Computer build, any recommendations?

So im going to have a crack at a desktop build. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this (places to get shit from in AUS, ideas for good cheap builds, help while building) that may be able to help me out. Im not going over the top, so it shouldnt be too hard, just want something i can play sc2 on without lag while im trying to micro my rines from devil banes.

Let me know, thanks :P

How much money do you have at your disposal???

Where do you live?
Scorptec are really good service if you can get to one of their stores

i live in sydney on the north side, theyre in victoria right? im checking out their site now, some ofthe pre build ones look quite good and the prices seem decent. might be a good place to buy from. thanks for that.

Bobo im trying to make one for under 1000 preferable 800 aussie dollars. but it doesnt look like we get anything near the value for money that you guys do in america. Its essentially just to play sc2 on so im trying to cut corners where i can.

thinking about something like this

- Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3R MB, Intel P67 Chipset, Socket 1155
- Intel CORE i5 2400/3.10GHz/6MB CACHE/LGA1155
- 4GB G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600Mhz RL 2x2gb Kit
- Gigabyte NVIDIA N460D5-768I-B pci-e GTX460, 768MB GDDR5, 675MHz, CORE, DVI mini
- Samsung 3.5" SATA2 1TB 7200RPM 32MB SPINPOINT (HD103SJ/UJ)
- Samsung Dual Layer Burner SATA Black 22x writer
- 500W "Antec" Basiq ATX Power Supply, Universal Input with Active PFC, ATX12V version 2.2 compliant, Dual +12V 120mm fan - 10/1
- Coolermaster Elite 330/331 NO PSU

bought from http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php mainly.

any advice as to if this will work ok, or if i could trim anything down to make it cheaper?

thanks guys.

Intel's P67 chipset motherboards are currently under recall (all of them) because of a manufacturing defect. Now, truth be told, most users could probably use them and be just fine (especially if they only use 2 SATA devices) but still, it's defective equipment.

The issue is this: the SATA 2.0 ports can suffer a malfunction that causes them to lose throughput over time, even to the point of becoming useless. I said above that if you only have 2 SATA devices (like an optical drive and a hard drive) then you shouldn't have to worry because you can just use the SATA 3.0 ports, which do not have the same defect.

You could also buy an add-in SATA 2.0 card to go in a PCI-e slot, if you need more than two SATA slots (say you add in a SSD later or some other SATA connected device), but of course that's more money. Truth be told, unless they're selling you a product with an add-in SATA PCI device, I'm surprised you can even buy a Sandy Bridge (socket 1155) motherboard right now from an e-tailer. The fixed versions shouldn't be available until next month or later.

As for the rest, I know that Australia's prices are ridiculous and completely different than the US so I'm not sure how much help I can be. I would question whether you really need the GTX 460 if there's a big price difference in that and the Radeon 5770 (which is what I use), especially if you're not running at a resolution of 1920x1080 or higher. The 460 beats the 5770 most of the time, but for just SC2 I wouldn't pay much of a premium for it at all, but then I don't like to run the game at Ultra, either (well, outside the campaign...).

I kinda don't like putting that level of hardware in that case. I mean, it may work just fine, but I'd be much more comfortable using something like the Antec 300 (it's a standard for a reason) and having better airflow and (probably) an easier case to work with (although I've heard the 300 can have its problems, too).

I'm not 100% on the PSU, but I'm biased against non-modular and multiple rails so anything I'd like would probably be over what you're looking to spend. Antec tends to have solid PSUs, though, so it's probably fine. The rest looks okay to me.

Thanks maar thats really good to know.

I changed the build slightly based on what you said, and some posters on TL and made it a little cheaper.
I am running 1920x1080 at the moment, but i dont need it to be at ultra. maybe just high would be fine.

on your advice i swapped the case around, its only a little more expensive, so if it will keep everything a bit cooler im happy with that, especially with my suspect power unit in there (im not sure about that either)

your suggestion to put in a Radeon 5770 would be great. the 1TB verson (Gigabyte ATI HD 5770 PCI-E 2.0 1GB 128-bit GDDR5, 850/4800 MHz) is 40 dollars cheaper than the Nvidia i have in my build. Would i be able to run at 1920x1080 with that?

Sounds like a pretty solid build, you might want to try MSY, they have crappy service but are by far the cheapest. Center comm is also good they have very similar prices to MSY but have much better service.

I wouldn't touch MSY with a barge pole. If you need to warranty something (and its quite possible you will at some point; just ask Dwain), they will try to fuck you from what I've heard (read MSY Targeted by ACCC). Like Dwain, I recommend Scorptec, they're really good when it comes to not fucking you. They aren't cheap, though, but you pay for what you get. With that in mind, though, if you ever need to warranty something, you'll have to ship it back to them here in Victoria, which does suck.

I'd probably get a PSU with a little more wattage, if I were you (I'd recommend around 650W). What you've got will work, I think, but if you ever want to start beefing stuff up or adding more hard drives etc, you'd probably have to replace it. For example, top end graphics cards can pull 300W on their own (though you're not getting one). Also, PSUs tend to slowly lose their ability to supply watts over time, so its best to get more than you need to compensate. A stronger PSU probably won't set you back too much extra anyway. If you can get one with removable cables, that's good too, because it makes it much easier to make the inside of the case neat. PSU issues are also really hard to debug (weird shit starts happening; space-time tears), so IMO its best to avoid ever having to worry about not having enough power.

A 5770 should be able to run the game on High settings at 1920x1080 easily enough. I've read some people saying their 5770 runs Ultra at that resolution, but I'm doubtful that's common, at least at reliable frame rates. I run at 1680x1050 and I've had my 5770 power an hour long 3v3 with 3 zergs with no noticeable slow down, though, so maybe it can do 1v1s at Ultra at the higher res.

If you don't care about having the absolute best graphics, I'd definitely take the 5770 instead of the 460 with a 40 dollar difference and put some more money in the PSU.

• Samsung Dual Layer Burner SATA Black 22x writer
  AMD Phenom II X2 555 BLACK EDITION Dual Core 80W 3.2Ghz Socket AM3
  Antec Three Hundred 300 Tower - 21/2
  Western Digital 3.5" SATA2/SATA3 500GB Harddisk 32M/16M GREEN/BLUE 5400/7200RPM
  GIGABYTE GA-880GM-UD2H AM3/880G+SB710/IGP/DDR3/1 PCIE 2.0
  G.Skill DDR3 1333 2X2G KIT 4GB RL 10666 9-9-9-24-2N
  Antec 520W Antec ATX NEO ECO PSU No Power cable , 6+2pin+6pin PCI-E, 6SATA, 6Molex, Black
  Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit oem 1
  Sapphire Radeon HD5770 VaporX_OC 1GB

Hey guys, thanks for all the advice. This is what ive settled on i think, using your advice and saving myself a little money. Let me know if you think that looks good/compatible?
thanks a lot =) finished my exams so ill be on more for the rest of the week. go go diamond.

oh i was wondering also, how easy is it to get a copy of windows for free? just download it and burn the ISO? that would save me 100 bucks i could maybe put back into the build.

Personally, I've screwed around with TOO many pirated copies of Windows for one lifetime...it always seems to come around and bite you in the ass! These days I figure, if there is one thing you're going to want to pay full price and get the full, legitimate deal with on with your computer, it's the bloody operating system itself!

Yeah I'm definitely not a fan of pirating windows, if for no other reason than you'll need a legit copy to use Microsoft Security Essentials.

I think in the US students can get a discount on Windows 7, but I have no idea how things are in Aus. Can't hurt to ask around, though, right?

Is the hard drive a Caviar Green or Caviar Blue? The Blue should be fine, but the Green is a slower drive (in every sense of the word) and might be a little slower than you'd like as a main drive.

If you're expecting to be able to unlock another core or two on that processor, keep in mind that a good number of reviews say that the included heatsink/fan is pretty wimpy. Getting an aftermarket heatsink/fan is probably out of your budget now, so just keep an eye on your temperatures if you do decide to unlock/overclock. Some folks seem to be doing just fine with the stock cooler, so I wouldn't shy away from trying, but just keep an eye on things so you don't end up damaging your processor; you can always put on a better cooler later if you absolutely have to. Still, if the comparative price of the 555BE is anything like it is in the US, it's a fantastic value.

Didn't look at the motherboard, as I'm assuming you know what you're looking for there. Everything else looks okay to me. Just be sure that the power cord you have for your PSU will provide enough amps (it probably will).

Before i put together my i7 rig i ran the sc2 beta with a 4670 and a p4 3.2ghz on high settings. if you just want a cheap computer that will run on medium/high just get a 5670 or 4670. that being said, the video card should be the best thing in your computer. it all depends how much you want to spend, how long you want the computer, and what games you want to play. If you just want a thing that play starcraft and look decent with good fps, you dont need a computer that good.

ok sweet so ill grab a real copy of windows (ill try for a student discount), and i changed the HDD to a Samsung 3.5" SATA2 1TB 7200RPM 32MB SPINPOINT (HD103SJ/UJ) (im not 100% what the cache is for) which looks ok?

mobo is supposed to have a decent and compatible chipset, is that all i need to worry about really? im not going to do any crossfire or anything.

is overclocking something worth looking at? is unlocking the cores hard? that would be pretty awesome.

There are some boards that have a very simple unlock switch or button, others you have to do in the BIOS. Some may not have the functionality at all, but I'd expect that to only be true of very cheap boards/low end manufacturers. I'd do a search around for customer reviews on the mobo you chose and see what they say about its unlocking features.

Overclocking with a black edition processor is pretty easy, as you have unlimited access to adjusting the multiplier in the BIOS. If you unlock cores, though, it may not be necessary/possible, depending on the stability of the chip and the thermal output caused compared to your coolers ability to handle it; you might even need to downclock slightly if you get both cores unlocked, but that's a worst case scenario. The additional cores on your processor were probably locked for a reason, whether it was not meeting the processing speed they wanted or being unstable or sucking additional power or what have you, but it's possible that the company just had to gimp a good chip to make the supply of that processor they needed. If you have a good chip, you may be able to unlock just fine and even get some overclocking on top of it, but if your chip has issues, it may be a little trickier. There's a ton of information on doing those things all over the web, and you should definitely look into doing some research to see if you're willing to give it a shot. There are risks, but if you handle things carefully, you shouldn't have a problem, just be sure you don't try to force the processor to be more than it is if you didn't get one of the better ones.

The Spinpoint is one of the top performing mechanical hard drives out there, so it should be fine.

awesome, such good advice from everyone. looks like im set. probably buy it all get it going (hopefully), then down the track look at a adding a cooler and maybe some overclocking.

thanks all!

Before you pay for windows, i got two copies for FREE from my school. Your school should be able to give you a copy. i know they have student discounts but you can also get it for free. talk to someone at your school.

hi guys. im getting all the parts this week, turns out my old man can grab me a copy of windows from work, so i have an extra hundred bucks to sink into the build somewhere. Im not really sure where i could benefit most. if anyone had any advice, that would be awesome.

thanks homies.

I'm so jealous. I need an i7 mobo and bigger PSU for my computer to give you guys the GOTW's on Ultra settings :(.