Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
New gaming build . . . opinions please
dragonbrand
Member UncommonPosts: 441
in Hardware
I'm building a new gaming rig and I am looking for opinions, comments and thoughts so I can refine if necessary. Thanks in advance
Intel i7-930
ASUS P6T Deluxe v2
OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3-1600
ASUS Radeon HD 5750 (x2)
Cosair CMPSU -750TX
Antec 900 steel black ATX mid tower
Hann-G 20" LCD Monitor
Gaming since Avalon Hill was making board games.
Played SWG, EVE, Fallen Earth, LOTRO, Rift, Vanguard, WoW, SWTOR, TSW, Tera
Tried Aoc, Aion, EQII, RoM, Vindictus, Darkfail, DDO, GW, PotBS
Comments
In all honesty, it's hard to recommend building at all right now when Southern Islands looks to be literally about 8 weeks away (it's slated for an October release according to the latest news), and both AMD Bulldozer and Intel Sandy Bridge are both right around the corner as well.
Waiting just a matter of weeks will likely yield vastly better hardware, as new stuff is introduced and prices tank on the present generation of hardware.
Agreed! Well worth the wait!
Thanks.
With Sandy Bridge will there still be a need for discrete GPUs since the architecture calls for an intergrated GPU core in the CPU? Will the SLI/Crossfire applications still be viable or will the new 28nm CPUs be retiring the multi-GPU setup?
Gaming since Avalon Hill was making board games.
Played SWG, EVE, Fallen Earth, LOTRO, Rift, Vanguard, WoW, SWTOR, TSW, Tera
Tried Aoc, Aion, EQII, RoM, Vindictus, Darkfail, DDO, GW, PotBS
The only thing that's going to change with Sandy Bridge and Bulldozer, aside from AMD likely 'Bulldozing' its way through Intel (okay, that was bad, but still it's a vastly more impressive architecture than Sandy Bridge), is that CPUs will be faster and quad channel RAM will be available at the high end from both chips.
As best I can tell, that monitor has a resolution of 1600x900. Other may have experienced otherwise, but I'm not sure if that's the best candidate for a Xfire solution. Those tend to shine better at higher resolutions. Might be worth considering a stronger single-GPU option for a simular amount of money?
And if price is an issue, that's fine. But I see a lot of people in agreement that Antec's 902 case is a marked improvement over the 900, especially for cable management, since you're not using a modular PSU.
A Modest Proposal for MMORPGs:
That the means of progression would not be mutually exclusive from the means of enjoyment.
Sounds good - in the end it's all up to your price range. At the very least dump your 20" monitor idea and go for a 23 or 24 as monitors are dirt cheap as ever. Hell I'd even dump one of the two 5750s and use that for the better monitor. I think you need to hit 23" to start getting the 1080p resolution right?
Listen to what this guy has to say; the original Antec 900 is a MESS for wires. I have one, and while it's pretty good now, with only a small amount of wires showing or disrupting airflow, it took me hours, creatively tucking things in places that wires should never have to go, to get it that way. Most just tucked nicely under the bottom drive bay (so only the bottom tenth of the case is ugly and it doesn't impact airflow), but the ones that actually have to go places were not easy to work with.
I believe the 902 also has filters on the front fans in addition to the metal mesh. Take it from someone with a cat, it's a pain not having them on my 900.
As for resolution, 1600x900 is probably just on the border of where Crossfire and SLI start to work. That said, I'd step up to a 1080P monitor. The 44% increase in resolution to go up to 1920x1080 will be partially offset by the better dual-GPU scaling, so the performance hit will be much smaller than that (besides which, in my experience you can tone down the AA a little in games that push your system at 1080P because the resolution already gives a relatively smooth image).
Again though, my advice is just not to build until Southern Islands and Sandy Bridge and/or Bulldozer comes out, which you seem to agree on. Southern Islands is due in October, and we should start seeing the CPUs by Christmas I hope.
Don't get an 930, while it's unlocked and all, the 930 is going EOL and is being replaced by the 950 in price at $289 August 28th. It's locked, but if you're not an overclocker it's alot better.
He who keeps his cool best wins.
It may be a good move to wait like 5-7 months as new cpus are suppost to be flopping (we shall see, it is a matter of discussion when).
These are what i would buy becuase, its all about bang for your buck. But atm it kinda sucks, becuase to get a good and cost effective comp you have to geta 1156 which required a 4 stick mebo (unless you wanna pay $100 more. basiclly not worth it). But you may want more computer.. at the end of the day its about the OC tho.
For CPUs:
i5 for 2/3 the price and similar preformce http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215
(195 vs 290) saved $95
For mebos:
you can pick your own from thsi search list (right type w/ mail in rebate [save $30-60 on rebate alone]) Also avoid micro atx (ATX good mATX bad)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%20600007888%204801&IsNodeId=1&name=Mail-in%20Rebate
here some that are ok now:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188054
120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131400
140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188055
140 (best deal)
Here is your board that you listed http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131365
205
So basiclly you can pay like $65-85, for little to no bump in preformence (even more so after manually setting your bios)
For memory:
Once agian here a good search at newegg. Look for rebates.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007611%20600006050%20600006139%20600006066&IsNodeId=1&name=4GB%20%282%20x%202GB%29
Here is a pretty good deal atm :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227569
Grab 2 , 8 gb of fast memory i really don't think you need more. For 160 (your was 130 which is a kick ass deal).
Nice psu i own 2 and one 620m
I don't like x2 video cards (or sli or xfire), but its a good buy. Better of buyign a better single card (i know you see all those reviews.. but they often don't show games that just don't dual card play) And there is a lot.
However, DON'T BUY ASUS VIDEO CARDS. I know QQ. But you want EVGA, XFX, and a few others wHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A IS A LIMITED LIFETIME WARRENTY. AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD REGISTER IT. But if not possible to find at a good price , then pick whatever brand you want.
These are honored, i have 3 bfg shirts (sent back with cards that were like 4-6 year old when they broke)
I personally like samsung lcds but .. meh its my prefernce.
HSF (intel stock HSF has MAJORLY improved, however, i feel buying better hsf is a must have item for all systems).
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=FAN-B10212&title=Cooler-Master-Hyper-212-Plus-RR-B10-212P-G1-120mm-Sleeve-CPU-Cooler
Super high rated, high demand, newegg has uppriced it from $30 to $50 becuase of the demand, zzf and td are out of stock. This is is a direct link from coolmaster so id think it reliable (might want to check tho). Oh and in testing it preforms very well (best i seen for 1156 overall top 5-7). So anyway, the point of these is over clocking, and cpu life.
I love my antec 900 (its not as roomy as i like but its cool).
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one ..." - Thomas Paine
Thanks for all the input. I am going to wait, although I ahte to because my current rig is soooo old. Was going with 2 video cards as all of the reviews I read on Tom's Hardware showed a marked improvement in performance over a one card setup. Will seriously look into the 902 case and getting at least a 24" LCD to try to get the msot from the system.
Gaming since Avalon Hill was making board games.
Played SWG, EVE, Fallen Earth, LOTRO, Rift, Vanguard, WoW, SWTOR, TSW, Tera
Tried Aoc, Aion, EQII, RoM, Vindictus, Darkfail, DDO, GW, PotBS
There's no sense in getting two mid-range video cards in CrossFire or SLI, unless you find an amazing deal on them. Reviews may compare average frame rates of CrossFire/SLI setups to single video card setups, but if they get about the same average frame rate, the multi-GPU rig will lose badly to a single GPU in smoothness and latency. The multi-GPU setup will also require a more expensive motherboard, tend to run hotter, and possibly require a more expensive power supply.
Don't expect anything earth shattering to release terribly soon. Southern Islands probably will be better than Evergreen, but Evergreen is already pretty good (it destroys Fermi in performance per mm^2 and performance per watt, which are the relevant measures of how good an architecture is), so I'm not expecting huge jumps in performance. It's easier to improve on a really bad architecture than an excellent one. Southern Islands is also 2-3 months away from launch.
Llano and Sandy Bridge launch around the end of this year, but won't be that big of performance jumps over existing Phenom II and Core i7 processors, respectively. The point of those architectures is more one of integrating a GPU into the processor. For gaming purposes on your budget, that doesn't matter.
The real big jump in performance probably comes about a year from now, when Global Foundries and TSMC are able to release their 28 nm HKMG process nodes and new video cards come out using them. The timing of that may well be more dependent on the foundries than on AMD or Nvidia, but it's definitely not happening this year. AMD's Bulldozer processors will probably launch about a year from now, too.