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Thanks, jefe! Was looking at the Shinobi and the awesome Z11 myself, need to read a bit more and I can make a decision.
Also, in many areas you can find worse buys and better buys at the same price, don't think the question was that out of place. Take the Source 210, for example, with pretty good cable management options, decent build, which - simply put - not a lot of other cases offer at that price. Alas, it is unavailable for me.
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i have a qustion...since I'm building a computer i feel like i should buy all my parts at once. but sometimes the parts go on sale and are a really good deal. so should i buy my parts all ay once, or if i find a deal too good to pass up get them part by part?
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There's pros and cons to both approaches so that's up to you.
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what are the cons? and do they outweigh the pros (savin money?) also what parts are worth getting first if i do do this?
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cons: Waiting to play on your kick-ass new machine (this is the main one). Buying something and finding a better special on the thing next week. Changing your mind regarding what you want but finding yourself locked into a choice. Spending extra man-hours shopping rather than whatever else you do in your life. Also, you may overestimate how much money can be saved by waiting.
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On January 19 2013 06:48 ImANinjaBich wrote:
what are the cons? and do they outweigh the pros (savin money?) also what parts are worth getting first if i do do this?
Buying parts individually doesn't necessarily save you money. You can easily spend your intended amount or overspend as well because you're thinking about the small picture rather than the big picture. If you're on a very strict budget, you may end up with a funky configuration as well because you couldn't resist purchasing that amazing deal on the case, 240gb SSD, or platinum PSU so you had to make sacrifices in other products.
You may change your mind later and return the product to purchase another which is somewhat of a hassle. And depending on the time between your purchases. If you receive a DOA component, you're going to have to deal with the manufacturer instead of the retailer because it's past the 30 day return period, which is sometimes a huge pain in the ass.
You need to be educated on what is a good product and what is a good deal. So many times have people asked "this looks amazing, is this a good deal?" when it looks absolutely shit. You need to spend time to decide what you actually want, don't decide at the time you're adding the item to the cart because chances are, you're going to regret it later.
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Completly agree with Skyr, i build my rig over time, i definitly shouldve eco money and wait to one shot it
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ok Thank you for the SSD help. Now onto actual buying.
Remember, late2008 MBP with SATA II ,not 3.
so either:
1. SAMSUNG 830 SERIES 128GB $98
2. SAMSUNG 840 SERIES 120GB $100
Why is this choice so hard.
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Samsung 840.
Edit: I guess since it's SATAII it doesn't matter... but just get the 840 in case you reuse it. Does MBP of any kind even take standard SATA? Or was it the later stages where they moved to proprietary stuff?
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Another post.
Firstly, I would like to thank all in this thread for your contributions, thanks to you guys I have already built one computer. Really an invaluable resource
Now again onto building a computer:
What is your budget?
1200~ AUD or under. But for this purposes, 1400 would be the max, but if only there is a better cost efficiency (eg. if the extra 200 would give me a lot more bang for my buck than 1200, then this would be good. anything over 1.4k is too much)
If you guys don't feel like thinking in AUD, its basically 1=1 with US dollars.
What is your resolution?
1080p. Can switch to 720p for gaming but 1080 would be prefer.
What are you using it for?
Mostly gaming. Otherwise standard internet and video watching activities
No streaming, heavy photoshop or video editing. No plans to do these in the future either.
What is your upgrade cycle?
2-4 years. As long as this can do medium-ish graphics on most games within the next 3-4 years I see no need to upgrade.
When do you plan on building it?
within 1 months time.
Do you plan on overclocking?
Would be good. I suspect there wont be much need to OC it currently, but in the future when its age starts to slow I would surely like this as an option.
Do you need an Operating System?
No
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
Nope. Would you guys agree that having a single good GPU is superior to two lower end GPU's? I would think so
Where are you buying your parts from?
Local stores in Australia.
Part lists:
PCDIY
MSY
Note:
Hard drive size isnt much of an issue for me, 1TB or less is fine.
Case size shouldn't present too much of an issue.
Visuals/ how the physical computer look isn't a priority.
for connecting to the network, ethernet is not really an option so network card with wifi of atleast N standard is required.
I'm up for the challenge of installing water cooling if you people think it is worth it financially.
Again, Thank you very much for all your help TL'ers in this thread.
EDIT:
-Will not need monitor
-By switching, I mean just changing the resolution of the game down to 720p. So yes scaling down
-Games, SC2 HOTS and WOL included, but also aiming at newer games such as borderlands and dishonored and whatever 2013 is going to throw at us.
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On January 19 2013 19:07 CHiPZ wrote:Another post. Firstly, I would like to thank all in this thread for your contributions, thanks to you guys I have already built one computer. Really an invaluable resource Now again onto building a computer: What is your budget?1200~ AUD or under. But for this purposes, 1400 would be the max, but if only there is a better cost efficiency (eg. if the extra 200 would give me a lot more bang for my buck than 1200, then this would be good. anything over 1.4k is too much) If you guys don't feel like thinking in AUD, its basically 1=1 with US dollars. What is your resolution?1080p. Can switch to 720p for gaming but 1080 would be prefer. What are you using it for?Mostly gaming. Otherwise standard internet and video watching activities No streaming, heavy photoshop or video editing. No plans to do these in the future either. What is your upgrade cycle?2-4 years. As long as this can do medium-ish graphics on most games within the next 3-4 years I see no need to upgrade. When do you plan on building it?within 1 months time. Do you plan on overclocking?Would be good. I suspect there wont be much need to OC it currently, but in the future when its age starts to slow I would surely like this as an option. Do you need an Operating System?No Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?Nope. Would you guys agree that having a single good GPU is superior to two lower end GPU's? I would think so Where are you buying your parts from?Local stores in Australia. Part lists: PCDIYMSYNote: Hard drive size isnt much of an issue for me, 1TB or less is fine. Case size shouldn't present too much of an issue. Visuals/ how the physical computer look isn't a priority. for connecting to the network, ethernet is not really an option so network card with wifi of atleast N standard is required. I'm up for the challenge of installing water cooling if you people think it is worth it financially. Again, Thank you very much for all your help TL'ers in this thread.
Do you need a monitor? You mentioned "switching." I assume that meant scaling, but there's an off chance that you haven't bought one yet?
Also: what games do you play? If it's only Starcraft, you can get away with a much weaker GPU than if you were playing like... borderlands or something.
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On January 19 2013 18:52 Alryk wrote:
Samsung 840.
Edit: I guess since it's SATAII it doesn't matter... but just get the 840 in case you reuse it. Does MBP of any kind even take standard SATA? Or was it the later stages where they moved to proprietary stuff?
Im trying to find specs for the 830 but the samsung website keeps reporting page not found for me. :S
What I'm wondering is, for general speed is there any at least somewhat noticeable difference between the 830 and 840 in either random or sequential read/write? the size difference is only 8GB which isn't the world, but if all things were almost equal it would be nice. The price difference favors the 830 but its only 10cents per GB, so basically nonexistent. If no one speaks against you, I'll go for the 840 (or whatever the shop has left in stock, usually my shops are good and keep everything haha)
Regarding the MBP's, I haven't opened it up yet but from what I know it is a standard SATA connector, but the age of my laptop means that the maximum it supports is SATA 2, the newer ones support SATA3 through a standard, although I'm not sure you can open up the newer ones without voiding warranty.
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Sorry Alryk, I have edited the post to address your concerns.
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The Samsung 830 was discontinued in November so that's probably why the product page no longer exists. The Samsung 840 is better than the 830 in every aspect except for sequential writes.
Pretty sure all the Macbook Pros prior to Retina use SATA.
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Ok Thanks, Ill go for the 840 as the extra space was less of a priority than speed. As for a build, heres what i quickly whipped up from one of the partlists, any quick changes you people recommend, i should be buying this tomorrow if all goes well:
LIST
CPU: INTEL CORE i7 3820 (2011 SOCKET) ~294$
MOTHER: ASROCK X79 EXTREME 3 and GIGABYTE X79-UD3 | X79-UP4 | X79S-UP5-WIFI $217 | $259 | $357
RAM: 16GB KIT 2133 (8GB x 2) G.SKILL RIPJAWS-X CL9 $135
GPU: GTX660Ti 2GB GIGABYTE WF2/GIGABYTE OC $312/$325
CD DRIVE: SATA DVD SAMSUNG/LG/LITEON/MSI/ASUS/PIONEER $19/$19/$19/$20/$22/$23
EXTRA COOLER: COOLERMASTER HYPER 212 EVO | HYPER 612 PWM $34 | $45
CASE: COOLERMASTER HAF X-942 NVIDIA EDITION $215 (i dont care actually what case as long as everything fits nice, i probably wont end up buying exactly this case)
POWER: COOLERMASTER EXTREME II PLUS 525W/625W/725W $62/$75/$85
NETWORK CARD: 20$ (is there much impact on performance at all between brands?)
HARD DRIVE: 1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA $73
If i listed more than one thing, means I am not sure which is better so I'll decide in store unless someone can tell me.
Total price is almost 1400 but I think with some better choices it can go down. Either way money isn't the problem, I just want something that'll be a decent buy and last for a good amount of time.
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2011 socket sucks for what you want
getting an i5-3570k with a with an Asrock Z75 Pro3 will be cheaper and as good
2*4gb 1600Mhz 1.5v cl9 is like 35-40$ and is more then enough
the gtx660ti isn't that good value for the money, 7950 should be better
computer case is your choice, even if its not the best if you like it, fine
for PSU a Antec HCG 520, Bequiet! straightpower/purepower, seasonic, etc... are all good, no CM though
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@chipz
i5-3570k ($227)
Asrock Z77 Pro3 ($108)
CPU Cooler: can wait until you decide to overclock, using the intel stock cooler until then. If you want to OC now, the Cooler Master 212 Evo ($34). If you're super-sensitive to noise, you can pay $50 more and get a top end Noctua NH-D14
Video Card: Sapphire or Gigabyte 7950 ($325)
RAM: 8gb kit 1600 Corsair XMS ($45) I picked the XMS only because it was the one one I was sure was low profile. The ones with useless spiky heatspreaders will get in the way of your cooler.
Case depends. You can get a cheap but effective box: Antec One ($64) or a sound-dampened case: Fractal Design R4 ($148)
Power supply: Antec High Current Gamer 520w ($83)
SSD: Intel 330 180gb ($140), Samsung 840 120gb for roughly $100 is good too.
(make this your C: drive and put windows & all your most important-commonly used programs here for zoom-zoom loading speeds)
HDD: Western Digital Green 2TB ($95) (A 1TB drive should run you about $20 less)
(make this your D: drive, media & overflow storage)
DVD-burner: whichever ($20)
Total (larger HDD, ordinary case & cpu cooler): $1141
There are, of course, plenty of places you can cut down on cost or spend more. But this is what I'd go for given your stated purposes. If you need peripherals (speakers, mouse, etc), some things may change.
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This post is in reply to Rachnar
OK Thanks.
For processor i'd still like to stick with an i7, but i can understand that the 2011 socket may indeed suck. Im having a bit of trouble understanding the main diff between sandy vs ivy bridge, so out of the three
Core i7 3770K LGA 1155
Core i7 2600K LGA 1155
Core i7 3820 LGA 2011
Which is better? Disregarding the last one, it would see the 3770K wins out since... 3770 > 2600 numerically, but by looking at specs i cant find much of a performance difference. I am probably not looking in the right place though.
Also on3770K page it states Memory Types DDR3-1333/1600, does this mean the max speed of my RAM can be 1600Mhz and not 2133 like before? Otherwise your points have been noted
- im curious about the reason as to why 660ti is not good value, I was of the general opinion that nvidia cards usually ran smoother in most games with better support/less bugs vs AMD cards, can you shed some light onto your decision making for that conclusion?
PSU noted, what WATT(haha..) do you think ill need? the 660Ti says recco 450 but i thought abit over 500 would be safe.
Thanks for the help!
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On January 20 2013 00:19 CHiPZ wrote:
For processor i'd still like to stick with an i7
For what reason? An i7 is a bigger number than an i5, for gaming that's about it. People have this common misconception that it's better, when in reality it's just a bit more useful for some things like encoding video, a couple of photoshop functions, etc.
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On January 20 2013 00:19 CHiPZ wrote:This post is in reply to Rachnar OK Thanks. For processor i'd still like to stick with an i7, but i can understand that the 2011 socket may indeed suck. Im having a bit of trouble understanding the main diff between sandy vs ivy bridge, so out of the three Core i7 3770K LGA 1155 Core i7 2600K LGA 1155 Core i7 3820 LGA 2011 Which is better? Disregarding the last one, it would see the 3770K wins out since... 3770 > 2600 numerically, but by looking at specs i cant find much of a performance difference. I am probably not looking in the right place though. Also on 3770K page it states Memory Types DDR3-1333/1600, does this mean the max speed of my RAM can be 1600Mhz and not 2133 like before? Otherwise your points have been noted - im curious about the reason as to why 660ti is not good value, I was of the general opinion that nvidia cards usually ran smoother in most games with better support/less bugs vs AMD cards, can you shed some light onto your decision making for that conclusion? PSU noted, what WATT(haha..) do you think ill need? the 660Ti says recco 450 but i thought abit over 500 would be safe. Thanks for the help!
All of those i7s are quad-cores with hyperthreading. Hyperthreading is (in layman's terms) extra simulated cores that allow more than four threads (up to eight) to be run simultaneously. Hyperthreading is useless for certain functions (read: running games, pretty much anything that uses less than four threads, which is most stuff). It's good mostly for certain workstation applications. The i7-3930k/3960x is the same, but with six cores. All of those i7s are sandy bridge, except the i7-3770k, which is ivy bridge. Ivy bridge is a newer architecture that is pretty much the same but has about a 5% performance boost given the same clock speeds, so it's generally better. Also a few weird programs (Shogun 2: Total War comes to mind) get a huge boost from ivy bridge compared to sandy bridge.
The i5-3570k is recommended because it simply a quad-core without hyperthreading. Since hypertheading is useless for the average casual user/gamer, paying more for i7 should only be done if you know you'll need it and not because 7 is higher than 5.
What RAM speed you can achieve depends on the motherboard you get. But since RAM speed has next to no performance benefits for this kind of system, don't worry about that too much. 1600mhz is more than fast enough.
Generally there's no big advantage to going either AMD over Nvidia or Nvidia over AMD in terms of bugs. AMD tends to be a more cost-efficient currently, in most people's opinion. For instance, the 7950 is generally rated in the same ballpark of performance as the 670, but the 7950 is $325 and the 670 is $400. There are some exceptions: super sound sensitive people may prefer the quieter Nvidias, and people playing on 32"+ TV screens at 1080p resolution may want more AA, and Nvidia is better at the higher levels of AA. But overall AMD is just cheaper for the graphics power you get at the moment.
PSU: 450w is already going to be more than plenty for any single-graphics-card solution. Being safe is not an issue of wattage, it's an issue of getting a high quality brand that doesn't lie about the PSU specs being delivered. You'll note Rachnar & I both mentioned the Antec High Current Gamer 520. It's a good quality brand you can rely on.
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EPT
