Official "System Builders" Thread

[Elyaradine]

Just wanted to pop in and say thanks, guys! Mostly used McDangerous's build, with a couple of things swapped out for similar things because of RebelTech not having them in stock.

The custom CPU fan was a bit of a bitch to put on, but otherwise she seems to be running great! ^_^

[nickrohrbs]

Hey all,

I have been looking around for a new pc and even asked recently on this forum about a new one. My new worry is what I should be buying. I have seen many suggested builds on this forum but the problem is that the rigs are not overclocked. I have seen very interesting pre-built rigs on evetech and see they come overclocked. I realise of course that I could get more value for money if I bought the pc myself and then overclocked it, but I'm worried about overclocking it myself as I've never done it and I'm scared that I break my newly bought pc >.<

So I ask: should I go ahead and fork out the extra money for a pre-built, pre-overclocked pc or should I do the building and overclocking myself (i.e is it actually easy to overclock) ?

Any advice will be much appreciated :)

[McDangerous]

Just wanted to pop in and say thanks, guys! Mostly used McDangerous's build, with a couple of things swapped out for similar things because of RebelTech not having them in stock.

The custom CPU fan was a bit of a bitch to put on, but otherwise she seems to be running great! ^_^

I'm happy to have helped! What did you swap out and what did you end up getting?

Don't worry, everyone struggles to put a heatsink on their first time, especially a big boy like the 612. You should actually be glad, as CM has one of the easiest mounting solutions.

Post pics ASAP!

Hey all,

I have been looking around for a new pc and even asked recently on this forum about a new one. My new worry is what I should be buying. I have seen many suggested builds on this forum but the problem is that the rigs are not overclocked. I have seen very interesting pre-built rigs on evetech and see they come overclocked. I realise of course that I could get more value for money if I bought the pc myself and then overclocked it, but I'm worried about overclocking it myself as I've never done it and I'm scared that I break my newly bought pc >.<

So I ask: should I go ahead and fork out the extra money for a pre-built, pre-overclocked pc or should I do the building and overclocking myself (i.e is it actually easy to overclock) ?

Any advice will be much appreciated :)

If you're buying a SB PC (which you obviously will if buying new) and you get a K-series CPU (i5 2500K or i7 2600K) then overclocking is really, really, REALLY basic to do, I guarantee you. With a Sandy setup all you have to do is up the multiplier and Vcore until you reach your cooling's limits or your chip's safety limits. Bob's your uncle. No more fiddling with base clocks and having to check your NB and RAM speeds, literally just two settings and you're golden. GPU overclocking is just as easy (as it's always been).

Personally, I'd rather build the rig myself and save a couple of Rands which I can then inject back into the build. These days overclocking is really fool-proof.

[Elyaradine]

I got the:

ASRock Extreme4 (the Extreme3 was out of stock)

GTX560Ti 2GB (the Club3D was out of stock, and when doing 3D texture painting, having some extra vram is convenient)

Corsair 4x4GB kit (because it was pretty much the same price as getting separate ADATA ones)

and I think I got the case Wesley posted. I got the case and PSU from Takealot.

I'm also confused which direction the cpu fan should be facing, especially as it blows into the heatsink, and the air seems to leave the heatsink in a whole bunch of different directions. Got two fans blowing in at the hard drive bays in bottom front, and one in the rear blowing out. A photo would probably help, but I'm at work while the PC's at home.

[Toxxyc]

Do you still have the default cooler that came with the CPU?

[McDangerous]

Airflow in an chassis should be as linear as possible, so with your front fans blowing in your cpu cooler's fan should be blowing from the front to the back of the chassis, the same as all your other fans. I'm really glad that you're happy with your build though!

[Wesley]

SYSTEM BUILDERS: APRIL R12,000 TO R16,000

[Hein]

Hi everyone.

I don't really know where to post Laptop questions, so I'll ask in here.

Does anyone know of a VERY good laptop, suitable as a workstation replacement. I have was asked by a friend to help source a very powerful laptop specifically for graphics design. So it needs lots of VRAM, a powerful gfx card and lots of RAM (16GB minimum). Other goodies like SSD+HDD combo storage + Blue-Ray drive are welcome. Needless to say that price is not an option.

www.sagernotebook.com <------- ships internationally (hell expensive), but so far they are the only people that can custom build super powerful laptops and ship it to me. I was looking for a re-seller/supplier to sell me a Dell precision M6600 series laptop, but apparently the selling of those are only limited to corporate enterprises which have a Dell enterprise trading license, which means that, even Pinnacle themselves can't sell me one of those.

[Wesley]

Hi everyone.

I don't really know where to post Laptop questions, so I'll ask in here.

Does anyone know of a VERY good laptop, suitable as a workstation replacement. I have was asked by a friend to help source a very powerful laptop specifically for graphics design. So it needs lots of VRAM, a powerful gfx card and lots of RAM (16GB minimum). Other goodies like SSD+HDD combo storage + Blue-Ray drive are welcome. Needless to say that price is not an option.

www.sagernotebook.com <------- ships internationally (hell expensive), but so far they are the only people that can custom build super powerful laptops and ship it to me. I was looking for a re-seller/supplier to sell me a Dell precision M6600 series laptop, but apparently the selling of those are only limited to corporate enterprises which have a Dell enterprise trading license, which means that, even Pinnacle themselves can't sell me one of those.

What specs are you looking for? Workstation-wise I'm betting something with a Quadro GPU, but I'm going to go on a limb here and guess your friend doesn't have R50k to spend on a laptop. You can get a Precision custom-configured, but only the M4600 model and it only ships with 4GB of RAM as the maximum you can slot in. You've got very few options here:

Mecer P170HM @ R12623 (select the i7 processor, Win 7 Ult, tack on 12GB RAM and you should be good to go)

Dell Latitude E6520 @ POA (Core i7 processor, 8GB RAM and the Quadro 4200M option, backlit keypad, 1080p screen and the recovery media)

Apple Macbook Pro 17" @ POA (still a powerful option, install Windows 7 using boot camp if his design software doesn't support iOS. The Macbooks are also being refreshed, Ivy Bridge ones launching soon)

Alienware M17x-R3 @ R20632 (Alienware, fits in anywhere. Good for games too, btw.)

Dell XPS L702x @ R18215

Dell Precision M6600 @ R23297 (see, you can buy it!)

Currently Mecer is the only company locally that does anything like Dell does, but Dell has an almost unlimited number of options in their Precision lineup.

TL;DR: If the Precision M6600 isn't available, go Alienware. In fact, you can customise that too.

[Hein]

What specs are you looking for? Workstation-wise I'm betting something with a Quadro GPU, but I'm going to go on a limb here and guess your friend doesn't have R50k to spend on a laptop. You can get a Precision custom-configured, but only the M4600 model and it only ships with 4GB of RAM as the maximum you can slot in. You've got very few options here:

Mecer P170HM @ R12623 (select the i7 processor, Win 7 Ult, tack on 12GB RAM and you should be good to go)

Dell Latitude E6520 @ POA (Core i7 processor, 8GB RAM and the Quadro 4200M option, backlit keypad, 1080p screen and the recovery media)

Apple Macbook Pro 17" @ POA (still a powerful option, install Windows 7 using boot camp if his design software doesn't support iOS. The Macbooks are also being refreshed, Ivy Bridge ones launching soon)

Alienware M17x-R3 @ R20632 (Alienware, fits in anywhere. Good for games too, btw.)

Dell XPS L702x @ R18215

Dell Precision M6600 @ R23297 (see, you can buy it!)

Currently Mecer is the only company locally that does anything like Dell does, but Dell has an almost unlimited number of options in their Precision lineup.

TL;DR: If the Precision M6600 isn't available, go Alienware. In fact, you can customise that too.

Thanks for the reply Wesley.

I've seen the M6600 on Laptopdirect, but what they fail to mention somewhere you can easily read, is that NONE of their products are customizable anymore. It used to be, but its gone now. The difference between the Aienware and the Dell is the chassis and the graphics solution in both those notebooks. Alienware = gaming and the Precision = workstation.

Price doesn't matter, like i said in my post. :)

I managed to finally get a quote (after two weeks of searching for someone to source it). But the price left me somewhat confused. How can i pay R67000 for an Alienware PC here in SA when I can have a more powerful setup (From Dell US) shipped here for cheaper ?

[charly]

Hey guys
Could you recommend a good set of 2x4GB DDR3 1600 ram around R650? (if possible from prophecy because they don't have a very big range of ram)

[Wesley]

Hey guys
Could you recommend a good set of 2x4GB DDR3 1600 ram around R650? (if possible from prophecy because they don't have a very big range of ram)

Buy two of these: Corsair Vengeance 4GB @ R308. Matched kits aren't such a big thing anymore.

[Hein]

What specs are you looking for? Workstation-wise I'm betting something with a Quadro GPU, but I'm going to go on a limb here and guess your friend doesn't have R50k to spend on a laptop.

My friend has VERY deep pockets, hence the reason I said, that money doesn't matter.

What I need in the laptop is as follow:
Core i7 CPU
16GB RAM (Minimum) ideal would be 32GB
VRAM 2GB Minimum (Ideal would be 4GB)
1x SSD (120GB+)
1x HDD (500GB+)
Blue-Ray ROM (Not hard to get at all, but just adding it in here)

I managed to get a quote for Alienware for R67999 for the following:

Core i7 CPU
24GB RAM (2x8GB + 2x4GB)
2xSSD (256GB in RAID0)
2GB VRAM (AMD 6990M)

and that is about all that makes it special. I don't see how this justifies R67999 (because the same Alienware PC in the US will sell for less than $5000 ($5000 * 8 Rand conversion = R40000) much less in fact. Shipping is another $900 which makes this MUCH cheaper then just buying it in SA.

[Wesley]

My friend has VERY deep pockets, hence the reason I said, that money doesn't matter.

What I need in the laptop is as follow:
Core i7 CPU
16GB RAM (Minimum) ideal would be 32GB
VRAM 2GB Minimum (Ideal would be 4GB)
1x SSD (120GB+)
1x HDD (500GB+)
Blue-Ray ROM (Not hard to get at all, but just adding it in here)

I managed to get a quote for Alienware for R67999 for the following:

Core i7 CPU
24GB RAM (2x8GB + 2x4GB)
2xSSD (256GB in RAID0)
2GB VRAM (AMD 6990M)

and that is about all that makes it special. I don't see how this justifies R67999 (because the same Alienware PC in the US will sell for less than $5000 ($5000 * 8 Rand conversion = R40000) much less in fact. Shipping is another $900 which makes this MUCH cheaper then just buying it in SA.

If you go and customise the Alienware M18x, you'll be using Nvidia's GTX600-series GPUs, which will offer you better Compute performance. Not Quadro-class performance on its own, but two of them would give a Quadro setup a run for its money:

Alienware M18x @ POA

I would much rather go the Alienware route as you end up with a more flexible option in the end. Even though that's a gaming graphics card, Nvidia's Kepler will be brilliant even for a workstation.

Edit: Its not the M18x-R2, but the Ava laptop has the same hardware. Gives you a good idea of performance.

Also, why a laptop? So that he can take his work home with him?

[Hein]

If you go and customise the Alienware M18x, you'll be using Nvidia's GTX600-series GPUs, which will offer you better Compute performance. Not Quadro-class performance on its own, but two of them would give a Quadro setup a run for its money:

Alienware M18x @ POA

I would much rather go the Alienware route as you end up with a more flexible option in the end. Even though that's a gaming graphics card, Nvidia's Kepler will be brilliant even for a workstation.

Edit: Its not the M18x-R2, but the Ava laptop has the same hardware. Gives you a good idea of performance.

Please refer me to a re-seller (i can't buy through a supplier) that would customize my build the way I want it, because apparently they either don't want to, or they don't look when I e-mail the required spec sheet, or they just can't.

I just managed a custom build on the alienware Website for +$3900, with better specs that was offered for me here in SA. And there is a US company that will ship it for me for between $900-$1000. The problem would be the waiting period 15-20 work days on international shipping.

[Wesley]

Please refer me to a re-seller (i can't buy through a supplier) that would customize my build the way I want it, because apparently they either don't want to, or they don't look when I e-mail the required spec sheet, or they just can't.

I just managed a custom build on the alienware Website for +$3900, with better specs that was offered for me here in SA. And there is a US company that will ship it for me for between $900-$1000. The problem would be the waiting period 15-20 work days on international shipping.

There are no resellers that can do what you're asking, only suppliers like Drive Control. Dell's Alienware department only lets customers configure their laptops. Precisions can be bought (I even gave you a link) and you can add in more RAM when you get the notebook. You might not be able to add in stuff like the Blu-Ray drive or SSD when you're ordering it, but at least you're getting the hardware and performance that your friend needs. And you can buy SSDs separately, its not the end of the world.

Your friend needs to get his IT department at whichever company he's working for to get a supplier account so they can buy hardware direct that's catered for small-to-medium businesses. That way he can get the M6600 customised like he wants. Failing that, go for the M18x-R2. If he's a 3D designer it will offer acceptable performance as a workstation. If he needs something that can do double-precision floating point calculations, then he'll only be able to use Quadro or FirePro graphics cards, hence the option you saw at laptop land for the M6600.

This would also be easier if he was looking for a desktop.

[Hein]

This would also be easier if he was looking for a desktop.

:D Thanks for the laugh and I agree completely. I'll look around more and I'll let you guys know when I find someone who can do this for cheaper. So far it's R70000. Just need to find a place for cheaper than that.

[charly]

Im on a budget and I was wondering if it's worth saving R625 on a GPU.
Gigabyt GTX560 TI R2650.96 Benchmark Score: 222.936
Gigabyte GTX560 R2023.96 Benchmark Score: 212.919

Benchmark: http://www.graphicscardbenchmarks.co...graphics-cards

[McDangerous]

You could save that just by going to a cheaper shop!

Rebeltech - GTX 560 TI 1GB R2 155 or you could get the 2GB model for R200 more.

[charly]

R2 Cheaper: http://www.prophecy.co.za/inno3d-nvi...05c6e2edd882c1