Help me save some $$$. Please :) (gaming)

[Reyesx]

Here is the layout so far:
MC= Microcenter. If no MC it's from newegg!

i7 930 - $180 - MC
Asus P6T - $240 - MC
XFX HD 5770 - $200 -MC
G.Skill Ripjaws 4gb 1333. - $115
Asus DVD burner 24x - $27
Samsung Spinpoint 1TB - $75
Antec 1200 or 902 - $130/$140 - MC
Prolimatech megahelam heat sink - $65 w/ 2 fans around $85ish

I already have 650w Corsair PSU.

Any swaps that would save some money, but will still have great quality gear?

I don't see a need for 1tb of space as this comp will only have games and possibly some pictures. Anything faster with alot less space and cheaper?

I will be playing crysis if that helps lol and will xfire within six months for crysis
2.

Thanks!!

 

[EXT64]

No, the 1 TB drives are often faster than the smaller ones since they (at least that Samsung) use 500GB platters which means higher data density.

I assume you plan on doing some serious OCing?

 

[EXT64]

:lol:

Good job by me to forget the obvious.

 

[Reyesx]

Lol well $15 is a nice difference. You guys know of any other x58 mobos that are good quality and cheaper? I'm gonna do some OCing, it would be my first time as well. Tryin to get a build that will be good for 2 or 3 years. Oh amd what HSF you guys got going in your comps, how they perform?

 

[webwierdo]

X58 uses triple channel so your probably looking at 6 gigs of memory not 4. Also if you looking to do gaming, I would downgrade the CPU and put the money into a better video card. A better GPU would make a bigger difference than a better CPU will to gaming.

 

[Reyesx]

True, I didnt think of that. Thanks for pointing that out! Ya think I should downgrade to i5 and change mobo? or AMD? Any amount of money saved is awesome, especially if the system will run the games "equally".

 

[asteldian]

For gaming you want no less than an ATI 5850.

You can save a bit of money going with i5 750 and a P55 mobo too. The i5 750 certainly seems to be a popular choice for gamers from what I have seen and the i5 750 also overclocks very well.

Aside from that, other money that could be saved could be on the mobo - but this is all dependant on personal preferance. I personally dislike Crossfire/SLI, aside from the pain of some games not working well with it and also microstuttering (if you notice it), I have always been a believer in good card > two inferior cards.

Without Crossfire you can save a decent amount of money on the mobo, when the time comes that you need more juice buy a better graphics card. But as I said, that is all personal preferance, some prefer XFire to single cards, some like to at least have the option.

 

[batuchka]

Hmm by my calculations your gaming rig amounts to $1032 and is on a HD 5770 so why not hit a monster $$/frames config hehe

 

[asteldian]

I can't seem to edit my earlier reply, so elaborating on it:


If you are mainly gaming, you can save a considerable amount of money going with i5 750 and a P55 mobo too. The i5 750 is a popular choice for gamers and overclocks very well.

Aside from that, other money that could be saved is on the mobo - but this is all dependant on personal preferance. I personally dislike Crossfire/SLI, aside from the pain of some games not working well with it and also microstuttering (if you notice it), I have always been a believer in good card > two inferior cards.

While two 5770 can perform near 5870 standard (sometimes and not reliably so) a single 5850 is cheaper and far more reliable and when overclocked (which it does well) also performs like a 5870 with the advantage that you don't have to wait for drivers to make XFire work with a new game, or updates to improve XFire reliability and no fear of microstuttering.

Without Crossfire you can save a decent amount of money on the mobo, when the time comes that you need more juice buy a better graphics card. Certainly one 5850 is less money than 2 5770s, plus the mobo required with no XFire is significantly cheaper


i5 750 - $200 (possibly cheaper, that was just a quick search)
P55 mobo (low end, no real XFire - MSI P55 CD53 sort of quality ($90)
XFX 5850 - $309 (again, possibly cheaper, this was quick search)

Overall that would just be a saving of $21 but you have a better graphic card, no requierment for XFire and one of the best gaming CPUs available.

 

[EXT64]

You can use dual channel memory in 1366. Saves a little money, and you can upgrade to triple later if you'd like.

 

[Reyesx]

I've made a decision to just go with the i7 930 with gigabyte ex58 ud3r. Will just use 5770 and upgrade as time passes. I should have all my parts by end of may the latest. $100 bucks saved doesn't seem to be enough when I have significant room for upgrade in the future! Plus 5770 would be overkill for 1440x900 res don't ya think??

 

[EXT64]

Well, maybe not overkill, but definitely a good fit.

 

[coldsleep]

Any specific reason you're going with the i7-930?

You would be able to game just as well on an AM3 build, which would save some money.

 

[Reyesx]

I can grab it for under $200, that is the main reason. A 955 was my first build but the price doff is around $50 less, and I rather spend the little extra to get a better and longer lasting CPU. What you think?

 

[Reyesx]

Well, maybe not overkill, but definitely a good fit.

K good, oh btw do you know if the card is high def ready or do I need cables or somethin?

 

[coldsleep]

I can grab it for under $200, that is the main reason. A 955 was my first build but the price doff is around $50 less, and I rather spend the little extra to get a better and longer lasting CPU. What you think?

Oh right, I forgot about the Microcenter prices.

That's reasonable, but I don't know that calling the i7-930 longer-lasting is accurate. It came out recently that Intel is end-of-life-ing both of their current sockets next year. AMD is supposedly sticking with AM3 for at least another year or two, if not longer.

The i7-930 is an excellent chip, but its performance really comes into play for non-gaming tasks, while for gaming it's not really any better than an i5-750 or an AMD Phenom II X4 955/965.

 

[Reyesx]

Oh right, I forgot about the Microcenter prices.

That's reasonable, but I don't know that calling the i7-930 longer-lasting is accurate. It came out recently that Intel is end-of-life-ing both of their current sockets next year. AMD is supposedly sticking with AM3 for at least another year or two, if not longer.

The i7-930 is an excellent chip, but its performance really comes into play for non-gaming tasks, while for gaming it's not really any better than an i5-750 or an AMD Phenom II X4 955/965.

If AMD will stick to the Am3 socket I would def go with it instead. Although I was under the impression that the new bulldozer chip or w.e was goin to be a new socket and it's due 2011, correct?

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Gotta remember though, even when AMD brings out a new socket they've been backward compatible as of late. Even my AM2 board is supposed to support some am3 chips with bios updates.

 

[a1an]

Hmm don't the 1156 mobos and AM3 mobos have a lower bandwidth compared to the 1336 mobo which can bottleneck perhaps the speed of perhaps a 5970 or two of them in crossfire? also wouldn't it be better having 6gb as you can never get enough ^^ such as if your doing several other tasks on one of your monitors and gaming on the other? So its better getting the 1336 if you want to make sure your computer is as reliable as you want it to be?

 

[coldsleep]

The 890 FX chipset does not seem to be limited in its PCI-E 2.x lanes: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3674/amds-sixcore-phenom-ii-x6-1090t-1055t-reviewed/4

This anandtech article seems to indicate that the next set of (enthusiast, not mainstream) chips will also be for the AM3 socket. http://www.anandtech.com/show/2871/2

I'm not saying that you shouldn't stick with the i7 if you want to, I just don't think that it's as clear-cut as i7 = future-proof, all others = not.

 

[a1an]

Hmm interesting... cause im going for a 930 and its mobo though im mainly be gaming, web browsing and watching movies and listening to music..and i thought about getting a i5 750 but i have the budget of £1200-£1300 so i thought id just get a i7 930 and a hd5970 but now im pondering the thought of is there really any better way i could go about this perforamnce wise if i get an i5 750 and a 1156 board... so im quite curious how this thread goes

 

[Reyesx]

The 890 FX chipset does not seem to be limited in its PCI-E 2.x lanes: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3674/amds-sixcore-phenom-ii-x6-1090t-1055t-reviewed/4

This anandtech article seems to indicate that the next set of (enthusiast, not mainstream) chips will also be for the AM3 socket. http://www.anandtech.com/show/2871/2

I'm not saying that you shouldn't stick with the i7 if you want to, I just don't think that it's as clear-cut as i7 = future-proof, all others = not.

That's a sweet article bud, hope it holds up though. Even if it doesn't support am3. You think the i7 build will last bout 3 years before an actual "need" to upgrade comes up?

 

[coldsleep]

That's a sweet article bud, hope it holds up though. Even if it doesn't support am3. You think the i7 build will last bout 3 years before an actual "need" to upgrade comes up?

Oh, for sure, the new hex-core is not the way to go for gaming. I was mostly interested in it for pointing out the new features of the 890FX chipset.

I would expect that you'll need to upgrade the graphics card before you'll need to upgrade the processor. And don't get me wrong, I'm figuring out a $2000-ish build for the May/June timeframe, and I had been pretty set on an i7-930 until hearing that they're killing off the socket.

Pretty much any modern 4-core processor should be enough for the next few years, barring some surprising new killer app that requires 8 cores for some ungodly reason.