The 750$ Gaming PC from TomsHardware - need some help

homci0

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Hey, i really liked TomsHardware arcticle about building the most efficient gaming PC for 750$ (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/value-gaming-pc,2578.html). It was exacly what i needed, since i want to build the best pc for the money spent i can.

I managed to find most of the components on my local market (im from poland), however since i dont exacly care about fitting into that 750$ limit, i am considering some changes. For one im going with 4 core Athlon II X4 635 instead of the 3 core one mentioned in the article, since i dont want to risk not being able to unlock that 4th core.

Now the other thing im considering, and here's where i need help, is taking some other graphic cards. The best offer i could find on those HD4850 in my country is around 120$. I did however also find HD5770 (Gigabyte Radeon HD5770 1GB DDR5/128b D/H/DP PCI-E) for 190$, so for 2 of those i'd be spending 140$ more. That is something im seriously considering, mostly due to 5770 being Dx11 ready card, and i guess i'd like my new pc to be up to date with all the latest standards, especially since it's supposed to last me for a few upcoming years.

So here's my questions:
a) can someone suggest some other gpu model in that price range, that would be a wiser choice?
b) would i need a stronger power supply than the Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W mentioned in the article?
c) are the changes im considering even reasonable? or maybe 4850s are for instance easier to overclock and thus i wouldnt be getting much more performance for those additional 140$?
d) are there any other changes, that could be made to that 750$ pc, that would have a nice performance boost : $ ratio?

Thanks in advance for all your input :)
 

asteldian

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The 5770 is a good card, they are modern tech, Direct X 11 compatible and low power consumption so a 650W will be plenty for 2 of them.

Having said that, how much is the 5850 and the 5870 where you are? Personally, I would prefer the 5850 over two 5770s. Yes, technically the XFire 5770 perform at the 5870 standard, but that is only if the games scale well.

The 5850 copes with most games at 1920 x 1080 and can be OC'd to the 5870 lvl. In the future you can also XFire the 5850s for more power if you want it.

Others may disagree, but generally I feel getting a more powerful card is a better choice than XFiring 2 budget cards
 

asteldian

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Ok, so 5870 is beyond reach, but the 5850 is $30 less than 2 x 5770s, has plenty of power for 1920 x 1080, doesn't have to be concerned with XFire scaling or even worse - a game not supporting XFire (rare I know) and has the bonus that in a few years you can add a second one if you want to.

I am always a fan of a more powerful single GPU, and more importantly I am a firm believer in not begining a new build already with an XFire set up as you have no choice but to replace both cards in future.

If it were me, I would get the 5850 and OC it to near 5870 performance
 

homci0

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Yeah, i can see where you're coming from, however my personal experience would dictate me otherwise. :)
3 years ago when i was putting together my current pc, i went all out on the gpu, i bought a brand new geforce 8800gtx, which back then was going for 700$. And well, dont get me wrong, its a great card, that performes really well till this day. However today it goes for like 150$ but i wouldnt really consider buying a second one. I'd end up with a medicore system (2gb 800mhz ram and 2.35Ghz 2 core cpu) with some crazy gpu power, which wouldnt be that great, since i would be limited by cpu and ram in many cases.
So i guess i'd rather go with 2 budget cards, especially since they perform nearly as well as a current high-end gpu according to http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2010-gaming-graphics-charts-high-quality/Sum-of-FPS-Benchmarks-1920x1200,2399.html which i guess can be used as an overview of other game benchmarks.
Besides, in another 3 years i can just update those 2 to another 2 budget cards, similar to current 5870 and compatible with directx 13 :p
 

asteldian

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Well you wouldn't consider buying one now because it is what, 5 or 6? years old.
Back then it was all the power you could hope for. But now, even the 5870 can not max every game, in a years time even less so, then another year even worse. 2 x 5770s are at the 5870 mark, so they wont cope with everything already and thats assuming all the games scale well. The 5850 OC'd will reach the 5870 level, so its a good starting point, but you'll be looking to XFire it in about 2 years depending on your gaming pleasures. In two years you will be looking to replace both 5770s for more power.

But that's just my view, hopefully others will chime in with their opinions. But ultimately, go with what you are comfortable with, if you prefer 2 x 5770s like some do, then by all means go with it, there is certainly plenty of power
 

homci0

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Yeah, thank you for your imput anyway, gave me something to think about :)

8800gtx is less than 4 years old however, i bought it 3 years ago, a couple months after it came out, it was pretty much one of the best cards back then, if not the best, well maybe except 8800gtx ultra :)
 

homci0

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All other arguments aside...
gigabyte-ati-radeon-hd5770-1024mb-ddr5128bit-dvihdmidp-pci-e-8504800-ultra-durable_0.jpg

Gigabyte HD5770 looks like a freaking batmobile, i mean... how cool is that... :>