dtacs wrote:http://www.msy.com.au/ currently has the cheapest parts available in Australia, so I'm buying my new PC from them.
This is what I have so far, all I want is a PC that can play BF3/Skyrim. Already got DVD drive and cables etc, just want to make sure that everything in this build will work together and if there is any breathing room available.
Budget is maximum $800 and all parts have to be from that site, any advice/criticism is welcome.
Is there a reason you chose the Gigabyte mobo over Asus? Personally, I've had bad experiences with Gigabyte mobos. They usually run ok for several months, and then **** out hard. Each time I had to get an RMA their tech support tried screwing me over, and their customer service was pathetic. They are usually cheaper, but I'd rather pay a little more for something that I honestly trust (like Asus). If that Gigabyte board suits your needs and will support future upgrades that you'll want, and you aren't afraid of their brand, then go for it. The specs aren't too bad, it's just the name that bothers me.
As for the video card, what's up with the manufacturer selection? It looks mainly like Gigabyte, Asus, MSI, MIS, or Powercolor, none of them really being the "big brands" that I'd want to order a vid card from. I guess you have to choose from their selection though, so choose which ever you feel has the features you need. Another option is to consider two "smaller" cards (like 5570s) and bridge them together, which would probably give much better overall performance than a single 6850 card and still be about $20 cheaper.
The price for the HDD isn't bad, but do you have another one? I always try to use 2 drives, one for my O/S and primary programs, and a second slave for data storage like movies, photos, docs, music, etc. Not only does that provide extra safety in case your primary fails, but you can play music or download files while gaming/etc and not experience system stutter from having to access the same drive for multiple functions. Which ever drive you have now, if you can't afford a spare, you can format it and use that as a slave once your new drive has been installed and any critical files transferred.
The rest of it looks ok for the price, just remember though that you'll be running 64-bit O/S and if you don't already have a copy, they can be quite expensive. I've been trying to buy a copy of Win 7 Ultimate off ebay for a week now, keep getting outbid over my limit.
Good luck with the build. I am actually going to be putting together 2 complete systems tomorrow night. Assembling them actually doesn't take more than maybe 30 minutes each, but the install/update of the O/S can take several hours.
