Hardware PC Hardware Buyer's Guide May 2011

Why the 4GB ram reccomendation??? The extra $40 for an 8GB kit is easily worth it, and this is a enthusiast forum, no?

 

Could you point me to the review of the HighPoint Rocket 620? I found the 640 but not the one you've recommended.

 

I don’t see why you guys keep recommending Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H motherboard. It’s been discontinued for month now.

 

Hmm, I notice enthusiast has 4gb @ 1600mhz... don't those tend to have higher latency? like 10-10- x-x or 9-9-x-27? From what i've been reading, games perform better with ram that has lower latency, regardless of having a lower clock... for example a 4gb/8gb 1333mhz 7-7-7-14(?)

re: 6990 vs 590

It's true that the 6990 is the king in many other sites (more-so than not) BUT, bit-tech can't contradict their own review by preferring a card that to them was the lesser of the two... It wouldn't make sense.

 

Sorry, I meant Premium, and it says 8gb of 1600mhz.. Shouldn't that be a lower latency ram (they tend to be far more expensive... a premium price perhaps...) and doesn't lower latency come with lower clock, naturally speaking? liek i said above 1333mhz with 7-7-7-14?

Correct me if I'm wrong actually, thanks!

 

Sorry, I meant Premium, and it says 8gb of 1600mhz.. Shouldn't that be a lower latency ram (they tend to be far more expensive... a premium price perhaps...) and doesn't lower latency come with lower clock, naturally speaking? liek i said above, 1333mhz with 7-7-7-14?

Correct me if I'm wrong actually, thanks!

 

Has pandamonstet finished posting?

(we all have days like this!)

I would like to see a monitor recommendation at the different sizes also.

Otherwise keep going...

 

Sorry, I meant PandaMonster! ;-)

 

wait, what happened to the monthly uber1337crazybutstupidlynamedawardnobelpeaceprizeaward PC build of the month?

 

Hmm I'd have expected this too, wouldn't be the first time.
this and :

Makes me feel the Z68 could be less good than expected (or BT has lag in testing) *gets coat*

Yah, at LEAST in the premium one there should be a bluray player.

Btw. we haven't had a DVD/Bluray drive test in....my has it been that long?
About time?
Have you noticed the silver disks turned blue, and downloading 50GB of bluray isn't that attractive?

 

What a Joke. All the whining because your precious 6990 isn't on the list.

Grow up ladies. If you don't like the recommendation then don't come here.

@ Action Parsnip, your misses didn't think I was disadvantaged.

@ Horizon, why come here then?

@ Digi, keep your fanboi vitriol off here as well

@ Sloth, I disagree since I built the Budget, Gamer and Enthusiast to Bit-Techs exact spec and haven't looked back. The so called alternatives just weren't alternatives.

 

Well said Snips

 

LOL! I like this one. Can we keep him, mum? pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee??


"fanboi vitirol" - just a tad rich coming from thou

 

I've always looked forwards to each month's Buyer's Guide to see what's hot but I feel that its getting a bit out of touch in places. The Affordable All-Rounder is good (if a bit on the pricey side for the graphics), but the Enthusiast Overclocker and the Gaming Workhorse seem very weak on the gaming front.

Also, anyone spec'ing up a pc as high as the two higher ones I'm sure would include a bit more storage, if not a RAID array for those prices. Not to mention that anyone spending £2k on a PC and NOT watercooling it is a bit nuts IMHO

How about adding something below the Affordable All-Rounder? £450 before OS is still a lot of money to some people and PC gaming is as much a benefit of being cheap than being powerful.

 

......not to mention some monitor buying advice. C'moin bit-tech carve out a nniche for yourself as a modding AND monitor site

 

z68 mobo's out today , an Asus one reviewed on [H] also
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/05/11/asus_p8z68v_pro_z68_chipset_motherboard_review/1

Is this buyer's guide obsolete in under 24hours?

 

previously built mine around premium player (core i7 920)... seems so dated already

 

The MSI R6850 is actually £126 at scan (with free shogun 2) now so no real reason to get the 460 unless there's a cheaper one I'm not seeing.

For everyone saying about the 5850 extreme, they're out of stock basically everywhere afaict.

 

Overclockers have it in stock and have done for ages.

The GTX460 and HD6850 are brilliant buys in this price bracket. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses. It comes down to which one suits your needs the most.

 

The exact components specified even down to the exact same case, PSU, cooler, brand of GPU, etc?

While that's certainly your own choice, and perhaps your needs really did perfectly align with their recommendations, it's a rare scenario. Preference in case styles, varying storage requirements, compromises or allowances being made on budget, and brand preference quite often change the build. Someone following the Gaming Workhorse build might want more SSD space and have the budget to spare so they get whatever the fastest 128GB SSD is, or someone with a slightly tight budget may have to skimp on the case. Maybe a sale on Gigabyte cards makes a recommended MSI one a worse deal even if it performs ever so slightly better. Looking at more options than just the hardware guide can be beneficial.

On a more pedantic note, if you haven't looked back then you wouldn't see any better deals you might have gotten, but that's taking a figure of speech too literally.