$1250 Desktop Gaming Build x 2 ~ Australia

[azza-don]

Hi everyone,

Quick background: I bought two of these near the end of last year.

They both arived with thermal paste in the sockets, and some nasty cheap PSU and memory 🙁. I'm going through a tribunal to return them since the vendor will not agree to it, they want to 'fix every small problem'. All going well, I will be ready to purchase again in about 2 weeks. (I know; 'buy cheap, buy twice').

Approximate Purchase Date: 21 May 2013

Budget Range: up to $1250 for each PC, but can go a little more if it will make a decent difference.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (SWTOR), music editing, surfing web, email...

Are you buying a monitor: unsure, currently using Grundig 23.5" (1920 x 1080) LCD TV as monitor for one, and Philips 22" (1680 x 1050) for the other. Is there a reasonably priced monitor that would give a better experience? if so I'm open to it, and it would have additional budget over and above the PCs.

Parts to Upgrade: All

Do you need to buy OS: No, I have Win 7 64 bit.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php
(we live in the middle of nowhere, they have a shop within distance for overnight delivery)

Location: Deniliquin, NSW, Australia.
We do have a couple of PC shops here, but parts are generally more expensive due to the location, and I don't believe they have any online shop. I will check prices with them on any suggested build parts before I order.

Parts Preferences: Intel CPU, NVIDIA GPU (The VTX HD 6970's would not run Heaven without the driver crashing, so back to NVIDIA?)

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Not planning on it, I understand one good card is better than two crappy ones.

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080, 1680x1050

Additional Comments: I would like a quiet PC that doesn't use excessive power.
Would like to be able to play SWTOR (or similar) on high settings for a few years.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Old PC wont run SWTOR on high settings, and even then, FPS is very low.

Thank you in advance for any assistance.

 

[jnkweaver]

I used Australian for the price picker selection but not your site. This build comes in at $1200

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/ViJh

 

[azza-don]

I used Australian for the price picker selection but not your site. This build comes in at $1200

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/ViJh

Thank you very much for your reply, all are available from my site 😀. Can you please also recommend a good SDD for this build? I know it will put me slightly over budget.

 

[jnkweaver]

The Samsung 840 Pro Series seems to be popular. I would get 128Gb http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_902_1370&products_id=22102

 

[azza-don]

The Samsung 840 Pro Series seems to be popular. I would get 128Gb http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_902_1370&products_id=22102

Thanks again, here is my list as it stands. any final feedback welcome.

 

[azza-don]

I used Australian for the price picker selection but not your site. This build comes in at $1200

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/ViJh

After doing some homework on those parts, I have just a couple questions.
1. The power requirement of that graphics card says 600w, and CPU I think is 77w, how come I only need a 520w PSU in your build?
2. I cannot find that specific memory in the supported memory list for that motherboard, while other Corsair memory is listed. are you sure there will be no problem with that combo?

thanks again.

 

[jnkweaver]

1. Power requirements for the 7970 is 500 watts. That is a system requirement not just for the card. The 520 Antec is made by Seasonic which is the best manufacturer.
See the requirement here. http://www.amd.com/US/PRODUCTS/DESKTOP/GRAPHICS/7000/7970GHZ/Pages/radeon-7970GHz.aspx#/2

2. If you want to swap memory to a different one that is listed a supported then go ahead. I would make sure it is DDR3 1600 with a 9 latency.

 

[jnkweaver]

If you want to jump up to the 620W then it is $15 more or go to the non-modular for the same price. http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_535&products_id=19763

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_535&products_id=15134

 

[jnkweaver]

That is strange but I did check it at other websites but the Gigabyte card does list 600W as the requirement. That again is a system requirement. I would either get a different card or just go with the higher rated psu.

 

[azza-don]

I upgraded a couple of the parts since I could afford to, but still resembles the suggested build. good advice thanks.

here is the final list for the 2 PC's I ended up ordering.
https://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=wish_lists&wlcId=163365&action=wish_lists

Just got them assembled and running, very happy (except 1 stick of bad RAM ).

The HAF XB case was interesting and different to work with. many excellent features, the only thing I could pick at was one slightly loose case fan plug, but it works, and can be replaced if necessary by replacing the fan for ~$15.

And I can confirm the mobo is in fact "ultra-durable". you should have seen my husband with the pliers tying to get his Colosseum cooler bracket attached!

Getting between 40 and 110 FPS in SWTOR on Very High settings with High AA depending on how many effects and toons are around. Very nice detail on everything.

Both CPU's max 54c running SWTOR for a few hours, so the extra cost for the Noctua doesn't seem to get any better performance in the short term than the $55 Colosseum, but the instructions and assembly of the Noctua seemed a lot easier from watching hubby

thanks again. xx