1. #1

    First custom computer help

    I was planning on getting a PC built a while ago but never got around to it, but I am starting to feel my current machine lacking in power and I am looking to get a nice solid computer to be able raid in WoW on ultra setting, play BF3 in high graphics and Diablo 3 at max settings among other things.

    I looked at the Unicorn build and tried to base my part choice off of there but being in Australia some parts are hard to find and overpriced.

    Here is what I have come up with, I am wondering if this computer would work well, Unfortunately I don't have a price breakdown of each item because I selected the options from a local computer store (www.ple.com.au)


  2. #2
    Note: Most of my suggestions are going to be for cost-saving purposes, the rig will run fine as-is, but a lot of it is overkill.

    1. If you are only using this PC for gaming, the i7 2600k is overkill. The i5 2500k is considerably cheaper ($87 cheaper to be precise) and will handle anything you throw at it.

    2. 16GB is overkill for a gaming PC, if you're looking to save money you can bump that down to this 8GB bundle and you'd be fine (and save $60).

    3. Edit: Disregard number 3 if you've already read it. I'm going over my recommendations on the site you provided now and they don't sell the SSD I suggested as an alternate. They do sell the OCZ Vertex 3, which is what I'm using, but it isn't a big enough savings for me to recommend switching to it.

    4. I don't know much about that case, but I don't see it recommended very often, maybe someone else could weigh in.

    5. I went over the differences between Home Premium and Ultimate using the Windows 7 website, and I don't see enough of an improvement to recommend the $110 price increase. For a gaming PC, Home Premium should do fine.

    6. If you follow my earlier suggestions, you could use the money you save and bump the GTX 570 up to a GTX 580 ($140 price difference), the 580 beats the 570 by a pretty good margin in most benchmark tests.
    Last edited by noteworthynerd; 2012-01-25 at 01:56 PM.

  3. #3
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by noteworthynerd View Post
    but I'm skeptical that the cost of Ultimate is worth it.
    Ultimate is heavily designed to operate in Enterprise environments. Almost all of its features are related to remotely operating other machines, or operating the machine itself from a remote location.

    The only realistically usable features for a home user is Bitlocker (substitutable) and that it includes free language packs for being able to switch the OS language. UNIX users may desire the UNIX subsystem that is only available in Enterprise and Ultimate, though again it is effectively useless for the normal user.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by DarkXale View Post
    Ultimate is heavily designed to operate in Enterprise environments. Almost all of its features are related to remotely operating other machines, or operating the machine itself from a remote location.
    Yeah, I actually decided to look into it after I posted the first version of my response, and did notice that most of the additions in Ultimate are related to RDP (or other business functions), something that nearly all home users will have no use for.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by noteworthynerd View Post
    Note: Most of my suggestions are going to be for cost-saving purposes, the rig will run fine as-is, but a lot of it is overkill.

    1. If you are only using this PC for gaming, the i7 2600k is overkill. The i5 2500k is considerably cheaper ($87 cheaper to be precise) and will handle anything you throw at it.

    2. 16GB is overkill for a gaming PC, if you're looking to save money you can bump that down to this 8GB bundle and you'd be fine (and save $60).

    3. Edit: Disregard number 3 if you've already read it. I'm going over my recommendations on the site you provided now and they don't sell the SSD I suggested as an alternate. They do sell the OCZ Vertex 3, which is what I'm using, but it isn't a big enough savings for me to recommend switching to it.

    4. I don't know much about that case, but I don't see it recommended very often, maybe someone else could weigh in.

    5. I went over the differences between Home Premium and Ultimate using the Windows 7 website, and I don't see enough of an improvement to recommend the $110 price increase. For a gaming PC, Home Premium should do fine.

    6. If you follow my earlier suggestions, you could use the money you save and bump the GTX 570 up to a GTX 580 ($140 price difference), the 580 beats the 570 by a pretty good margin in most benchmark tests.
    Hi thanks for your feedback.

    Regarding the i5 2500k and i7 2600k, why don't you suggest the i7 2600k, you say it is overkill but $87 is a relatively small amount if it gives much better performance, or does it not work like that? I also wish to do video editing/recording (mainly wow videos), is the i5 2500k fine for this?

    The reason I chose 16gb was because the 8gb kit of the same type was out of stock.

    What are some cases you would recommend for this build? The ones suggested in the Narwhal and Unicorn builds were not available.

    Thanks for that, I will swap down to Home Premium.

    How much better is a 580 than the 570, would it be worth the extra $140? I'm not on a tight budget so if it gives much better performance I would surely consider it.

    Also I forgot to mention in my first post, but would this machine also be capable of running dual monitors fairly well. I'd probably use the 27" for gaming and have my current 19" to the side for web browsing/movies.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Glurp View Post
    Regarding the i5 2500k and i7 2600k, why don't you suggest the i7 2600k, you say it is overkill but $87 is a relatively small amount if it gives much better performance, or does it not work like that? I also wish to do video editing/recording (mainly wow videos), is the i5 2500k fine for this?
    That's the thing, it doesn't give you "much better performance". In fact, in some benchmarks the 2600k under performs the 2500k, specifically in gaming.The 2600k is more expensive because it can "hyper-thread", but most games do not utilize hyper-threading, making the only advantage the 2600k has over the 2500k useless. Here's a comparison of the two (2500k in blue, 2600k in black), gaming benches are near the bottom. As you can see, the 2500k is either right behind or actually ahead of the 2600k.

    Quote Originally Posted by Glurp View Post
    The reason I chose 16gb was because the 8gb kit of the same type was out of stock.
    Oh ok... Well, 16GB is fine, just overkill, I'd consider waiting a day or two and seeing if the 8GB bundle comes back in stock.

    Quote Originally Posted by Glurp View Post
    What are some cases you would recommend for this build? The ones suggested in the Narwhal and Unicorn builds were not available.
    Since you aren't building it yourself, it really comes down to what you think looks good. If you were putting it together yourself, you'd have to be mindful of build easiness and cable management. Of course, if you ever plan on upgrading, then you'll have to worry about that... Personally, I like Corsair and Fractal Design cases.

    Quote Originally Posted by Glurp View Post
    How much better is a 580 than the 570, would it be worth the extra $140? I'm not on a tight budget so if it gives much better performance I would surely consider it.
    If you look at the comparison I provided in my first post, you can see that the 580 provides FPS differences as low as 5 more in some games to 20 more FPS in others. May not sound like a lot, but consider the fact that, in a few years the 580 will be considered a low end card. When that time comes, you can buy a second one (for much cheaper than they cost right now) and SLI them together, which will give you the same (if not better) results than buying the top of the line card in the future. That being said, you might wait for another opinion on this particular question, it is hard for me to say "Yes, it is a big enough increase to justify the extra $140" or "No, it is not".

    Quote Originally Posted by Glurp View Post
    Also I forgot to mention in my first post, but would this machine also be capable of running dual monitors fairly well. I'd probably use the 27" for gaming and have my current 19" to the side for web browsing/movies.
    Yes, this will run two monitors fine.

  7. #7
    So I think I've come to a final decision, I've gone with the i5 2500k, dropped to 8gb ram (apparently it was in stock, I just couldn't find it), Windows 7 Home Premium, GTX 580, 24" monitor (instead of 27") and a Thermaltake Level 10 GT Gaming Case (Fell in love with it as soon as I saw it).

    Here's an image of the final parts:


    Are all these choices good in your opinion? Will it all fit together and work fine and is the Power Supply big enough? Is there anything else you don't agree with?
    Last edited by Glurp; 2012-01-25 at 04:09 PM.

  8. #8
    That power supply will do fine... The only thing I can see is that the motherboard is a little expensive, you could get away with something like the GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3, but that's up to you (you'd only save ~$30). Either way, everything looks good to go! Enjoy. =)

  9. #9
    Herald of the Titans Maruka's Avatar
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    beastmode computer, nice man

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