Gaming rig, need advice.

[Inenarrable]

Borrowing from the sticky...

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Gaming, web browsing, music and movies, occasional photoshop

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

$2,000 USD, maximum. Bonus points for talking me down from feature creep. This originally started out as a ~$1,200 PC from a guide somewhere on the internet.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

United States, preferably from Newegg.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

I tend to lean towards Intel for SSD's (from poking around reviews and whatnot, do not have a SSD currently) and WD for HDD's (current rig is running an old 74gb raptor and 500gb data drive of theirs). Am a fan of Corsair PSU's... no preference in CPU or GPU make, so long as the bang for buck is there.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

2x 23in LCD's 1920x1080, Logitech G15 keyboard, Razer Lachesis, Logitech something or other 5.1 speakers from the NF7/mobile barton era

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Yes, which is why I'm to the point of analysis paralysis.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Default speeds, less hassle that way.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.

1920x1080... at least currently, 8800 GTS 320mb running dualview... one monitor games, other is Firefox or whatever (particularly when playing mmo's)

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

Could build it this week, the new Intel SSD's coming out later this year make me wonder if I shouldn't wait til Christmas.


------------
Parts List

Intel i7-860 1156
Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2
Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 2GB
2 Kits of Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4gb (2x2gb) DDR3 1600 @ 1.35V
Intel X-25M 80GB
WD Velociraptor 600GB
WD Caviar Black 1TB
Auzentech Forte
Silverstone Fortress FT02
Corsair Professional Series 750W
Win7 Professional x64
A DVD burner of some sort

-------------
Additional Info

Currently I play a lot of Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age:Origins, Left 4 Dead, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and Dirt 2.

Coming out in the next year or so - Front Mission Evolution (3rd person shooter), Dirt 3 (racing), Dragon Age 2 (rpg), and Star Wars: The Old Republic (mmo).

My thoughts with the hard drives is that the 80gb would be OS / typical apps (Firefox and the like), maybe squeeze the MMO on there as well (I used to play WoW ... the Dalaran lag was all HDD, would rather avoid that if possible). The VR is for Steam and the other games... 1TB is for the music and movies.

The 8gb of ram ... I can't think of a reason more is bad. I know DA:O is a huge system hog for my current PC (E6550 C2D, 8800 GTS 320mb, 2GB ram, WinXP x86) and puts my page file + used memory up around 4gb. Similar story with the 2gb rather than 1gb on the video card... A few games I've got responded quite well to lowering the texture detail alone, which suggests to me that I shouldn't have cheaped out and gotten the one with half the graphics ram with the current rig.

The case works better for my desk than a traditional ports in the back one, plus I like the idea of not having to worry about cleaning the PC (as) often, between the filters and the way its set up to flow.

The other thing that comes to mind is... if I'm spending this much already, why not reshuffle for a socket 1366 system? And/or with the SSD's... maybe pick up a 40gb or whatever purely for the OS, and another SSD for games (my steam folder is around 90gb, I'm pretty good about uninstalling things I'm not using but... I wonder if a 128/160 is going to be enough) and not buying the velociraptor.

Looking forward to being picked apart, brain's on overload at this point... read too many reviews, many of which seem to have blinders on to anything aside from benchmark speed. I don't want a computer that keeps my troubleshooting skills sharp by falling apart every week or so, just for a couple extra frames... not to mention the wallet lightening that goes along with.

 

[mfenn]

OK, I'm seeing quite a few big places that you can save money:

• i5 760 over the i7 860. You can save about $80 and the HT isn't very useful for games
• Less expensive RAM, CAS 7 vs. CAS 9 and DDR3 1600 vs. DDR3 1333 are not going to make much of a difference unless you run memory benchmarks all day. You can save about $60 by going with two of these Ripjaws DIMMs and have future room for expansion.
• I don't really see the need for a 3-tier storage solution. Games, etc. on the Black (or a Samsung F3) will perform close to how they would on the Velociraptor
• The 2GB Radeon 5870 is way overpriced for what you get. If you're going to be spending $450 on a GPU, it better be a GTX 480. I think that you'll be happy with the GTX 470 for ~$270 since it pretty much trades blows with the 5870.
• Any benefit of a discrete sound card is lost unless you have real Hi-fi speakers (and then you would be using digital anyway), so you can save $150 there
• The FT02 is a very nice case, but I'm sure you know that it is not really "necessary"
• The AX750 is super expensive, and is only a ~5% more efficient than the TX series. Not worth the $90 premium over the 650TX IMHO.

 

[skuzzzzy]

Borrowing from the sticky...

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Gaming, web browsing, music and movies, occasional photoshop

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

$2,000 USD, maximum. Bonus points for talking me down from feature creep. This originally started out as a ~$1,200 PC from a guide somewhere on the internet.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

United States, preferably from Newegg.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

I tend to lean towards Intel for SSD's (from poking around reviews and whatnot, do not have a SSD currently) and WD for HDD's (current rig is running an old 74gb raptor and 500gb data drive of theirs). Am a fan of Corsair PSU's... no preference in CPU or GPU make, so long as the bang for buck is there.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

2x 23in LCD's 1920x1080, Logitech G15 keyboard, Razer Lachesis, Logitech something or other 5.1 speakers from the NF7/mobile barton era

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Yes, which is why I'm to the point of analysis paralysis.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Default speeds, less hassle that way.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.

1920x1080... at least currently, 8800 GTS 320mb running dualview... one monitor games, other is Firefox or whatever (particularly when playing mmo's)

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

Could build it this week, the new Intel SSD's coming out later this year make me wonder if I shouldn't wait til Christmas.


------------
Parts List

Intel i7-860 1156
Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2
Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 2GB
2 Kits of Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4gb (2x2gb) DDR3 1600 @ 1.35V
Intel X-25M 80GB
WD Velociraptor 600GB
WD Caviar Black 1TB
Auzentech Forte
Silverstone Fortress FT02
Corsair Professional Series 750W
Win7 Professional x64
A DVD burner of some sort

-------------
Additional Info

Currently I play a lot of Mass Effect/Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age:Origins, Left 4 Dead, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and Dirt 2.

Coming out in the next year or so - Front Mission Evolution (3rd person shooter), Dirt 3 (racing), Dragon Age 2 (rpg), and Star Wars: The Old Republic (mmo).

My thoughts with the hard drives is that the 80gb would be OS / typical apps (Firefox and the like), maybe squeeze the MMO on there as well (I used to play WoW ... the Dalaran lag was all HDD, would rather avoid that if possible). The VR is for Steam and the other games... 1TB is for the music and movies.

The 8gb of ram ... I can't think of a reason more is bad. I know DA:O is a huge system hog for my current PC (E6550 C2D, 8800 GTS 320mb, 2GB ram, WinXP x86) and puts my page file + used memory up around 4gb. Similar story with the 2gb rather than 1gb on the video card... A few games I've got responded quite well to lowering the texture detail alone, which suggests to me that I shouldn't have cheaped out and gotten the one with half the graphics ram with the current rig.

The case works better for my desk than a traditional ports in the back one, plus I like the idea of not having to worry about cleaning the PC (as) often, between the filters and the way its set up to flow.

The other thing that comes to mind is... if I'm spending this much already, why not reshuffle for a socket 1366 system? And/or with the SSD's... maybe pick up a 40gb or whatever purely for the OS, and another SSD for games (my steam folder is around 90gb, I'm pretty good about uninstalling things I'm not using but... I wonder if a 128/160 is going to be enough) and not buying the velociraptor.

Looking forward to being picked apart, brain's on overload at this point... read too many reviews, many of which seem to have blinders on to anything aside from benchmark speed. I don't want a computer that keeps my troubleshooting skills sharp by falling apart every week or so, just for a couple extra frames... not to mention the wallet lightening that goes along with.

i dont think you need a 2gb card at all for the resolution you are using, however if you insist on more then 1gb then id get a gtx 480 instead of a 2gb 5870.
not sure if a 5870 or a 480 will fit that case but i could be wrong.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-509-_-Product one of the best 5870 on the market i believe, very good over clocker. http://www.overclock.net/ati/783619-msi-lightning-ii-r5870.html


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817256059
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817207003
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010&Tpk=750hx
all three good psu's that are cheaper, xfx with rebate + promo code would be cheapest if you can deal with the color scheme, if not get the silverstone or corsair hx750.

i also believe the sandforces are the best ssd's out right now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...NG&PageSize=20

ram, i could be wrong but i believe i read that amd boards were the only boards in which used 1.35volt ram? if thats true look at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231303
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231329

if it is not true look at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231321

 

[heyheybooboo]

Win7 64-bit / MSI 890GXM-G65: $220

Phenom 955BE: $143 with eBlast code EMCYXYN23 valid till 09/08/2010

GSkill 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 7-7-7-18: $140
(on the MSI QVL list)

Corsair HX Series 750w: $130 with code EMCYWPZ28 valid till 09/06/2010 (before $20 rebate)


Hold off on your vid card for a month or so and see what the Radeon 6XXXs bring to the table in performance (and price reductions to HD 58XXs).

Hold off on your SSD for 25-nand.

Hold off on your audio and see if the Realtek ALC889 does anything for you.

edit: I fergit ...

Shouldn't be a 'hassle' to OC the 955 at stock volts to 3.6GHz (15x240MHz) which will raise the NB/IMC to 2400Mhz.

Should give a nice boost to your gaming.





--

 

[skuzzzzy]

Win7 64-bit / MSI 890GXM-G65: $220

Phenom 955BE: $143 with eBlast code EMCYXYN23 valid till 09/08/2010

GSkill 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 7-7-7-18: $140
(on the MSI QVL list)

Corsair HX Series 750w: $130 with code EMCYWPZ28 valid till 09/06/2010 (before $20 rebate)


Hold off on your vid card for a month or so and see what the Radeon 6XXXs bring to the table in performance (and price reductions to HD 58XXs).

Hold off on your SSD for 25-nand.

Hold off on your audio and see if the Realtek ALC889 does anything for you.




--

not sure why you would suggest to him a triple channel set for a dual channel board..

also if he was to choose between a 955 vs i5 id suggest i5. if however its between 1055t vs i7, depends what he's using it for, which is gaming so id suggest the i7, unless he wanted possible future proofing on the cpu which i imagine in a few years a 1055t will be utilized more in games making it superior to the i7.

 

[oynaz]

There's no reason to get such a powerful PSU. 550W is plenty.

 

[heyheybooboo]

There's no reason to get such a powerful PSU. 550W is plenty.

Not if he is running 2 x Radeon HD 6850s :biggrin:

not sure why you would suggest him a triple channel set for a dual channel board..

also if he was regular 955 vs i5 id suggest i5. if however its between 1055t vs i7, depends what he's using it for.

Pssst ...

For each 10% you increase the NB/IMC, memory bandwidth is increased 3-4 percent and latency is reduced 3-4 percent. 2000MHz (stock) to 2400MHz = 20 percent increase.

This is easily accomplished (at stock volts) by changing the multiplier (or simply boosting the clock to 240MHz which has the additional benefit of raising the CPU speed to 3.6GHz, accomplished by simply reducing his RAMs divider from 6.67 to 5.33 and bumping the clock - which brings his RAMs back to spec)

End Result:

--

 

[skuzzzzy]

There's no reason to get such a powerful PSU. 550W is plenty.

550w-650w could work, but 750w is a better buy imo, specially if you go with corsair hx with the 7 year warranty. so he could easily carry it over to his next build after this one.

 

[Inenarrable]

OK, I'm seeing quite a few big places that you can save money:

• i5 760 over the i7 860. You can save about $80 and the HT isn't very useful for games
• Less expensive RAM, CAS 7 vs. CAS 9 and DDR3 1600 vs. DDR3 1333 are not going to make much of a difference unless you run memory benchmarks all day. You can save about $60 by going with two of these Ripjaws DIMMs and have future room for expansion.
• I don't really see the need for a 3-tier storage solution. Games, etc. on the Black (or a Samsung F3) will perform close to how they would on the Velociraptor
• The 2GB Radeon 5870 is way overpriced for what you get. If you're going to be spending $450 on a GPU, it better be a GTX 480. I think that you'll be happy with the GTX 470 for ~$270 since it pretty much trades blows with the 5870.
• Any benefit of a discrete sound card is lost unless you have real Hi-fi speakers (and then you would be using digital anyway), so you can save $150 there
• The FT02 is a very nice case, but I'm sure you know that it is not really "necessary"
• The AX750 is super expensive, and is only a ~5% more efficient than the TX series. Not worth the $90 premium over the 650TX IMHO.

- For what sort of things is HT actually useful for?
- Noted. Is dropping down to DDR1066 going too far?
- It's pretty much overkill for overkill's sake. Like I said, I'm all for being talked down from silliness.
- Noted on the 2GB card... still somewhat partial to the ATi though, supposed to be quieter/cooler.
- I thought the digital output just bypassed the sound card's processing, and analog output was what benefited most?
- Agreed on not necessary, but.. nice. Kinda tired of modding cheap cases (and/or spending as much on the case + modding it as it would cost to get a nice one.)
- Noted.

Win7 64-bit / MSI 890GXM-G65: $220

Phenom 955BE: $143 with eBlast code EMCYXYN23 valid till 09/08/2010

GSkill 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 7-7-7-18: $140
(on the MSI QVL list)

Corsair HX Series 750w: $130 with code EMCYWPZ28 valid till 09/06/2010 (before $20 rebate)


Hold off on your vid card for a month or so and see what the Radeon 6XXXs bring to the table in performance (and price reductions to HD 58XXs).

Hold off on your SSD for 25-nand.

Hold off on your audio and see if the Realtek ALC889 does anything for you.

edit: I fergit ...

Shouldn't be a 'hassle' to OC the 955 at stock volts to 3.6GHz (15x240MHz) which will raise the NB/IMC to 2400Mhz.

Should give a nice boost to your gaming.

C/N: Wait til christmas? Still remain uninterested in overclocking this one. Similar stance on SLI/Crossfire ... more of a headache than it is worth, from what I've read (and the handful of friends who've tried it.)

 

[oynaz]

550w-650w could work, but 750w is a better buy imo, specially if you go with corsair hx with the 7 year warranty. so he could easily carry it over to his next build after this one.

750W is not a better buy. It is a waste of power and money. PSUs are most efficient when operating at about 40-80% load. A PC with a single GFX card and a 750W PSU would rarely reach 40% load, thus being very inefficient. There is absolutely no reason to get a PSU more powerful than 550W unless you play to use SLI/Crossfire or run a toaster off the USB ports.

A quick-and-dirty formula for calculating PSU needs:

(CPU power + GPU power + 50 watt for periphials, discs etc + 50 watts just in case) *1,25 for PSU inefficiency

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I would go for a CPU that boosts to about 3.4Ghz if you don't want to overclock. Good choice on the CPU - the socket is at the End Of The Line (EOL) very soon though.

Wait for 25nm tech on the SSD drive.

I have to disagree on comparing the internal sound being better or equal than a Creative X-Fi card.

Try out the Seasonic X 750 Gold, its a phenomenal PSU Seasonic X 650 review

The 6870 might drive the GTX 480 price down - IMO either would be a good choice.

 

[heyheybooboo]

....

C/N: Wait til christmas? Still remain uninterested in overclocking this one. Similar stance on SLI/Crossfire ... more of a headache than it is worth, from what I've read (and the handful of friends who've tried it.)

Yah better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone, for ...

"" The times they are a-changin' ""


Thanks, Bob!

(a good ol' boy from Minn, IIRC)




--

 

[Davidh373]

Yah better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone, for ...

"" The times they are a-changin' ""

Great song ...

 

[mfenn]

- For what sort of things is HT actually useful for?

Anything with a bunch of threads that wait on memory and I/O. Web and database servers really benefit.

- Noted. Is dropping down to DDR1066 going too far?

Probably

- It's pretty much overkill for overkill's sake. Like I said, I'm all for being talked down from silliness.

Yeah, I wouldn't bother personally.

- Noted on the 2GB card... still somewhat partial to the ATi though, supposed to be quieter/cooler.

Personally I think the GTX 460 and 470 are the best bang for the buck right now, but the normal 1GB 5870 is still an "OK" value.

- I thought the digital output just bypassed the sound card's processing, and analog output was what benefited most?

The problem is that with cheapie speakers (pretty much anything sold as "computer speakers" are "cheapie"), you're not likely to notice the difference, other than placebo, because the speakers mask any benefits.

- Agreed on not necessary, but.. nice. Kinda tired of modding cheap cases (and/or spending as much on the case + modding it as it would cost to get a nice one.)

I hear ya. I am rocking a P182 myself.

 

[MJinZ]

------------
Parts List

Intel i7-860 1156
Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2
Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 2GB
2 Kits of Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4gb (2x2gb) DDR3 1600 @ 1.35V
Intel X-25M 80GB
WD Velociraptor 600GB
WD Caviar Black 1TB
Auzentech Forte
Silverstone Fortress FT02
Corsair Professional Series 750W
Win7 Professional x64
A DVD burner of some sort

No Sapphire - crappy vendor. No Velociratpor - you got X25M. No Auzentech - see how you like onboard first. No HX750 - HX/AX850 or AX1200

 

[Inenarrable]

No Sapphire - crappy vendor. No Velociratpor - you got X25M. No Auzentech - see how you like onboard first. No HX750 - HX/AX850 or AX1200

Which vendors aren't crappy, if Sapphire is? Also kinda looking at the GTX 470 now, after the mention and some poking around at reviews. Still not sure about the noise they're claimed to make, though (I sleep in the same room as the PC's in). Anyone with firsthand experience?

 

[mfenn]

Which vendors aren't crappy, if Sapphire is? Also kinda looking at the GTX 470 now, after the mention and some poking around at reviews. Still not sure about the noise they're claimed to make, though (I sleep in the same room as the PC's in). Anyone with firsthand experience?

I personally don't have a problem with Sapphire. They're one of ATI's (AMD's now I guess) premier partners.

The GTX 470 is loud under load, but it's not bad at idle.

 

[biostud]

Since you've chosen a mATX board you could go for an mATX case.

the GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 is not good for SLI/CF as it has 16x/4x config, and it doesn't have other PCIe ports for future PCIe cards.