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Hardware PC Hardware Buyer's Guide September 2011

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by arcticstoat, 1 Sep 2011.

  1. arcticstoat

    arcticstoat Minimodder

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  2. gogzyhutch

    gogzyhutch What's a Dremel?

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    An m-ATX mobo in a premium player rig......odd decision but fair do's!!!
     
  3. confusis

    confusis Kiwi-modder

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    In the affordable, wouldnt a Phenom 840 and AM3+ board be a better and cheaper option? AM3+ = more future proof than Intel's flavour of the week sockets, and the Phenom 840 (even w/out l3 cache) performs pretty much equally as well as the core i3 2100, and is a quad core?
     
  4. xaser04

    xaser04 Ba Ba Ba BANANA!

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    Buyers guide looks good this time around. Bit have finally adjusted the pricing on the affordable all rounder to better reflect the GPU and memory pricing.

    One critism though is the PSU. It might be excellent but £75 is too much for a 525w PSU especially considering the excellent Corsair TXV2 650w can be had for £10 less.....

    It is also too expensive considering the build it is going in (£500 all in). If you dropped the PSU to something like the BeQuiet L7 530w (~£42) and dropped the cpu cooler entirely you could squeeze a Core i5 2500k in the system. Increase the budget a small amount and the cpu cooler can also be added back.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 1 Sep 2011
    Claave likes this.
  5. jakall78

    jakall78 What's a Dremel?

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    The video cards are all Nvidia - this is a joke, AMD is out of business or what???
    I`m ok with the cheaper ones, it`s open for discussion, but the 590 is just such a bad example of manufacturing. Defect rate is through the roof, because of the bad conceived VRM. How can that failure be a recomended video card?
    Links:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRo-1VFMcbc
    http://www.thinq.co.uk/2011/3/30/nvidia-geforce-gtx-590-deaths-continue/
    http://www.hardware.fr/articles/747-39/maj-dossier-cartes-graphiques-degagement-thermique.html
    http://translate.google.com/transla...dia-geforce-gtx-590-studiu-de-overclocking/12
    This last one being the most interesting, it shows the miniscule VRM Nvidia put on the 590.
    And don`t tell me you didn`t know about this.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 1 Sep 2011
  6. Sentinel-R1

    Sentinel-R1 Chaircrew

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    Yes, but not as future proof as the intel option. With this one, drop in a 2500k when you have the cash and you're nicely upgraded. In fact, add another 460 for £120 and you've got a very good gaming machine.
     
  7. confusis

    confusis Kiwi-modder

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    Or, with socket am3+ (like i said in my post) you have at least a year, maybe two of upgrade life..remember bulldozer is coming out soon?.. intel changes sockets like they change their underwear
     
  8. hurrakan

    hurrakan What's a Dremel?

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    re: Premium Player

    The Vertex 3 (and other Sandforce 2281 SSDs) are too unreliable for a boot drive. They have a BSOD bug that has yet to be fixed (even after months of trying). I really wanted to buy a Vertex 3 but I cannot justify it (especially after browsing the OCZ forums).

    The Intel 510 240GB is MUCH more reliable and equally fast as the Vertex 3 in most tests. The 510 costs a bit more but I cannot risk losing my system to BSODs.

    Micro-ATX boards don't have enough PCI slots for me. So I think I will get the P8P67 Pro R3.1 instead.
     
  9. MjFrosty

    MjFrosty Minimodder

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    Nice and informative. I'm sure my x58 system can last till November, though. Also I like how you use the Xigmatek Elysium which is excellent value for money. Best £150 I've ever spent.
     
    Last edited: 1 Sep 2011
  10. hurrakan

    hurrakan What's a Dremel?

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    Which optical drive should I get to backup (rip) my blu-ray movies, in a "premium" style (quickly + silently)?
     
  11. murraynt

    murraynt Modder

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    Looks better that last month I must say. Only thing that caught my eye was a 75 pounds PSU for a budget build. Reducing that to a 450 corsair could allow alot of people to squeeze in a quad core
     
  12. Abhorsen

    Abhorsen Minimodder

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    Does the re-use of the same copy every month annoy anyone else, or just me?
     
  13. Sentinel-R1

    Sentinel-R1 Chaircrew

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    Don't get me wrong, I'm not wholly disagreeing with you. We've yet to see how Bulldozer will stand up to a 2500/2600K - but realistically, I think AMD will have a tough fight to top those two CPUs, therefore I think they're spot on with their recommendations and a Sandybridge gaming system will last a lot longer than 2 years before it needs upgrading again.
     
  14. Shayper09

    Shayper09 Swimming in Deionized.

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    Nice outline, but some decisions just don't make sense.

    I would post which ones, but I'm about to lose signal so shall do it later :p.
     
  15. isaac12345

    isaac12345 What's a Dremel?

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    £75 PSU for the all rounder build?!! Clearly the antec PSU should be good enough. The savings can be put into a buying a 6870 instead.
     
  16. mat0tam

    mat0tam Mr I Dont Know What I Want

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    Thankyou for your post :) - Looking at dropping the price a tiny bit myself
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 1 Sep 2011
  17. MaverickWill

    MaverickWill Dirty CPC Mackem

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    It might not be significant, but I've managed change faster than Obama. Yeahhh!
     
  18. impar

    impar Minimodder

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    Greetings!

    Still on 4GB RAM? :eyebrow:
     
  19. jeeesus

    jeeesus What's a Dremel?

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    +1
    Title needs to be corrected, like this: "Intel and NVidia PC Hardware Buyer's Guide September 2011" .

    P.C. Golden rule: The adds on site you see, the recommended config you get.

    Do you see here any AMD add? ;-)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 1 Sep 2011
  20. Smellyhead

    Smellyhead Minimodder

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    Just me, or do these setups get more expensive every month?
    The All rounder has gone from £445 - £465 - £500 Getting past the point of been the "affordable" one, no?

    I know prices change, but seriously, you just seem to replace stuff with more expensiv stuff for no reason in each build.
     
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