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kanoku

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Sep 12, 2011
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18,530
Approximate Purchase Date: About 1 month

Budget Range: $1000-$1200

System Usage: Gaming, Programming, Web surfing

Parts not required: Mouse, monitor, keyboard, OS

Preffered Websites: I would pick newegg but unfortunately they don't shp to my country. www.mwave.com.au, www.arc.com.au and www.jw.com.au.

Country of origin: Australia

Parts Preferences: Not really just want a good gaming computer to play on a 1280x1080. Hopefully it should be able to run battlefield 3 on nearly maxed out settings.

Overclocking: It would be better if the graphiv card was factory overclocked. I don't intend on overclocking anything.

Monitor resolution: 1280x1080

Additional comments: Hopefully it should be able to run most games maxed out, and I don't want to have to upgrade for at least 2 years.
 
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MSY can be pretty limited in the range of their cards, if you go down that path. And don't rely on the website pricelist for card range. Talk to the one near you to see what they stock. Get exact models numbers from them too. A lot of places don't bother stocking reference gtx570s anymore... but MSY has a few. Nothing wrong with ref cards, but on this gen of GPUs I do like ones with AM cooling! If you are wanting something more specific you might have to look to PCCaseGear or MWave. I don't too excited about Super Mega Ultra Uber OC versions either (although a lot of them are), but nice cooling is always welcome. Stick with the solid manufacturers (with good warranties) Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, EVGA and you'll be right :)
 
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Yea I think I'm going to go with msi gtx 570 twin frozr iii, because it's got great performance and really good cooling. People say that gaming computers should have an SSD, but are they worth it?
 
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YES! I installed a 120 GB Corsair GT Force 3 for the first time in my computer and having it run your operating system makes everything wicked fast. The difference is really noticeable.

It will involve a learning curve on how to install SSDs and run them but there are several guides out that are very good.
 
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Approixamteley how much do they cost and do u have any guides on them?
 
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In your price range a 120 GB SSD would be your best bet. The Kingston Hyper X Extreme, Corsair GT Force 3, Mushkin, Patriot Wildfire and OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS are the fastest SSDs on the market right now in the 120 GB size.

The Hyper X Extreme is expected to drop significantly in price in about a month because Kingston has a large volume advantage over other manufacturers and so you might want to keep an eye on it.

All of the above SSDs are about equal and any one of them would be a good choice. Look for the best sale. Adata also puts out a good 120 GB SSD. You probably will not be able to see any discernible difference between all of these in real life use and there are no quality reliability studies available. Intel is supposed to make the most reliable SSD and they probably do, but their SSDs are slower than the top tier SSDs and so I have a problem recommending them. Also avoid the Corsair Force 3 non-GT.

In America they cost anywhere from $180 - $280. $180 Price SSDs are the best pricing that I have seen and I have only seen the Corsair GT at this price and it wasn't very long. A more realistic price is approximately $225 on sale for one of the above.

Don't go with a hybrid SSD like the Momentus (they are really slow) - get a real SSD. The reason to get an SSD is SPEED - you want to get the fastest available for the best price to maximize your price.
 
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Not deliberatley trying to confuse things... but for consideration:

your gtx 570 Twin FrozrIII + that 120GB SSD = 399 + 219 = 618

Personally I'd hold off the SSD and go 2 x gtx 560Ti Twin FrozrII = 510 (for 2)

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1193&products_id=16578

SSD's are great, but I always try to max a GPU setup for the budget, and with the budget outlined in your OP I hold on it. You can always put one in later (pain of a job but...)
I don't know... it's just my opinion. Don't forget what you want the build to do. Game like a beast right? Having Windows load quick is nice, maybe when you've got $1500AUD + to spend. Not to say that the 570 is a compromised GPU setup but... I'm guessing we've gone beyond 1200 now right?
 
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The 560 Ti and the 570 are great cards no doubt but why is no one suggesting two ATI 6950s in crossfire. This is more than enough to play any game on max setting (for a single monitor) and is much cheaper. Two 6950s can probably be found for $450 after rebates. Tom's Hardware recommends the 2-6950 in crossfire as the best bang for your buck.

I would definitely include an SSD in your build - the entire desktop industry is moving this way fast. Again it improves you WHOLE computer experience speed-wise, including gaming. This is especially true if you load your bigger, resource hungry games on the SSD which a 120 GB SSD will allow you to do. I virtually eliminates you waiting on your computer for most issues as they happen instantly (keep in mind that internet speed is independent of the SSD performance and depends on your connection bandwidth).

It is one of those things that is hard to understand until you try it.
 
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Am I the only person on this thread that saw the resolution in the OP?

@ the OP. If you don't plan on going with dual vid cards at a later date, then look at the original build I posted on here. If you want the dual card option left open then look at this build down below. If and when you eventually pick up a 1920 x 1080 monitor then you can always add another one of those cards for SLI.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25_1278&products_id=14258 $59.00
Xigmatek Asgard Pure Black Edition

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_226&products_id=16142 $139.00
Antec High Current Gamer 750W Power Supply HCG-750

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=18137 $145.00
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Motherboard

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=187_346_1184&products_id=16531 $219.00
Intel Core i5 2500K

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_912&products_id=13931 $65.00
G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_344&products_id=12711 $55.00
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB HD103SJ

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=658_667&products_id=17957 $25.00
ASUS DRW-24B3ST 24X DVDRW Drive

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1193&products_id=16652 $259.00
ASUS GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II Overclocked 1GB

Total: $901.65

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=375_974&products_id=17003 $95.00
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit with SP1 OEM

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_902_1006&products_id=17369 $219.00
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SSD
 
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Yeah I saw it but I am assuming that the OP will upgrade since his/her clear goal is SLI. I think we should provide a setup ofr 1920 x 1080 resolution because that is where the OP wants to go. Excellent point though.
 
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The HX 850 is listed on sale at the site that Why Me suggested (thanks Why Me - it looks like a great site) for $219.00. The link is here: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_354&products_id=12111

The HX 850 is no doubt $80 more than the Antec 750 suggested above, but Antec's Gamer series has had some poor reviews. They are noisy and they don't meet their power ratings.

The HX 850 is much more efficient (uses less electricity), much more quiet, much more stable (it won't damage your components), it has a 7-year warranty, it is modular (less cable mess) and it will easily power and SLI or crossfire setup. The Antec - not so much as their quality control has been questionable at best.

Antec's high-end PSUs are second to none but their gamer series is low-end, poor quality IMO. Their 950W gamer PSU would not even put out 950 W before it overheated and shut down in one professional review. The HX 850 put out nearly 1100W in one professional review and remained stable.

The difference is that you can use the HX 850 on your next build and not have to buy a better PSU and it will still be under warranty for your third build. This is well worth the extra $80.

Also, I would suggest going to a minimum of 1600 RAM, preferably 1866 (in the 2 x 4GB configuration). The 1866 is the best bang for your buck, but 1600 is still good. You don't need more than 8GB of RAM.
 
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First let me say you are one of the best posters on Tom's Hardware. You help a lot of people and about 95% of the time I agree with your recommendations. You especially deserve credit for learning the best sites in foreign countries to buy computer parts - I never cease to be amazed that you know so many computer supply sites for so many countries.

Thanks for the reviews - I will take a look at them.

There is a review here at Hard OCP but I cannot get the review to come up fully ( must be a problem with the website): http://www.hardocp.com/news/2011/02/15/antec_high_current_gamer_900w_psu

They talk about how Antec missed with this one.

In Johnny Guru's review here: http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=211

the first unit he had shut down. The second one (the replacement) did fairly good in the review. He just barely mentions it on the second page during the hot box tests.

There is another review I found where the unit failed to put out 800W and shut down and I cannot find it right now.

The point is that the quality control is not good for these Antec units and so I don't trust them. There are several good reviews of the 900W unit like those you post but there are 2-3 reviews where the unit failed.

In general I am uncomfortable with recommending bronze rated units when silver rated units which are much higher quality are available for either the same cost or $50 - $100 more. Depending the on the build's budget, I think that a quality PSU is a great investment.

I got the Corsair HX 850 for my build for $144 after rebates and right after I bought mine it went down to $120 on Newegg :-(. It is a phenomenal PSU and it just doesn't cost that much more than the cheaper bronze PSUs.

I know that some people disagree with my philosophy but I think that the PSU affects every component of the system and as one poster said in a Tom's Hardware's recent PSU guilde, "I cannot afford to play Russian roulette with cheaper PSUs for my system just to save $50."

Buying cheaper PSUs is like playing Russian roulette with your costly components. Sure you may be lucky and get a good unit and have not problems but if you get the bad unit that slips through then you can have serious problems and $50 is just not worth the gamble.

Again Why Me, you are a credit to Tom's Hardware forums, I am just not a fan of the Antec gamer bronze rated PSUs.
 
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To clarify my GPU setup reasoning. The OP called for a 1280 x 1080 resolution. But then we had...




 
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