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by **steve_rogers42** » 28 Mar 11, 5:44 pm

Ok guys,

Updated: 29/1/2013

Figured We'd have a thread which focuses on current hardware and what the best value for money is for those looking to buy/build a new PC. What, why, where and how much! If you have any requests on other parts then please ask. Also, suggestions and input is certainly welcomed

NB: The I.T. industry changes every day. So information that may be correct today, may not be correct tomorrow. I want to update this every quarter, or as new hardware is released and keep it constantly updated.

CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K - specs

The King of the Hill for Intel's current line up of i5's. Whilst slightly cash heavy, the price is worth it when it comes to the gameing world, AMD's price equivalent is their '8-core' monster which comes in slightly cheaper (~$20) which for the performance difference isnt worth it. The i5 3570K's a 3.4ghz non HT cpu which will boost clocks to 3.8 at a scratch and with some help easily can grasp at 4.5Ghz which easily overpowers and outweighs anything else in the performance/$$$ for this CPU

PRICE:~$210-240

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 - specs

ASRock have been heavily gaining ground in the motherboard segment the last few years, and looking at the quality of the boards, coupled with the features of the board they have been making strides the world over. Whilst some things arent as refined as an ASUS or Gigabyte offering (the UEFI bios for one, or use of intel/updated reltec chipsets) the lack of these means a lower price point, which for the capabilities of this board make it the top of the pick. Just be sure to make sure your picking up a straight up z77 extreme 4 and not one of its small siblings!

PRICE:~$135

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-17000CL11D-8GBXL (8GB/2133mhz) - specs

G.Skill Ripjaws are our High Capacity, decent latency with high speed hero's.
8Gb and ~2133mhz for $65 not much can go wrong, making this particular model the sweet spot for price and performance. Gone are the days where high Mhz was a compounding necessary for overclocked systems, and low latency modules came with low capacity. Plus you get the funky colours of the original ripjaws combined with heat spreaders that are designed with CPU coolers in mind.... Woo!

PRICE:~$60

SSD: Samsung 840 PRO series 128Gb - specs

We are bidding Adieu to Mechanical Drives for Main Memory.
Where I swear by the performance of the Crucial M4 and all its awesomeness it was a little heart wrenching to remove it from the list, but the performance difference between it and the Sammy 840 PRO is ASTOUNDING and for a $20 difference, well worth it.

PRICE:~$150

GPU: Nvidia 660 Ti - specs

Remember the 580? the 660 TI is a quarter less power, heat and a quater more performance. This is the dominator for the $250 graphics market which is the sweet spot for gaming. If your rolling 1080 res or higher you should be encountering low frames, but if your going higher the 670 or the 7970 pack quite the punch!

PRICE:~$270-300

PSU: Corsair HX-650 v2 - specs
NOW WITH 80+ Gold rating!
Seriously this PSU will run more, take more and deal more power than your average Gundam/Decepticon/Burrito/Articuno. Modular? Check. 12v/52A rail? Check. Efficiency? 80%+ Gold rated and certified. Over Current/Voltage/Power Protection? Check. What that means is this PSU is the business. If your short of dollar its Tx brethren goes just as hard, but you get the hassle of non-modular cables to deal with for the lower price point... and not the subtly cool colour scheme of the HX. If your after a great alternative if the HX is out of stock, the Silverstone Strider Plus 650 or 750W are around the same price point, and go just as hard!
PRICE:~$145

What Comes Next?

In the Three Hidden's Below are the rejects from the final build.
Yes some parts will be the ones featured here, but what each hidden represents is a cheaper form of build... Cant afford whats above? have a look through the first Hidden. Like what you see above but want something a little different have a look through the second, and the Final one... well, lets just say, If your looking for something a little more unique and prepared to put out a little bit more coin, this hidden is the key for your purse strings.

Each Hidden is colour coded for Build compatibility, same colours means they work together! Any other questions, hit up a reply!

Also for the Loving AMD people, each hidden represents what i would deem similar performance/price to the Intel equivalent. Without Bulldozer on the scene each board is AM3/+ compatible for those buying in now...

Hidden: show

Oh... hai there, Below is the selection of value added awesomeness.
Wanting a quick go-to in regard to popular hardware or decent quality products such as Cases, CPU coolers, SSD's and Optical Drives? have a gander...

Hidden: show

Ignore the update msg below, it's updated as per the thread title

by **steve_rogers42** » 28 Mar 11, 5:45 pm

SOUNDCARDS

This is largely taken from Smiddi's work over at OCAU, found HERE.

Not because I am lazy (though this plays a large factor) but because he has gone out and purchased many of the leading soundcards and done head to head comparison. So, go over, register and have a read yourself. Here is the final results he came up with, i've also linked the staticice.com pricing next to each for reference.

Overall order for Music:
Xonar STX - $215 StaticIce
Xonar D2X = Auzen Forte $225 & $225 StaticIce D2X : StaticIce Forte
Xonar DX $103 StaticIce
X-Fi Titanium $136 StaticIce
Auzen X-plosion 7.1 $142 StaticIce
Xonar U1 $46 StaticIce
X-Fi Xtreme Music - not really in production anymore (but sub $100 on fleabay)

Overall order for Gaming:
Auzen Forte
X-Fi Titanium
Xonar D2X
Xonar STX = Xonar DX
X-Fi Xtreme Music
Xonar U1
Auzen X-plosion 7.1

Having heard the STX, i must say its absolute win for music, especially when paired with some higer end headphones. The D2X has got nothing but good reviews, and ranks high in both categories. The DX, its little brother, goes damn well as well.

My Recommendations

Conditions
- Quality Stereo Headphones or Speakers
- Importance is Music over Gaming
- Happy to spend the money

Card: Essence STX

Notes: This is a PCI-E soundcard, make sure you understand that. Recommend it because of the quality DAC it was, thus only using analogue outputs will give the results.

Conditions
- Quality 5.1 Speaker System
- Music/Gaming
- I gotz da cash yo

Card: Xonar D2 or Xonar D2X with consideration to the Forte

Notes: Analogue outputs to say a Z5500 system (so 3 stereo plugs) will greatly improve sound quality over using crappy optical from the mobo (since the Z5500 then uses its DAC, which isn't great)

Conditions
- Im just a Gamer

Card: XFi Titanium or Forte

Notes: Check if they are PCI-E or not. The Forte has a break out cable for most of its outputs, jsut another thing that can break or be lost, but otherwise a solid card.

Conditions
- I'm on a Budget!

Card: Xonar DX

Note: Basically these Asus cards are awesome. Don't touch Creative with a 10 ft poll.

Note on Creative: The XFi chip is quite nice, and in gaming it does do very well. Creative's problem is that they aren't great music cards, and some people have driver issues. But as Shin will say, he hasn't had a problem with them, neither have I really. However, these Asus cards are hard to pass up!

FANS

Case Fans

9 long blades, these things move A LOT of air at very low noise levels. Compared to most other fans, these guys are great, and cheap. Pick according to how loud you can put up with, with the 1900rpm the only one you would really hear above other pc components.

$19 Slip Streams (500/800/1200/1900 rpm)

Heatsink/Radiator Fans - keep in mind the difference between these and a ordinary fan would be a few degrees at most

Although something like the slip stream would suffice, their design is for high cfm, low noise, with not the best static air pressure (the higher the better for radiators and heatsinks). Thus fans with closer together blade orientation are better for this job. Two better ones include the Scythe S-Flex and Noctua NF-P12.

$29.90 NF-P12

$29.95 S-Flex

Notice how the blades are wider, and less gaps = higher static air pressure, generally.

However, at pccg, the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme package now has the option to choose the S-Flex over the Scythe LED one. Saving a few bucks. If you don't mind paying 10 bucks more, the TU120E and P12 are probably the best option, though temp difference would be minimal.

EDIT: Props Goes to Thrasher and Shinanigans, most of this put together by Thrasher and Edited/updated by Shinanigans.

by **steve_rogers42** » 28 Mar 11, 5:45 pm

CPU:Intel Core i5 2500 - specs
Whats this? a non-k processor? in my gaming machine? Never fear! Although an i5 and a non-hyperthreader the 2500 still packs the punch at the right price point, sure you could pay the extra $25 or so to step-up to the k unlocked processor and gain performance on par with high-end x58 machines, but for the price point and the performance difference between the 2500 and the 'bigger bro' 2600 the 2500 is the new hero and at '3.4Ghz' under turbo and 3.1 stock, its no slouch either.
Price: $220:00

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H67MA-UD2H-B3 - specs
From x45/48 to X58 to p55 to hopefully M67, the main reason the M67 is here and not a P67 is down to a few fine points, Mainly from an overall system point of view there are few trade-off's that fit the bill here, mainly overclockability vs everyday use, sure the P67 and an unlocked K processor will net you overall CPU performance, a locked CPU and a H67 setup will costless and if your not into that whole OC scene and dont want to foot some extra costs to do so, then this is the idea. Whilst missing out on the new black theme of the p67 and the higher end boards the H67MA is a cool performer under pressure, no more sata issues, gigabyte reliability, dual bios and enough bells and whistles to keep you comfortable... and if your gpu goes down there is always the onboard solution... now with better encoding and 3d support... Oh yea, and it goes just as hard as the P67 solutions, it just dont OC...
Price: $160

Memory:8GB G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL - specs
8gb's of ram? Check. 1600mhz? Check. the usual low latency? Check. Sweet Looking heat transfer sinks? Check. Price point lower than you'd think? Check.
G.skill's ram has never failed to not dissapoint, in the case of the new Ripjaws at the end of the f3-12800cl9d-8gbrl gibberish you can see the RL and in some cases RH, these are the newer ripjaws, whilst most 1.5 volt ram will do the job on p67/p55/h67/h55 motherboards, this set jumped out, sure the other option was Corsair vengeance ramz, but since they came in at a higher price point...
Price:$115

GPU: GeForce GTX 560 Ti - specs
This was the decider, the 6870 offering is a great card, but the clutch at the straws that is the 6950 1GB pushed 6870 prices down, which is a good thing, but the 560 TI sits prim and proper performance and price wise between the 6870 and the 6950. If your a green-back or a red-terror either is a great option for the buyer and what it closely comes down to is the games you play and the utilities you will use, and also funny things like more dvi ports than dp ports.. The GTX 560 Ti grabs this position because it has a few bases covered, as its the mid range card offering from Nvidia and a replacement for the 460 its cooler than the 6870, quieter and smaller. It also scales as good if not better than the 460 when you run them in SLI...
Price: $270

HDD: Western Digital 1tb Black
Same good 'ole drive, until more mechanical drives pickup the sata6 standard or the ssd's drop in price enough to become viable for this station, the WD 1tb black will hold this bastion of storage hope.
Price: $100

PSU: Corsair HX-650
Enough Guts to handle midrange and highrange sli'd and grossfire setups, and at a pricepoint to make you wonder whats in the 1kw+ setups...
Price: $140

Optical: Pioneer 22x SATA DVR-218BK
Everyone needs a burner!
Price: $35

by **That_Stevens_Guy** » 28 Mar 11, 6:20 pm

You could just... buy the most expensive of every single component.

by **steve_rogers42** » 28 Mar 11, 6:37 pm

already done that, the with the introduction of the P67 overclocker vs the H67 multimedia allrounder it comes down to what value your getting your money for... or to just keep a p55/x58 board in there, because the value there is well... value...

considering a 2600k with a mild OC beats a stock 980/990x, but then a 2500 on a h67 board keeps up in games just the same.... all a little bit interesting atm, and i'm curious to what you guys think, for a gaming build is it worth putting more into the already OP cpu, or balancing for the gpu?

Or would it be more beneficial to put up two builds? or more?

by **tranquil** » 28 Mar 11, 6:42 pm

for now i think a 2500/2600 + OC is more than enough for the current games that are out, better off investing in a higher end GPU(s) imo. what will be more interesting is seeing how all the next-gen game engines (BF3/Skyrim/RAGE) are going to hold up. personally i'm waiting until then before i make any major upgrades.

by **Bek** » 28 Mar 11, 7:04 pm

AMD Bulldozer might shake this up too but that might be closer to late q2 / q3

by **holo`** » 28 Mar 11, 8:22 pm

why do threads like this make me glance over to my i7 920, 12gb of ram, gtx285 beast and sigh?

... because there are no new PC games worth playing, that's why!

also: it isn't a gaming PC if it doesn't have a SSD in it.

by **skitzor** » 29 Mar 11, 6:00 pm

vertex 2 60gb or 120gb should be on the list. even if it's optional.

by **Jeatalong** » 30 Mar 11, 9:55 am

holo` wrote:why do threads like this make me glance over to my i7 920, 12gb of ram, gtx285 beast and sigh? ... because there are no new PC games worth playing, that's why!

also: it isn't a gaming PC if it doesn't have a SSD in it.

lol SSD in gaming computers, your games just load fast, not play faster.

But more seriously and I agree with you, I running a slightly less powerful computer than you holo, same cpu, 6gig ram, and sli460's and nothing released still pushes it, and I still can't believe the machine is two years old.

It's getting to the stage where I would rather upgrade my htpc then my gaming box. But more realistically I think for me this will be my last serious games computer. I would rather put my spare cash toward a second car for the household.

by **holo`** » 30 Mar 11, 10:38 am

I know, my PC was more so built for video editing and the like, so the SSD comes in handy.

The fast load times are nice, too.

I think about the same, I'd probably be looking at workstation / mid-range for my next PC - there just doesn't seem to be a lot coming out that enthuses me at all about PC gaming in the future - and console gaming doesn't look too much brighter.

by **mini15michael** » 30 Mar 11, 11:22 am

Yes I know off topic... but I agree fully with the 2 posts above...
Which has almost led me to buy a laptop... I'm so close...

And as I am currently using an AMD6000+ I am in need of an upgrade.

by **DXPetti** » 30 Mar 11, 4:18 pm

So considering Shin's is outta here are we considering this the new Uber Computer thread? (If so I will lock the other with a link to this one)

by **steve_rogers42** » 30 Mar 11, 5:09 pm

Leave the old one up, just wait out the week on this one then copy pasta into the old one, just updated slightly...

The main reasons i stuck with the H67 also play into the build as such, as i went for a more optimal all-round system config over straight OC or Gaming, its got enough grunt to pull off anything out atm comfortably.

The SSD issue is both annoying and frustrating, considering the OCZ Vertex 2 120GB comes in around the 220 price point its sticking the overall build up, yes i think it gets a honorable mention, but i believe the prices are soon to drop as soon as sata6 drives penetrate the market in a majestic pelvic thrust of optimism...

It's tech that should be present, but i think the < 80gb drives aren't worth the money, the sweet spot both price and capacity wise comes in after the tonne (100gb)capacity wise, and the difference is enough to get wet over...

anyone got any other gripes?

by **skitzor** » 30 Mar 11, 8:08 pm

Jeatalong wrote:lol SSD in gaming computers, your games just load fast, not play faster.

this is true. but i still think someone spending 1200+ on their computer should really consider getting an ssd.

the difference in a game where there is a lot of loading would be fairly noticeable.

i think it should be properly addressed in the main part of the post, but say it's optional. i know there is at least one other decent budgetish sandforce drive out there that isn't the vertex 2, so put those two on. also mention symlinking.

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