Hi guys, my friend has asked if I could help build him a new PC.
First of all, I have a number of spare bits and pieces from 2012 / 2013 lying around that I would like to reuse to help him save money.
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Approximate Purchase Date: next two to three weeks
Budget Range: approximately $1,200 AUD may be able to squeeze an extra $200 if necessary.
System Usage: Primarily for gaming, some word processing and general internet use, maybe some video editing.
Are you buying a monitor: Yes a monitor will be required (only one - not planning on running dual screens at this stage).
Parts to Upgrade:
CPU: I have an old Intel i5 2310 @ 2.9 GHz Quad Core processor that I was hoping on reusing for the build.
Not planning on overclocking
Motherboard: I also have a Asus P8P67 LE MB which I would like to reuse to help save some money. I found the board stable but was disappointed with the limited overclocking options and amount of available lanes. However, I figure this should be acceptable for my friend as I am only planning on using a single powerful graphics card and not overclocking the CPU.
I am not really familiar with the current boards available, but have noticed that the later graphics cards are all PCIe 3.0 whereas this MB is only 2.0. As I understand it the cards are backwards compatible so should still work fine on the old motherboard. Will there be a noticeable drop in the performance??
And if so, is such a drop in performance worth the added expense of getting a new MB and CPU??
Graphics Card: When I first looked at this for my friend a few months ago I was planning on getting a GTX970 which sells for around $510 AUD (see PC Case Gear at http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1692&products_id=29117)
My friend primarily wants this computer for playing games and ideally we would like it to be able to play the latest titles on max resolution for the next few years without having to upgrade. Looking at the latest Toms Hardware article the best high end graphics card for June is the GTX 980 Ti -unfortunately, this is nowhere near $650 in Australia (more like $1050 which is nearly twice the cost of the 970). Any thoughts or recommendations?
Power Supply: I was thinking of using a Corsair CS750M Modular 80 Plus Gold Power Supply RRP $159 (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_354&products_id=26265)
Hard Drive/s: Any recommendations?? If this was for me I would probably get an SSD but I don't think my friend really cares about the zippier speed and would rather the saving / more memory on a mechanical disk. Was thinking of Seagate Barracuda 2 TB RRP $105 (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_344&products_id=19554&zenid=5128d0c75a83aefa1eabfb9c5d79a7fd)
Monitor: Possibly Asus VE278H 27" Widescreen LED $299 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=558_1213&products_id=22629&zenid=0c1fbe83e5bcdd1fe9eacbfaefa4233f
RAM: Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3
$89
Case: I also have an old Coolermaster Centurion 590 case which can be recycled.
Do you need to buy OS: Yes
Preferred Website(s) for Parts:
http://www.pcdiy.com.au/
http://www.staticice.com.au/
http://www.cplonline.com.au/
http://pccasegear.com/
http://www.msy.com.au/home.php
Parts Preferences: See above
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080
First of all, I have a number of spare bits and pieces from 2012 / 2013 lying around that I would like to reuse to help him save money.
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Approximate Purchase Date: next two to three weeks
Budget Range: approximately $1,200 AUD may be able to squeeze an extra $200 if necessary.
System Usage: Primarily for gaming, some word processing and general internet use, maybe some video editing.
Are you buying a monitor: Yes a monitor will be required (only one - not planning on running dual screens at this stage).
Parts to Upgrade:
CPU: I have an old Intel i5 2310 @ 2.9 GHz Quad Core processor that I was hoping on reusing for the build.
Not planning on overclocking
Motherboard: I also have a Asus P8P67 LE MB which I would like to reuse to help save some money. I found the board stable but was disappointed with the limited overclocking options and amount of available lanes. However, I figure this should be acceptable for my friend as I am only planning on using a single powerful graphics card and not overclocking the CPU.
I am not really familiar with the current boards available, but have noticed that the later graphics cards are all PCIe 3.0 whereas this MB is only 2.0. As I understand it the cards are backwards compatible so should still work fine on the old motherboard. Will there be a noticeable drop in the performance??
And if so, is such a drop in performance worth the added expense of getting a new MB and CPU??
Graphics Card: When I first looked at this for my friend a few months ago I was planning on getting a GTX970 which sells for around $510 AUD (see PC Case Gear at http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1692&products_id=29117)
My friend primarily wants this computer for playing games and ideally we would like it to be able to play the latest titles on max resolution for the next few years without having to upgrade. Looking at the latest Toms Hardware article the best high end graphics card for June is the GTX 980 Ti -unfortunately, this is nowhere near $650 in Australia (more like $1050 which is nearly twice the cost of the 970). Any thoughts or recommendations?
Power Supply: I was thinking of using a Corsair CS750M Modular 80 Plus Gold Power Supply RRP $159 (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_354&products_id=26265)
Hard Drive/s: Any recommendations?? If this was for me I would probably get an SSD but I don't think my friend really cares about the zippier speed and would rather the saving / more memory on a mechanical disk. Was thinking of Seagate Barracuda 2 TB RRP $105 (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_344&products_id=19554&zenid=5128d0c75a83aefa1eabfb9c5d79a7fd)
Monitor: Possibly Asus VE278H 27" Widescreen LED $299 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=558_1213&products_id=22629&zenid=0c1fbe83e5bcdd1fe9eacbfaefa4233f
RAM: Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3
$89
Case: I also have an old Coolermaster Centurion 590 case which can be recycled.
Do you need to buy OS: Yes
Preferred Website(s) for Parts:
http://www.pcdiy.com.au/
http://www.staticice.com.au/
http://www.cplonline.com.au/
http://pccasegear.com/
http://www.msy.com.au/home.php
Parts Preferences: See above
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080
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