Ultimate PC solution

Ultimate PC Solution Recommendation for Gaming PC

2014-11-01T13:55:00.000+08:00

Game industry has been thriving since the late 90s and has no sign of stopping in the near future. Gaming PC has been used as the highest benchmark for commercialized PC in the market today. Basically, Gaming PC > Workstation > Standard PC.

Lets see our recommended build for your gaming PC!

Entry Level Gaming PC

Core i5-4460 - RM569
Asrock B85M-HDS motherboard - RM239
Kingston 4GB DDR3-1600 x1 - RM129
Sapphire R9 270 2GB DDR5 OC Boost - RM609
WD Blue 1TB hard disk - RM174
FSP Hexa+ 550W power supply - RM169
Coolermaster K280/Thermaltake V3 case - RM129

RM2018 total

Mid range Gaming PC

Core i5-4460 - RM569
Asrock H97 Pro4 motherboard - RM329
Kingston 8GB DDR3-1600 x1 - RM249
Leadtek GTX760 2GB DDR5 - RM799
Intel 530 120GB SSD - RM279
WD Blue 1TB hard disk - RM174
DVD writer of your choice - RM59
Seasonic S12 II 620W power supply - RM299
Additional 12cm fan - RM25
Thermaltake V4 case - RM179

RM2961 total

High end Gaming PC

Core i7-4790K - RM1049
Corsair Hydro H60 - RM299
Gigabyte Z97 Gaming 3 motherboard - RM509
Kingston 8GB DDR3-1600 x1 - RM249
Leadtek GTX780 Ti 3GB DDR5 OC - RM2399
Plextor M6 Pro 128GB SSD - RM345
WD Blue 1TB hard disk - RM174
DVD writer of your choice - RM59
Coolermaster V1000 power supply - RM669
Corsair Carbide 300R case - RM299

RM6051 total

Still not impressed with our recommended build? Send us your gaming requirements and we will come out with the best build that suits your need. Game on! :)

Link : Ask Us!

Ultimate PC Solution Recommendation for PC workstation

2014-10-26T13:44:00.000+08:00

While those Macintosh user claims that their rig is the best for workstation and hassle free because it's straight from the factory in one piece, we PC users have the advantage on deciding the benchmark of our PC performance instead of only relying to what manufacturer has come out with. And whats good of having the freedom to choose? Well, you can start from low end specification, and upgrade your rig by time when you can afford it. Awesome isn't it? :D

Here's two of our recommended build for your workstation. These builds can cover almost all editing softwares including graphic, 3D, animation, audio and Video editing.

Low-end workstation

Core i5-4460 - RM569
Coolermaster Hyper 212X - RM129
Asus Z97-K motherboard - RM479
Kingston 8GB DDR3-1600 x1 - RM249
Plextor M6 Pro 128GB SSD - RM345
WD Blue 1TB hard disk - RM174
DVD writer of your choice - RM59
Seasonic G-550 power supply - RM359
Thermaltake V3/Coolermaster K280 case - RM129

RM2492 total

High-end workstation

Core i7-4790K - RM1049
Coolermaster Hyper 212X - RM129
Asus Z97-K motherboard - RM479
Kingston 8GB DDR3-1600 x2 - RM498
Leadtek GTX750 1GB DDR5 - RM429
Plextor M6 Pro 128GB SSD - RM345
Seagate 2TB HDD - RM264
Corsair Carbide 300R Casing – RM299
Lite-On 24x DVDRW – RM59
Antec HCG 520W PSU - RM249

RM3800 total

Not impressed with our recommended build for your workstation? Give us your requirements and we will get back to you with awesome build that suits your need!

Link : Ask Us!

Ultimate PC Solution Recommendation for daily-use PC.

2014-10-25T13:31:00.000+08:00

For those who want to build their own PC for daily usage such as watching movies, browsing the internet and socializing on SNS, then our recommended build might help you to set a benchmark on where you should put more into.

For daily usage, there's not much emphasis needed on any of the main parts of the system as you only need it to run light software and applications.

Here you go :-

Standard Daily use PC

Celeron G1620 - RM129
Asrock H61M-VG4 motherboard - RM139
Kingston 4GB DDR3-1600 x1 - RM129
WD Blue 500GB hard disk - RM154
DVD writer of your choice - RM59
Antec VP400 power supply - RM109
Aerocool V3X case - RM99
18.5" monitor of your choice - RM249

RM1067 total.

Good Daily use PC

Core i5-4460 - RM569
Asrock B85M-HDS motherboard - RM239
Kingston 8GB DDR3-1600 x1 - RM249
Leadtek GTX760 2GB DDR5 - RM799
WD Blue 1TB hard disk - RM174
DVD writer of your choice - RM59
Antec HCG or Seasonic S12 II 620W power supply - RM299
Additional 12cm fan - RM25
Coolermaster K280/Thermaltake V3 case - RM129
18.5" monitor of your choice - RM249

RM2791 total

These 2 are the recommended build for your daily-use PC from Ultimate PC Solution.
Not impressed? Send us your requirement and we will get back to you for sure.

Link : Ask Us!

Build planning for your new PC

2014-10-22T12:06:00.000+08:00

If you're looking forward to build a new PC by yourself, these points may help you in determining whats good and whats overkill for your new PC. You can reduce your budget and ensure compatibility for all of the hardware.

Also, this points can be used when you want to ask us for a recommendation. We will choose based on the budget and the purpose of the build. We won't disappoint you. :)

1. Budget & Location
You may have listed a heap of parts that all add up to your preferred budget but it is easier if you just list the total amount you'd like to spend and the currency as well as if you'd consider going above that budget for more performance. We need the location as well because some parts aren't available around the area where you live. We will consider the shipping cost as well so that it suits your budget.

2. Aim
What is the system going to be used for? Web browsing, 3D work? Different systems need different levels of performance - a computer based for web browsing and office use won't handle heavy graphic design and video editing and a proper video editing system isn't good for gaming. If your aim is for gaming, please list what sort of gaming. In the same way that different usage types need different systems, you'll need a lot more power to run Far Cry 3 or Crysis 2 than you would for Minecraft.

3. Monitors
How many monitors do you plan on running? Do you plan on moving to more monitors in the future? What resolution are they at too?

4. Peripherals
Do you also need to purchase peripherals such as keyboards and mice as well as monitors etc. Also please tell us if you'll need an OS such as Windows.

5. Why are you upgrading?
We ask this because you may see upgrading as the only path to solve an issue but things such as driver updates, reconfiguration or cleaning can boost performance without spending a cent.

Please copy and paste the major dot points into your question as it makes it easier for us to give you better feedback.

Have fun and keep building. :)

What to know about DIY PC

2014-09-18T14:22:00.000+08:00

There are three highly important questions you need to ask yourself:

Budget

How much are you going to spend on the build? Generally the more you spend on a system the better it is; however, the performance over cost diminishes above a certain point as shown by this graph. Most view this point to be around about $2000 US however opinions vary.

What are you aiming to do?
Is this for a gaming on a single display or 3D rendering? Perhaps the office PC needs an upgrade? One system doesn’t suit all.

Ability – there are three different types of system

Preassembled – you can purchase a pre-assembled system from a company such as Dell, HP or Apple and many others. These are often suitable for most low power PC users such as families and office systems.
Custom PC builds – These come in two options from specialist hardware retailers such as NCIX and PC Case Gear. They can be designed and assembled by the retailer and often come with warranty for the build as well as the individual parts warranty. You can also select your own parts and have the retailer assemble the system for you for a fee. This also often includes the peace of mind of a warranty.
DIY – This is most common among enthusiasts whereby you select all the components yourself and then build the system yourself. The downside is that you are not covered by a warranty for your own work; just those accompanying the components. This can be a big risk with water cooling loops.

Selecting Hardware
Any mainstream computer system is made up of seven simple components. These are:

CPU or Central Processing Unit with accompanying heat sink – the brain of the entire system. (Note that Intel 2011 socket CPU’s do not include a stock heatsink.)
Motherboard – this is what everything is either mounted to or connected to in some way.
RAM – Random Access Memory
PSU or power supply
GPU or graphics processing unit – these can either be an expansion card purchased separately or be built into the CPU.
Storage device – where data such as an operating system is stored.
And lastly, the case – where everything goes.

Of course, there are other components such as SSD’s (Solid State Drives) and aftermarket coolers however these are not ‘must have’ items.

Optional components and accessories
Now that you’ve got the core components out of the way, here are certain optional components that can be added for a performance increase or aesthetic reasons.

After market coolers
These are a replacement for the stock cooler that comes with your CPU. They offer a variety of changes from form factor to cooling performance. They come in three main forms; air coolers, all-in-one (AIO) water coolers and then custom loop water coolers.

AIO’s and air coolers are the most simple where you simply mount the CPU block and the other mounting accessories and you’re done. Custom loop water-cooling is more complicated; however, with experience and planning, it can be achieved.

Lighting
This comes in the form of either LED’s connected to a power source or Cathode tubes connected to an inverter. The LED’s are a lot sharper with their light and do not fade over time. Cathodes, on the other hand, have a softer appearance but can fade unevenly over time.

Custom cables
Let’s face it – most PSU cables, or rather most internal cables in general aren’t the most flattering - so why not fix them? Custom sleeving is a fiddly job but if done properly can yield good results. Sleeving involves the removal of the pin and wire from the power supply connector, and applying new sleeve, normally of a different colour, over it. There are many guides on the forums so I won’t go too in-depth here. If; however, you’re not up to it, brands such as Bitfenix and NZXT sell sleeved extensions that make it look like you’ve done your sleeving. Silverstone and Corsair also offer cable kits for their PSU’s in a variety of colours and lengths to suit any build, big or small. Please note though that these cable kits are incompatible with other PSU’s.

Overclocking
Overclocking is raising the settings of a component above the manufacturers default settings. It's often done with graphics cards, RAM and CPU's. It's done in an aim to increase performance without buying a higher performing product. With increased performance however comes increased power draw and thus increased heat output. A beefy cooling system is required for most forms of overclocking especially with CPU's. RAM isn't too bad and the coolers on most graphics cards will give you a bit of overhead before you reach the hardware limits set by NVidia and AMD.

Also note that to overclock an Intel CPU, you need to ensure it has an unlocked multiplier which is determined by the "K" denomination in its name. For example a 3570K can be over-clocked whereas a 3570 cannot.
Aside from buying pre overclocked GPU's, all forms of overclocking void the stock warranty. Intel however realise that enthusiasts want to push their CPU's faster so they provide the Intel Tuning program. It's an advanced warranty program set to cover overclocking your Intel CPU. intel.com/tuningplan/

Overclocking can take two forms - automated and manual. Automated is often hit and miss and you find that the system will set the voltages too high which can lead to excess heat and physical damage and degradation over time leading to a shorter lifespan. Manual depends on the platform and below I have linked various overclocking guides for Intel 3rd and 4th generation CPU's and RAM and GPU overclocking basics.

Ivy Bridge Overclocking
Haswell Overclocking
GPU Overclocking
RAM Overclocking

What to know about Casing

2014-09-17T09:58:00.000+08:00

Cases

Cases are one of the most difficult things to decide on when it comes to a system. There are a few key things to look for though. The first being the cable management options, particularly behind the motherboard tray. ¾ to 1 inch provides adequate space to route cables and keeps them neatly out of the way. The second thing to look for is compatibility, both with your motherboard (ATX vs. mini ATX etc) and also with any aftermarket cooling system.

What to know about Storage

2014-09-17T09:56:00.000+08:00

Storage

You’ve got two options for storage; SSD’s and mechanical hard drives. SSD’s are a lot faster but cost a lot more per GB whereas HDD’s are a lot cheaper, often only $80 for a decent 1TB 7.2K drive. What most people opt to do is purchase a 128GB SSD for a boot disk to speed up their boot times and core programs and get a 1-2TB mechanical drive for mass storage of music, images and general files.

It’s hard to go wrong with Seagate and Western Digital mechanical drives and Samsung, OCZ, Kingston, Plextor, Crucial and Intel SSD’s. There are of course numerous other brands but we don’t need a 3 page list.

What to know about GPU

2014-09-17T09:54:00.000+08:00

GPU

There are two major types of GPU – on board and expansion card based built by a 3^rd party using AMD or NVidia chipsets. Expansion card solutions tend to be more powerful than those built into the CPU. For low end systems such as office computers, NVidia GT or AMD APU’s (CPU’s with attached graphics) are recommended. However, for gaming, something more beefy such as NVidia GeForce 600 and AMD Radeon 7000 series cards are recommended.

Finding the right card
You could look at all the little details and specs published by the brand and wave your clock speed around; however, do you know what that actually means? The easiest way of selecting a GPU is to allocate a proportion of your budget and then have a look at what GPU’s are in that price bracket. There are dozens of benchmarks all over the web including a heap done by Linus on the LinusTechTips channel that show frame rates between a range of consumer cards.

Generally, a 660TI or 7850 is the recommended base card for decent 1080P performance on a single 1080P display. The number of displays and the resolution will also affect frame rates.

If you happen to do a lot of video or visual work on your system such as Adobe After Effects or Premiere, it is recommended that you go for an NVidia card. These programs support the NVidia CUDA core feature which is not offered by AMD. It gives increased performance to those programs that support this technology.

SLI and Crossfire
SLI and Crossfire are NVidia and AMD’s features regarding the use of two or more GPU’s for increased performance. It is required that to run dual GPUs, the card chipsets must be identical; however, you can –whilst not recommended -use two different brands such as an MSI card with an Asus card.

SLI and Crossfire aren’t the ‘be all end all’ solution to your graphics performance issues. They do have some issues with drivers regarding being supported by some games, which could result in worse performance than using the same card, but in a single set up.

What to know about PSU

2014-09-17T09:52:00.000+08:00

PSU

One of the most important components in a computer, the PSU is often overlooked for a cheaper option. There are a range of choices when it comes to a power supply- from how the cable system is to the efficiency rating and more. Here is the basic need to know when it comes to a PSU.

Modular vs. semi modular vs. non-modular. These are the 3 types of cable assemblies for a PSU.
- Modular PSU’s mean that only the cables that you require have to be connected. These are generally more expensive however make custom sleeving easier.
- Semi modular PSU’s offer the standard cables pre-attached to the unit such as the 24pin and 8pin; but still allow you to connect other cables such as your SATA and Molex.
- Non-modular mean that all the cables come pre-attached and anything that you do not connect to a component is still there meaning cable management becomes more difficult.
Efficiency – this rating is the guaranteed efficiency at 3 different load points. It is rated on a scale known as “80Plus”, stretching from Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum, whereby Platinum offers the greatest efficiency at a specified load. However there is speculation and a common view that the more expensive Gold and Platinum PSU’s are not worth their price tag for the rating because the extra money spent is not recuperated from the energy bill savings.
Bigger isn’t always better. A single GPU gaming system with the exception of both the NVidia Titan and GTX690 will draw no more than about 420w at max load. Therefore going and getting a 1000w PSU would be absolute overkill, as would anything really over about 600w. Two way SLI and crossfire will draw about 500w, 3 way – 600ish and so on.

Another thing to keep in mind is that though there are dozens on PSU brands on the market, there are few manufacturers. For example, Seasonic make a huge proportion of Corsair’s PSU’s.

What to know about RAM

2014-09-17T09:50:00.000+08:00

RAM

There are a multitude of different types of RAM with varying latencies and clock speeds. Generally there is only about a 4% performance difference between 1600 MHz and 2400 MHz RAM while the cost difference can be substantial. For gaming, it is recommended you go with 8GB of 1600 MHz C9 RAM. Gaming rarely uses more than 5-6GB of RAM so 8 is more than enough. You will struggle to push past 12GB of RAM and anything above 16GB for gaming is pure overkill – money can be spent better elsewhere or even saved.

What to know about Motherboard

2014-09-17T09:48:00.000+08:00

Motherboards

Motherboards these days are getting more and more simplistic as more and more technology is moved onto other parts of the system.

The key points to focus on with the purchase of the motherboard are as follows

Socket – is the CPU supported by this motherboard?
Size – does this motherboard fit into my case?
Motherboards come in a range of sizes from mini-ITX all the way up to E-ATX and beyond. The key difference other than size is the features offered by each board.
Power distribution – if you plan to overclock a CPU, ensure that a board has adequate thermal management as well as adequate power to the CPU. 6 phases is often recommended as the minimum.
Chipset – each chipset has a different set of offerings. For example, the Z77 chipset for Intel 1155 CPU’s offers better overclocking abilities than the H77 chipset.

Generally, most enthusiasts look at four major brands: Asus, MSI, Gigabyte and AsRock for motherboards. Each has their ups and downs as well as different colour schemes and special features such as the Asus AI Suite and Fan Xpert 2.

What to know about CPU

2014-09-17T09:43:00.000+08:00

CPU

There are currently two consumer grade brands available consisting of Intel and AMD. The power of the CPU that you purchase depends mainly upon the tasks you are going to undertake. For example you would struggle to run a very demanding 3D modelling program on a small dual core CPU.
Here are a few common myths about CPU’s:

“Intel is better than AMD and AMD sucks” – this is completely misled. Both companies produce a variety of very good CPU’s. Neither is a clear winner over the other, especially in consumer grade equipment; unless you start going into the top end of Intel’s workstation CPU’s also known as ‘Intel Extreme’ (3960X, 3970X)
Faster CPU’s give better gaming performance – this, to a certain extent, is wrong. Yes, a dual core 1.6 GHz CPU will struggle to play the latest games smoothly however buying a higher clocked CPU or one with more cores won’t always give you better gaming performance. This is most notable with the Intel 3570K vs. the 3930K. The 3570K is a quad core CPU while the 3930K is a hex core CPU with 12 threads– yet both of them perform almost identically when gaming – this is due to the fact that currently, games are not designed for a high number of cores and threads.

Sockets
Not all CPU’s are created equally. Each series of CPU from both Intel and AMD use different sockets – these are similar, to say, the connector on your smartphone – vary from platform to platform. Referred to as “sockets”, this is the ‘junction’ between motherboard and CPU. Intel currently offers, for consumers, the 1150 and 2011 sockets which are differentiated by the varying number of pins the socket uses. You may still be able to come across socket 1155 3^rd generation Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 Ivy Bridge CPU’s at some retailers. AMD is a little different with their naming strategy, currently offering AM3+ and FM2 however there are many more. More information on CPU sockets can be found here. wiki/CPU_socket

Selecting the CPU
For gaming currently we are seeing the growth in quad core supported games. The two most popular CPU’s at the moment for gaming PC’s are the Intel 4670K and AMD 8350. The Intel is a quad core whereas the AMD is an ‘8 core’ CPU; however, it isn’t a true 8 core as AMD’s architecture is slightly different to Intel’s, and it doesn’t run 8 separate cores as the name suggests.

Of course, if you select a lower grade CPU, this doesn’t mean you won’t be able to game; however, depending on the power of it, you may be limited by cores and clock speed.

Currently, you most certainly do not need top end CPU’s such as those using socket 2011. It cannot be stressed enough that a hex core processor such as the 3930K or 3970X won’t give you any noticeable increase in real time gaming performance.

Haswell Vs Ivy Bridge – as with each new generation of a product, performance increases and hopefully less power is required. This holds very much true of Haswell in the power sense. The performance increase on average is about 5-10% however there is a large decrease in the power consumption especially at idle. Haswell offers new power states that give a lower power draw at idle. However to supply these low loads, one needs to ensure that ones power supply is compatible. Most manufacturers have released a compatibility chart. If however you’re unsure then you can disable the C6 and C7 power states in BIOS. Haswell also brings with it better onboard graphics performance which can decrease transcoding times. These two factors combined can also be very good for laptops or other mobile products.