Building A Computer

[Cupid Stunt]

Thos one is for the tech guys, time to show your skills! Starting back in to PC gaming & am going to build a new rig while I'm still on holidays. CoD:BO, Crysis 2 will be definites & at max settings or close to would be preferable. Other than that it'll only be for minor photo/video editing. Having done some research & with about 1k to spend I've so far come up with this...

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 Motherboard
RAM: G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ (2x2GB) DDR3
HDD: Samsung EcoGreen F4 2TB HD204UI
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD6870 1GB
CASE: Thermaltake Dokker Mid Tower Chassis
PSU: Antec High Current Gamer 620W Power Supply HCG-620
ODD: Lite-On IHAS524 24x DVDRW Super AllWrite
CPU HSF: CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ CPU Cooler

All up thats about 1150ish but near enough will do. Is there anything I missed or could change that would be worthwhile? The RAM & PSU are two points I admit I've no idea about. Also would anybody reccomend a shop in particular? My locals are run by idiots it seems but that's a whole other story... :sarcasm:

 

[elyod138]

I recommend getting an Antec case.

Thermaltake cases are a bit hit and miss.

 

[Hallatia]

In my house (with the exception of laptops) all computers are built and not bought. There is a sh*t load of research involved, but most of it can be done online (not like the old days where you had to buy every PC magazine in existence). There are several places which are quite good (depending on where you are prepared to travel to), If you are in Sydney, I know there is a place in Lidcombe which my dad likes to use for most of his parts. You can do all the window shopping online and then when you are ready, go out and find the places you want to get the parts from

 

[1 Eyed TEZZA]

I like these guys. I built my mum a pretty decent tower from these guys and it goes very well. I will admit, they aren't as good as they used to be.

http://www.pcdiy.com.au/

 

[lturner]

Why did you choose an i5 rather than an i7 for the processor? You can get an i7 for around aud 320 to 350. Is the i5 much cheaper?

 

[Mr_Raditch]

I'd be buying 8gigs of RAM & running windows 7 64bit. Also put in a smallish Solid State HDD that is solely used for the OS. Its amazing the difference a solid state drive can make to the performance of your PC.

 

[Cupid Stunt]

Thanks for all the responses, much appreciated.

@Elyod: Can you elaborate a little on that?

@Iturner: i5 2500 is $229. For games thats plenty of grunt from what I've read, an i7, for me, would be a waste. Plus it just doesn't fit in to the budget & the Bank Manager is already keeping a stern eye on this project.

@Mr Raditch: I will be doing exactly that re the SSD, but the new ones are released in a few months & apparently are quicker again & more reliable. I figure I can a single HDD till then.

Keep the info comming, I'll be buying in the next few days so I'm interested in as many opinions as possible.

 

[elyod138]

Thanks for all the responses, much appreciated.

@Elyod: Can you elaborate a little on that?

I've had friends buy Thermaltake cases and they've said nothing but bad things about them. They look cool but aren't built very well.

I have an Antec case and the build quality is excellent. There's plenty of room, it's silent and it stays cool.

 

[Cupid Stunt]

Thanks. I was looking at an Antec before this one but it was double the price. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Mr_Raditch]

Agree on the Antec cases. The extra $ for a good case is well worth it, much better lay out on the inside for cabling, which helps with cooling & also overall neatness.

 

[elyod138]

Thanks. I was looking at an Antec before this one but it was double the price. I'll keep that in mind.

The one I have is only $59 on Umart - http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=139&bid=2&sid=30183

It's nothing fancy but it does the job.

They have some more advanced models for about $120-$130.

 

[Cupid Stunt]

Bought it, built it, am kind of enjoying it. Saying "kind of" only due to the driver gremlins but I think I'm over them now. Bought the Antec case I wanted in the first place, DF-35, & have to say it looks great. With just about every fan being either red or blue in cases it's nice to see something just a little different. Couldn't get the PSU I was after so went with a Cooler Master GX750. I can't get over how quiet it is plus it looks so much better than my last desktop. Just have to get some games on there now.

Thanks to those who gave some info.

 

[perverse]

in my experience over the past year and a bit with my HD5870, i'm gonna make a bet and say that video driver gremlins are gonna pop up from time to time for you. it could be worse, though... a not-too-distant past driver release from nVidia was flat out frying cards.

it's a nice rig, mate. should perform around about my box (potentially even slightly faster), only much cooler. i run an i7 920 rig at a 3.8ghz 24/7 overclock, and to be honest i've got more power than i know what to do with. clock for clock, the new sandy bridge cpus (like the one you have) seem to be performing about the same as the old i7's, but they run so much cooler and at really high clocks straight from the factory... so for anyone not overclocking sandy bridge is amazingly fast. its ridiculously hyperactive turbo boost under load helps even further.

you should have got a Seasonic power supply - x-series if available. no ifs or buts there, they are the best (or amongst the best certainly across the board) at the moment... but i'm sure the coolermaster will get you by ok, too. had i seen the thread earlier i certainly would have pushed you in that direction. also - the hard drive you've got is incredibly slow for a boot drive. a Samsung 1TB F3 would have been more appropriate. an SSD would have been even more appropriate for the boot drive, with the F4 ecogreen as a plain old storage drive. fortunately both hard drives and power supplies are probably the least painful changes you can make to your box in the future (although losing power supplies can really suck, especially when they take another part or 2 with them in a flaming blaze of glory).

having said all of that though, it's a great rig overall and will serve you well into the future.

 

[Cupid Stunt]

I waited, cash in hand, for a few months for Sandy Bridge. Not sure what's worse, dreaming with NO cash or dreaming with a fist full! I almost went & bought parts & figured I could get a headstart on the build but I know I would have then not waited, & after looking at the benchmarks for SB, would have been kicking my own arse. Not to say that the old architecture is bad but for me, a non-OCer with only a vague interest, the speeds these i5 put out straight from the box is plenty. I almost went the 2500k but again, it was something that would never realize it's full potential in my hands.

I made two mistakes in my initial post, & you picked them both. The 620w should have read 750w & the HDD. I looked at a Seasonic once we discovered the Antec was out of stock. They only had the S12 which was 550w or the 750 X-Series which was double the price. 550 not enough grunt, 750 was busting the budget. The GX gets some decent reviews. Not modular which was a minus BUT the ponytail is well constructed meaning cable management is quite workable. The info you left about the HDD is almost word for word what I read upon further research on a few sites. At the time it looked appealing purely at a pricepoint POV, but I had intended to grab the F3 instead. Of course, they were also out of this so I took an Hitachi. Rightly or wrongly it'll do for now. The SSD is coming but with the new range/technology due for release in a month or two I can afford to wait to see if either A) They are substantially better & B) If so the current models will no doubt drop in price thusly I'll happly keep some brass in pocket.

Added bonus was on the way home I thought I'd stop in to OW & check what monitors they had, & more than anything start to get an idea of prices. Walked out $200 later with a Samsung Synchmaster 2333HD DTV Monitor. 1920 X 1080 + TV... At that price it was impossible to leave behind! :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdoDHj2BbkQ

Now to find a decent keyboard/mouse setup.

 

[Mr_Raditch]

Keep your eye on this site Cupid, they have some pretty good deals pop up.

http://www.shoppingsquare.com.au/

 

[[FKN-SIK]]

If you are going to build a decent computer do it properly and don't cut corners.

For starters, I wouldn't touch a samsung HDD with a 10 ft pole!

I just built the following last weekend:

CPU: Intel i7-950
MOBO: Gigabyte X58-USB3
CASE: Antec P183
PSU: Seasonic 750W Modular
HDD: 1 x 500GB 7200RPM Seagate
HDD: 2 x 2TB 7200RPM Seagate (Raid 1)
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon HD 6870 2GB
RAM: 2 x Kingston 12GB Tri Channel DDR3 (24GB total)
DVD: Asus 24x DVDRW
MONITORS: 2 x BenQ 24" LED
K/B: Logitech K800 Wireless Illuminated
MOUSE: Logitech M950

I'm not saying go all out like that as won't need it for your purposes, but don't buy crappy cheap parts.

Build it once and you won't have to keep pulling it apart and have parts fail on you.