[tech] New Computers

[jordan meerwald]

Hi all,

I've been narrowing parts down by vendor to what the best choices could be. I have done this for PLE, MSY and PCCG, except the graphics cards which are not cheap at any of these vendors and the Centurion case Bob recommended which is not at any of these stores (without a crappy PSU thrown in). I have suggested a cheaper case from each store too.

It's a good thing we didn't buy anything yet as PLE is having a 10% off most things sale this Saturday (www.ple.com.au/25years<http://www.ple.com.au/25years>)
PLE 25 Year Anniversary Sale (Saturday 19/3 only):
Intel i5 6400                                      $276
Gigabyte B150M D3H                    $125.10
Kingston 2x8GB 2133 DDR4          $109
SanDisk Plus 240GB SSD                $89
or Samsung 850 Evo 250GB         $121.50
Seagate Barracuda 2TB                  $98.10
SeaSonic 550RM G-series             $134.10

$831.30 or $863.80 with samsung SSD, excluding case and GPU
Coolermaster N300 case               $62.10

Most parts are cheaper at MSY normally but the sale changes things.
MSY:
Intel i5 6400                                        $269
Gigabyte B150M D3H                    $129
Kingston 2x8GB 2133 DDR4          $124
Samsung 850 Evo M2 250GB       $131
Seagate Barracuda 2TB                  $99
Antec TPC-550W                             $117

$869, excluding case and GPU
Coolermaster K282 case                $59

PCCG is competitive with MSY on most prices but I haven't included shipping.
PCCG:
Intel i5 6400                                      $269
Gigabyte B150M D3H                    $135
Corsair 2x8GB 2133 DDR4             $129
Samsung 850 Evo 250GB               $129
Seagate Barracuda 2TB                  $99
Seasonic M12II 520W EVO           $115

$876, excluding case and GPU
Thermaltake Versa H24 case       $59

The only GPUs with ball bearing fans are EVGA with ACX2.0 fans and ASUS Turbo models.
Of these you can get the EVGA GTX960 SC for USD$192.16 on amazon sold by EVGA, or AUD$251.73 last I checked. This includes shipping.
The cheapest in Australia I found was from Kogan for $258.67, no idea on shipping costs though

The Coolermaster Centurion 6 is hard to find, but netplus in Perth has them for $109, or ebay has them for $134.90 including shipping. I'm not sure what we look for in a case other than 'be able to drill a hole in the side' but I like the layout of this one.

Here's some of my reasoning behind parts choices:
CPU: i5 6400 is the cheapest Skylake i5, pretty much the only logical choice.
M/B: B150M D3H has 4 DDR4 DIMMs at 2133MHz, an M2 slot and Sata Express, and the only difference between it and more expensive H170 boards I could find is lack of RAID support and no USB3.1 gen2, which we don't really need. mATX gives us the option of smaller cases but I haven't gone with any.
RAM: any 2133MHz DDR4 that's not from a dodgy company is fine, I went with 16GB but if 8GB would probably suffice and can be increased later.
SSD: Samsung are good and not overpriced, MSY only charges $2 more for M2 so I went with that there. PCI Express SSDs are too expensive and 120GB too small.
HDD: Barracuda, 2TB stops people complaining that things are being uninstalled all the time to make space.
PSU: Seasonic uses ball bearing fans, long cables and the best Japanese capacitors, the MSY Antec one is also made by seasonic. iirc these all had 5 year warranties too. The Corsair CS450 is $105 at MSY and PCCG too which could save a little money if 450W is enough (has only 1 6+2 PCIe for example too).

Please send any suggestions in the next day or so as the PLE sale is one day only.

Thanks

[JDN]
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