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

[runforyourlife]

but for his requirement ain;t 560ti good enough? why need 580?

 

[playableman]

but for his requirement ain;t 560ti good enough? why need 580?

560ti is good, he doesnt have a tight budget for it... and he wants max graphics.

 

[dynamojack]

jus wanna know...is it true tat amd mobo is better to be paired with radeon (and intel with nvidia?)

 

[wtfh4x]

jus wanna know...is it true tat amd mobo is better to be paired with radeon (and intel with nvidia?)

No it doesn't matter.

 

[the_kille4]

X79 system

I currently roll on a Core i7 920 system and I'm planning an upgrade. So I'm more or less decided on getting one based on the Core i7 3830K which is used on a X79 motherboard. Main uses would be gaming, modelling, video encoding and other bunch of stuff. My main upgrade cycle (ie cpu) would be three years or at least when the next "tock" processor comes out till then I will just be changing the graphic card to the HD 7970. I am sorted with the majority of the stuff since I am just going to use old parts and here is the outline below.

CPU: Intel Core i7 3830K
Graphix: Sapphire HD 6970 2GB (Old)
PSU: Corsair AX750 (Old)
SSD: Crucial M4 128GB
HDD: Hitachi 3TB (for music, movies and other software)
Optical Drive: LG Blu-ray (Old)
Case: Fractal Design Define R3 (Old)
Sound Card: Creative Recon 3D

That is obviously not everything that I will be using. So here are some ideas/questions that I have.

From the look at the price lists that are online at this moment in time, there are two major problems that I face. One would be the choice of RAM and the other would be the choice of motherboard + cpu cooler.

Frankly, the choice of RAM is limited. The only thing that I could choose are the G.Skill Ripjaws-X 2133MHz 4X4GB set. Now, where are the rest? I wonder. For the new X79 chipset, the RAM needs to be quad-channel and support XMP 1.3 and can go up to 1.65v. That essentially means that you need to buy a new set of RAM. There are supposed to be 3 other companies selling such RAM. These are Corsair with their Dominator series, Kingston and the Hyper-X and finally Division 4 Viper Extreme from Patriot Memory. Although the G.Skill does retail less here than in the US must be a good thing right?

The second point that I would like to make is the choice of motherboard and cpu cooler. In most scenarios, buying a new board means buying a new cpu cooler. I have two scenarios here.

1. Buy the Gigabyte X79-UD3 or the MSI X79A-GD45 with the best cpu cooler on the market. That would make it a notch under 1.4k SGD.

2. Wait for the Asus Rampage IV Formula to come out and using the X-Socket, port my current cooler over to the new one. Should make it about 1.3k SGD. Might be easier to gauge the price when Ban Leong gets the Extreme imported.

The cheaper alternative would be to go for Ivy Bridge when it is launched next year, however I want to build my rig within the year since I do not know when I will go back to Japan for uni and I would like to build it in Singapore.

So do you have any ideas on how I should tackle this build?

 

[cyberwave]

gskill has new rams made for x79 alr. they're ripjaws-z & come in sets of 4dimms

 

[lxxsam]

Hey All

Buying a new system and need some feedback on the stuff I chose.
Scouted around the forums/pricelist and this is the build i came up with. Thinking of going down to sim lim to buy this weekend.

Monitor: Samsung S24A350H - $345
OPTION 1 - CPU+MB: Intel Core i5-2500K + Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3-B3 @ $494
OPTION 2 - CPU+MB: Intel Core i5-2500K + Gigabyte GA-Z68P-DS3-B3 @ $444
RAM: G.Skill RipJawX 1866 mhz 4g X2 @ $125
GPU: MSI 560 Ti 1GB Twin Frozr ll - $340
HDD: Hitachi 1TB 7200 RPM - $180
SSD: Corsair Force 3 120 GB Sata 3 - $270
ODD: Sony Optiarc 24X CD/DVD Writer [Retail] @ $30
PSU: FSP Aurum 600W [80 Plus Gold] @ $135
OS: Window 7 home premium 32/64 bit - $115
Keyboard: Steelseries Mech Stealth - $139
Mouse: Razer – Lachesis

Option 1- Total: $2158 (w/ monitor)
Option 2 - Total: $2108 (w/ monitor)

Any feedback on which motherboard i should choose? What are the considerations? ALso which store should i go to to buy all these?

Thanks!

 

[playableman]

Hey All

Buying a new system and need some feedback on the stuff I chose.
Scouted around the forums/pricelist and this is the build i came up with. Thinking of going down to sim lim to buy this weekend.

Monitor: Samsung S24A350H - $345
OPTION 1 - CPU+MB: Intel Core i5-2500K + Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3-B3 @ $494
OPTION 2 - CPU+MB: Intel Core i5-2500K + Gigabyte GA-Z68P-DS3-B3 @ $444
RAM: G.Skill RipJawX 1866 mhz 4g X2 @ $125
GPU: MSI 560 Ti 1GB Twin Frozr ll - $340
HDD: Hitachi 1TB 7200 RPM - $180
SSD: Corsair Force 3 120 GB Sata 3 - $270
ODD: Sony Optiarc 24X CD/DVD Writer [Retail] @ $30
PSU: FSP Aurum 600W [80 Plus Gold] @ $135
OS: Window 7 home premium 32/64 bit - $115
Keyboard: Steelseries Mech Stealth - $139
Mouse: Razer – Lachesis

Option 1- Total: $2158 (w/ monitor)
Option 2 - Total: $2108 (w/ monitor)

Any feedback on which motherboard i should choose? What are the considerations? ALso which store should i go to to buy all these?

Thanks!

For me , option 2.
Find Terrence at MyNextcom.
Reason : Charge lower price than PC Themes
If he is not there, go PC Themes.
For hdd, recommend reusing as prices are dramatically high.

 

[lxxsam]

Thanks Playableman. Thinking of reusing my HDD, but my current HDD is 160gb and 5-6 years old. I guess i will use that and buy new HDD when prices drop below $90 again.

What are your reasons for choosing option 2?

Also, is the graphics card good enough for BF3, MW3, D3, etc?
Is there a better graphics card out there that i should consider if i dont mind paying slightly more? Thanks.

 

[playableman]

Thanks Playableman. Thinking of reusing my HDD, but my current HDD is 160gb and 5-6 years old. I guess i will use that and buy new HDD when prices drop below $90 again.

What are your reasons for choosing option 2?

Also, is the graphics card good enough for BF3, MW3, D3, etc?
Is there a better graphics card out there that i should consider if i dont mind paying slightly more? Thanks.

The features for option 1 and 2 is roughly the same.. You should consider Asrock Z68 Extreme 4 Gen 3 too.
Playing high settings games such as BF3 and MW3, D3 , MSI 560 ti Twin frozr ll will be the most value for $$

 

[lxxsam]

Thanks! Prob wont get the ASRock cause its quite a bit more expensive!

I read up online and now Im keen to get a 120hz screen. Also, to take advantage of that, thought of getting a better graphic card. Here's my new build:

Total: $2009 (w/o monitor) $2557 (w/ monitor)
Monitor: Samsung S23A750D - $548 (Bizgram)
CPU+MB: Intel Core i7-2600K + Gigabyte GA-Z68P-DS3-B3 @ $585
RAM: G.Skill RipJawX 1866 mhz 4g X2 @ $125
GPU: MSI 570 1.2GB Twin Frozr III - $515
SSD: Corsair Force 3 120 GB Sata 3 - $270
HD: Old 160GB - $0
ODD: Sony Optiarc 24X CD/DVD Writer [Retail] @ $30
PSU: FSP Aurum 600W [80 Plus Gold] @ $135
OS: Window 7 home premium 32/64 bit - $115
Keyboard: Steelseries Mech Stealth - $139
Mouse: Razer – Lachesis - $95

Any comments on this? E.g. am i wasting money on useless features?

Will intend to rely on my SSD for now until HDD prices come down. Wont be saving data or what not on my PC for now.. will leave those on my macbook. just windows and my games, so i guess i dont need to get a HDD now.

 

[darty1987]

Hello

My computer can't startup for some reason and i am thinking of bringing it to SLS for it to be troubleshooted

Also thinking of upgrading the motherboard, processor and possibly the GPU

Any recommendations on what to get? (Looking at something below 600-ish?)

I am currently using
MB & Processor : MSI P35 Neo2-FR with an Intel Core2 Duo Processor E8200
GPU : Powercolor HD 5750
Ram : 2 x 2GB DDR2-800 CL5 SDRAM
PSU : Coolermaster ExtremeMaster 550w


Will probably reuse my HD and PSU (Assuming the problem doesn't lie in them)

Is it worth upgrading my old components? (As in will i see a significant boost in performance)

Using my computer mainly for gaming (SC2 Skyrim D3)

Thank You

 

[squaredk]

gaming rig for hdtv under 2k

Hello all,

Need help with deciding what system/spec my gaming rig should have. No intention to OC.
Am going to use it with my Samsung HDTV for purposes of gaming(BF3,Skyrim,SC2) at highest setting and watching movies/tv shows, with a budget of about 2K.

Thinking of heading down to SLS to get parts and have it assembled.

Any suggestions? Appreciate any and all help!

 

[lxxsam]

Hey squaredk

You could try the build i just bought at simlim today..

CPU+MB: Intel Core i5-2500K + Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
RAM: G.Skill RipJawX 1600 mhz 4g X2
GPU: MSI 560ti 1GB Twin Frozr II
SSD: Corsair Force 3 120 GB Sata 3 - $270
ODD: Sony Optiarc 24X CD/DVD Writer [Retail] @ $30
PSU: seasonic 850w (80+bronze)
OS: Window 7 home premium 32/64 bit - $115

Total bill came to $1560, inclusive of $10 assembly, from PC Themes.

my monitor, samsunf s23a950d was $570 from cybermind.


I have a question though. my monitor supports 120hz, but when i go to desktop and check display properties, the max i can see and select is 60hz. Why is that so?

Can someone help me with this? How do i change to 120hz?

 

[terence52]

Hey squaredk

You could try the build i just bought at simlim today..

CPU+MB: Intel Core i5-2500K + Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
RAM: G.Skill RipJawX 1600 mhz 4g X2
GPU: MSI 560ti 1GB Twin Frozr II
SSD: Corsair Force 3 120 GB Sata 3 - $270
ODD: Sony Optiarc 24X CD/DVD Writer [Retail] @ $30
PSU: seasonic 850w (80+bronze)
OS: Window 7 home premium 32/64 bit - $115

Total bill came to $1560, inclusive of $10 assembly, from PC Themes.

my monitor, samsunf s23a950d was $570 from cybermind.


I have a question though. my monitor supports 120hz, but when i go to desktop and check display properties, the max i can see and select is 60hz. Why is that so?

Can someone help me with this? How do i change to 120hz?

Not a good build tbh.

CPU+MB: Intel Core i5-2400 + Msi P67A-G45 - 436
RAM: G.Skill 1333mhz 4GBx2 - 52
GPU: MSI GTX580 1.5GB TFII - 665
SSD: Adata S510 120GB - 250
ODD: Hp 1260I - 26
PSU: Fsp Aurum 600W - 130
Casing: Coolermaster Haf912 Advanced - 135
OS: Window 7 home premium 64 bit - $115
Total: 1809

 

[BryanWu]

I agree, the system won't even use more than 300w.
850w is too much. should have gone with a more efficient smaller psu
that produces less than heat and saves electricity.

 

[lxxsam]

The guy at the shop told me i should get 850w because i may sli in the future.
i was actually planning to get the fsp aurum 600w but he recommended this 850w instead...

 

[ZeChowVictoria]

I will be building my first rig ever, so here's the build I want, will be getting from pc themes. Any opinions on anything I should change?

Intel core i5 2500k
Asus p8h67 pro
Team elite 1600 MHz ddr3 4gbX2
Power color hd6970 PCS+
Cooler Master silent pro m1000w
Cooler Master HAF 912
Samsung spin point f3 1tb
Sony 24x DVD
Windows 7 home premium

Oc: yes, both CPU and gpu.
i5 @ ~4.4ghz

Crossfire: planning to trifire with a hd 6990

 

[cyberwave]

h67 cannot oc. or is it u typo?

 

[BryanWu]

I will be building my first rig ever, so here's the build I want, will be getting from pc themes. Any opinions on anything I should change?

Intel core i5 2500k
Asus p8h67 pro
Team elite 1600 MHz ddr3 4gbX2
Power color hd6970 PCS+
Cooler Master silent pro m1000w
Cooler Master HAF 912
Samsung spin point f3 1tb
Sony 24x DVD
Windows 7 home premium

Oc: yes, both CPU and gpu.
i5 @ ~4.4ghz

Crossfire: planning to trifire with a hd 6990

go for 80plus gold or platinum. it'll save quite a bit of elec for such a high powered multi gpu system.

and yeah h67 can't oc. get a p67 or z68. and make sure the board supports 8x8x pci-e