Need some advice on PC part alternatives

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illusive009

12 posts

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#165558 13-Feb-2015 12:43

I've had a build that I wanted to get for a while, and now that I've moved into Auckland I can finally order it.

Unfortunately, however, several of the parts I wanted are unavailable, and I need advice on potential replacements or alternatives.

These are the parts that seem to be unavailable from the suppliers I ordered them from, at the appropriate price:

Memory Kingston Beast Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory

Video Card Asus Radeon R7 260X 2GB DirectCU II Video Card

PSU Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

This is a build that's being used for gaming. Here's the rest of the build, most of which I've ordered:

CPU AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor

Motherboard ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard

Storage Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Case Antec GX500 ILLUSION ATX Mid Tower Case

Operating System Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)

Any advice?

Sideface

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#1237212 13-Feb-2015 12:48

If you're gaming -
Why such a small HDD - and why not use a SSD for your system drive?

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illusive009

12 posts

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#1237241 13-Feb-2015 12:58

I had to cut some corners to get it at the budget I wanted. I was actually going for a far smaller one, a 500 GB HDD but people convinced me that the price difference was pretty insubstantial.

So yeah, budget. So any ideas on alternatives or anything to the memory, PSU and card? For the PSU a Silverstone Strider Essentials was originally suggested.

timmmay

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#1237252 13-Feb-2015 13:10

Make sure the RAM is on the approved list for the motherboard, it helps system stability. 1333MHz memory is fine, no slower in practice. I thought Intel was faster for games, AMD good value and usually fast enough.

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#1237289 13-Feb-2015 13:44

illusive009: I had to cut some corners to get it at the budget I wanted. ...

You're cutting the wrong corners

- a SSD will make a huge difference to performance. 250GB should be enough.

If you want to be really cheap you could buy a single hybrid HDD.

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illusive009

12 posts

Geek

#1237304 13-Feb-2015 13:49

Sideface:
illusive009: I had to cut some corners to get it at the budget I wanted. ...

You're cutting the wrong corners - a SSD will make a huge difference to performance. 250GB should be enough.

If you want to be really cheap you could buy a single hybrid HDD.

I'll definitely consider it for next time, but I'm erring on the side of caution atm for budget as well as this being my first build for anything.

And damn it, I just got word that they really are completely out of stock on the R7260x video card. They said that they had one left but it was opened and I asked them to check if it was used or not - it was.

Any advice on an alternative for a similar price?

Jase2985

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#1237508 13-Feb-2015 17:40

dont build a system these days with out a SSD, you will really regret it.

HowickDota

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#1237603 13-Feb-2015 20:11

I wouldn't worry too much about an ssd if you can't fit it into your budget, they are coming down in price all the time and you can add one to your system pretty easily in the future should you choose to.

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timmmay

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#1237631 13-Feb-2015 21:36

120GB SSD is enough - may be slightly challenging for big games but Windows plus standard apps is < 50GB. Samsung 840 evo (ie their standard model) is a good brand that's reasonably priced. I wouldn't have a computer without an SSD, makes things SO MUCH better. My work laptop boots in 4 seconds from when you push the power button, but my home PC takes about 15 seconds - feels so slow, but it's nothing compared with dinosaur drive.