New ITX Gaming Rig

[Topweasel]

The kit that the OP ordered (post #13) is a dual-channel 2x8GB one, so he should be good there.

He said he was waiting a bit. I have some friends one in particular that I'll work with, get it tied down to specifics, and then days later get an email about what he ordered and he will either regress to an earlier option that I suggested he stayed away from or just get components that are completely different then the intended use case. I just want to make sure if he is still thinking about it he has all the useful information

just want to point out that if you're not running iGPU on intel systems it doesn't seem to matter much if you run in single vs. dual channel for gaming, per hexus results.

I can see that dependant on the video card. But PCIe 3.0 16x has about 50% greater bandwidth than a single DDR3 1600 stick of ram. I don't know how much of that 50% greater bandwidth will actually be used by the 280x. But its a 16x 3.0 card.

That said you wouldn't happen to have a link to the hexus tests would you?

 

[njergens5]

I have purchased the PSU, RAM, Case, and SSD. I'll be headed down to microcenter to get the cpu/motherboard in a week or so. GPU will get ordered a little after that unless I find a good deal at microcenter.

 

[ElFenix]

I can see that dependant on the video card. But PCIe 3.0 16x has about 50% greater bandwidth than a single DDR3 1600 stick of ram. I don't know how much of that 50% greater bandwidth will actually be used by the 280x. But its a 16x 3.0 card.

That said you wouldn't happen to have a link to the hexus tests would you?

it's at the bottom of the page below. this is no where near a full test, so, as you say, maybe a change in graphics card might matter (though single graphics cards aren't capable of maxing out PCIe 2.0, let alone 3.0, last i checked). single channel ram may also affect things like instantaneous FPS that wouldn't show up very well in an average figure.

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/68797-intel-pentium-g3220-22nm-haswell/?page=7

it'd be nice if this sort of thing were thoroughly investigated.

 

[Topweasel]

it's at the bottom of the page below. this is no where near a full test, so, as you say, maybe a change in graphics card might matter (though single graphics cards aren't capable of maxing out PCIe 2.0, let alone 3.0, last i checked). single channel ram may also affect things like instantaneous FPS that wouldn't show up very well in an average figure.

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/68797-intel-pentium-g3220-22nm-haswell/?page=7

it'd be nice if this sort of thing were thoroughly investigated.

Thanks for the link. I am with you on better testing. 750 isn't very comparable to the 280x I mean that's on level with the 770. I know the Titan loses some performance on 16x 2.0 or 8x 3.0. But again that might not even be enough to need over 10GB/s memory bandwidth.

 

[njergens5]

So I was considering purchasing a lower end video card and waiting until the next generation cards are available. Any ideas on what would be a suitable replacement for an MSI GTX 460 Hawk? I was thinking gtx 750 ti, or maybe an r7 260x or 265, I'd like to keep it fairly low budget, under $150, while maintaining a similar or better performance to the 460 I have now(it will be staying in my old system when I sell it to a friend).

 

[mfenn]

So I was considering purchasing a lower end video card and waiting until the next generation cards are available. Any ideas on what would be a suitable replacement for an MSI GTX 460 Hawk? I was thinking gtx 750 ti, or maybe an r7 260x or 265, I'd like to keep it fairly low budget, under $150, while maintaining a similar or better performance to the 460 I have now(it will be staying in my old system when I sell it to a friend).

Why would you consider getting lower gaming performance now? Are there not any games out right now that you want to play? The current generation AMD chips are priced insanely well for their performance and the next gen is likely to be expensive when it comes out (not to mention you'll be carrying around that $150 sunk cost).

 

[Topweasel]

If you really really wanted to get a card now I would look at the R7 270 or R265. Stay away from the 260. If you can pull it get the 270 and you should be comfortable waiting out on a generation and get a 900 or 400 series card.