Ive decided its high time to upgrade my pc. Sick and tired of having to lower the settings on games that at this point arent even that new. So i want a proper gaming computer.
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: a week, maybe 2
BUDGET RANGE: about a thousand pounds($1588, but im guessing hardware costs more in britian so it'll probably be the equivalnet of a $1K budget in the US) going a little higher isnt too bad if it'll mean getting more.
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: It'll be a gaming rig.
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, OS, case and PSU
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Ive only ever used scan.co.uk, but overclockers.co.uk, dabs.co.uk and aria.c.uk ive heard of. if you know of another good site feel free to mention them
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK
PARTS PREFERENCES: whatever is best
OVERCLOCKING: I would like to have either crossfire if im using a radeon or SLI if i go for an nvidia. both si nice, but i only need one. overclocking isnt planned
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200, 24inch
My thoughts at the moment hover around the radeon 5850. seems to be the best gfx card within my price range(5870 and gtx295 just dont seem to justify their massively higher price) but i have to admit ive not given much thought to having 2 lower end gfx cards instead.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB [...] plus-Dirt2 - 212
Mobo and CPU where the toughest choice. I went with an i5 750. The i7s seemed to expensive, and i thought the money would be better placed on a gfx card. With the mobo i just chose the nicest 1156 slot i could find. dont want to be cheap on it.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Int [...] CPU-Retail - 150
Adds up to a decent enough setup, for 1011. Now upgrading to an i7 860 would cost me an extra 67 pounds, costing me 1078. Now i would be willing to pay that bit extra if i would really be getting that much more from the system, but like i said before, might be best off investing in a decent gfx setup.
Id be saving 50 pounds overall(leaving me with 961) since the AMD Mobos seem to be alot cheaper. How does the phenom compare to the i5 for gaming PCs? Would the extra cost of an i5 mean ill have alot more gaming time before i need to upgrade rig again? Since i am spending alot of money on this i do want it to be a long term investment(hence the crossfire requirement, so i can switch to 2 gfx at a later date). Would AMD provide a better platform for that? Or should i go the whole hog and get an i7. Suggestions on choice of parts, choice of shop or any suggestions at all are very welcome
Well if you guys think the cheaper mobo will do that would definetly ease my budget a little. If i take those changes on board the cost goes down to about 900, leaving me a bit more if i wanted to spend that.
Recon i should invest the extra money and go for a i7 860, or maybe go i7 920 and switch to a 1366 socket, x58 chipset mobo? What do you guys think of the phenom II combo for a gaming rig? Or maybe use the money on a 5870 instead of a 5850?
Message edited by DariusT on 09-29-2009 at 12:06:35 PM