How to budget your PC component upgrades

Again nice read and some valid points but...

This is what I would go for.

i5 2500K
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3
Patriot G2 2x4GB DDRIII 1600

That comes to R3800.

MSI 6970 2GB.

R3500

Total
R7300

There you go.
 
The Joker said:
Again nice read and some valid points but...

This is what I would go for.

i5 2500K
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3
Patriot G2 2x4GB DDRIII 1600

That comes to R3800.

MSI 6970 2GB.

R3500

Total
R7300

There you go.
Click to expand...

swap the pro3 for extreme3 ... its a only like R200 more and well worth it for the extra features

you can easily get kingston 4gb ddr3 ram for like R250, so R500 gets you 8gb of ram ... also, asrock isnt as bitchy as asus when it comes to ram compatibilities

most of the time a decent psu is also required to provide the amps for the gfx card

my upgrade over the weekend:
i5 2500k = R2100 (got it on special so it was R1900)
2x 4gb ddr3 kingston ram R400
asrock z68 extreme3 gen3 = R1600
total = R4100
 
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weakest_link said:
swap the pro3 for extreme3 ... its a only like R200 more and well worth it for the extra features

you can easily get kingston 4gb ddr3 ram for like R250, so R500 gets you 8gb of ram ... also, asrock isnt as bitchy as asus when it comes to ram compatibilities

most of the time a decent psu is also required to provide the amps for the gfx card

my upgrade over the weekend:
i5 2500k = R2100 (got it on special so it was R1900)
2x 4gb ddr3 kingston ram R400
asrock z68 extreme3 gen3 = R1600
total = R4100
Click to expand...

Its the exact same board...only has the extra PciE slot...and a fancy looking heatsink.
Anyone looking at cutting corners will not be looking at running sli/cf. But yeah I guess you can get the board, looks a little better and does offer the extra pciE slot so +1 to that.

As for Ram, why settle for Kingston if you can get Patriot G2 for the exact same price?
Ram is at an all time low and it'll drop even more. You can pick up geil DDRIII 1600 8GB kits for around R450.

They didn't spec a psu so I didn't bother adding one but yes a Decent quality psu is a def must and def not a part to skimp on.

So awesome to see other people as keen on hardware as I am...something that lacks on this forum :(
 
I'm quite happy with my current setup, the only exception now being my Graphics card, but I'm saving up for the 7800 series cards although I will probably wait for nVidia to release their new line-up before making a purchase.
 
Avoid the fluff: stay away from fluff features, particularly those found on motherboards. Dual gigabit Ethernet ports, external LCD displays, three PCIe express lanes for those who won’t actually crossfire/SLI – all are features that will probably never be used by the majority of gamers.
Click to expand...

Funny... my Asus P67 Evo cost me R2100 and has dual gigabit ethernet ports and three PCIe express lanes :)
 
froot said:
Funny... my Asus P67 Evo cost me R2100 and has dual gigabit ethernet ports and three PCIe express lanes :)
Click to expand...

Yip and they are all PciE 2.0 and its also P series and not Z.
Hopefully you bought the Evo a couple of months ago...If you bought it recently whoever sold it to you should be shot xD
 
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