New PC System?

[Treads]

Hi

It's been about 5 years since I upgraded my desktop and with a decent tax cheque on it's way I reckon it's about time I did ;)

I've bought a couple of Gamer type systems through GameDude in the past; but thought I'd shop around this time since I haven't kept up to date with the industry. I am quite capable of building my own if I'm given the right specs - so that is also an option. I'll keep my 24" LCD and keyboard/mouse etc. I really only need the main box and will be spending up to $1500ish.

So can anyone recommend a good company to go through for either a pre-built system or to buy all the bits through? I'm looking for something with up-to-date graphics and a decent sized mix of CPU power, memory and HDD capacity.

Cheers!

[WhiteD3]

I find UMart have the best overall prices although you can do better by buying each component from separate shops.

Don't do what I did and put a hi spec processor in a small box. I used an Antec NSK1380 cube which, while the foot print in nice and small, there's not enough room for a decent fan and insufficient vents.

[Dazza67]

Here is what I am building in the next few weeks

Antec Dark Fleet DF-30 Case $115.00 Intel Core i5 2500 $205.00
Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8 8GB (2x4G DDR3 $125.00
ASUS P8P67-M PRO Motherboard B3 $159.00
Corsair AX750 Gold Power Supply $219.00
Lite-On IHAS324 24x DVDRW $29.00
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti Overclocked 1GB $249.00
OCZ Vertex 2 3.5in 120GB SSD $199.00
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB WD10EALX $59.00

Sub-Total: $1359.00

Add $109 for Win7 Home premium 64bit


This is going to be a gaming PC for BF3 if your not into gaming drop the SSD drive and you could get a lesser Motherboard as this is a Crossfire/SLI board and save about $250

I am going to chuck a second GTX560 in when BF3 comes out in Oct.

All from PCCasegear with about 40-60 delivery

Dazza

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I'm sure our own Incisor would build you a nice one,,,
;)


oh,,
and Dazza,,

I hope you have better luck with your 560Ti OC
My SOC failed and they couldnt/wouldnt replace it,,
ended up with a 570GtiHDOC with the store credit,,

[Treads]

Thanks a lot Dazza

That looks similar to what I'm after (performance and price ;) ). One thing I found in the past was that some motherboards etc weren't stable with certain types of memory or graphics cards. Is this still the case, or should I look into which combination to get?

Just to clarify:

Back in the day I built a system based around an MSI motherboard with AMD CPU, Nvidia graphics card, etc. I got heaps of errors and shutdowns straight away and after swapping out components I found that it was the GC that was causing it. I then searched around on the net and found that it was a common problem :(

[Ferret]

Re hardware compatablity - In the past I have never had a single problem with ASUS or Gigabyte motherboards built around Intel chips sets, would not consider anything else. Just my opinion.

[towe0609]

You might find this link (http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/rmp_sg_whirlpoolpcs) helpful

[Chucaro]

Re hardware compatablity - In the past I have never had a single problem with ASUS or Gigabyte motherboards built around Intel chips sets, would not consider anything else. Just my opinion.

What about going full Intel system? If it is built by an authorized dealer it used to have a very good backup

[Lionel]

Hi

It's been about 5 years since I upgraded my desktop and with a decent tax cheque on it's way I reckon it's about time I did ;)

I've bought a couple of Gamer type systems through GameDude in the past; but thought I'd shop around this time since I haven't kept up to date with the industry. I am quite capable of building my own if I'm given the right specs - so that is also an option. I'll keep my 24" LCD and keyboard/mouse etc. I really only need the main box and will be spending up to $1500ish.

So can anyone recommend a good company to go through for either a pre-built system or to buy all the bits through? I'm looking for something with up-to-date graphics and a decent sized mix of CPU power, memory and HDD capacity.

Cheers!

Whatever you do, get an SSD drive to install Windows and the programs, then use a separate drive for data. I have just upgraded my machine to use an SSD, and it is the single best thing you can do for your computer, IMHO.

Cheers,

Lionel

[Basil135]

Ummm - can I ask what a SSD drive is?

Never heard of one, but think I might need one... dunno why, but I just might.. :D

[It'sNotWorthComplaining!]

Or just By a 27" Imac, no clutter of a big box to find a home.:D

[Ferret]

Ummm - can I ask what a SSD drive is?

Solid State Disk:- much faster than a conventional hard drive disk.

[Basil135]

Thanks for that.


Hmmm, might have to have a look around.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Deciding to buy one is easy,,,
deciding which one is FASTEST is nigh on impossible,,,

after all,, speed is the only reason to buy one ATM,,,

[vnx205]

There is a lot of information (and a little bit of misinformation) available if you search for "ssd vs hdd".

Here's one.

SSD vs HDD (http://elitepcbuilding.com/ssd-vs-hdd)

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I was thinking more along these lines,,

fill your boots Basil:p

Storage Internal Storage Reviews (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Storage,5/Internal-Storage,19/)


or cut to the chase,,
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-ssd-price-per-gb-ssd-performance,2942.html

[Roadrunner]

OCZ Vertex 2 3.5in 120GB SSD $199.00

I had 6 of them fail in client PCs. Do some research. There was a problem with the Sandforce chipset. They all have been working for a few month and yes they are fast and all broke after that time and no data recovery possible.
Guide OCZ Official Statement regarding hardware issues reported by other manufacturers ...UPDATE 06/21/2011 (http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?89600-OCZ-Official-Statement-regarding-hardware-issues-reported-by-other-manufacturers-...UPDATE-06-14-2011)

They are nice when they work.

Matt

[Basil135]

Ok, so I dont need one - YET....:twisted:

But, when the price comes down, & the capacity goes up...mmmmmm



Mind you, SSD into carputer....:angel: