New Rig, Can't decide on x6 vs i7 and mobo

[Strife025]

Recently I got one of the new Acer 120hz 1080p monitors, and my current rig can't keep up with 120fps @ 1080p.

I mainly play competitive TF2 and I can drop as low as 50fps on certain maps, which is quite noticable.

Current:
e8400@4.0
4 gigs DDR2-800 OCZ Reaper
4870 1GB
640mb Cavier Black HD

I was hoping I could just grab a 5850, but I'm thinking it's a CPU bottleneck because when I drop my graphics from High to Low, and decrease resolution, I only get a ~10 FPS benefit.

So far I've picked out Sapphire 5870 1GB, 6GB Corsair Triple Channel DDR3-1600, going to upgrade to a 80GB Intel SSD (and another Cavier Black), CoolMaster HAF952, and a 750w Antec Modular PSU. I'm planning on keeping my current system intact and moving it to my 2ndary computer spot (selling my current 2ndary with an e6400, 2 gigs, etc for like $300) so I won't be recycling any of the parts.

Now I just need to decide on a mobo+CPU combo, and an aftermarket heatsink/fan based on the chipset. I've loved Zalman's up until now.

So I can't decide on 1055T vs i7-920
or possibly 1090T vs i7-930?

I'm moving away from the 1156 chipset and trying to stay with 1366 for Intel, just because I think it has more longevity for future chipsets and mobo sockets.

For a 90% gaming rig, anyone have advice on the CPU, and possibly the best mobo to go with it? Thanks.

 

[Strife025]

Nvm found out the i7-930 is $199 at microcenter which is 10 min from my house.

I was looking at newegg where it was $279.

It seems at $199 the 930 is a no-brainer?

 

[veri745]

I'd say so, unless you REALLY need 6 cores, which it sounds like you don't (gaming)

*edit* or if you're planning on upgrading to Bulldozer. I don't think upgradability is a reason to choose 1366 from what I've heard about Intel's roadmap

 

[Strife025]

Any thoughts on mobos for the 1366 chipset then?

Can't really decide on Asus or Gigabyte, used them both in the past with pros and cons. Has either taken the lead for this gen?

 

[jthunderloc]

I'm not familiar enough with tf2 to comment on which setup would be better, and I can't be sure but either setup screams overkill to me, but what I can tell you is both 1156 and 1366 are both being discontinued in 2011 and being replaced with 1155 and 2011, neither of which offer any backwards compatibility. AMD on the otherhand has said that bulldozer, there next CPU architecture will be compatible with socket AM3.

-Wes

 

[MJinZ]

Evga

 

[Strife025]

I'm not familiar enough with tf2 to comment on which setup would be better, and I can't be sure but either setup screams overkill to me, but what I can tell you is both 1156 and 1366 are both being discontinued in 2011 and being replaced with 1155 and 2011, neither of which offer any backwards compatibility. AMD on the otherhand has said that bulldozer, there next CPU architecture will be compatible with socket AM3.

-Wes

Hm interesting.

That's the thing that I like about AMD, they use the same chipset so you don't have to keep buying new mobos and everything...

That being said, the 930 for $199 seems like a steal still. So I'm leaning towards just grabbing that.

 

[richierich1212]

TF2 is not demanding at all, is that the main game you're playing? Any quad-core will help, because TF2 can utilize more than two cores.

Just go with the 920/930 from Microcenter, unless you want to upgrade on the same platform again in a year or so.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Overclocked versus overclocked, the i7-930 is going to be faster in games. The thuban excels at video encoding (although the Core i7 with HT is no slouch in video encoding either).

 

[Strife025]

TF2 is not demanding at all, is that the main game you're playing? Any quad-core will help, because TF2 can utilize more than two cores.

Just go with the 920/930 from Microcenter, unless you want to upgrade on the same platform again in a year or so.

Yep planning on doing this.

It's the main game, I can't hit a constant 120 FPS for my 120hz monitor @ 1920x1080 with an e8400 @ 4.0 and 49701gb.

Now I'm just trying to decide on the mobo.

Thinking of either a UD3R or P6T.

 

[Markfw]

UD3R, 930, overclock to at least 3.6, and get Dual Radeon 5970's. Get an aftermarket cooler also, for noise if nothing else


You will never look back.

 

[TheRyuu]

Overclocked versus overclocked, the i7-930 is going to be faster in games. The thuban excels at video encoding (although the Core i7 with HT is no slouch in video encoding either).

An i7 with HT will still probably be faster than the X6.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I recently seen the 920 for 169$ at MC

 

[IntelUser2000]

Try running disk defragmenter on the drive too. If the hard drive runs too slow it can affect performance. Or maybe just get an SSD drive.

 

[manimal]

Yep planning on doing this.

It's the main game, I can't hit a constant 120 FPS for my 120hz monitor @ 1920x1080 with an e8400 @ 4.0 and 49701gb.

Now I'm just trying to decide on the mobo.

Thinking of either a UD3R or P6T.

What monitor do you use?

 

[DOOA]

I have built four Asus P6T systems, i7 920, 6G Patriot RAM, Win 7 64 bit.
Strip down Win 7 as per Black Viper and you will have a very fast rig, so fast you can keep your vid card for a while longer.
If you want to play around, get a better CPU cooler and crank things up, although the Patriot RAM will hold you back from a high OC.

 

[Strife025]

What monitor do you use?

The Acer GD235HZ, came out in January I think, same time as the Alienware 120hz one.

This one and the Alienware were the 3rd and 4th 120hz LCD monitors to come out.

The old Samsung and Viewsonic were only 22in and 1650 max resolution though.

These are 23.6in, 1920x1080, 120hz, and 2ms. I'm liking it but I wish my FPS could keep up...

 

[Strife025]

Also I spent the evening pricing out a build and reading some other forums and review sites also. Any advice?

Linked it all up on Newegg for tracking and comparison ease, but won't be buying it all from there, especially with damn CA tax.

CPU: i7-930 ($199.99 + 8.25% = $216.49 Microcenter)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115225
Mobo: Gigabyte UD3R ($209 +2% Cashback -8.25% Tax = $222.76 Newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128423
Memory: Corsair 6GB DDR3-1600 Triple Channel ($239 +10% CB no tax = $215.99 Tigerdirect)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145224
GPU: XFX HD5870 1GB ($409.99 +10%CB no tax = $368.99 Tigerdirect) *Already ordered to see if I really need to build everything else
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102883
SSD; Intel X-25M G2 ($224.99 +10%CB no tax = $202.49 Tigerdirect)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167023
2nd HD; Seagate 7200.12 500GB ($49.99 +10% CB = $44.99 Tigerdirect)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148395
Heatsink: CoolMaster Hyper 212+ w/ 2nd fan ($26.99 + $9.99 + 10% CB = $33.28 Tigerdirect)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...641&CatId=4314
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...6823&CatId=802
DVD/CD Drive: Asus 24x DVD/RW ($24.99 + tax and 2% CB = $26.51)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135204
PSU: Antec 750W semi-modular ($109.99 + tax and 2% CB = $116.68)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371026
Case: Coolmaster HAF 932 ($139.99 + tax and 2% CB = $148.51)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119160

Total: $1,596.69 after tax and cash back. Hopefully minimal extra costs for shipping.
Any suggestions or cheaper comparable parts that don't dip in quality, or anything that could have issues together?

I know there is an issue with the size of the NH-D14 and my ram for instance, but I'm hoping since it's using only 3 slots that I won't have to remove the corsair ram heatsinks? I've heard that people running 6 sticks only had to take off the heatsink of the 6th stick. PSU and Case go together fine?

I'll be keeping my current main intact and using it as a 2ndary comp, and selling off my current 2ndary comp.

One I'll be selling is an e6400, 2 gigs of ddr2, 250gb seagate HD, 4850, Gigabyte mobo that was $100 (not sure on model off the top of my head) in an Antec 300. Probably for $300-$400 or so? So hopefully I'll net around $1300 total for this new build.

Thanks for the advice in advance.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

good good good good good. I bought your exact same build (just mobo, cpu, cooler) except I upped to the UD5 for better overclockability.

I would suggest looking at the G.Skill Ripjaws. Somehow your link broke for the Corsairs, but IMO Corsairs are overpriced. I took a look at XtremeSystems and some other forums where people play around with timings on the Ripjaws and were able to get 6-6-6-18 @ DDR-1600 w/ a modest 1.65v. And it does 2000 9-9-9 supposedly, although people have been able to push that easily to 2100+ if not 2200 or 2300 even. $199 only. But yeah if I had money I'd take Corsairs dominators

 

[deimos3428]

I can't hit a constant 120 FPS for my 120hz monitor @ 1920x1080 with an e8400 @ 4.0 and 49701gb.

I'm running a similar system to yours, an 4870 512k with a Phenom II 955. My frame rates are generally well over 60, and sometimes much higher. However, they can also vary wildly depending on which server I'm using, regardless of map. TF2 is not a very intensive game from a client perspective; the problem is very likely not in your machine at all.

I'd advise you to quit obsessing over frame rate -- turn off fraps and play the game.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Can LCD monitors actually do 120hz? I thought the DVI link or whatever doesn't even allow that. Or is it just adding additional frames like TVs do?

 

[Strife025]

good good good good good. I bought your exact same build (just mobo, cpu, cooler) except I upped to the UD5 for better overclockability.

I would suggest looking at the G.Skill Ripjaws. Somehow your link broke for the Corsairs, but IMO Corsairs are overpriced. I took a look at XtremeSystems and some other forums where people play around with timings on the Ripjaws and were able to get 6-6-6-18 @ DDR-1600 w/ a modest 1.65v. And it does 2000 9-9-9 supposedly, although people have been able to push that easily to 2100+ if not 2200 or 2300 even. $199 only. But yeah if I had money I'd take Corsairs dominators

Whoops I noticed all the links were broken when I copy/pasted from the other forum I posted it on.

The Corsair was on Tigerdirect and the G. Skill isn't though, so it really comes out to the same price since no tax and more cash back.

Also I decided to save money on the heatsink and get the Hyper 212+ and a 2nd fan for half the cost. From benchmarks it looks like I only lose 3 degrees, and the Hyper 212+ still beats everything in price vs performance. Finally I switched to an XFX 5870 for $5 more then the sapphire for the lifetime warranty. I already ordered that one.

And there are now 4 monitors that are 120hz. I bought one of the new ones that came out in January, the Acer one. They use a dual link DVI cable.

 

[Strife025]

I'm running a similar system to yours, an 4870 512k with a Phenom II 955. My frame rates are generally well over 60, and sometimes much higher. However, they can also vary wildly depending on which server I'm using, regardless of map. TF2 is not a very intensive game from a client perspective; the problem is very likely not in your machine at all.

I'd advise you to quit obsessing over frame rate -- turn off fraps and play the game.

Well I played @ 1440x900 on 60hz for the past 3 years, and didn't notice much change in FPS from a visual level. They stayed over 80fps also. Now I can drop as low as 50fps @ 1920x1080.

Right when I switched to this new monitor and had to use 1920x1080, I could really tell if I join say a 32 person pub, or in 6v6 on cp_coldfront_rc2 at mid point. That's the main reason why I wanted to switch. I also had to downgrade my graphics from high textures and models, and AAx2 and HDR on, to turning settings to medium, disabling AA, and turning off HDR.

I just really like to have everything be smooth and I don't feel like heavily downgrading my graphics and using an FPS config.