New build!

[arch_angel]

greetings from hong kong!!!

hi guys, im building a pc mainly for gaming within this week.

intel core i5 750
asus p7p55D
OCZ gold 2Gx2 DDR3
Powercolour 5870
Coolermaster silentpro m600

what do you think guys? should i opt for i5 or i7 for future proofing? budget not a big problem as i tend to use this PC for quite a while.

 

[BohleyK]

If you are primarily going to game on your PC I suggest the i5. Its an outstanding processor and the only general difference between the i5 and i7 is hyperthreading. Hyperthreading is somewhat ahead of its time. Many applications don't require or use it some major applications like Adobe take advantage.

You won't notice the difference in gaming between an i5 and i7 at this time.

On a side note, it would help us help you if you follow the new build format sticky once you exit this thread. That way we know what you want or need and how much you are willing to spend.

 

[arch_angel]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: this week
BUDGET RANGE: 2000USD

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming, watching movies
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: NA.
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: hong kong
PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel based
OVERCLOCKING: yes (just cpu)
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080

thanks!

 

[rockyjohn]

Here is my suggestion given your $2,000 budget:

Intel Core i7-920 $289 free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

Motherboard & Memory Combo Deal $464
Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA
Memory - CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.290866

Heat Sink/Fan
XIGMATEK Intel Core i7 compatible Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

Case
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Power Supply
CORSAIR CMPSU-750HX 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply – Retail $160 AR free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

Video Card
EVGA 01G-P3-1180-AR GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card Retail - $370 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130480

Hard Drives – one for operating system and applications and one for data
Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M080G2R5 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) – with installation kit Retail $299
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167023
eagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433

Optical Drive
Pioneer Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 40X CD-R 32X CD-RW 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner LabelFlash Support - OEM $35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129045
OKGEAR 18" SATA II Cable Model GC18AKM – Retail $2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812123160


Total Price $1,941 not including operating system, shipping (where not free) , and taxes

That is a Cadillac and there are a several ways to reduce the cost without significantly affecting basic performance.

Power Supply – this is the modular PSU – you only put inside the cables you need and don’t have extras stuck in there. You can get its non-modular brother for about $60 less. Also note that it is sized to support two graphics cards. If you are sure you will never want those, the PSU could be dropped down to about 500w with additional savings. I just hate to put a smaller on in a system of this caliber. As it is - if you ever want another video card - you can just insert it.

Hard drives – I included a fast solid state drive for the operating system and applications. Don’t know if you know about them – they are good but expensive. You could do without it entirely and just use the other drive – at 1 TB it should take you awhile to fill it. Note that this is the one change that would affect basic performance. Potential savings $299

Total potential savings - $359. Net after savings - $1582.

I tried to give you a starting point – something to work from.
What is your pleasure?

Some additional thoughts.
Regarding cases: I suggest you look at some pictures on newegg.com – or better yet in a store – and pick out one you like. For instance, do you prefer a front door over the drives. Lights?

Regarding performance, you can achieve excellent results at substantially lower cost with the i5 and buget i7 processors. But at your budget level you can also get the i7-920 and a top flight system – which I have shown here.

Regarding the video card, I chose an nVidia card because it has the best processes to use the video card to support certain parallel process calculations – to offload some from the CPU. It requires applications that support it. There are not many right now, but more are writing programs for it.

 

[arch_angel]

thanks for the detailed reply rockyjohn!

just questions about the gpu choice. is gtx285 a good choice over hd5870? how about the gtx295?

 

[sonic-boom]

285 < 5870 <295

 

[rockyjohn]

thanks for the detailed reply rockyjohn!

just questions about the gpu choice. is gtx285 a good choice over hd5870? how about the gtx295?

AMD was the last to update their cards so technologically they are a little ahead of nVidia, except that nVidia has the CUDA technology to enable certain CPU calculations to be offloaded to the video card. Not too many applications are written to use it right now, but I have read that more are coming. If you need a graphics card faster than the GTX 285 then by all means move up to the 295, although also keep in mind that with a SLI capable mobo you can double up the 285 later if you really need that much power.

 

[darksupreme]

dont get a 295 and waste your money in a year and a half when gmaes run on DX11 and you cant play them youll be one sad person , theres really no reason to not get the best out there ( 5870 ) with a $2000 budget

heres a really good cpu / mobo setup
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.292038

and for hard drives get a samsung spinpoint f3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&cm_re=samsung_spinpoint_f3-_-22-152-185-_-Product

 

[rockyjohn]

I still generally prefer the nVidia cards because of CUDA and the increased time being devoted to revise applications to take better advantage of it.

And I still generally prefer Seagate drives. I know Setpoint has scored higher in some recent benchmarks, but I prefer to stick with a brand at that has been at the front of the pack for a long time - not a recent addition.

 

[darksupreme]

CUDA doesnt beat DX11 so who cares about nvidia right now ,anyway u could get a a 5870 for much less and still get more power than the 295 ( in some games , other 295 barley makes it in front very few though ) spinpoint f3 = better

 

[arch_angel]

hmm i think im gonna go for the hd 5870

anyway, do you guys think core i7 920 is overkill just for playing games?

 

[BohleyK]

hmm i think im gonna go for the hd 5870

anyway, do you guys think core i7 920 is overkill just for playing games?

Yes, the 920 is overkill for gaming. The 920 is more designed for an overall PC using video encoding, extreme multi-tasking, etc. For gaming purposes the i5 is an excellent option but the 920 can also shred games, sometimes a bit better.

 

[rockyjohn]

Agree - the issue is what are you preferences - are you willing to pay another $200 to pick up a small advantage of not more than 5% in some games, none in others? Are you a true-blue hard core gamer? Or are you normal?

 

[darksupreme]

yea and in the possible future ( maybe a long ways ahead ) would you like to be able to update to a 6 core processor