Planning New Rig

Alpha_1 · Post by **Alpha_1** » 23 Jan 2010, 17:40

I am looking to build a new rig and have a budget of R12 500 so I was seeing this out.
I wonder if anyone can comment on this:

Asus Striker 2 Extreme – R 2,484.00
Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 – R 2,749.00
Asus ENGTX275 896mb – R 2,857.00
Western Digital WD10EADS CAVIAR GP 1TB SATA2 – R 885.00
Corsair TR3X6G1333C9 with heatsink 3 x 2Gb – R 1,987.00
Coolermaster RP-600-PCAR eXtreme power 600W – R 779.00
Coolermaster RC-334 , Elite 334 Nvidia edition – R 604.00

= +- R12 400

Thanks

Post by **Ron2K** » 23 Jan 2010, 18:10

Not bad... however, I do have some alternatives you may want to investigate:

For futureproofing reasons, why don't you look at going i5 (or maybe even i7) with that budget if you're set on going the Intel route? Don't completely discard AMD either.
Also, common consensus around these parts is that ATI has the better of NVIDIA at the moment - the situation may change depending on how good the GTX300 series cards turn out to be whenever they're released, but if you're not an NVIDIA fanboy (like I admittedly am!), take a look at the HD5770 for that price point.

Ultimately the decision is yours, but at least there's some alternatives that may be better for you before you go out and buy your kit.

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 23 Jan 2010, 18:19

I'd also second the i5 backing if your going intel. i5 is around R2100 and my motherboard (intel P55WG) was R1800 and is sli/crossfire compatible.

Just the odd question but why does your core 2 system have ddr3 ram listed for tripple channel? Core 2 cant do tripple channel or ddr3 as far as I know.

WiK1d · Post by **WiK1d** » 23 Jan 2010, 18:30

StarBound wrote:Just the odd question but why does your core 2 system have ddr3 ram listed for tripple channel? Core 2 cant do tripple channel or ddr3 as far as I know.

True, but 6gb > 4gb, unless he's looking at stepping it up to 8gb

Prime · Post by **Prime** » 23 Jan 2010, 19:42

StarBound wrote:I'd also second the i5 backing if your going intel. i5 is around R2100 and my motherboard (intel P55WG) was R1800 and is sli/crossfire compatible.

Just the odd question but why does your core 2 system have ddr3 ram listed for tripple channel? Core 2 cant do tripple channel or ddr3 as far as I know.

It can do ddr3, just not tri channel

My Own Comments are:

get a corsair PSU. 5 year warranty, solid construction.
GIGABYTE "S Series" X58 LGA 1366 R2,484.06 ?
OCZ DDR3-1600 6GB Intel i7 Edition Low Voltage 3 x 2GB Kit R1,597.14

And what about a DVD writer and OS?

Post by **KALSTER** » 23 Jan 2010, 23:55

I see little use in getting such an expensive motherboard that goes with a now obsolete architecture. At PCInt you can get an ASUS P7P55D XFire/Sli board for about R1550 and an i5 750 CPU for about R1850. Those two will pretty soundly outperform the Core2Quad based system your friend is looking at. Couple that system with 4GB DDR3 (about R1400) and you'll have enough left over for quite a monster of an Ati card, like the 5850 (about R3000) or even a 5870 (about R4000).

Going this route you'll definitely end up spending less on a better system than the current one.

Puento · Post by **Puento** » 24 Jan 2010, 12:23

KALSTER wrote:I see little use in getting such an expensive motherboard that goes with a now obsolete architecture. At PCInt you can get an ASUS P7P55D XFire/Sli board for about R1550 and an i5 750 CPU for about R1850. Those two will pretty soundly outperform the Core2Quad based system your friend is looking at. Couple that system with 4GB DDR3 (about R1400) and you'll have enough left over for quite a monster of an Ati card, like the 5850 (about R3000) or even a 5870 (about R4000).

Going this route you'll definitely end up spending less on a better system than the current one.

He said it all . . . and if you go with a P55 chipset motherboard you can always go i7 later on. . . (It would be a waste because i5 performs the same as i7 in games!)

+1 for the ATI 58xx. . . . maybe 5970

Alpha_1 · Post by **Alpha_1** » 24 Jan 2010, 17:08

Wow you guys are quick

thanks a mill, im actually planning on getting a mean graphics card.... between ati and nvidia which is more efficient, if i move to i7, or does it not make a difference.
I, for one, do not really know ati....so im bamboozled

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 24 Jan 2010, 17:31

ATI has dx11 and nvidia has physx. We havent seen any nvidia dx11 cards but they might get released soon (3-6 months).

Puento · Post by **Puento** » 24 Jan 2010, 22:22

Alpha_1 wrote:Wow you guys are quick
thanks a mill, im actually planning on getting a mean graphics card.... between ati and nvidia which is more efficient, if i move to i7, or does it not make a difference.

Intel i5 750 and i7 920/860 is on par in games, so if you want a mean gaming machine save money (+-R1000) and go i5, take the rest and buy a mean GPU (ATI 5870/5970

). GPU is the biggest factor in games.

Alpha_1 wrote:I, for one, do not really know ati....so im bamboozled

You wont regret buying a ATI 58xx card!

Even with nvidia's 300 series around the corner,because they will be in the price range of the bugatti veyron. . . .

Alpha_1 · Post by **Alpha_1** » 25 Jan 2010, 21:01

I really appreciate you guys

thanks alot!!!!
im only going to get this rig set up in the next 10-11 months (money issues - but ive worked it all out for then)

do you advise buying all the parts at once or to buy over a period and piece it together when ive got all the components?

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 26 Jan 2010, 09:08

Motherboard + ram + cpu in 1 go. Graphics are replaced whenever you need to. Problem with the 10 month thing is alot can happen. So you might find that while the i5 is best now we might see something thats even better then. The problem with technology is that you build it for NOW and not months in advance. I'm not talking about future proofing but price/performance ratios. But who knows. Maybe the price will drop.

Puento · Post by **Puento** » 26 Jan 2010, 14:34

Well said there StarBound.
Intel has the amazing i5, maybe AMD will offer something better (Performance/Price) in the next 10 months. No one can tell. . . . .

Alpha_1 · Post by **Alpha_1** » 27 Jan 2010, 22:16

But you see I am not a hardcore gamer, ill still be studying pretty hectically. I just want to have nice gaming pc so i can play new games (not necessarily on full) for longest time without the need to upgrade.

Prime wrote: And what about a DVD writer and OS?

Ive got the OS sorted, win7Ultimate and dvd i can take from old pc

doo_much · Post by **doo_much** » 28 Jan 2010, 08:30

Alpha_1 wrote:I am looking to build a new rig and have a budget of R12 500 so I was seeing this out.
I wonder if anyone can comment on this:

Asus Striker 2 Extreme – R 2,484.00
Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 – R 2,749.00
Asus ENGTX275 896mb – R 2,857.00
Western Digital WD10EADS CAVIAR GP 1TB SATA2 – R 885.00
Corsair TR3X6G1333C9 with heatsink 3 x 2Gb – R 1,987.00
Coolermaster RP-600-PCAR eXtreme power 600W – R 779.00
Coolermaster RC-334 , Elite 334 Nvidia edition – R 604.00

= +- R12 400

Thanks

These are really good prices. Where are they from?

Alpha_1 · Post by **Alpha_1** » 29 Jan 2010, 14:56

from zaps, i think.... dont remember

Post by **ryanrich** » 31 Mar 2010, 21:42

Hey guys, I'm also planning on doing some upgrading but didn't want to start an entirely new thread for it, so thought I'd hijack this one.

I've been out of the desktop hardware game for a while, so want to know if there are better alternatives to the below that I plan on getting... I'm using Sybaritic as a base for pricing because they're pretty decent.

Asus P7P55D Deluxe IP55 Motherboard

Intel Core i5 750

8GB Mushkin DDR3-1600 (4x2GB)

Sapphire Radeon HD5850

If anything would be recommended over the above it would have to be around the same price, don't want to go higher. The reason I decided on the i5 750 is that it seems to be the best bang for buck chip at the moment with most reviewers able to overclock it to around 4GHz on air cooling! Mine will be watercooled, so there might be even more room!

ADV4NCED · Post by **ADV4NCED** » 31 Mar 2010, 23:02

Imo pretty good choices all round ryan,

Only thing I would consider is maybe getting a 5870 if you're going to spend +-R3800 on a 5850. I guess you're going for the sapphire toxic because of the heatsink/fan and factory OC?

But what about:

http://www.landmarkpc.co.za/store/club- ... -3586.html

Thats R4100 clocked at 850mhz & 4800mhz (vs toxic's 775mhz & 4500mhz) by default which leaves room for further OC...

Just one of the things I'd also consider if I was paying R3.8 for a 5850...

Post by **ryanrich** » 31 Mar 2010, 23:27

Cool, thanks man! I didn't check 5870's because I thought they were quite a bit more, but R370 odd more is definitely worth it!

Is Club 3D pretty decent, or are the cards more or less the same nowadays?

ADV4NCED · Post by **ADV4NCED** » 01 Apr 2010, 00:15

Put it like this, in an ideal situation whereby the cards are the same (model, clock speeds & accessories that come with the card), you wouldn't notice the difference between an asus card or a Club 3D card or a sapphire for that matter...

Now obviously thats not really the case as the cards have different heatsinks, maybe different accessories and clockspeeds & voltage settings and what not..

So imho its about mixing and matching, what you get in terms of the accessories and the heatsinks and the clock speeds with the price you get it for...

At that price for that club3d 5870 - I'd say get it and you wont be sorry

Thats how I see it anyway

Post by **ryanrich** » 01 Apr 2010, 07:40

Thanks again, been checking some review and think I'll definitely be going with that 5870.

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