Better Gaming Setup

[thadan81]

I'm currently wondering what would be the better setup. I will be strictly gaming and trying to find out if clock speeds really are the difference, and I will not be overclocking anything. Here are the two setups between a AMD system and a Intel setup. As far as the video card goes, should I wait for the new Fermi cards, or just purchase maybe 2 260s?

AMD Setup

ASUS M4A79T Deluxe AM3 DDR3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131363

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ965FBGMBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727


INTEL Setup

EVGA P55 SLI 132-LF-E655-KR LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188055


G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215

 

[MadAdmiral]

CPU: I would get the X4 955 for the AMD build. It's a little cheaper, and just as good.

Mobo: I would get one of the USB3/SATA III boards.

GPU: I wouldn't get the 260s. I also wouldn't wait for Fermi. Unless you absolutely cannot live with CUDA or PhysX, you should get an HD 5870. All indications show that Fermi is going to run very hot, which means to me that they had to overclock it in the factory to compete with ATI's DX 11 cards. So there might not be as much potential for them.

 

[thadan81]

Thanks for the reply! Yea, I looked in to the 5870s, those things are 400 bucks, which is a bit more than I'd like to spend. I heard the Fermi cards will be competitively priced, but they are nVidia cards, guess we wont know till they release. Would you happen to have information on any of those USB3/SATA III boards? I know a lot of devices dont support the USB3 interface yet, but I know things will start popping up soon. When you run the SATA III, doesnt that drop the multiplier on your PCI-E interface if you run a SATA III drive?

 

[mavanhel]

For $300 you could get a 5850, which will probably be fine for you (especially if you do some XFire in the future).

 

[MadAdmiral]

You said you wanted to buy 2 of the 260s. That's easily $450. How is buying 1 card (the best single card out there) more than you'd like to spend?

How much do you want to spend? If it's the $300 range, the HD 5850 is the best choice. If it's lower than that, the 5770's the best choice. Of course, that's right now...

EDIT: Other way around on the SATA III. Crossfire/SLI drops the SATA III/USB 3 to regular speeds. And that's only on certain boards. The Asus P7P55D-E Pro ($190) doesn't do that.

 

[thadan81]

I currently have a 4870, this is why I got turned off on ATI cards, for some reason it ran hot. I played the RUSE beta and a few other very high end games, with a decent computer I'm using now. When I played RUSE even on lowest settings, it would crap on my video card, cause it to overheat, then shut down the computer. That was with the CCC running the fan at 100%. It would easily hit 90+ then shut the computer down.

 

[thadan81]

You said you wanted to buy 2 of the 260s. That's easily $450. How is buying 1 card (the best single card out there) more than you'd like to spend?

How much do you want to spend? If it's the $300 range, the HD 5850 is the best choice. If it's lower than that, the 5770's the best choice. Of course, that's right now...

EDIT: Other way around on the SATA III. Crossfire/SLI drops the SATA III/USB 3 to regular speeds. And that's only on certain boards. The Asus P7P55D-E Pro ($190) doesn't do that.

Ahhh, gotcha. The 260 PNY is 180 right now, so I was trying to compare. Would 2 260s perform better than a single 4870? I guess thats kind of a no brainer really... Dont even know why I asked that question, lol. Thanks for the help Admiral!! I believe I found my answers

 

[MadAdmiral]

Sounds to me like something else was going on. Did you have good airflow to the GPU?

Regardless, the new ATI cards run very, very cool.

 

[thadan81]

Yea, it had adequate cooling. My intake was a metal blade industrial fan that I used to dry paint, lol. I have 2 230mm fans on the side and rear and a 120mm fan on the rear for exhaust.