Computer Build Resource Thread - Page 408

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When using this resource, please read FragKrag's opening post. The Tech Support forum regulars have helped create countless of desktop systems without any compensation. The least you can do is provide all of the information required for them to help you properly.

Rachnar

France1526 Posts

July 10 2011 02:52 GMT

#8141

I stream on ultras graphic with a 6870 and an phenom2 x6 1090t at 720p so i guess an i5 should be no problem

Blisse

Canada3710 Posts

July 10 2011 06:48 GMT

#8142

Could anyone double check this build for me. Monitor and operating system unnecessary. Budget of $600-700 for, I'm assuming, heavy AutoCAD-like work and gaming with the latest titles on a 19" monitor. My main issue is with the motherboard ($60 mb + $200 cpu), and that there's no good ASRocks on NCIX. Also the HD 6850 feels unnecessary for the monitor size. Will add $20 if I find out they need a DVD burner.

Any suggestions for anything would be great.

And I hate rebates. Stupid way for companies to make their prices look lower than they are.

+ Show Spoiler +

Thanks a bunch.

skyR

Canada13817 Posts

July 10 2011 07:01 GMT

#8143

The GSkill 2x4gb kit is not available for pricematch. You can remain with the GSkill kit for $60 or you can switch them for Mushkins at $58 with a mail in rebate bringing it to $48: http://ncix.com/products/?sku=55544&promoid=1331

The Caviar Blue 1TB is also unavailable for pricematch, you need to pricematch with Canada Computers: http://canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?&item_id=035361

A typical 19" monitor will have a 1440x900 or 1280x1024 resolution so yes the Radeon HD6850 is quite excessive for such resolutions. I suggest getting a Radeon HD5770 instead unless you have plans to buy a new monitor.

The Antec Three Hundred can be had for $40 at NCIX if it's not already sold out =\

Lmui

Canada6221 Posts

July 10 2011 08:28 GMT

#8144

@Blisse, I believe some CAD programs support some sort of GPU acceleration, is the program that it's being used? Will it benefit from GPU acceleration? Also seeing as you've gotten a cheap keyboard, do you need a mouse to go with it?

Paroxysm

Australia42 Posts

July 10 2011 13:26 GMT

#8145

I have been looking diligently for a new desktop computer to buy that can run SC2 on Ultra settings easily. Currently, I am using a laptop - an Asus K42J - and it struggles to run high paced games on Low Settings.

I also would like this new computer to be one which can be used over the next 2 or 3 years with a safe knowledge that many of the upcoming games can be played on it. Furthermore, I am looking to use it as a school computer, however Microsoft packages (such as Word/Powerpoint etc.) are not needed as I have windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2007 on discs.

I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what kind of computer would be best suited to this, however I am currently working hard to save up for a budget of $2000 to possibly $3000 in the next 3 or so months. Anyone that can help me out in building/finding a prebuilt computer within this price range (if not slightly less), it is greatly appreciated!

I'm not sure about the best way to go about discussing building a PC, is it done on this forum? If its easier, PM me for my skype details and again, any help is much appreciated!

Paroxysm

Madoga

Netherlands471 Posts

July 10 2011 13:55 GMT

#8146

@ Paroxysm
I'm taking thats 2000~3000 UAD. Since I dont know any sites in Australia nor the pricing over there, I'll give you some general advice.

CPU: Get an Intel cpu I think with your budget you can get a 2500 or 2500k. Only take the "k" version if you want to overclock.
Mobo: Really depends what kind of features you want, try to get something that doesn't have a lot of features you dont need. For example if you dont want to run SLI/CF dont get an SLI/CF board, you'd have to pay a lot extra for that.
H61/H67 mobos for not overclocking, P67 or Z68 for overclocking.
Ram: All depends on the price. The cheapest 2x4 gb 1333mhz will suffice unless you want to do some heavy overclocking
GPU: At your budget I'd go for a 560-ti or hd6950. You could go higher, but thats a waste of money imo. Its better to save that money and invest in a new GPU in 2 or 3 years.
PSU: Mostly depends what your plans are which/how many GPU's you run. For most single GPU configurations 400~500W is enough.
HDD: A spinpoint F3 in generally a good choise (500gb/1tb). If you want to spend some extra money and make your windows boot/react faster you might want to get an SSD. Try to stay away from unreliable once. Go for and intel or crucial (crucial m4 or intel 320 are good) Dont go below 40 gb and more is better, but it allso costs a lot.
Case: It really depends on your taste, in general good quality cases are silverstone, lian-li and coolermaster.
CPU cooler: You only really need this if you are gonne overclock or if you want your system to run less noisy. For less experience used I'd advice the hyper 212+.

PS.
Building it yourself will save you a lot of money and its not that hard if you are willing to do some research and spend some time doing it (1st time mostly takes one afternoon). A seccond option is to pay the site where you order your components to assemble it for you.
Generally stay away from prebuild pc's, they are overpriced.

Rachnar

France1526 Posts

July 10 2011 13:59 GMT

#8147

http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/87906_Altech_NRG_TYPHOON_i5S_Intel_Quad.aspx

i dont know what australian money value really is so i cant tell if this is a good deal or not, but it is a very decent computer and should be able to run games to come on high graphics

Paroxysm

Australia42 Posts

July 10 2011 14:23 GMT

#8148

On July 10 2011 22:55 Madoga wrote:
@ Paroxysm
I'm taking thats 2000~3000 UAD. Since I dont know any sites in Australia nor the pricing over there, I'll give you some general advice.

CPU: Get an Intel cpu I think with your budget you can get a 2500 or 2500k. Only take the "k" version if you want to overclock.
Mobo: Really depends what kind of features you want, try to get something that doesn't have a lot of features you dont need. For example if you dont want to run SLI/CF dont get an SLI/CF board, you'd have to pay a lot extra for that.
H61/H67 mobos for not overclocking, P67 or Z68 for overclocking.
Ram: All depends on the price. The cheapest 2x4 gb 1333mhz will suffice unless you want to do some heavy overclocking
GPU: At your budget I'd go for a 560-ti or hd6950. You could go higher, but thats a waste of money imo. Its better to save that money and invest in a new GPU in 2 or 3 years.
PSU: Mostly depends what your plans are which/how many GPU's you run. For most single GPU configurations 400~500W is enough.
HDD: A spinpoint F3 in generally a good choise (500gb/1tb). If you want to spend some extra money and make your windows boot/react faster you might want to get an SSD. Try to stay away from unreliable once. Go for and intel or crucial (crucial m4 or intel 320 are good) Dont go below 40 gb and more is better, but it allso costs a lot.
Case: It really depends on your taste, in general good quality cases are silverstone, lian-li and coolermaster.
CPU cooler: You only really need this if you are gonne overclock or if you want your system to run less noisy. For less experience used I'd advice the hyper 212+.

PS.
Building it yourself will save you a lot of money and its not that hard if you are willing to do some research and spend some time doing it (1st time mostly takes one afternoon). A seccond option is to pay the site where you order your components to assemble it for you.
Generally stay away from prebuild pc's, they are overpriced.

The only problem with this is that I don't trust myself to pick the parts and have it built/build it as I could screw it up or potentially purchase a dodgy computer in the end. I'd rather have someone run through it all with me and help me choose parts etc that we both know will work and it would give me a better peace of mind i guess you could say. I'm only working in a casual position at my job (I'm still a high school student) so $3000 is a lot to part ways with if you're slightly uncertain about what you're purchasing.

On July 10 2011 22:59 Rachnar wrote:
http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/87906_Altech_NRG_TYPHOON_i5S_Intel_Quad.aspx

i dont know what australian money value really is so i cant tell if this is a good deal or not, but it is a very decent computer and should be able to run games to come on high graphics

That computer looks quite good and I believe that in AUD it is close to the same as USD! At the moment that is number 1 on my list so far :D. Thanks heaps!

Womwomwom

5930 Posts

July 10 2011 14:28 GMT

#8149

Wait a sec, I'll come up with something.

Madoga

Netherlands471 Posts

July 10 2011 14:34 GMT

#8150

http://www.pcmarket.com.au/system-details.php?computersystem_id=2437&todo=switchview&newtopage=true
That site has free assembly, so you can build your own system and they assemble it + install basic software.
You can select all the components they have, not just the once in the list.

[edit]
This site looks fairly expensive. Might just be AU is expensive though.

Womwomwom

5930 Posts

July 10 2011 14:57 GMT

#8151

I live in Australia so I can actually give you some insight.

The purpose of the prebuilt computer, as you well know, is to have good consistent aftermarket support so when shit hits the wall, you can deal with problems and dead hardware easily. I must stress there is nothing wrong going this route and wanting to get a prebuilt computer. I don't bother with building my own computer anymore since I just get work to pay for my shit and the kickass business warranty that comes with it - let me tell you, the warranty is so damned good that I'll never be able to deal with RMA ever again.

There are only three people that operate within Australia that do this well for consumers, however. They are:
1) Apple
2) Dell
3) Hewlett Packard

Reason for this? None of the renowned American companies, like Falcon Northwest or Puget Computers, really operate in Australia - I don't event think they deliver here. Customer service should be better than our homegrown enthusiast desktop stores but don't expect them to be punctual with services.

Dell pretty much operates fully within Australia and while they do offer gaming desktops, they're more than 3x the price you would pay if you bought it yourself. Hewlett Packard seem to have a dysfunctional website and only really care about business clients, which don't pack GPUs designed to play computer games. Apple offers the iMac and, while its the best desktop I have ever used, its GPU is merely adequate and not good.

No where else offers good post market support so don't bother - the best you are going to get is pccasegear.com and they only sell hardware these days. Getting places like CPL, MSY, PCDIY, and Umart to put your computer together properly and offer good post-purchase support is like playing roulette: how well your experience will be directly tied to the person you deal with. Considering most of these places seem to be minimum rent/wage places, don't count on good service. Scorpion Technology is a bit better than CPL et al but the large price premium doesn't offset their inconsistency - if you must do a prebuilt, do it there.

You are better off buying the parts yourself and learning how to put it together. See it as a good learning experience. If you want someone to put it together, bring your parts to a mum-and-pop store (you should know the minute you walk in) and not a big hardware store because they're more likely to treat you with respect.

This is a good sample build-and-forget desktop from this awesome store:
[image loading]

As other people may notice, its not significantly more than American prices. Do not buy those prebuilts from the above posts - post market support will not be amazing and they'll probably do a rush job in assembly.

*Note: People may criticize the case for being too expensive, but when you have such a huge budget at least get something that actually has good build quality and doesn't look terrible. You're free to get something else if you don't like how it looks but this is a really good all-round case. Some people might suggest Lian Li cases but not a single one is within throwing distance of the pinnacle of aluminium cases, the Mac Pro, sadly so you might as well stick with steel and plastic cases.

HuggyBear

Australia377 Posts

July 10 2011 15:30 GMT

#8152

Solid build from Womwomwom.

Just don't forget the $2 ATX Power cord since the Antec Neo Eco series doesn't come with one :p

Rachnar

France1526 Posts

July 10 2011 15:44 GMT

#8153

well as he has more money to get in it and wants a computer that can run games to come, i would say an i7 and a 570 or 580 would not be a bad investment

JingleHell

United States11308 Posts

July 10 2011 15:48 GMT

#8154

On July 11 2011 00:44 Rachnar wrote:
well as he has more money to get in it and wants a computer that can run games to come, i would say an i7 and a 570 or 580 would not be a bad investment

The graphics card might make sense, but Hyperthreading is a pretty nonexistent benefit in most games.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=287

Towards the bottom you can see gaming results between a 2500 and a 2600.

GeorgeyBeats

United Kingdom338 Posts

July 10 2011 17:26 GMT

#8155

Good evening.
Does the brand of ram matter, as I have heard that I should be going for corsair or kingston but would it matter that much for the £10 saving?
Many thanks

JingleHell

United States11308 Posts

July 10 2011 17:29 GMT

#8156

On July 11 2011 02:26 GeorgeyBeats wrote:
Good evening.
Does the brand of ram matter, as I have heard that I should be going for corsair or kingston but would it matter that much for the £10 saving?
Many thanks

The vast majority of RAM has IC's from a handful of manufacturers anyways, the difference is in quality control and testing. If you don't have a specific reason for higher clock/tighter timings (and you're better off with a low voltage kit if you want those), then they don't matter.

Heat spreaders just serve to block aftermarket coolers for 99.99999999...% of users. Cheapest kit from a brand name of 1333 DDR3 is perfectly fine.

Blisse

Canada3710 Posts

July 10 2011 20:00 GMT

#8157

On July 10 2011 16:01 skyR wrote:
The GSkill 2x4gb kit is not available for pricematch. You can remain with the GSkill kit for $60 or you can switch them for Mushkins at $58 with a mail in rebate bringing it to $48: http://ncix.com/products/?sku=55544&promoid=1331

The Caviar Blue 1TB is also unavailable for pricematch, you need to pricematch with Canada Computers: http://canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?&item_id=035361

A typical 19" monitor will have a 1440x900 or 1280x1024 resolution so yes the Radeon HD6850 is quite excessive for such resolutions. I suggest getting a Radeon HD5770 instead unless you have plans to buy a new monitor.

The Antec Three Hundred can be had for $40 at NCIX if it's not already sold out =\

Thanks a bunch. I couldn't find the 300 at cheaper than the HAF 912. With pricematch, it'd be a difference of about $5 so I'd rather have the slightly better quality HAF. Sadly, the Antec for $40 deal was for last week.

On July 10 2011 17:28 Lmui wrote:
@Blisse, I believe some CAD programs support some sort of GPU acceleration, is the program that it's being used? Will it benefit from GPU acceleration? Also seeing as you've gotten a cheap keyboard, do you need a mouse to go with it?

AutoCAD is supposed to be more CPU intensive. It's for a friend, so I'm not sure exactly how AutoCAD works. Apparently it's only GPU intensive if you're doing some heavy 3D work. And I don't need a mouse, thanks for asking. Also something about workstation graphics, but I'm not sure about it at all. I think regular video cards would work similar.

This is my update.

+ Show Spoiler +

pppanthers

United States10 Posts

July 11 2011 01:04 GMT

#8158

Hey everyone I am new here and hope this is in the right place.

I have always wanted to build my own tower and within the next month I'll have about $700 to work with. I know thats not alot but I dont need super ultra anything (yet) just want a good stater. I was looking around someone posted this link;

http://www.geforce.com/#/Optimize/Guides/how-to-build-a-kick-ass-crysis-2-pc-for-under-600

however amazon does not have the motherboard, also I dont need a copy of windows 7 as I have one ready to go.

total (before motherboard) $458.46

So I was wondering,
1. what motherboard would be good (prefer from amazon for free student shipping and all)

2. I have some money to play with so is there anything I should update?

3. already have a good comp screen so if the build is good enough to play SC2 (and TF2 an LoL ect.) should I start looking into a better mouse and keyboard?

4. this is my first time putting one together so how hard will it be?

Thanks for the look.

Madoga

Netherlands471 Posts

July 11 2011 01:27 GMT

#8159

1. They give an alternate motherboard on the site, so whats the problem?

As for for that system, I'd build it somewhat different.

For starters I'd use this gpu. It has roughly the same performance only its cheaper.
Besides that I'd get an i3 2100 processor (+ AsRock H61M-VS), they are simply superior at the moment and are the same price.
Besides that If you have 700 dollar to spent, you can get a pretty good computer. If you look through this thread you can find some examples.
Example:

Some of those rebates might have expired, so you might be able to shave of some costs here and there if you change components, but the core components are good.
With your budget you could even upgrade some components (CPU to an i5 2400 and/or the gpu to an HD6850)

pppanthers

United States10 Posts

July 11 2011 01:47 GMT

#8160

@Madonga

Thanks!

I updated my cart with the i5 2400 and a HD 6850, up to $556 so doing good still