Official "System Builders" Thread

[phant1m]

so with the Prophecy order cancelled due to the stock etc and now it not being listed on the site. Guess im going with this build

Intel Pentium G2120 @ R966
ASRock B75M @ R710
Transcend JetRAM 8GB DDR3-1333 @ R328
Total: R2010

Hopefully this time ill get the pc :D.

[Wesley]

Alrighty then, I'll be setting up a media centre/server sometime in the near future and I need some help/advice...
Firstly: Which system should I use, I have access to 2 old linux servers (like 5 or 6 years) that still run perfectly and could do the trick, then I have an old HP DX2000 desktop which could work, and then there's the system that I use everyday, i7 2600k, Asus P8P67 Pro etc etc.
Which of these should I go with (whichever option I choose I will need to buy some bigger HDDs)?

What else would I need (regarding hardware)

Thanks for any help :)

If the DX2000 has a motherboard with a PCI-Express 16x port, you can use that and stick in a low-end GPU for the video decoding and playback through HDMI, if that's what you're asking. It won't be the most powerful solution but if you pair that with Windows 7/8 and VLC or OpenElec, you'll have a pretty competent player. Its the file hosting that may be the big issue - if its locally stored, that's not too much to worry about. If you want to store the files on a server on the network and use the PC to play them, you may need to do some more planning. You'll have to use something that's capable of holding all the hard drives you need along with a ethernet network port. Streaming over the network may be a potential issue if your server is also required to decode the video if you want to watch your media on difference devices like a tablet or phone - for that you need a CPU good enough to do the decoding in real-time.

If you're going to be keeping the media on the player, Windows and VLC gives me the least issues (if at all).

[jhl]

If the DX2000 has a motherboard with a PCI-Express 16x port, you can use that and stick in a low-end GPU for the video decoding and playback through HDMI, if that's what you're asking. It won't be the most powerful solution but if you pair that with Windows 7/8 and VLC or OpenElec, you'll have a pretty competent player. Its the file hosting that may be the big issue - if its locally stored, that's not too much to worry about. If you want to store the files on a server on the network and use the PC to play them, you may need to do some more planning. You'll have to use something that's capable of holding all the hard drives you need along with a ethernet network port. Streaming over the network may be a potential issue if your server is also required to decode the video if you want to watch your media on difference devices like a tablet or phone - for that you need a CPU good enough to do the decoding in real-time.

If you're going to be keeping the media on the player, Windows and VLC gives me the least issues (if at all).

Thanks man! I really do appreciate the help... I'll weigh up my options.

[Wesley]

Laptop Buyers Guide: January R10,000 to R13,000

Welcome back to another episode of the Laptop Buyers guide. This week we're looking at options in the mid to high-end range where most people who want a powerful machine that can act as a desktop replacement start to look around. Its this price range where you'll also find the most tablets and some of the higher-spec lappies as well. Gamers, businessmen and the average Joe looking for something for entertainment use will all find something here. Without further ado, hit that button!

Linky

[Gear 109]

Hi this will be my first build and after quite a bi of looking up I was wondering if anyone had suggestions.

CPU: AMD A8 5600K R1235
MOBO: MSI A75MA E35 R831
HDD: WD Caviar Blue 250gb SATA3 (will upgrade when I have more cash) R589
CHA: Raidmax Atlas ATX case R242
PSU: XFX Core Edition PRO550W R675 (This is what I really want to know .... do I need a 600w PSU if I want to upgrade to a discrete GPU in the future or will a Cheaper PSU work just as well.)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x4gb 1866mhz R476

P.S. I am looking to upgrade to a discrete GPU in the future but just wanted the basic system to be right

[Toxxyc]

Quick Q - why a discrete PSU? They don't really work well, and a normal GPU without overclocking and a good cooler is just as quiet.

[McDangerous]

I think you're a bit mixed up Toxxyc... A discrete GPU is a card that you attach to a PCI-Ex slot, an integrated GPU is the one that's on the CPU die.

Also Gear, you should list your intentions for the rig. Luckily these days you can get away with not having a discrete GPU as the integrated solutions are proving to be ample for low-intensity games. If we know what you want the PC for we can make suggestions.

[Toxxyc]

I'm not mixed up, I just for some reason mixed up the word "discrete" with "silent" or "fan-less". Oh, silly me.

[Gear 109]

Well at the moment I am looking for a lite gaming pc (mostly Photoshop though, busy doing a course in graphic design) but in the future I would really like to not have to set down the graphics on games or find them unplayable because of either my GPU, CPU, or some other bottleneck in the system.

[Wesley]

Hi this will be my first build and after quite a bi of looking up I was wondering if anyone had suggestions.

CPU: AMD A8 5600K R1235
MOBO: MSI A75MA E35 R831
HDD: WD Caviar Blue 250gb SATA3 (will upgrade when I have more cash) R589
CHA: Raidmax Atlas ATX case R242
PSU: XFX Core Edition PRO550W R675 (This is what I really want to know .... do I need a 600w PSU if I want to upgrade to a discrete GPU in the future or will a Cheaper PSU work just as well.)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x4gb 1866mhz R476

P.S. I am looking to upgrade to a discrete GPU in the future but just wanted the basic system to be right

Welcome to the forums and that's a pretty good first build right there, everything will work straight out of the box. You're right about bottlenecks, though, because it'll be the integrated GPU that's going to hold you back the most. With an APU like the A8-5600K, you can expect games to run well at 720p resolution with low to medium settings, which is the same workload that a console deals with. If you can afford the better A10-5800K, that's the way I'd go, even if its around R300 more expensive.

You'll be fine with the PSU you've chosen. The Pro550W you're looking at is a Seasonic-based unit and its generally one of the better PSUs in the ~R600 price range. Stick with it, it'll provide enough power for the rig as well as any upgrades you'll be doing in it's lifetime. As for GPUs, your selection tops out with the HD7870 and the GTX660 Ti, anything higher than those two cards would require a slightly more beefy PSU.

As far as lowering the settings for playability, once you get a discrete GPU you probably won't have to compromise as much. A lot of games today do take advantage of two or more cores so the APU will keep up until you use games with really demanding high quality settings like Far Cry 3 on ultra (then a Core i5 would be the way to go). I would just recommend getting a better case, Raidmax doesn't always have good quality stuff. Something like the Cooler Master Elite 344 or the Elite 311 would be an ideal chassis to start off with.

Also, where are you getting that RAM? I've been looking for DDR3-1866 modules all over the place.

[OtakuD]

Hey guys, so next step is SSD, firstly I've been seeing tons of ppl raving about the Samsung 840 on the web but I can't see any1 who sells it in SA, is there a place?

If not which one would be the best to get, it seems most people in SA love the OCZ brand whilst overseas the Vertex 4 seems to be troublesome... Help/opinions?

[Chevron]

Hey guys, so next step is SSD, firstly I've been seeing tons of ppl raving about the Samsung 840 on the web but I can't see any1 who sells it in SA, is there a place?

If not which one would be the best to get, it seems most people in SA love the OCZ brand whilst overseas the Vertex 4 seems to be troublesome... Help/opinions?

Depends on your budget. I'd say have a look at the OCZ Agility 3. Faster than the Agility 4 and decently priced. Get at least 120gigs, but I'd say get the 240.

[Wesley]

The OCZ Vectors are doing really well locally, so there's that. The other popular local brands are Intel, ADATA, Corsair, Crucial, Plextor and PNY. There's also SanDisk which sometimes has the lowest prices per GB because they have their own factory that produces NAND chips.

I assume you're looking at the 256GB size, so here's what I'd be looking at:

Plextor PX-256M3S @ R2174
Corsair Neutron 240GB @ R2844
Intel 520 240GB @ R3064
OCZ Vertex 4 256GB @ R2537
OCZ Vector 256GB @ R2845
Transcend SSD720 256GB @ R2605
Crucial M4 256GB @ R2249
SanDisk Extreme 240GB @ R2219

My first choice would be the Vector, second the Neutron, third Plextor and fourth Vertex 4. Intel's probably the most stable when it comes to driver firmware and updates. Crucial's pretty popular in America, but they've been outclassed in performance benchmarks by OCZ and Samsung.

[OtakuD]

The OCZ Vectors are doing really well locally, so there's that. The other popular local brands are Intel, ADATA, Corsair, Crucial, Plextor and PNY. There's also SanDisk which sometimes has the lowest prices per GB because they have their own factory that produces NAND chips.

I assume you're looking at the 256GB size, so here's what I'd be looking at:

Plextor PX-256M3S @ R2174
Corsair Neutron 240GB @ R2844
Intel 520 240GB @ R3064
OCZ Vertex 4 256GB @ R2537
OCZ Vector 256GB @ R2845
Transcend SSD720 256GB @ R2605
Crucial M4 256GB @ R2249
SanDisk Extreme 240GB @ R2219

My first choice would be the Vector, second the Neutron, third Plextor and fourth Vertex 4. Intel's probably the most stable when it comes to driver firmware and updates. Crucial's pretty popular in America, but they've been outclassed in performance benchmarks by OCZ and Samsung.

As always thanks for the thorough walkthrough, that Plexor is sounding better and better the more I read about it plus the price is great too so I think I'll probably go that route! Thanks! :D

[Wesley]

As always thanks for the thorough walkthrough, that Plexor is sounding better and better the more I read about it plus the price is great too so I think I'll probably go that route! Thanks! :D

I'm glad you like it :) Really can't go wrong with any SSD that uses a modern controller and Toggle-NAND. I hope you enjoy it and let us know how the experience is. I'm going to be saving up for one myself this year, hoping for a 256GB OCZ Vector towards the end of the year if the price drops nicely.

[OtakuD]

I'm glad you like it :) Really can't go wrong with any SSD that uses a modern controller and Toggle-NAND. I hope you enjoy it and let us know how the experience is. I'm going to be saving up for one myself this year, hoping for a 256GB OCZ Vector towards the end of the year if the price drops nicely.

Forgive me for picking your brain and it's vast knowledge but I'm still pretty new to SSDs -.-' It still uses the Marvell firmware so I guess that's not much of a problem even though it's older than sandforce? The vector was you #1 choice, is that based mainly on it's performance or is there something else I should be aware of? Also... my old rig still had an IDE DVD writer (horrors!) would you recommend going blu-ray (read/write) these days or is it still not yet worthwhile apart from a movie player?

[Wesley]

Forgive me for picking your brain and it's vast knowledge but I'm still pretty new to SSDs -.-' It still uses the Marvell firmware so I guess that's not much of a problem even though it's older than sandforce? The vector was you #1 choice, is that based mainly on it's performance or is there something else I should be aware of? Also... my old rig still had an IDE DVD writer (horrors!) would you recommend going blu-ray (read/write) these days or is it still not yet worthwhile apart from a movie player?

The Marvell controller inside the M3S actually debuted last year and its the same stuff physically as the OCZ Agility/Vertex 4 family. OCZ and Plextor just took the standard designs and tweaked them and designed their own firmware in-house. They're no longer the fastest drives in their price range but both are better supported than, say, most drives that use Sandforce controllers. So looking at things performance and capability-wise, Plextor's pretty much on par with the best the industry can offer. The hardware inside also isn't that old, its only out by eight months now :)

Plus, Plextor makes really good, long-lasting stuff. Back in the 90s they were a staple in builds when it came to CD/DVD drives. I once found a server in PE that had a Plextor CD drive still in perfect working condition.

I prefer the Vector because it's OCZ's first, in-house design where they take control over the design of everything but the NAND chips and chip fabrication. Its also an extremely fast drive and its only going to get better as firmware updates are pushed out. Vertex 4 owners last year got several updates that improved performance more and more, so it was the better choice in the end for enthusiasts.

The reason why I put Plextor third, personally, is because Corsair's drives use the LAMD (Link_A_Media Devices) controller, which was born in the server and enterprise market first before making a break to the consumer market. The server environment is a rough one and LAMD has performed well there in the past, that's why its number two for me.

As for the DVD writer, I don't tell anyone to buy a Blu-Ray reader/writer unless they have a use for it or they have money to burn. All games and programs are still delivered on DVDs and Blu-Ray only makes sense for really big disc backups and HD movies/series and the peeps who rip them for their home media servers. Some people do watch movies on their PC and for them its going to make their life easier, but for everyone else I just tell them to buy a Playstation 3 or a networkable Blu-Ray player for their home theatre.

PS3's better anyway, 'cause it can play games ^_^

[Gear 109]

Also, where are you getting that RAM? I've been looking for DDR3-1866 modules all over the place.

Hi Thanx for the advice Will look into other chassis today ... the Ram I found at:

http://www.prophecy.co.za/ddr3-above...8471e7d900581c

Although there are also a few kits at: http://www.computerstore.co.za/compu...re.php?cat=462

[Wesley]

Hello NAGlings! Just thought I'd drop this by you. You remember that Alienware X51 I previewed a while ago, right? Well, since the local portal launch, we've had an official outlet to buy the X51 from, but at R11,000 many felt it was overpriced. Its recently taken a cut to R10,000 and looks much better as a result. While you may feel that the entry-level model using a Core i3-2120, Nvidia's GT545, 4GB RAM and a 1TB hard drive isn't worth the cost, you're paying more for the brilliant engineering that went into the console-like chassis, barely bigger than Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim. If you were looking for something more beefy, Alienware also offers a Core i5 quad-core and Nvidia's GTX660 for R3000 more.

[Wesley]

Laptop Buyer's Guide: January R15,000 to R21,000

Hello Internet and welcome to the last episode of the Laptop Buyers guide for this month. Today we're back in the high-end price range, where laptops become gaming laptops and Ultrabooks become...er, better Ultrabooks? That aside, this is where you'd be shopping if you want absolutely no compromises. Unfortunately, even for someone who has this much money to burn, there isn't a lot of choice. Even worse, some companies know that and subsequently overcharge local customers. Careful shopping, then, is encouraged. Hit the jump, because I've mostly done that for you.

Linky