can of worms in should i go for the 850 evo or the 950 pro. i can get a 256gb pro for 140 vs a 512gb evo for 130. So it seems like a toss up between more storage (i was doing fine on 128gb on my old PC) and what seems like a significant speed upgrade (will i see real world advantages).

Other thing I stil cannot decide on is whether I should go for a mechanical keyboard, and if so which one. I had a Microsoft sidewinder X4 previously, but it got discontinued for some reason. The Razer Deathstalker Expert seems to be the closest I can find, but it makes me wonder if I should just shell out more for a mechanical keyboard.

EDIT: and at what price difference is it no longer worth going for the r9 390 over the gtx970. currently looks like i will be forced to shell out an extra 50 pounds for the r9 390, due to stock available.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on July 22, 2016, 10:19:01 am
It depends on what you do with the drive. The Pro is significantly faster, even in the "real world". But if you're not doing large sustained transfers then the benefit slowly starts to diminish. Random Access performance is close between the two, and that's probably what it will be doing most of the time.

If your plan is to only run those two drives, I'd opt for the larger storage of the Evo.

50?! That's too much, I'd pay an extra $50-60nz, so like 25-30 quid.

I don't tend to "recommend" peripherals because of the personal nature. You can't be entirely objective.

I've had a CM with Cherry MX Black's, and I currently have a Blackwidow Ultimate Stealth. The new Razer switches... are interesting... They are very "springy", I've got used to it but probably wouldn't buy another after using Cherry MX's.

Again, very personal decision, and it probably doesn't matter so much what route you choose.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: toofast on August 01, 2016, 09:03:07 am
So what is the recommended fan setup for computers now. Last PC I had I was running 1 120 exhaust against 3 120 inlet. New case has 1 200 inlet and a 140 exhaust. Thinking of picking up 2 140s for the top of the case. But not sure if I want them both to be blowing in (I was of the belief you want positive pressure), since 1 in/out is still positive due to the sizing.

Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Xenolightning on August 01, 2016, 09:47:27 am
That's a tough one. I've always been under the impression that positive air pressure is the way to go.

This is probably only the case with old blower style graphics cards, if you don't have a blower style cooler then the direction of the airflow is more important. Make it coherent and flow across components.

If it's hugely important, the best way is probably trial and error.
Title: Re: PC Build - Recommended Systems Thread - February 2012
Post by: Mayhem_Lee on August 01, 2016, 03:55:52 pm
So what is the recommended fan setup for computers now. Last PC I had I was running 1 120 exhaust against 3 120 inlet. New case has 1 200 inlet and a 140 exhaust. Thinking of picking up 2 140s for the top of the case. But not sure if I want them both to be blowing in (I was of the belief you want positive pressure), since 1 in/out is still positive due to the sizing.


I have this http://www.phanteks.com/enthoo-evolv.html (http://www.phanteks.com/enthoo-evolv.html) so basically same case as you just in M-Atx. I run stock fan configuration with a corsair H110i cooler exhausting out the top.

So I would advise getting 2 x 140's exhaust out the roof aswell