hi All,
I've been researching a gaming system for past 2 weeks now, going back and forth between Intel, AMD, Nvidia, ATI, single/dual graphics etc etc.
I've basically decided that I don't want to over clock. I'm hoping current processors will be sufficient for the next 2-3 years. I'm mainly interested in gaming, specifically Crysis 3, battlefield 4, using a 42" 1080 TV for a display. I was to be able to play these games at max settings. I'm buying in Australia, which tends to be 20%+ more expensive than the US. I'm mainly looking to purchase from http://www.pccasegear.com, so please tailor suggestion based on their stock.
I've always had AMD and I'm still tempted a little as newer games may become more optimised for 8 cores, but currently the I5 seems king, so I've settled on a I5-4570 for $229AUD.
For graphics, I'm still undecided between single GPU or dual. It seems once you get above a Radeon HD7870 or GTX 760, prices increase much faster than performance does. I could settle for one of these cards if they will enable max settings on games for the next 2-3 years. Do you think they would be sufficient, or will games in 1-2-3 years require something better? eg. Dual?
Ideally I'd like to be able to expand with a 2nd graphics card. Most Mobo seem to support ATI crossfire rather than SLI, why is that, especially when crossfire seems to have the worst support and issues?
So I've been looking at Mobo which support 2 GPUs, but have become increasingly confused about the PCIe standards/speeds. I thought I had it worked out that I need at least two PCIe 3.0 x8 slots. This seems to require a Z87 Extreme board (in Asrock talk), even though I'm not overclocking. Are there any H87 boards that support this PCIe requirement? Do I need this PCIe requirement to run 2 x HD7870?
I got even more confused when I see dual at x8 (PCIE2) / x8 (PCIE4) quoted for the Asrock Z87 Extreme4 (ATX) and x8 (PCIE2) / x4 ) (PCIE4) / x4 (PCIE5). What is PCIE4 and 5?
Some of the H87 boards (ASRock H87M-PRO4) quote something like - 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot (PCIE1: x16 mode), 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (PCIE2: x4 mode). How does PCIe 2.0 x16 become x4? Is this when dual cards are used? Is PCI 2.0 x4 enough?
Looking at AMD Mobo eg. ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2, I see: - 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (PCIE2 @ x16 mode; PCIE4 @ x4 mode), again, is this sufficient?
Basically, my main question is, what it the lowest cost Mobo with sufficient PCIe bandwidth to support 2x HD7870 or 2x GTX760, that has a reasonable build quality, for the I5-4570?
ps. would this CPU bottleneck 2 of these cards or is it sufficient?
Or, (another thought, sorry) would I be better using just one of these cards for a couple of years, then upgrading it to whatever is current then?
Many thanks for your help.
I've been researching a gaming system for past 2 weeks now, going back and forth between Intel, AMD, Nvidia, ATI, single/dual graphics etc etc.
I've basically decided that I don't want to over clock. I'm hoping current processors will be sufficient for the next 2-3 years. I'm mainly interested in gaming, specifically Crysis 3, battlefield 4, using a 42" 1080 TV for a display. I was to be able to play these games at max settings. I'm buying in Australia, which tends to be 20%+ more expensive than the US. I'm mainly looking to purchase from http://www.pccasegear.com, so please tailor suggestion based on their stock.
I've always had AMD and I'm still tempted a little as newer games may become more optimised for 8 cores, but currently the I5 seems king, so I've settled on a I5-4570 for $229AUD.
For graphics, I'm still undecided between single GPU or dual. It seems once you get above a Radeon HD7870 or GTX 760, prices increase much faster than performance does. I could settle for one of these cards if they will enable max settings on games for the next 2-3 years. Do you think they would be sufficient, or will games in 1-2-3 years require something better? eg. Dual?
Ideally I'd like to be able to expand with a 2nd graphics card. Most Mobo seem to support ATI crossfire rather than SLI, why is that, especially when crossfire seems to have the worst support and issues?
So I've been looking at Mobo which support 2 GPUs, but have become increasingly confused about the PCIe standards/speeds. I thought I had it worked out that I need at least two PCIe 3.0 x8 slots. This seems to require a Z87 Extreme board (in Asrock talk), even though I'm not overclocking. Are there any H87 boards that support this PCIe requirement? Do I need this PCIe requirement to run 2 x HD7870?
I got even more confused when I see dual at x8 (PCIE2) / x8 (PCIE4) quoted for the Asrock Z87 Extreme4 (ATX) and x8 (PCIE2) / x4 ) (PCIE4) / x4 (PCIE5). What is PCIE4 and 5?
Some of the H87 boards (ASRock H87M-PRO4) quote something like - 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot (PCIE1: x16 mode), 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot (PCIE2: x4 mode). How does PCIe 2.0 x16 become x4? Is this when dual cards are used? Is PCI 2.0 x4 enough?
Looking at AMD Mobo eg. ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2, I see: - 2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (PCIE2 @ x16 mode; PCIE4 @ x4 mode), again, is this sufficient?
Basically, my main question is, what it the lowest cost Mobo with sufficient PCIe bandwidth to support 2x HD7870 or 2x GTX760, that has a reasonable build quality, for the I5-4570?
ps. would this CPU bottleneck 2 of these cards or is it sufficient?
Or, (another thought, sorry) would I be better using just one of these cards for a couple of years, then upgrading it to whatever is current then?
Many thanks for your help.