[|Erasmus|]

Yeah... anything more expensive than that is just for a few more degrees to OC as far as possible, or to do it really quietly. That should be fine for a decent overclock, though.

[neon]

on SSD's, definitely.

Intel SSD 180GB 330 Series SATA III 6Gb/s, 25nm, MLC, read/write speed 500/450MB/s $235 (Umart).

http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products...id=2&sid=91954

I would recommend that, install all your most used applications and games on it and your life will just be better. Everything you open for the first time loads faster, which is just fantastic from my experience. I'd rather be doing whatever I want to be doing than waiting for it to happen, does add up over time!

I currently have 2 x 40GB SSD's in RAID0 and the performance has degraded quite a lot since I first set it up, once you can have HDD TRIM and RAID0 (the chips are close !) this wont' be such a problem. However just 1 drive for now would be fine, just try work out how much space you require as it sucks to run out, in spite of the easy "just buy bigger later" or "just get a second video card later" and "just over-clock later" I don't really see people ever following through with it and it IS a hassle. (not saying no one does, but just generally speaking).

GW2 and D3 I see as games that will definitely benefit a lot from faster load times, the more you play the more return on investment you get !

Get 16GB Memory, in spite of everyone saying you don't need even 8GB, it's not that expensive, I only have 4GB in my current build and my system often has to page things to disk so 8 minimum, but with the cost 16GB, I can't really think of any reason not too unless you really want to save money(which is fine!) but the idea of completely disabling page file sounds nice.

Get a Hydro cooler, if not for the over-clock (which I can show you how to do safely if you'd like) but I also find it's really a lot quieter which for me is something I personally like. H80 is probably fine, I got a H50 when they first came out and it has had no issues, one thing to note as a rookie to PC building, installing a heat-sink is usually one of the most daunting tasks as they sometimes require a bit of effort, and this cooler (if it's like the H50), may require some assistance installing and a bit of force. I'd do it for the noise factor alone even if I didn't over-clock, but just giving you some perspective.

Most on-board sound cards these days are pretty good, I'm curious as to why you would require an alternate with those speakers ? I know you can get some really low latency sound cards which are good if you mix or something however I don't think you were taking that angle, would like to know more on this (however sound cards aren't really my area since the Creative Audigy was the last card I ever bought).

as for the OS, if you don't mind bugs and want to be ahead of the 8-ball a bit use the windows 8 'consumer preview' (read beta) till you have to buy it, it's free and as you use your OS probably most of the stuff you do on your PC, I'd suggest to buy it when it comes out if you like it. (edit: also for AV use Microsoft Security Essentials, very well rated and free and obviously integrates well into windows and doesn't' use up a lot of memory, not sure if it comes with Windows 8 (havent gotten it installed myself yet, however Alan seems to be warming to it as he uses it at work).

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...nsumer-preview

Just though I'd offer my perspective on things for you to consider, if you want a hand building it I can probably lend one, however it might not line up too well with your schedule (usually when I buy parts I want to install them 10 minutes ago, not wait for some guy to come around! haha!)

Also try do a really neat cable job, (get cable ties if you want, hardware store), a lot nicer if you need to adjust things later, however confirm all your parts work and system posts first as it takes a while and if you need to take things back out, can be quite tedious! so I'd suggest test it all, then rebuild it with cabling in mind and later on you will have better access to things for whatever reason might be required.

Don't skimp on peripherals (monitor) as it's such a big part of what you look at, read some reviews, have a look at a few in person if you can, I can't really make any recommendations on current gen however as I haven't looked in a while.

this is longer than I intended, uh,

night.

Quick Comments

TCPLemminks:

<3 Nathan

[|Erasmus|]

Oh yeah, I wanted to make that same point with the sound card... A $38 sound card seems pretty silly. On-board is not so horrible these days. If you -really- care about audio, you'd want something better than a cheap sound card anyway (and if you're spending more in the ~$100 range, I wouldn't recommend a sound card unless you are desperate for your mic to use it too, get something like a FiiO E7/E10...)

Quick Comments

TCPLemminks:

[VB_WhiplashJC]

Read the review I linked to on the front page.

Quick Comments

TCPLemminks:

[|Erasmus|]

That's very dependent on motherboard. I've experienced motherboards with shitty sound that hiss a lot, and lots of other random 'noise' generated by the other electronics on the motherboard, and others which have been 'fine'... just okay sound comparable with a cheap sound card (no obvious issues with noise or anything).

So I'm not convinced that 1 review means a hell of a lot. Unless you are desperate for fake 5.1...

But purely for those issues of noise and stuff, I like external solutions with audio anyway (but they normally cost more than $40)

[TCPLemminks]

Yeah I'm kinda on the wall with the sound card, but for only $38 extra it seems like its a huge upgrade compared to onboard sounds.

As for 16g of ram I'm assuming you mean this one?

[neon]

Originally Posted by TCPLemminks

Yeah I'm kinda on the wall with the sound card, but for only $38 extra it seems like its a huge upgrade compared to onboard sounds.

As for 16g of ram I'm assuming you mean this one?

not quite,

This board has all the features without all the extra cost, though new boards come out all the time and always going to be a better one on the horizon Z78 is next:


Asrock Z77-EXTREME4 Z77/4 x DDR3/2 x PCI-E3.0/4 x SATA3/6 x USB3.0/HDMI/D
http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products...id=5&sid=89524

This CPU is good and a bit faster, the board has more bandwith basically but if you weant the tech details use google. or this http://bit.ly/KUKGK8


Intel Core i5 3570K LGA1155 CPU 3.4Ghz 6Mb Cache Ivy Bridge
http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products...id=5&sid=92172

and for memory 2 x 8GB usually overlocks betters and has less problems than 4 x 4 (due to heat, power consumption and just more parts that could fail!).

G Skill 16G(2x8G) DDR3 1600MHZ PC3-12800 CL9(10D-16GBXL)
http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products...id=5&sid=81955

Quick Comments

TCPLemminks:

[TCPLemminks]

Ivy Bridge is only around a 5%-10% increase in performance, which is apparently useless for gaming.
As for the SSD, is it really worth the price hike (around $50)?
Took your advice on the new board, not too sure about the extra Ram though.

[VB_WhiplashJC]

You won't notice a difference between SSDs, just go for the cheapest reliable one that's big enough.

You can always not get the sound card then buy it later if you feel like you're missing something - it's not like storage where you'd have to reinstall things.

Quick Comments

TCPLemminks:

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by TCPLemminks

Ivy Bridge is only around a 5%-10% increase in performance, which is apparently useless for gaming.
As for the SSD, is it really worth the price hike (around $50)?
Took your advice on the new board, not too sure about the extra Ram though.

- When purchasing an SSD make sure to check out the reviews. I managed to dodge a bullet buying a particular OCZ SSD that was by checking out the reviews. Turns out they have problems when installing an OS (Bluescreens). Just find one at a reasonable price and make sure to check the reviews. I just bought my new PC and this is the SSD I have and it runs damn great;

Corsair Force Series 3 60GB SSD

In regards to how much space you need. You really only need to put your OS on it plus the "regular applications/games" that you access all the time. For me 60GB is plenty. Granted I only have 5 GB remaining on the disk. But all data is stored on the HDD.

- In regards to RAM, go either 4GB or 16GB. Don't bother with 8GB of RAM. (cbf giving reasoning behind it, for those who are interested there is google).

If you go for the latter, once you set up your computer. Download RAM drive and allocate 4GB to it. The 8GB you have left, 4 GB for the CPU and 4GB for the GPU. Done and dusted!

- As I've said before, don't bother with Ivy Bridge. Go Sandy Bridge and just make sure you get the version with the unlocked multiplier. 2500k is sufficient, however if for some reason you are not happy with the speed, you can overclock it. They're overclock friendly and run much more stable then Ivy Bridge.

- The ASrock Z77 Extreme-4 M'board is very much decent as well. Great value for money here.

Quick Comments

TCPLemminks:

[TCPLemminks]

What's wrong with 8gb RAM? Tried googling it but got no definitive answers.
As for the SSD, do you put every data file on it for the applications you want on it?

[TACeeSerps]

My Budget was around $1800 when building my new PC. As of yesterday I now have all the parts to build it.
I already own two screens and a copy of 64-bit Windows 7 so I dodged a bullet there.

Here is my build:

• Processor - Intel i7-3770K - $365 @ MSY
• CPU Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - $39 @ MSY
• Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H - $185 @ MSY
• Memory - G.Skill Ripjaws 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1600Mhz (BRL) - $105 @ MWave
• HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black 1.5TB - $135 @ MWave
• SSD - Intel 520 120GB SSD - $184 @ PCDIY
• Graphics Card - Gigabyte GTX670 OC - $519 @ MWave
• Case - Antec 1100 - $135 @ MSY
• PSU - Corsair HX750W - $187 @ MSY
• DVD Drive - Samsung DVD Drive - $19 @ MSY

Grand Total (with Thermal paste & shipping from MWAVE) - $1906.43

PCDIY isn't located in Brisbane yet, although they have very similar pricing to MSY and the only reason I got my SSD from there was MSY were out of stock. I originally was going to go with a Crucial m4 128GB but there hasn't been in any in SA for at least week, and won't be in until late next week.

Games I will be playing on this -

• Diablo 3
• Starcraft 2
• Guild Wars 2
• SW:TOR (only because I forgot to cancel my recurring sub, so they charged me for another 3 months on Friday)

Will also be overclocking the i7 to around 4.5-4.8ghz and I am planning to start being more active with Youtube/Twitch.

A good video series I've used in the past for help with building PC's is -

+ Show +

Newegg.com DIY

Part 1 - Choosing your components

+ [HERE] +

Part 2 - The Build

+ [HERE] +

Part 3 - Installing Windows & Finishing Touches

+ [HERE] +

Hopefully I've helped in some way
TheCSerps

Quick Comments

TCPLemminks:

[TACeeSerps]

Also forgot to mention this website that helps out a lot when picking the parts for your new PC:

pcpartpicker.com

It helps you choose compatible components, offers lowest price from 5(I think) online stores. Gives benchmarks and ratings for components. Make sure you select Australia (or New Zealand) in the top right so you don't get all excited about how cheap the prices are (Australian Premium Pricing - ).

Only thing it doesn't include is MSY and UMart but you might be lucky and find it cheaper.

Quick Comments

TCPLemminks:

Great website, thx

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by TCPLemminks

What's wrong with 8gb RAM? Tried googling it but got no definitive answers.
As for the SSD, do you put every data file on it for the applications you want on it?

I just did a quick search;

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/289664-30-ever-16gb

The posts from "Wamphryi" pretty much sums it up. Keep in mind, if you plan on streaming the extra memory definatly helps out also.

The SSD, yes. You just install the OS and applications on there. Any data stored by the OS or Applications will be stored on your HDD. So for your OS as an example;

- Redirect your "my documents folder" to the HDD.
- Saved games from SC2, redirect this folder to your HDD.
- Movies are saved to the HDD.

Quick Comments

TCPLemminks:

alright I think I got it

[TCPLemminks]

Do you guys think I should go for the H60 ($94) or the H80 ($137) for cooling?

[VB_WhiplashJC]

You don't need either, waste of money since you aren't overclocking. Try the stock cooler, if it's too loud then after market air for ~$40 will be fine.

I also wouldn't bother with the RAM drive.

[TCPLemminks]

Oh I'm planning to overclock now, though maybe only when it starts getting old I guess.

[|Erasmus|]

Originally Posted by TCPLemminks

Do you guys think I should go for the H60 ($94) or the H80 ($137) for cooling?

Why these in particular?

They're good but price/performance and noise still favours a good air cooler, afaik.

[TCPLemminks]

Originally Posted by |Erasmus|

Why these in particular?

They're good but price/performance and noise still favours a good air cooler, afaik.

Such as the Cooler Master Hyper 612 PWM Cooler that I currently have? Will that still be better than liquid cooling in terms of overclocking?

[|Erasmus|]

Originally Posted by TCPLemminks

Such as the Cooler Master Hyper 612 PWM Cooler that I currently have? Will that still be better than liquid cooling in terms of overclocking?

It really depends on how hardcore you want to OC and how much noise you are comfortable with.

I'm not familiar with a CM 612 model. I know the CM 212 a few years ago had a very good rep for allowing pretty solid overclocks for such a cheap cooler, but it could get a bit noisy when an OC'd chip was being heavily used for any length of time

Some of the top end air coolers like the noctua D14 though is a little cheaper than those water coolers, and last I checked still beat the latest models for performance and noise. But that is a very big and heavy cooler and you need to make sure your case has the clearance for it, etc.

Quick Comments

TCPLemminks:

KK thx I'll check with the guys by the store, they should know if it fits shouldn't they?