Poker RIG on a budget

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felipetruji
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2015 3:00 pm

Poker RIG on a budget

Post by felipetruji » Thu Apr 02, 2015 3:15 pm

Hello SPCR members,

Plan into buying a new PC built to play online poker, and maybe some light gaming.
The PC must support dual monitor, and be as quiet as possible...

Kind of have a tight budget (around €500-€600 buying in Italy).

Need to have a SSD and a good quad core (most poker analysis software get benefit from faster CPU and multicore).
Want to make the PC as quiet as possible...

Will take suggestion of the people around, as i'm a total noob into silent PC builds.

thanks!
Last edited by felipetruji on Thu Apr 02, 2015 11:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

CA_Steve
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Re: Poker RIG on a budget

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:45 pm

Welcome to SPCR.

I think €500-€600 might be tough to fulfill. Here's a build using Amazon.it via pcpartpicker. €500 before we add the case, PSU and potential gfx card. If you are truly constrained on the budget, you could drop to a dual core, like the Pentium G3258 and upgrade later.

felipetruji
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Re: Poker RIG on a budget

Post by felipetruji » Thu Apr 02, 2015 11:40 pm

CA_Steve wrote:Welcome to SPCR.

I think €500-€600 might be tough to fulfill. Here's a build using Amazon.it via pcpartpicker. €500 before we add the case, PSU and potential gfx card. If you are truly constrained on the budget, you could drop to a dual core, like the Pentium G3258 and upgrade later.
Thanks a lot for your help (you didn't have to search in amazon.it, but it's really appreciated)

I can go up a bit in the budget if it's really needed, but the idea is to make the build as price conscious as possible, can go with AMD as well but i don't see the point in getting a dual core.
Would love to see case/psu/gfx choises.

CA_Steve
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Re: Poker RIG on a budget

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Apr 03, 2015 6:59 am

build pricing: It's easier to show with links than to say and try to explain. :)

AMD looks cheaper, but the performance is sub-par...a $100 AMD quad core performs about the same as a $100 Intel dual core.

When you say light gaming, what do you mean? low rez gaming? don't care about image quality? only play Farmville? ;)

What's your monitor resolution?

felipetruji
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Re: Poker RIG on a budget

Post by felipetruji » Fri Apr 03, 2015 7:59 am

CA_Steve wrote:build pricing: It's easier to show with links than to say and try to explain. :)

AMD looks cheaper, but the performance is sub-par...a $100 AMD quad core performs about the same as a $100 Intel dual core.

When you say light gaming, what do you mean? low rez gaming? don't care about image quality? only play Farmville? ;)

What's your monitor resolution?
Will have to buy a 24" monitor as well (accepting recommendations as well)

Basically my priority is as follows:
1. ability to run all the software including analysis software and heavy databases generating data in real time while paying (that's why the SDD is a must), listening music, skype, web browsing
2. Ability to play poker in dual monitor setup at 1080 (not heavy on the graphics, but needs to be supported)
3. Cool and quiet
4. Energy efficient (will remain turned on a lot of time)
5. Watching movies, youtube or Live streams.
6. Play some games like LOL, Hearthstone or anything in whatever resolution i can (optional)

hope it answer your question!

CA_Steve
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Re: Poker RIG on a budget

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Apr 03, 2015 10:22 am

Ok, I added a PSU and case to the pcpartpicker list to bring the total to 640 euros.

Fractal makes decent cases - the Core series are their least expensive and the 1500 fits uATX motherboards. The 120mm fans are pretty quiet. It's got a lot of mesh openings, so the trick is to put very quiet components inside. To upgrade to a better case, you'll spend 30-40+ Euros. (Again, all I see is Amazon.it. There may be cheaper e-tailers that Luca can comment on for these or other compoents).

The Seasonic G-360 is a decent Gold efficiency PSU. It isn't silent, but it is pretty quiet (<13dBA) at your loads. As spec'ed, your system will idle in the 30W range and the stress load is no more than 130W. You can move up to a quieter PSU for more $'s....but the amazon.it listings are slim. Look for the bequiet! Straight Power 10 400W as an example.

I think you can get away with just using the integrated graphics. It'll run all the non-gaming stuff fine. The Haswell iGP should run LOL at 30-40 fps or more at 1080 at decent quality levels...and I expect Hearthstone is similar. You can always dial down the resolution or quality to up the fps. Try it and see. You can always add a $100 gfx card for this one function later.

Monitors and mobo: the mobo I selected has 1 HDMI and 1 DVI-D port. Don't know what your monitor(s) have. Might need an adapter or switch to a different mobo. In general the Asus mobo's are decently built, have nice fan control s/w. There are plenty of others to choose from.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Poker RIG on a budget

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Apr 03, 2015 3:16 pm

CA_Steve wrote:There may be cheaper e-tailers that Luca can comment on for these or other compoents

Usually in my researches the most useful online price comparators are: www.shoppydoo.it , www.twenga.it , www.idealo.it

felipetruji
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Re: Poker RIG on a budget

Post by felipetruji » Fri Apr 03, 2015 4:20 pm

quest_for_silence wrote:
CA_Steve wrote:There may be cheaper e-tailers that Luca can comment on for these or other compoents

Usually in my researches the most useful online price comparators are: http://www.shoppydoo.it , http://www.twenga.it , http://www.idealo.it
Using qmaxtech.com, It's like italian version of newegg

RAM: Mushkin D3 8gb 1600-999 Black K2 Msk 64,66 €
DIS: Scythe Kotetsu 27,14 €
CASE: Coolermaster Coomas Silencio 352 Matt Bk Matx46, 84 €
DVDR: Asus Drw-24f1st 24x Sa Bk B 15,45 €
MONITOR: Benq 24 L Gl2460 Led A+d T6 123,42 €
NETWORK: Asus Pce-n15 N300 300/pcie/11n 20,37 €
CPU: Intel Int Core I5-4460 3200 1150 Box 174,81 €
MOBO: Asus H97m-e H97 Rg Sm 86,37 €
PSU: Seasonic G-series G-360 360w Atx23 62,65 €
SSD: Kingston Ssd 240gb 500/500 Hyperx Fury Sa3 Kin 103,13 €
Disscount -36,24 €
Total: 708,49 €

Not sure if the case is right for the build and if the kotetzu will fit, also no idea how good the SSD, RAM or DVDR are.

How does it look? any change to make?

CA_Steve
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Re: Poker RIG on a budget

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Apr 03, 2015 5:15 pm

RAM: Mushkin D3 8gb 1600-999 Black K2 Msk 64,66 € - can you pull up the specs/link for this?
DIS: Scythe Kotetsu 27,14 € - won't fit in the case /might be really tight fit
CASE: Coolermaster Coomas Silencio 352 Matt Bk Matx46, 84 € - decent case
DVDR: Asus Drw-24f1st 24x Sa Bk B 15,45 €
MONITOR: Benq 24 L Gl2460 Led A+d T6 123,42 €
NETWORK: Asus Pce-n15 N300 300/pcie/11n 20,37 € - need wireless connectivity?
CPU: Intel Int Core I5-4460 3200 1150 Box 174,81 € - ok
MOBO: Asus H97m-e H97 Rg Sm 86,37 € - ok
PSU: Seasonic G-series G-360 360w Atx23 62,65 € - ok
SSD: Kingston Ssd 240gb 500/500 Hyperx Fury Sa3 Kin 103,13 € - no real feedback. not the fastest or slowest. uses a known controller.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Poker RIG on a budget

Post by quest_for_silence » Fri Apr 03, 2015 11:44 pm

felipetruji wrote:It's like italian version of newegg

Not even by mistake (they are an extremely small firm and mainly sort of a drop shipper/box mover).

felipetruji wrote:no idea how good the SSD, RAM or DVDR are.

When you're tight on budget, I guess you can't nitpick that much.

felipetruji
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2015 3:00 pm

Re: Poker RIG on a budget

Post by felipetruji » Sat Apr 04, 2015 12:31 am

CA_Steve wrote:RAM: Mushkin D3 8gb 1600-999 Black K2 Msk 64,66 € - can you pull up the specs/link for this?
http://www.qmaxtech.it/en/1600-mhz/844- ... 03395.html
can't see the specs tho :lol:
There is a wide variety of memory sticks to pick from this site, i don't really know much about memories so i picked a decent priced kit for a good manufacturer.
You can see the complete the list of available memories at this link:
http://www.qmaxtech.it/en/394-ddr3
CA_Steve wrote:DIS: Scythe Kotetsu 27,14 € - won't fit in the case /might be really tight fit
CASE: Coolermaster Coomas Silencio 352 Matt Bk Matx46, 46,84 € - decent case
Had a mistype with the case, the actual price is €46, that's the reason i picked it... but as i was worried the Kotetsu won't fit, maybe choosing another heatsink?.
The page kinda have a wide option of cases to pick, but for a quiet case aside the recommendations you find in the article here i know close to nothing.
The recommended Fractal design core 1500 is out of stock, but the 1300 at €42 and 3500 at €58 are available.
Also available the Cooler master silencio 452 at €60 and 550 at €67

CA_Steve wrote:NETWORK: Asus Pce-n15 N300 300/pcie/11n 20,37 € - need wireless connectivity?
Yes, the PC is gonna be a few meters away from the router, and is complicated to pass a cable through...
Taking recommendations from the experts as well about this matter.
CA_Steve wrote:SSD: Kingston Ssd 240gb 500/500 Hyperx Fury Sa3 Kin 103,13 € - no real feedback. not the fastest or slowest. uses a known controller.
This item is very important for me as im gonna run everything in here and use an external HDD for files/documents, i want something from a trusty manufacturer that will last for quite some time, if i have to spend a little extra for a better SSD i will, not really looking for the fastest but for a very trustworthy (and quite fast) one, taking recommendations!
quest_for_silence wrote:
felipetruji wrote:It's like italian version of newegg

Not even by mistake (they are an extremely small firm and mainly sort of a drop shipper/box mover).

felipetruji wrote:no idea how good the SSD, RAM or DVDR are.

When you're tight on budget, I guess you can't nitpick that much.
I guess you are right, I'm not Italian and don't really know the market here as you do, compared them to newegg only because the site have a wide variety of parts to pick and gamers seem to like the price/availability there.
I know i can't nitpick that much, but as i lack the knowledge and there is so many options to pick it becomes hard to choose, i'm trying to come up with a build in the budget i have so SPCR members can pinpoint me in the right direction, for example with the case/heatsink not fitting, or a very obvious best option in the same price range that i don't know off.

CA_Steve
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Re: Poker RIG on a budget

Post by CA_Steve » Sat Apr 04, 2015 4:53 pm

Yeah, that etailer website is crappy - no real specs listed beyond the headline.

RAM: you are better off with 1833 speed RAM...the iGP will get a speed bump for your games. For general purposes, 1600 is fine. lower CAS latency is better than higher...you really ought to buy from a source that shgows this stuff.

Case: too painful for me to review cases on that site to offer another. The Fractal 1300 is an older style....the 1500 is the revision. I think your 352 limits the length of the optical drive to 170mm...might want to double check that on the Coolermaster site.

cooler: it's possible a Scythe Mugen 4 would fit (156mm). Or, you could drop to the Thermalright True Spirit 120M. Decent performer - might want to replace the stock fan.

SSD: I really doubt these poker programs are so read/write intensive that any midstream SSD would notice...

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