Buyer's Guide II: Extreme, High-End, Mid-Range, Budget, and Entry Level Systems - Part 2

[Alternative X]

Thanks! Actually I'm been considering move to ssd already.

Why need to upgrade psu?

Not saying that your PSU is bad (The internal build quality is quite good), but the HX 600 is more efficient than your Gigabyte Odin Pro as it has at most 80+ efficiency performance while the HX 600 is more energy efficient with an 80+ Gold rating. Of course, as your PSU is still working fine, the PSU upgrade is strictly optional and your Gigabyte Odin Pro still has sufficient wattage to run a GTX 970 as the GTX 970 is relatively energy efficient for a high end GPU.

 

[PatrickL33]

Not saying that your PSU is bad (The internal build quality is quite good), but the HX 600 is more efficient than your Gigabyte Odin Pro as it has at most 80+ efficiency performance while the HX 600 is more energy efficient with an 80+ Gold rating. Of course, as your PSU is still working fine, the PSU upgrade is strictly optional and your Gigabyte Odin Pro still has sufficient wattage to run a GTX 970 as the GTX 970 is relatively energy efficient for a high end GPU.

Thanks for the explanation!

 

[MuggerX]

Enquiry regarding a new rig

Hi guys I have never built a rig before so it will be my first one so I got a question to ask. If any problem occurs with the rig who do I go to for troubleshoot? cos I am not the type of guy that is good with IT stuffs, does the rig comes with a warranty for the checking of problems or just the parts?

 

[dagurasu]

INTEL I5 2400

GIGABYTE H67M-D2-B3

R9 270x HAWK

KINGSTON HYPERX PC3-1600 8G

CRUCIAL M4 128 SSD/WESTERN DIGITAL 500GB SATA HARDDISK BLACK

HP 2011x 20 INCH DIAGONAL LED MONITOR

REALTEK

LG 24X SATA

ANDYOND F550 WATTS

CASE VANTAGE 8818

WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM 64BIT

Hi everyone, this is my rig for 2 years. Any advice for parts that requires a change or upgrade?
I changed my GPU recently but I'm still facing the issue where my PC is on but my monitor isn't displaying anything and just goes to sleep.

 

[Jian19]

Change monitor ?

 

[Gatesofsyn]

Hey guys i've been thinking of getting a new budget system.

I'd be doing light video editing as well as photo editing (nothing professional, just a bit of lightroom)

but i kinda wanna be able to play games as well, it doesn't have to be at the highest graphics setting though.

Intel Core i5 3470 & Asrock B75 PRO3 M ~ $345
or AMD FX-8150 & ASUS M5A78L-M LX3 ~ $348
G.Skill DDR3-1600MHz 8GB (2X4GB) ~ $77
Gigabyte R9 270 ~ $289 or Gigabyte GTX 660 ~ $
HDD 500GB ~ $68
Samsung SATA 24X DVD Rewriter ~ $24
Superflower HX 500 500W ~ $90
Ikonik EN2 ~ $55
Total ~ $8XX

I saw this on the first page, i was thinking would it be worth it? Sorry I've been out of touch.

 

[mudxblood]

Gigaybyte H97M-D3H w i5 4460
Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz 2x4GB
Corsair RM 650
Corsair Carbide Air 240
Crucial MX100 256GB

Is this good to go?

Already have an existing Palit 670.

 

[Alternative X]

Hi guys I have never built a rig before so it will be my first one so I got a question to ask. If any problem occurs with the rig who do I go to for troubleshoot? cos I am not the type of guy that is good with IT stuffs, does the rig comes with a warranty for the checking of problems or just the parts?

1) Can go to PC Care & Solutions, #02-32, Sim Lim Square and have Nigel take a look at your rig.

2) The warranty is just for the repairing of individual parts, but the distro will also do a check to make sure that the part is really spoilt.

 

[Alternative X]

Hey guys i've been thinking of getting a new budget system.

I'd be doing light video editing as well as photo editing (nothing professional, just a bit of lightroom)

but i kinda wanna be able to play games as well, it doesn't have to be at the highest graphics setting though.

Intel Core i5 3470 & Asrock B75 PRO3 M ~ $345
or AMD FX-8150 & ASUS M5A78L-M LX3 ~ $348
G.Skill DDR3-1600MHz 8GB (2X4GB) ~ $77
Gigabyte R9 270 ~ $289 or Gigabyte GTX 660 ~ $
HDD 500GB ~ $68
Samsung SATA 24X DVD Rewriter ~ $24
Superflower HX 500 500W ~ $90
Ikonik EN2 ~ $55
Total ~ $8XX

I saw this on the first page, i was thinking would it be worth it? Sorry I've been out of touch.

That build is impossible to get at SLS today, please:

1) State your budget

2) Name all games that you are playing with the rig.

 

[Alternative X]

Gigaybyte H97M-D3H w i5 4460
Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz 2x4GB
Corsair RM 650
Corsair Carbide Air 240
Crucial MX100 256GB

Is this good to go?

Already have an existing Palit 670.

1) No OS, DVD-RW, HDD?

2) Dump the Corsair RM 650, get a Superflower HX 600 and get a much cheaper PSU with a better internal build quality.

3) Are you setting up a RAID array? If not, if you only want Gigabyte mobos, get the B85M-D3H for a cheaper alternative.

 

[mudxblood]

1) No OS, DVD-RW, HDD?

2) Dump the Corsair RM 650, get a Superflower HX 600 and get a much cheaper PSU with a better internal build quality.

3) Are you setting up a RAID array? If not, if you only want Gigabyte mobos, get the B85M-D3H for a cheaper alternative.

I already have OS. Can use ext dvd drive right? Anyway, superflower better than corsair psu? Coz i was thinking since most of my parts under convergent if need rma easier

 

[Alternative X]

I already have OS. Can use ext dvd drive right? Anyway, superflower better than corsair psu? Coz i was thinking since most of my parts under convergent if need rma easier

1) Well, Corsair's RM series have a relatively inferior build quality for the price that you are paying. You see, Corsair's RM PSUs are known to be using Taiwanese capacitors which are considered to be of inferior quality to Japanese capacitors. Competing PSU brands like Seasonic, Superflower and CM are using Japanese capacitors in their PSUs.

Normally, if there is sufficient cooling in the PSU, using Taiwanese capacitors would not present much of a problem. However, the RM PSUs are designed in such a way that the PSU cooling fan will be switched off for silence and will only start up when the PSU reaches a certain temperature. This may cause the capacitors to be overheated unnecessarily and potentially reducing their lifespan. Combined with the fact that Corsair is using inferior capacitors in the PSUs, the long term durability of the RM PSUs is quite questionable.

To make things worse, the RM 650 is being sold for $155, which is rather expensive. Competing models like the Superflower HX 600 ($109), Seasonic S12G 650W ($129), CM V650S ($139) and Superflower Leadex 650W ($139) are being sold at cheaper prices, have better internal build quality and good cooling which is beneficial for long term PSU durability.

Therefore, by buying a Corsair RM 650, you are paying more $$$ for a PSU with an inferior build quality and potentially inferior durability.

2) You can use an external DVD drive, no problems with that.

 

[PatrickL33]

Not saying that your PSU is bad (The internal build quality is quite good), but the HX 600 is more efficient than your Gigabyte Odin Pro as it has at most 80+ efficiency performance while the HX 600 is more energy efficient with an 80+ Gold rating. Of course, as your PSU is still working fine, the PSU upgrade is strictly optional and your Gigabyte Odin Pro still has sufficient wattage to run a GTX 970 as the GTX 970 is relatively energy efficient for a high end GPU.

is the zotax any good compare to asus?

ASUS Strix GeForce GTX 970 STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5 Graphic Card got 3% discount at lazada...

 

[Alternative X]

is the zotax any good compare to asus?

ASUS Strix GeForce GTX 970 STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5 Graphic Card got 3% discount at lazada...

GPU do not vary very much across brands other than the GPU cooler design and the GPU core and VRAM clock rates on the GPU. The difference in the clock rates are rather small and only result in a 1-3 FPS difference at most and you can easily use MSI Afterburner to increase the clock rates if you want to.

Also, I have some concerns about buying Asus GPUs at Lazada as the Asus GPUs are sold by either a 'Asus Gamer Shop' or a 'J Cyber Store' which gives me some concerns about warranty issues as who is supposed to fufill the terms of warranty if there are any? I would recommend getting an Asus GPU only if the GPUs are sold direct from Ban Leong, the distributer of Asus Nvidia GPUs.

However, the Zotac GPUs are sold by Tech-Dynamic who is the local distributer of Zotac GPUs and thus there is the guarantee that you will have a warranty in case of GPU spoilage.

 

[PatrickL33]

GPU do not vary very much across brands other than the GPU cooler design and the GPU core and VRAM clock rates on the GPU. The difference in the clock rates are rather small and only result in a 1-3 FPS difference at most and you can easily use MSI Afterburner to increase the clock rates if you want to.

Also, I have some concerns about buying Asus GPUs at Lazada as the Asus GPUs are sold by either a 'Asus Gamer Shop' or a 'J Cyber Store' which gives me some concerns about warranty issues as who is supposed to fufill the terms of warranty if there are any? I would recommend getting an Asus GPU only if the GPUs are sold direct from Ban Leong, the distributer of Asus Nvidia GPUs.

However, the Zotac GPUs are sold by Tech-Dynamic who is the local distributer of Zotac GPUs and thus there is the guarantee that you will have a warranty in case of GPU spoilage.

good point, overlooked that..

coz so far i never use zotac before, is either asus or gigabyte,

 

[Gene46]

Hi guys,

Does anyone know the pricing of the following components in SLS (which shops?). I'm not being lazy, I just work overseas and can't go myself. If anyone can estimate or can help with the pricing I would be very grateful!

CPU: Intel Core i7 5930K/5960X.
Motherboard: Asus Rampage V Extreme./ X99- Deluxe
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB / 32GB ddr4 2666mhz
Graphics: GTX 980 SLI
PSU: Corsair AX1200i.
SSD: M.2 256GB.
SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 256GB

HDD: Western Digital Red 4TB / 6TB

 

[Alternative X]

Hi guys,

Does anyone know the pricing of the following components in SLS (which shops?). I'm not being lazy, I just work overseas and can't go myself. If anyone can estimate or can help with the pricing I would be very grateful!

CPU: Intel Core i7 5930K/5960X.
Motherboard: Asus Rampage V Extreme./ X99- Deluxe
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB / 32GB ddr4 2666mhz
Graphics: GTX 980 SLI
PSU: Corsair AX1200i.
SSD: M.2 256GB.
SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 256GB

HDD: Western Digital Red 4TB / 6TB

Motherboard + CPU: Asus Rampage V Extreme (+i7 5930K (1412)/5960X (2007))/ X99- Deluxe (+i7 5930K (1316)/5960X (1911))
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB / 32GB DDR4 2666mhz (405/790)
Graphics: Zotac GTX 980 SLI (1596)
PSU: Corsair AX1200i (438)
SSD: Crucial M.2 240GB (178)
SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 256GB (275)

HDD: Western Digital Red 4TB (224)

Also, why do you need such expensive components?

 

[davchoong]

Hello! I need a built for purely gaming. Budget about $1500. Without any peripherals. Including SSD and OS. I am gonna play BF4, Assassin's Creed Unity etc. and some free online MMORPG/FPS games (Mid to high settings). Thx

 

[Jian19]

Hello! I need a built for purely gaming. Budget about $1500. Without any peripherals. Including SSD and OS. I am gonna play BF4, Assassin's Creed Unity etc. and some free online MMORPG/FPS games (Mid to high settings). Thx

i5-4460 + Msi b85m g43 ~ $335
Crucial 8gb ddr3 ~ $100
Crucial mx100 256gb ssd ~ $155
Wd blue 1tb ~ $67
Msi gtx970 armor edition ~ $499
Lg dvd rom ~ $21
Fsp aurum s 500w ~ $89
Fractal design arc midi r2 ~ $130
Win7 64 oem ~ $115

$1511 buy and DIY @ tradepac ask for discount. If no sure how to DIY can bring to gs shop ask him help u assemble @ a fee.

 

[Gene46]

Motherboard + CPU: Asus Rampage V Extreme (+i7 5930K (1412)/5960X (2007))/ X99- Deluxe (+i7 5930K (1316)/5960X (1911))
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB / 32GB DDR4 2666mhz (405/790)
Graphics: Zotac GTX 980 SLI (1596)
PSU: Corsair AX1200i (438)
SSD: Crucial M.2 240GB (178)
SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 256GB (275)

HDD: Western Digital Red 4TB (224)

Also, why do you need such expensive components?

Thank you for your answer. I'm building my first gaming rig. Its a bit of a showpiece extreme build. I'm still thinking of which components to spec. I'm looking at playing 1440p at ultra. There is a dual water cool loop for the gpu, memory, cpu and mobo as well.

Do you think the 5960x is worth the money? I plan to OC the GPU, CPU and RAM.