ned help upgrading rig, please advise!

Ponyface · Post by **Ponyface** » 19 Oct 2011, 23:15

hi Guys,

i was on here a while ago and you really helped me, i would really appreciate any help and advice you could give...
im waiting for my tax rebate and im going to upgrade my pc.

i have a case, monitor, hdd, cd drive.

so i need:
psu
ram
mobo
cpu
gpu

my budget is pretty strict - R7000.00 perhaps R100-R200 over at most...

this is what ive come up with:

psu: 774.00 (http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_p ... ts_id=7845)

ram: R774.00 corsair (http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_p ... cts_id=154)

mobo: R1800.00 msi z68-gd5 (http://www.zones.co.za/)

cpu: R2016.00 I5 2500k (http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_p ... ts_id=5702)

that leaves about R1600 - R2000 max for a gpu... what do you think would be best?
i saw an Msi N460GTX hawk (http://www.msi.com/product/vga/N460GTX-Hawk.html) at pc zone for R1600.00 and it looks really cool,

but i also saw a ASUS ATI Radeon 5870 V2 1GB 256-bit DDR5 for R1800.00 somewhere, i remeber drooling over this card a while ago, "thinking if only...." looks like a bargain to me, but is it still as good as it was or would the gtx460 be a better bet? or is there something else i should consider??

thanks guys, id really appreciate the help!

Slimshaedy · Post by **Slimshaedy** » 20 Oct 2011, 02:33

Dude I'll try get a good list together when I'm on my pc again, I can recommend things off the top of my head though coz I'm on my phone...
Try stay away from PC Zone if you can... I'd get the GPU from them just check if its sealed before accepting it
PSU : Coolermaster GS 700 is really good
RAM. G skill is awesome ram and its really cheap. The Ripjaws X
Mobo. I'd suggest Asus since they're most reliable IMO. MSI and Gigabyte both have bad histories. Asus P8Z68, or P67 if they're cheaper
CPU 2500K is awesome! But if you don't plan on overclocking then you don't need the K version. If you do want to overclock, either get a decent cooler or watch the temps with the stock cooler.
GPU. GTX 460 is an awesome card id definately go for that:)

Post by **Stuart** » 20 Oct 2011, 06:49

Slimshaedy wrote:MSI and Gigabyte both have bad histories.

Lolwut?

THE_STIG · Post by **THE_STIG** » 20 Oct 2011, 08:51

Slimshaedy wrote:Dude I'll try get a good list together when I'm on my pc again, I can recommend things off the top of my head though coz I'm on my phone...
Try stay away from PC Zone if you can... I'd get the GPU from them just check if its sealed before accepting it
PSU : Coolermaster GS 700 is really good
RAM. G skill is awesome ram and its really cheap. The Ripjaws X
Mobo. I'd suggest Asus since they're most reliable IMO. MSI and Gigabyte both have bad histories. Asus P8Z68, or P67 if they're cheaper
CPU 2500K is awesome! But if you don't plan on overclocking then you don't need the K version. If you do want to overclock, either get a decent cooler or watch the temps with the stock cooler.
GPU. GTX 460 is an awesome card id definately go for that:)

What! I have owned gigabyte mobos for years now and they have never set a foot wrong(apart from the GA-5AA). I dont hear to many complaints about MSI either

Other than that the list looks good so far

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 20 Oct 2011, 11:13

I'd say drop the board to a P67 chipset. That should free up a good R400-500. As said with the cpu you can drop the K if your not overclocking and get the other one for R100 cheaper.

I would recommend getting nvidia over ati at this time as both Rage and Battlefield 3 had some issues with drivers. The 5870 was an awesome card but the nvidia equivalent is the 560ti. Try to see if you can get one of those instead of the 460gtx. You won't be disappointed.
http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_p ... ts_id=8515

Ponyface · Post by **Ponyface** » 20 Oct 2011, 13:57

Thanks for the help so far, do you think the 560ti will last me for a while? I use my pc 99% for gaming, and what I want to be pllaying is battlefield 3, mw3, skyrim etc and I want it to look beautiful! You suggested dropping to a p67 board, any one in particular you would reccomend?? I haven't ever tried overclocking, but I might want to try it sometime. But its not a big issue for me..

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 20 Oct 2011, 16:30

I've always been an MSI fanboi, while gigabyte has proven itself I cant shake the memory of the GA 5AA amd k6-2 board. I have seen a P67 MSI board for around R1300 on rebeltech. Think its the GD-56 but dont quote me on that. Go have a look. Just make sure the board layout is what your saticefied with as my board was chosen with the cards I had in mind at that time.

As for the 560ti you will find most if not all games running at max detail at 60fps. All games coming out these days are console ports so they were designed to run on much inferior hardware. A 560ti is as fast as an 5870 but its the nvidia camp. Its the one card I can whole heartedly recommend just like the 8800gt and the voodoo 2

I recommended the inno3d because it was cheap but msi or gigabytes 560ti with their custom coolers are better. But also more expensive.

Slimshaedy · Post by **Slimshaedy** » 20 Oct 2011, 17:21

I've heard good things and bad things about Gigabyte and MSI. I haven't heard anything negative about Asus. That's just info through the grapevine that I remember. Sorry my statement was a bit bold:)

Well since you're not too interested in overclocking I'd suggest getting the i5 2500. You can still overclcok this cpu but not much, because I think it'll be a waste of money if you got the K version but didn't really make full use of it. P67 should be cheaper than Z68. While I would still suggest Asus, its not cheap so perhaps lookat other brands that fit well into your budget.
The gtx560ti is an amazing card and it'll last you a really long time. Its plays most games maxed out. Look for the cheapest gtx560 and take it. I don't think you will need to worry too much about reference and non-reference cards as you're not into overclocking or benchmarking, as Starbound also said while the cards with custom coolers are great, they cost quite a bit, but underneath that cooler is still a gtx560 just like the Inno3d brand

THE_STIG · Post by **THE_STIG** » 20 Oct 2011, 22:01

StarBound wrote:I've always been an MSI fanboi, while gigabyte has proven itself I cant shake the memory of the GA 5AA amd k6-2 board. I have seen a P67 MSI board for around R1300 on rebeltech. Think its the GD-56 but dont quote me on that. Go have a look. Just make sure the board layout is what your saticefied with as my board was chosen with the cards I had in mind at that time.

As for the 560ti you will find most if not all games running at max detail at 60fps. All games coming out these days are console ports so they were designed to run on much inferior hardware. A 560ti is as fast as an 5870 but its the nvidia camp. Its the one card I can whole heartedly recommend just like the 8800gt and the voodoo 2

I recommended the inno3d because it was cheap but msi or gigabytes 560ti with their custom coolers are better. But also more expensive.

So you also had one(most disappointing PC ever

). I had a Asus sp97-v(Pentium MMX 200Mhz) before that and I had decided that I would never own another Gigabyte again but my dads AMD athlon 2500+ and Gigabyte GA-7vt600-L changed my mind and I have not touched anything else since

.

But back on topic. The 560ti is really the best card to get in that price range and will run just about everything in max settings

Ponyface · Post by **Ponyface** » 21 Oct 2011, 20:34

can you guys telh me if there is any difference between the cards ending with TI and those that dont? i have been looking at the cards and some say gtx560ti and other just gtx560...

i saw this board http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_p ... ts_id=9222 for R1500.00 it has usb3 which i would like i see some of the cheaper ones dont have it... what do you think? worth it?

Ponyface · Post by **Ponyface** » 21 Oct 2011, 20:38

just saw this one for less than R100 more :- http://www.landmarkpc.co.za/store/asus- ... -7210.html

and this one :- http://www.landmarkpc.co.za/store/gigab ... -6765.html

grrr - so many decisions.........

D3PART3D · Post by **D3PART3D** » 21 Oct 2011, 21:32

The GTX 560 cards are slower. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gef ... ,2944.html

Check out sybaritic.co.za as well. There are cheaper boards with USB 3.0 if you'd prefer. I think you should always buy just what you need, go through the specs of a few motherboards to see which ones suit you.

And something Kalster has just reminded me of, if you aren't overclocking there isn't much need to splurge on RAM.

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