Builds

[Mraftspatu]

Hello. I'm building a general-use and heavy gaming PC for the first time after putting it off last year and have been checking out components. I don't really intend to do much upgrading and will probably just build another computer in a few years. I don't want to break the bank but I do want to be able to play anything for the next few years on pretty high settings. I have little experience in overclocking, but I'll probably experiment.

I've basically assembled two totally different builds that I'm considering. A central difference between them is the CPU: the i7-930 is available for only $40 more at microcenter.com (the same price as the i5-750), but then the mobo costs more. This also changes the RAM, but from what I've read it's negligible for my purposes. I'm not really sure which build to get: if the first one would actually be worth it, I'd buy it.

Probably, an i5-750 build with P55 is a good alternative to both. However, it and i7-930 are available for the same price, so I might as well step up to i7-930 then.


Build 1 (rebuild in 4-5 years)

CPU Core i7-930 (http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0331303) $200
Mobo Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423) $210
RAM G.Skill 6GB DDR3 1333 (triple channel) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231223) $105
PSU Antec TruePower New TP-750 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025) $115
Total $630


Build 2 (rebuild in 3-4 years)

CPU AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727) $160
Mobo ASUS M4A79XTD EVO (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131402) $110
RAM G.Skill 4GB DDR3 1333 (dual channel) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231189) $80
PSU CORSAIR CMPSU-650HX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012) $120
Total $470


For either build, I have two GPU choices (and an infinity of small modifications that could be made, say a GeForce GTX 465 instead of 460; I know the Radeon HD 6870 is probably a good deal but it's very new, not many reviews yet):

SAPPHIRE 100282-3SR Radeon HD 5850 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102884) $270
GIGABYTE GV-R585OC-1GD Radeon HD 5850 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125318) $260
MSI N460GTX CYCLONE GeForce GTX 460 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127510) $200



What do you think?


General questions:

#1: Builds: As for non-gaming tasks, I am fond of doing many things at once. Say I'm downloading something, watching a high-res movie, browsing Flash-wasteful websites, and for mysterious reasons archiving things in WinRAR all at the same time. Is this going to show a fair difference between the builds?

#2: Build 1 mobo: Would I be all right dropping to the ASRock X58 Extreme 3 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157189)? From the description, I'm not sure if I'd lose hyper-threading support by dropping down to something like the ASRock X58 Extreme (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157163).

#3: Build 2 PSU: Is the PSU sufficient? I'll be running two 1TB HDs on either build as well.

#4: Noise and heat: I'm a little concerned generally about this, and haven't made any cooling selections yet: GPU-wise, after a lot of scouring the net, I've determined that different people disagree on which card would be better along even these lines.

#5: Radeon HD 5850: Is there any point going Gigabyte instead of Sapphire? The only difference I can see is that the "Core Clock" is 765MHz over Sapphire's 725MHz. Is that a real difference, or is that just a tweak? It also has a longer warranty, which is probably more important.


You definitely need to be thanked for reading!

[RickyTick]

Well here's another recent post that got neglected. Sorry Mraftspatu and welcome to the MySuperPC Forums.

I wouldn't worry too much with over-clocking. Personally, I think over-clocking is over-rated. :)

Check your vendor. I've been seeing the i7 950 for about the same price as the i7-930. Either way, they are terrific processors.

I like the First build and the option to rebuild in 4-5 years. You may find that after a couple of years, that you may upgrade the video card and add 6 more gb of ram, or maybe not.

General Questions
#1 Both builds will be capable of heavy multi-tasking. Not to worry.
#2 What's wrong with the Gigabyte mobo? It's killer!
#3 PSU is fine.
#4 Get a nice case with plenty of ventilation. Shouldn't be an issue.
#5 Get the one with the better warranty. They are both very good products.

[Mraftspatu]

Hey, thanks for replying.

I already bought the i7-950, actually. I was just about to go to checkout with the ASUS P6X58D-E (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131641) motherboard when I checked this post!

I compared that mobo with the Gigabyte in a bunch of reviews and they seem to be basically the same, with the exception that the ASUS has a more navigable BIOS and fewer bad reviews on Newegg.


I still have the 5850 as an option but right now I'm tossing between these:

Radeon HD 6870 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102909)
Radeon HD 6850 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908)
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130568)
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) FTW (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130575)

A rambling summation of what I've learned by doing a lot of searching:

Both 460s are factory-overclocked (the FTW more so), and show favorable noise and heat levels compared to the 6870. (They lag behind by 5-10 or more FPS sometimes; they would have been more of a deal when they were on sale at NG couple days ago.) The EVGA cards have the disadvantage that I'm considering getting another of the same card I buy now in a year or so to go CF/SLI; that would be difficult with the exact model, which probably won't be available by then. Then again, maybe I won't go SLI, and just buy a new card in a couple years instead; it's freaky how hard it is to find the "hot" video card of a year ago today.

Several reviews even recommend using an aftermarket heatsink with the 6870! I'd rather not do that, though I suppose I could. Noise is a little bit of an issue for me: I don't mind that much, but I don't want an express train in my room. None of the cards are that different noise-wise for it to be a deciding factor though.

The 6870 and 5850 are more or less equivalent, noise-wise and performance-wise (few FPS difference); the 5850 ironically costs more. Key question: The 5850 posts lower heat levels (http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph3987/33248.png), but does it honestly matter?

The 6850 overclocks very well, getting up to almost 6870 performance at a much lower price; the 6870 doesn't overclock that well. But I don't intend to overclock that much and the heat and noise are roughly the same.

Some excellent resources on this comparison which have not however helped me make a decision: [1] (http://www.anandtech.com/show/3987/amds-radeon-6870-6850-renewing-competition-in-the-midrange-market/21) [2] (http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/37499-hd-6870-hd-6850-vs-gtx-460-1gb-overclocking-study-15.html) [3] (http://alienbabeltech.com/abt//viewtopic.php?t=21991)

I've heard that the 6870 will very likely essentially come out in DirectCU, Vapor-X, etc., versions with better cooling; maybe I should just wait. How long do you predict that will take? Will they appear at higher-prices?