So I've decided to build a new PC from scratch here in Brisbane, Aus.
However I have one problem. Aside from opening a PC to install a graphics card I have no idea what I need in a PC.
So I ask you, friends, to help me on my quest to build a PC so that I may rejoin my fellow Brotoss's in exploiting the latest patches.
I'm looking for the budget to be under $2000, and for the computer to be able to run current gen games. I prefer the cost to be $1,500 ± $350
Parts I need
Processor (i7 2600k, i5-2500K, i7 2600, i5 2500)
Motherboard (Asus P8Z68, P67, GB Z68XP-UD3)
Graphics card (GTX 570/Radeon HD 6970 or better, Gigabyte GTX 570, 560ti 448 special edition)
P.S. I would also appreciate it if you recommend me certain brands/models for each part, as well as places near Brisbane or online where I can get them.
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Allez TCP!
: TCPLemminks.185
Piglet Pig! Piglet Pig!
Last edited by TCPLemminks; Thu, 24th-May-2012 at 11:15 PM.
Bro, for 2k you can get a TOP of the range PC, and you'll definitely want a quad-core. You can even chuck in an SSD with that budget and your PC will be beast. ^_^
I'll let the smart people give you specifics, but aim for
An i7 of some kind
GTX 570/Radeon HD 6970 or better, you could maybe even get two depending on your other specs
Don't know about sound cards.
Get a 60/120gb SSD as well as a 1tb HDD. The 1tb HDD doesn't cost much more than like 250gb so it's definitely worth it for the extra space, and the SSD speed is noticeable.
Just get 8GB RAM, it's easily within your budget and it's better to get 8GB as in the long run newer games will still run even when your PC is getting old.
EDIT: If you build it yourself you can get it for even cheaper, therefore you can buy an extra monitor etc. as 2+ monitors is always useful. Man with that budget you can even throw in gaming mouse/keyboard/headset. :P
EDIT2: Since nicknack posted a complete suggestion, I'll do one as well. It's from an online ebay store but I got my computer from them and I can definitely vouch for speed/service/helpfulness if you have any problems. For your budget, I'd suggest this computer with some upgrades: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/INTEL-Cor...t_11046wt_1397
* You can upgrade the cooling fan/heatsink if you wish, but I don't think its necessary, my computer doesn't really overheat with similar specs.
* Upgrade to P67 or Z68 Motherboard (+$39)
* Extra 60/120gb SSD (+$109/$189)
* Extra 22" LCD (+$139)
End PC:
i7 2600k @ 3.4GHz (able to be overclocked)
GTX 580 Graphics Card
8GB RAM
120gb SSD + 1tb HDD
22" LCD Monitor (the extra one assuming you already have one)
Z68 Motherboard
24x CD/DVD +RW /-RW drive (24x Dual Layer DVD burner)
Onboard 7.1 CH High Definition Audio
Total Cost: $1696, so you can still afford a liquid cooler if that's what you're after.
Above is just a suggestion of a recommended setup for your budget, you can find it cheaper if you wish to buy the parts yourself but anything worse than the above setup and you're being ripped off. GL
___________________________________ http://www.clan-ta.com | TALoSt#281 - Feel free to message me anytime for practice games!
Last edited by [TA]LoSt; Sat, 10th-Mar-2012 at 6:10 PM.
My brother is selling his PC its a beast you want to buy it 2nd hand I can get you the specs. Also he is selling his monitor which is like 26 inchs I THINK I will let you know.
whoops, perhaps my budget is a little too high, I'm sure my parents don't mind^^.
Would there be anything else that I need to add to the list of parts I need?
And yes I am planning to build it myself, that being said are there any good tutorials on building a PC online or anywhere?
However if someone does recommend me a good completed PC I might just be lazy and get that .
edit: Updated the OP with recommendations made by above guys (thx lost)
___________________________________
Allez TCP!
: TCPLemminks.185
Piglet Pig! Piglet Pig!
Last edited by TCPLemminks; Sat, 10th-Mar-2012 at 10:09 PM.
whoops, perhaps my budget is a little too high, I'm sure my parents don't mind^^.
Would there be anything else that I need to add to the list of parts I need?
And yes I am planning to build it myself, that being said are there any good tutorials on building a PC online or anywhere?
LoSt gave pretty good advice. Bear in mind software costs if you are buying it legally. - that will take it up. With that budget, here's some of my personal picks for you (this is what I'd get in your situation) - all from Umart
Hardware
i7 2600k $315
Asus P8Z68 $197
G.skill 8G Ripjaw 1333 $48
Gigabyte GTX 570 $369
Noctua NH-D14 PWM Cooler $94
LGE BluRay Combo $64
Seagate 2TB SATA HDD $144
*Intel 320 Series 120GB SSD $215
**Coolermaster 922M $118
Total: $1564 w/ SSD
($1349 w/out SSD)
*SSDs I feel are optional and don't make that big of a difference for most of my gaming, but I don't play the real latest releases etc. also I go for a 2TB HDD coz I need space man - I'm a media fiend!. Sure SSDs are great, but there's a good chance you won't really need it depending what you're playing. For me, it's something I'd leave out of the initial build and maybe get one later down the track as an upgrade. Same for a 2nd video card (was disappointed that the improvement from SLI wasn't as big as I hoped)
**Don't know that the case will fit the Noctua cooler, I am going from memory but when I bought my Antec 902 it was a tossup between it and a Coolermaster that I think was the 922M. I regretted my decision of the Antec (which didn't fit most coolers). Do some research before choosing this please
Most of the time when it comes to brands for things like video cards and mother boards, I couldn't care less. Some people do. Adjust as you wish
Windows, you have options: OEM
Home Premium 64bit OEM from Umart: $94 (look at the difference in versions, Home Premium is probably fine) Full Version
Home Premium from Microsoft.com $299
I think when it comes to Operating System software, you're probably better off paying and not worrying about anti-piracy rubbish if you can find a cheap option. Even the expensive options are well within your budget.
Do whatever you want with Office
If you work or go to uni, it might be worth checking if they have any deal with microsoft. I've bought Office for $15 through a partnership program and Windows for like $100 through uni before)
I just buy my monitors from Dell.com because they are cheap and come with good Dell warranty, and I don't place much importance on having refresh rate <5ms. I have friends that do in which case, look for that
If you go with an SSD in your initital build, you'd spend $1564 on hardware, $94 on OEM windows leaving $312, which could go to your monitor. If you don't skimp on it, you'll use your budget. I'd go without the SSD to start with though, save some money, then add one later if/when you need
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Last edited by breadfan; Sat, 10th-Mar-2012 at 11:23 PM.
hmm... you won't need an i7 if you're going to be gaming. you only need the i7 if you want multi thread rendering. get an i5 2500k and bump your gtx 570 to 580. or get like a corsair h100 for cooling .
hmm... you won't need an i7 if you're going to be gaming. you only need the i7 if you want multi thread rendering. get an i5 2500k and bump your gtx 570 to 580. or get like a corsair h100 for cooling .
For his budget, he can afford to upgrade to a 580 without dropping to i5. Again, the difference is minimal and you personally won't notice it unless you're doing a lot of shit at once, but I'd recommend sticking with the i7 regardless. ^_^ Your current build is fine, really similar to the one I suggested and will be a beast PC.
___________________________________ http://www.clan-ta.com | TALoSt#281 - Feel free to message me anytime for practice games!
Pretty much everything above this post I can agree with ^_^.
One thing to consider though is that Ivy bridge is due for release at the end of april (month and a half away), so if you're not in a huge hurry it may be worth the wait.
Other than that, maybe upgrade those G.Skill ripjaws to the 1600Mhz model? I know RAM clock speed doesn't make a huge difference with sandy bridge, but the price difference is minimal and 1600 is pretty much the norm at the moment. And lastly, perhaps consider a better SSD. Read/write speed is ~250MB/s, whereas for a small price increase you can snag an SSD of the same capacity with a read/write speed of ~500MB/s. My suggestion would be this (or the Intel equivalent here).
Pretty much everything above this post I can agree with ^_^.
One thing to consider though is that Ivy bridge is due for release at the end of april (month and a half away), so if you're not in a huge hurry it may be worth the wait.
Other than that, maybe upgrade those G.Skill ripjaws to the 1600Mhz model? I know RAM clock speed doesn't make a huge difference with sandy bridge, but the price difference is minimal and 1600 is pretty much the norm at the moment. And lastly, perhaps consider a better SSD. Read/write speed is ~250MB/s, whereas for a small price increase you can snag an SSD of the same capacity with a read/write speed of ~500MB/s. My suggestion would be this (or the Intel equivalent here).
I'm guessing he's not planning on overclocking his CPU therefore won't get any benefit from anything above 1333 (unless this changed with Sandy Bridge or will with Ivy Bridge, but to my knowledge standard un-overclocked core i7 won't utilise memory clock over 1333), so it's a redundant cost
Thx for the replies so far guys. I'm planning to go price shopping tomorrow at the umart and MSY near my place.
As a side note, I'm a complete noob at hardware (in case that isn't evident) so I'll most likely not be overclocking or making any other alterations unless you guys would advise it.
Right updated the OP with lowest prices I could find from MSY vs Umart and added a link to the model because I don't know if they're the ones you guys were talking about (there were so many ).
one dilemma I currently have is with the sound card. I also found this one and I'm not sure if it's better than the one I've chosen.
Also the speakers say 2.1-5.1 only, while the sound card is 7.1. Should I be worried about this? does this mean it's better to get a 5.1 sound card instead?
___________________________________
Allez TCP!
: TCPLemminks.185
Piglet Pig! Piglet Pig!
Last edited by TCPLemminks; Mon, 12th-Mar-2012 at 5:57 PM.
Also the speakers say 2.1-5.1 only, while the sound card is 7.1. Should I be worried about this? does this mean it's better to get a 5.1 sound card instead?
7.1 sound has 7.1 out ports (the .1 is the sub). The set up is then 1 under or above the viewed object and Front left/right, center left/right and rear left/right. If you only have 5.1 sound you simply dont use the 2 center channels. 2.1 sound does not have rear or 1 at the object. Basically number of speakers determine how many channels you can use.
Long and short of it you will have out put you dont have enough speakers to plug into all the ports. How ever if you get more speakers later you can use them perhaps. Some speakers will come with an amp like set up so they only have a front rear cable you plug in via the sub woofer as in you will need a new set up to make use of all your sound card can do. I think the price difference is about $30 so I would just get the 7.1 sound card.
you don't need an i7 2600K if you're not overclocking, get the i7 2600. The only difference is the overclocking. BUT you might want to keep the i7 2600k if you want to overclock later when it might be neccesary.
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