Building a gaming PC now, good or bad idea?

[sour07]

Hey guys new to these forums just wanted to say Hi and ask a quick question.

I have around 1200 to drop on a new gaming PC but ive been reading different forums and it seems there is a problem with some motherboards or something and am wondering if it would be best to wait until they fix those things or to just go ahead with the build?

I am completely new at building PCs and any help would be appreciated

 

[BoomerD]

Depends...how badly do you want a new computer?

$1200 would build a nice rig, whether based on the currently available processors, or whether you wait a bit for Intel and the board manufacturers to sort out the problems with the socket 1155 boards...OR, even one of the (considerably slower) AMD processors and boards.

You could put together a very nice gaming system with an i5-760 processor and board, and at worst, only be a few percent slower than if you wait for the i5-2500K stuff to come back to the market.
You could also go somewhere like Amazon and get the 1155 board and processor, and when the motherboard companies start replacing them with "the fix," just redo your build. (Only take a couple of hours + OS & software loading time.)

 

[Numenorean]

If you don't need something right this minute, save the money, save a bit more and buy a sandy bridge system in 2-3 months.

 

[mfenn]

Yeah, I agree it completely depends on your timeframe.

 

[endlessmike133]

If you don't need something right this minute, save the money, save a bit more and buy a sandy bridge system in 2-3 months.

I think you meant to say he should buy an i7 870 because SB isn't actually a decent improvement over it.

 

[sour07]

I was looking at going dual GPUs this time also, would it be worth it and possible in that price range?

 

[mnewsham]

I was looking at going dual GPUs this time also, would it be worth it and possible in that price range?

It is almost never worth it unless you are going dual 580's. Short of that and you should stick with a single card, less power, no microstutter, and less driver issues.

 

[Powermoloch]

I've yet to encounter real dual GPU issues. So far it's doing great.

It's personal preference, investigate, look at benchmarks, find out what is your "real" needs. Then decide whether 1 gpu or 2 gpu setup is viable for you.

The advantage of dual GPU setup is that when you buy 1 gpu, over time you can upgrade by adding another in the future at cheaper cost.

 

[sour07]

i was thinking of doing that powermoloch, getting a 6870 and then a 2nd one later on.

 

[mnewsham]

I've yet to encounter real dual GPU issues. So far it's doing great.

It's personal preference, investigate, look at benchmarks, find out what is your "real" needs. Then decide whether 1 gpu or 2 gpu setup is viable for you.

The advantage of dual GPU setup is that when you buy 1 gpu, over time you can upgrade by adding another in the future at cheaper cost.

Poor advice in my opinion, if you buy one GPU now (gtx 560/570 or 6950/6970 or whatever it may be) then by the time you are ready to upgrade there will be a better single card. And you can sell the old card and use the funds to buy a better single card, rinse and repeat.

 

[Numenorean]

I think you meant to say he should buy an i7 870 because SB isn't actually a decent improvement over it.

You're a moron, please stop posting in this forum and making everyone stupider for having to read your posts.

For a gaming PC, SB is definitely a good idea.

 

[endlessmike133]

You're a moron, please stop posting in this forum and making everyone stupider for having to read your posts.

For a gaming PC, SB is definitely a good idea.

Pfffft, there's like a 2 FPS difference between the 2500k and 870!

Might as well go with the much higher priced i7 870, it's the only logical choice...

 

[sour07]

thanks for all of the advice guys appreciate it. one last question, is it possible to use the same hard drive and copy of windows 7 ?

 

[Powermoloch]

Poor advice in my opinion, if you buy one GPU now (gtx 560/570 or 6950/6970 or whatever it may be) then by the time you are ready to upgrade there will be a better single card. And you can sell the old card and use the funds to buy a better single card, rinse and repeat.

We'll never know the OPs real intention, if the he/she buys one GPU today and decides to add another in the future at a cheap price then power to the OP.

Cards are getting crazy cheap and depreciates really fast, when it comes to longevity of the OPs gaming system, adding another card at <1/2 (or more) of the price later makes more sense. Plus, in terms of gaming industry progress to up the ante is being held down by the console industry (another topic for another time), the setup the OP chooses can serve him/her very well in 2-3 years.

 

[BoomerD]

I'm not sure where endlessmike113 came from, or where he gets his information from...but he's wrong more often than he's right.

Here's the Anandtech bench comparison of the i5-2500K and the i7-870:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=107

In some categories, the 870 is a bit faster, but in MOST categories, the 2500K blows it out of the water.

 

[fffblackmage]

Pfffft, there's like a 2 FPS difference between the 2500k and 870!

Might as well go with the much higher priced i7 870, it's the only logical choice...

Wait... why pay much more for that extra 2fps then?

thanks for all of the advice guys appreciate it. one last question, is it possible to use the same hard drive and copy of windows 7 ?

You mean use a HDD and Win 7 license from your old rig? That's fine, though if your HDD is kinda old, I would get a new one. A decently fast 1TB HDD is only $50-70, depending if you pick one up during a hot sale.

The Windows license you can transfer to the new rig, but you might need to call Microsoft for activation.

We'll never know the OPs real intention, if the he/she buys one GPU today and decides to add another in the future at a cheap price then power to the OP.

Cards are getting crazy cheap and depreciates really fast, when it comes to longevity of the OPs gaming system, adding another card at <1/2 (or more) of the price later makes more sense. Plus, in terms of gaming industry progress to up the ante is being held down by the console industry (another topic for another time), the setup the OP chooses can serve him/her very well in 2-3 years.

You didn't take into account the SLI/xfire-capable mobo and beefier PSU, which increases cost. That 1/2 price gfx card you buy down the road doesn't seem all that cheap once you take the higher initial cost in consideration.

 

[Powermoloch]

PSUs are selling at a great price, especially the recent modular PSUs that are posted on hot deals are bronze, silver, even gold 80+ efficient. Motherboards on the other hand really depends on the OPs CPU choice. IT is possible to get a great SLI/X-fire capable machine within the OPs budget.

 

[mnewsham]

You must also deal with micro stutter, and sli profiles (if going nvidia) not all games benefit from sli or crossfire either, if the game you play the most doesn't scale well then what's the point?

 

[Powermoloch]

You must also deal with micro stutter, and sli profiles (if going nvidia) not all games benefit from sli or crossfire either, if the game you play the most doesn't scale well then what's the point?

micro stutter? i barely even noticed. When the OP has the chance to research on the ups and downs with single vs double/triple/quads gpus, then he/she can make an informed decision. Do we know the OP is going to play the recent games that were released in the past few years? Not really, I'm just giving options and my view of things. But it shouldn't be ruled out as a poor opinion.

 

[endlessmike133]

I'm not sure where endlessmike113 came from, or where he gets his information from...but he's wrong more often than he's right.

Here's the Anandtech bench comparison of the i5-2500K and the i7-870:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=107

In some categories, the 870 is a bit faster, but in MOST categories, the 2500K blows it out of the water.

I was mocking Numeroean from in a previous thread where he was stating that the 2500k isn't that big of an improvement over the 870..

I'm pretty sure he'd like to have a few words with you also; because I also said the 2500k blew the 870 outta the water and he damn near had a heard attack.

 

[betasub]

^ How were we supposed to tell? Try some emot-icons or formating to express or clarify [/rant]

 

[sour07]

You mean use a HDD and Win 7 license from your old rig? That's fine, though if your HDD is kinda old, I would get a new one. A decently fast 1TB HDD is only $50-70, depending if you pick one up during a hot sale.

The Windows license you can transfer to the new rig, but you might need to call Microsoft for activation.

I had to replace the one that came with my current PC so its pretty new and its 1TB and it was around 60 dollars at frys.

I mostly play bad company 2, crysis wars, and starcraft 2. I want my new one to be able to play battlefield 3, crysis 2, diablo 3 etc

 

[Numenorean]

I'm not sure where endlessmike113 came from, or where he gets his information from...but he's wrong more often than he's right.

Here's the Anandtech bench comparison of the i5-2500K and the i7-870:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=107

In some categories, the 870 is a bit faster, but in MOST categories, the 2500K blows it out of the water.

Don't tell me you don't know how to read benchmarks either?

 

[supastar1568]

I'm in the same boat, think I'm gonna wait due to the Intel issues, but instead look into a new monitor.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Buy your case you want right now. It will matter the least in your build in terms of technological growth. PSU's are probably second on the list. I'd go with either the Seasonic X 650w Gold, or XFX Black Edition 750. Then maybe a mouse & kb.. and LCD... preferably a 120Hz LCD - they are worth it. I wouldn't write that if I didn't believe so. Then maybe wait for the other parts if you don't' find a solution to the problems with the SATA controller. I think it's the 3Gbps ports. Alternatively you can get a 22-45$ SATA addon card that also supports AHCI ... but the 32nm chips are fantastic pieces of hardware.. very overclockable.. I think they turbo to 3.8Ghz on one core.. not sure but ....

GL HF