[CasualPlayer]

Hello guys,
thinking it will be a good place to ask here.

Can you guys recommend me sites which I can buy custom desktops since its usually a lot more expensive when buying ready made desktops. I live in Brunei so would need them to be able to ship internationally.

Appreciate if someone can guide me here or I guess I'll stick with dell. lol. As I have no idea how to assemble my own pc or a place i can get help from.

Thanks

David

[Cordance]

There has to be somewhere "local" to you try your local directories white pages, yellow pages or what ever they have in Brunei that is similar. If you cant find a place in Brunei you should be able to get it shipped from somewhere near by. Just be careful of hidden costs like taxes you may have to pay on such products.
Google is your friend remember when buying a computer its kind of like buying a new car. Asking about price and what it can do is standard, shopping around is how you get the best deal. http://www.conceptscomputer.com/press2.html Google found this might be worth a look its kind of old.

[VB_WhiplashJC]

Yeah, you don't want to buy from overseas and have to ship it back for warranty claims.

[MazEi]

I really recommend buying individual parts and putting it together yourself since its cheaper. If you can't assemble it yourself you could probably go and ask for help from your friends or the shop or something.

Quick Comments

	FaDeEvetS:
	ToRDjvillian:	never built before and building now. really easy and i love my half done beast

[ToRSpartaz]

Once i get the moneys, Im gunna build my own beast of a computer

[CasualPlayer]

Thanks for the replies.

1) AMD FX-6100 6CORE 3.3GHZ - Processor
2) ASROCK 970FX EXTREME 4 - Motherboard
3) ASUS GTX550 T1 1GB - Graphic
4) CORSAIR PSU 80PLUS 600W CX600 -PSU
5) WD 500GB HARD DISK - HDD
6) SSD CORSAIR FORCE SERIES3 120GB - SSD
7) HYPER X 4GB X 2PCS MEMORY KIT 1600 - Ram
8) NZXT MODEL LEXA-S MID-TOWER - Casing
9) PIONEER DVD/RW WRITER

It cost close to 2k here to assemble this rig. Is it worth it ? Or anything you guys would change to fit it better ? It's quite pricey for their parts here.

[FSDarkNemesis]

I reckon now is NOT a good time to buy Solid State Hard Drives, prices right now have shot all the way through the roof after the Thailand floods and it's not even funny.

Quick Comments

ToRDjvillian:

ssd prices are generally more expensive per gigabyte. HDD are a crap load more expensive due to the thailand floods

[VB_WhiplashJC]

Yeah that is expensive for what you're getting.

Intel is better value than AMD except at the very low end at the moment. I think an i3-2130 would be cheaper and faster, and an i5 2320 certainly would be faster and not cost much more.

Could go a bit cheaper on the PSU
Antec Neo Eco 520C 520W (byo power cord)

I'd cut the SSD down to a 64GB if it meant you could get a 560Ti. I disagree with the above, SSDs haven't been effected by the floods, only HDDs have been, at least where I shop.

You can save some more by getting cheaper ram, (ie kingston valueRAM). You won't notice the difference in timings (if there is one) and you don't need heat spreaders.

[CasualPlayer]

Thanks for the input whiplash. will scout for a cheaper solution

[VB_WhiplashJC]

Is the above price list chosen by you or the shop? Generally builds listed by shops aren't the best value. See if you can just send the shop a parts list for them to build for you.

[CasualPlayer]

Yup the components are chosen by the shop sales rep .

[ToRDjvillian]

Here is an sc2sea thread that contains builds that most members have. maybe have a look and see what looks good.

http://www.sc2sea.com/showthread.php?t=2317

I personally think 120g ssd are the good size to use but thats simply cause thats the size ssd i have in my laptop and i have 10gigs space left with BF3, SC2, music & iphone apps as well as windows.

Quick Comments

Frogmite:

[FSDarkNemesis]

Quote Djvillian:
ssd prices are generally more expensive per gigabyte. HDD are a crap load more expensive due to the thailand floods

Well I'm not sure about that but still it isn't a good time for Hard Drives right now IMO. Save what you want now give me back my Rep Point back!

[MazEi]

I recommend you hold back on the SSD. Even your HDD, just because its way too friggin expensive at the moment. Do you have an extra HDD from your old rig you could use? If you could, maybe go with that.

As for processor, do you need this computer really soon? If not then I would recommend waiting for Intel's Ivy Bridge which will start sale around April-ish. If not then I would recommend an i5-2500 as it would perform well enough.

For GPU, I recommend the GTX560Ti. I really feel like this GPU is kinda value for money.

If you are then clueless about what to get as a whole, here's a build which I found somewhere that I'm quite sure could run SC2 on Ultra and shouldn't be THAT expensive.

Processor - Intel Core i5 2500K
GPU - MSI GTX560 Ti Twin Frozr II( that's what the guy put in the build but really a cheaper version of this same card will do. I got myself one by Leadtek which was pretty cheap)
Mobo - MSI P67A-GD55
PSU - SeaSonic Silence 500W ( You can get higher than this and it'll be fine as I believe that you shouldn't skimp on it, though you don't need like >800W or anything)
RAM - Kingston Value 4GB DDR3
HDD - Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB ( Or if you have an extra HDD you can re-use, try to do that, HDDs are super expensive now)
Case - Thermaltake V3 or CM Elite
CD Drive - LiteOn DVD Drive( I'm pretty sure this is like the cheapest on the market which is somewhat reliable)

Note: Things not in brackets are just what I copied from the build. This build should outperform the build you put on this thread, except the SSD part but do you really need an SSD? Shops usually will recommend rigs which aren't really value for money since hey, why should they if they can get some extra cash out of it. Like having 8GB of RAM, unless you plan on running every program on your computer at once and you have 64-bit Windows, its useless.

TL;DR : Just read the build I put up. It's good for your soul =)

And once again, just try, TRY, to put everything together yourself. It's a ton of fun going through the process and it really is much much much simpler than you think.

[CasualPlayer]

Thanks for the comment mazei.

I recently found out about this build and sent to the shop here to ask for a price on it. Here's the breakdown

Intel Core i5 2500 - $410
ASRock Z68 Pro Motherboard - $300
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 8GB Kit - $160
Palit GTX 560Ti 1GB - $480
Corsair H60 - $160
Samsung 500GB - $180
LiteOn 24X DVD Writer - $60
Antec 100 Lite Gaming Case - $120
Antec Neo Eco 620W - $160

All the prices are in BND/SGD totalling $2,030. What do you guys think of it ?

There's another build which the guy from the shop recommended me as below

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Processor - $280
Magic Pro MP-A9GX Extreme Motherboard - $250
Corsair DDR3 1333 4GB Memory - $70
Powercolor AX6870 1GB GDDR5 PCIE VGA Card - $400
Samsung 500GB - $180
LiteOn 24X DVD Writer - $60
Antec 100 Lite Gaming Case - $120
Antec Neo Eco 520W Power Supply - $150

This build totals up to $1510. Enlighten me please.. Thanks

[MazEi]

I would go with the first build, but again, just 4GB of RAM, and the cheapest ones will do. Trust me, unless you strain every fiber in your body, there is no difference between the fastest ever RAM and just a Kingston Value one. Motherboard could just have a cheaper one since a motherboard is just something that holds everything together so you just need one that has the right socket and a PCI-E slot and etc.. Casing is up to you, if you want something nice looking, go ahead and fork out more cash =). Others than that the first build I feel is the way to go.

[Meatex]

one thing i would recommend extremely is that you spend some solid time and thought on your PSU
yes thats right.
Case and PSU - you'd be surprised how people just go meh i'll skimp on those to get a better video card only to have BSOD's creep in because the PSU that should be able to manage everything can't quite

This goes double if you hope to upgrade your computer modularly (is that a word :P) in the future - like change CPU, vid card, add extra PCIE cards etc. You want to good case, good motherboard and good PSU as your priorities. Mazei has a point if you just want to bin your computer and rebuild a whole new one in future but motherboard isn't just something that holds cpu, ram and vid card. Bad motherboard will cause problems and will limit adaptability

Also a not on SSD's - sectors WILL die. from the second you start writing onto its days are numbered. Each sector has a limited number of write cycles before it kicks the bucket. This is prolonged by having system randomly write all over the drive equally (fragmentation is good) and the SSD will have extra backup space for when sectors die to prevent data loss. Exact life of your SSD will depend on how your use it and actually how much space that you use on it. So you should think how much data you will want on the SSD when thinking about which size - if you play a lot of games and your current C: and games drive is 58GB or so you'd want a 128GB SSD cause more free space means longer life span

[ToRDjvillian]

Originally Posted by UltimateDeep

Quote Djvillian:
ssd prices are generally more expensive per gigabyte. HDD are a crap load more expensive due to the thailand floods

Well I'm not sure about that but still it isn't a good time for Hard Drives right now IMO. Save what you want now give me back my Rep Point back!

When I wrote that hdd are a crap load more expected I was referring to comparisons between what they used to be priced. Eg. MSY have a special promotion for a hdd, was $249 now $369

[MazEi]

Well Meatex the way I see it, the things you would change later on would be maybe adding more RAM, getting a different GPU, or add more HDD/SSD. While the GPU might also need a PSU change if you skimp on the PSU(which is why I say you shouldn't), the rest should be fine with just about any mobo from just about any vendor afaik. I doubt you would change processors so quickly, and even if you do right as the next architecture comes out or something, it usually needs a new socket(except for cases like Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge both using 1155), thus needing a new mobo anyways. Going for SLI or Xfire is kind of iffy to me since it would need higher power(those bills =D) and you would have to buy an expensive mobo for it.

And I think we should also look at it from the OP's point of view. I don't think he's the type that would really need/want the best of the best hardware, just something that could probably get him the next 3-4 years of gaming through. Yeah this is a huge generalization I'm making but I feel its a fair one.

And yeah, read Meatex's SSD part, kinda important to factor in if you don't plan on changing computers soon-ish. Though from what I read the lifespan of it is something like 5 years or something so if you keep track on it its fine. But again, do you really need an SSD?

[CasualPlayer]

Alright so i think i will be going with the first build with some changes

Intel Core i5 2500 - $410 ok
ASRock Z68 Pro Motherboard - $300 ok
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 8GB Kit - $160 4gb
Palit GTX 560Ti 1GB - $480 ok
Corsair H60 - $160 ok?
Samsung 500GB - $180 ok
LiteOn 24X DVD Writer - $60 ok
Antec 100 Lite Gaming Case - $120 ok
Antec Neo Eco 620W - $160 ok

Basically just a change to the ram. Do i need the Cooler H60 ?
And also any recommendations on monitor ? thinking to get one around 22-24"

Thanks for the advice