On a budget what should i do

[liquid_trips]

I have the money to get 2x ATI Radeon HD 5750 - 1GB or one AMD Radeon HD 6870 - 1GB. I dont know what to choose. I have a total budget of 1400 for the new computer im building I have all the pieces picked out i want and from whats left of the budget those are my choices. If you need more info about the rest of my pieces ill let ya know.

 

[shadow187]

$1400 and that's the max you can do? You should be able to get better graphics for that price.

But of those the HD6870 is better.

 

[wasupmike]

+1 Shadow187 -> out of those two choices the R6870 is the better one... however, if you post all the components you picked so far... there may be more suitable and better options for you to choose from

 

[liquid_trips]

Thats including everything, the kids killed my monitor so i have to get a new one of those also in that budget. This is what i was planning on purchasing for the pc.
NZXT Lexa-S Gaming Case
AMD Phenom™ II X6 1100T Black Edition
Asetek 550LC Liquid CPU Cooling System
8 GB [2 GB X4] DDR3-1600
ASUS M4A89TD
850 Watt Thermaltake TR2 W0319RU
640 GB HARD DRIVE 64M Cache 7200 RPM 6.0Gb/s
Windows 7 professional
22" monitor, dvd burner, and all the other small stuff

 

[liquid_trips]

so from what your saying im better off with one 6870 than 2 5750s, now that ive posted what else im purchasing maybe i can get some better ideas.

 

[wasupmike]

let's get the monitor and OS out of the way:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009275
- Acer 21.5" 1920x1080 Widescreen LCD: $120 (free shipping on that one too)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754
- save 40 bucks on the Windows 7 Home Premium over the Pro version... you won't need it unless you're logging into a local LAN in a 'Windows Server' environment... which i'm sure you're not : $100

i'm sure you already have speakers, keyboard + mouse

so that leaves ~$1200 for the PC itself:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
- Antec Three Hundred Illusion (great quality + ventilation): $65

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139019
- Corsair 600W: $65

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131651
- ASUS motherboard /w SATA6 + USB3: $100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231311
- G.SKILL Ripjaws 8GB (2x4) DDR3-1333: $100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136544
- WD Caviar Black 7,200 64MB cache 640GB SATA6: $70

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289
- DVDRW drive: $17

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849
- AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz: $230 (save $45 from the 1100T for just a 0.1 GHz difference)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227542
- how about that... a 60 GB OCZ Agility 2 SSD for your Windows + most of your apps: $120 -> (believe me.. you won't regret it... it will change your PC experience forever)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130593
- EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570: $350

TOTAL: ~$1,100... there ya go... much better video card... and you have an SSD in there too.. and you're under budget..!

 

[cheesesubs]

I have the money to get 2x ATI Radeon HD 5750 - 1GB or one AMD Radeon HD 6870 - 1GB. I dont know what to choose. I have a total budget of 1400 for the new computer im building I have all the pieces picked out i want and from whats left of the budget those are my choices. If you need more info about the rest of my pieces ill let ya know.

cons crossfire/sli only take advantage on very few game it would be waste of money to go 5750x2. 6870 would be better choice and run less power than dual card setup.

 

[purple stain]

I would agree going with a single 6870 and then add another in for crossfire later on,i've read they scale extremely well when paired together.

But with all that new stuff bringing you under budget and having more money to spend on a GPU,i would wait until the Radeon 69xx series.

 

[purple stain]

Also just for clarification, i've been reading around and i haven't found anything that supports that the new 1100T is in anyway different than the 1090T only by 100mhz is the only difference,so for $70 less for the same thing i would agree to get the 1090T.

 

[jyjjy]

Why not i7? Here is a comparison;
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/203?vs=100

Intel Core i7-950 & ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro - $305
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.566445

ASUS Sabertooth X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Motherboard & G.SKILL 6GB(3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 - $255
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.566438

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB SATA Hard Drive - $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

Antec TruePower 750W 80 PLUS BRONZE Power Supply - $105(promo code EMCZNZR54)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Computer Case & Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - $155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.546483.11-129-066

Sony Optiarc Black SATA CD/DVD Burner - $17
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039

ASUS VH232H 23" 1080p LCD Monitor - $155 (promo code EMCZNZR76)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236079

That totals $1060 shipped, ignoring rebates. From the looks of the overseas pricing you should be able to include an HD6970 and still keep your budget intact.
I just threw this together quickly, you can probably do better if you try. Personally I might scale back to an i5 and/or HD6950 and try to work in a solid state drive for OS and apps.

 

[cheesesubs]

Why not i7? Here is a comparison;
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/203?vs=100

Intel Core i7-950 & ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro - $305
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.566445

ASUS Sabertooth X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Motherboard & G.SKILL 6GB(3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 - $255
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.566438

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB SATA Hard Drive - $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

Antec TruePower 750W 80 PLUS BRONZE Power Supply - $105(promo code EMCZNZR54)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Computer Case & Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - $155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.546483.11-129-066

Sony Optiarc Black SATA CD/DVD Burner - $17
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039

ASUS VH232H 23" 1080p LCD Monitor - $155 (promo code EMCZNZR76)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236079

That totals $1060 shipped, ignoring rebates. From the looks of the overseas pricing you should be able to include an HD6970 and still keep your budget intact.
I just threw this together quickly, you can probably do better if you try. Personally I might scale back to an i5 and/or HD6950 and try to work in a solid state drive for OS and apps.

750w bronze certified for 6970 + 950 + tri chennal ddr3 is not really enough plus it also comes one sata drive and the optical drive. since the spec you listed is already $1060 and his budget is around 1.4k so who know much 6970 cost which it may be above his budget. unless there's bigger watt psu (850w with 90a 12v) i think gtx 570 or msi gtx 460 lighting is as far as he can go.

 

[purple stain]

Just to be clear what types of games are you trying to play?
Would make a huge diffrence in what kind of graphics power you need.

 

[jyjjy]

750w bronze certified for 6970 + 950 + tri chennal ddr3 is not really enough plus it also comes one sata drive and the optical drive. since the spec you listed is already $1060 and his budget is around 1.4k so who know much 6970 cost which it may be above his budget. unless there's bigger watt psu (850w with 90a 12v) i think gtx 570 or msi gtx 460 lighting is as far as he can go.

Hey man, I know you are trying to be helpful and that is cool. However in this thread and a few others you've displayed a near total lack of knowledge about the actual power requirements for video cards and systems in general. I don't know where you learned these things from but I can assure you they are incorrect. I suggest reading some video card reviews. They almost always have a section devoted to power usage so you'll be able to see what the reality is. This is also a handy tool if you are curious about the approximate power usage of a specific collection of parts;
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
For example I just put in the system I suggested above with a GTX 580 in place of the suggest HD6970, a sound card, 2 PCI cards, 2 USB devices, 20% capacitor aging, ect and it came up with 620-660w with every component at 90% power draw(something that will never even come close to happening in real life.) The PSU I suggest has 62 amps on the +12v rail or 744w. It can very easily handle this system and suggesting otherwise or telling them they need a PSU that costs a few hundred dollars to run mid-range video cards isn't helpful to anyone.
As for the price of the HD6970 it is already on sale in Europe and is selling for less than the GTX 570.

 

[liquid_trips]

Once i get the new pc up and running, I'm going to give wow another shot, then im going to hit up ff 14, and sc2. But the game im waiting on is D3.

 

[cheesesubs]

Hey man, I know you are trying to be helpful and that is cool. However in this thread and a few others you've displayed a near total lack of knowledge about the actual power requirements for video cards and systems in general. I don't know where you learned these things from but I can assure you they are incorrect. I suggest reading some video card reviews. They almost always have a section devoted to power usage so you'll be able to see what the reality is. This is also a handy tool if you are curious about the approximate power usage of a specific collection of parts;
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
For example I just put in the system I suggested above with a GTX 580 in place of the suggest HD6970, a sound card, 2 PCI cards, 2 USB devices, 20% capacitor aging, ect and it came up with 620-660w with every component at 90% power draw(something that will never even come close to happening in real life.) The PSU I suggest has 62 amps on the +12v rail or 744w. It can very easily handle this system and suggesting otherwise or telling them they need a PSU that costs a few hundred dollars to run mid-range video cards isn't helpful to anyone.
As for the price of the HD6970 it is already on sale in Europe and is selling for less than the GTX 570.

well for what i know larger watt/deep 12v current will provide more resistance on "decay rate", which means it will lasting longer on the system that are generally power hungry.larger psu will last much longer than system-suitable psu and provide future upgrade capability, especial on the region that don't have stable AC current will make larger watt psu more important . but that's just my opinion :\

 

[jyjjy]

A UPS would help more if you have sketchy input power quality. The quality of the PSU might help it withstand issues cause by voltage spikes and such but that has nothing to do with the rated wattage really. PSUs do degrade over time but I did include 20% capacitor aging in those numbers. Planning for a future upgrade is actually a good point and an 850w PSU would probably be wise if the intention is to crossfire or SLI high end cards in the future.
For future reference this is a good resource for the actual power usage of video cards. It aggregates the numbers from all the available major tech sites into one convenient spot;
http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index.php?showtopic=264
As for the rest of a system it is rare for a normal system to use over 200w(without a video card.) Even a fully decked out high end system with a big OC, a bunch of cards, hard drives, ect. will probably never break 250w, 300w maybe if the system is truly crazy.

 

[purple stain]

Yes that is what i thought, your not playing anything "seriously" demanding.It is up to you but i would stick with a 6850 or 6870.Anything over that is just going to be overkill.

 

[cheesesubs]

A UPS would help more if you have sketchy input power quality. The quality of the PSU might help it withstand issues cause by voltage spikes and such but that has nothing to do with the rated wattage really. PSUs do degrade over time but I did include 20% capacitor aging in those numbers. Planning for a future upgrade is actually a good point and an 850w PSU would probably be wise if the intention is to crossfire or SLI high end cards in the future.
For future reference this is a good resource for the actual power usage of video cards. It aggregates the numbers from all the available major tech sites into one convenient spot;
http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index.php?showtopic=264
As for the rest of a system it is rare for a normal system to use over 200w(without a video card.) Even a fully decked out high end system with a big OC, a bunch of cards, hard drives, ect. will probably never break 250w, 300w maybe if the system is truly crazy.

i dunno maybe i thought larger watt can be safer maybe you're right

 

[liquid_trips]

I have decided to go with an 850w powersupply to leave myself room for dual card option if i ever find a game that i can play seriously and requires that much power. As for why not Intel, i currently have an old amd chip that i have been running in my current pc for the last 5-6 years (xp3200), and running it from an asus 7n8x mobo. It has been reliable for so long, I'm just hoping that if I go with the same combo again from the same manufacturer's i can get another decent computer that i can do a few upgrades along the way and will last another 3-4 years worth of gaming.

 

[purple stain]

which graphics card are you going to get?

 

[liquid_trips]

6870, ive already done the research and ill need 850 to push both (not oc'd ofcourse) so im guessing i prob should get a 900w incase i decide to oc the processor and graphics

 

[jyjjy]

I have decided to go with an 850w powersupply to leave myself room for dual card option if i ever find a game that i can play seriously and requires that much power. As for why not Intel, i currently have an old amd chip that i have been running in my current pc for the last 5-6 years (xp3200), and running it from an asus 7n8x mobo. It has been reliable for so long, I'm just hoping that if I go with the same combo again from the same manufacturer's i can get another decent computer that i can do a few upgrades along the way and will last another 3-4 years worth of gaming.

Purposely building a weaker system because you think a certain combination of parts might last longer based on one experience is unwise. A processor almost never goes bad unless you do some really dumb things while overclocking so you should really get the best processor you can within your budget. Click the first link in my post, the difference is pretty notable and would only increase if you take overclocking into account. Asus is a nice motherboard manufacturer which is one of the reasons I included a board by them in my recommendations. There's no reason not to stick with them but the main point is you should expect any computer you build to last you many years as long as you choose the components wisely.
As for the power supply figure out what video card you are actually getting first and what it will need for crossfire before settling on a wattage. A 750w like the one I linked is just fine for crossfired HD6850/70s. If you do go with the HD6950/70 then yeah, bump it up to 850w.

 

[jyjjy]

6870, ive already done the research and ill need 850 to push both (not oc'd ofcourse) so im guessing i prob should get a 900w incase i decide to oc the processor and graphics

I don't know where you researched this but I think you read something wrong. I wouldn't hesitate to crossfire HD6870s on a quality 750w and by that I mean with everything on a high overclock. Under stress testing crossfired HD6870 use approximately 300w at reference speeds. Those cards aren't very high overclockers and adding 50w per card to account for an OC is probably an over estimation. The processor are looking at has a TDP of 125w and the overclocking headroom also isn't that big. Frankly even a good 650w would probably cover things just fine.

 

[purple stain]

^i would agree

Accroding to this review the whole total system draw is under 500watts with a 6870 crossfire

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1445/17/

If you do have extra cash laying around after your got the computer and graphics card straighted out,you should really looking into an eyefinity setting.Playing WoW with a 3 monitor set-up would be extremely...

 

[liquid_trips]

thats wierd becuase from what i was reading the amd raedeon hd 6870 reqs 700w ps, unless what i was reading is wrong. Also is there a site where i can plug in the components i want and see what kind of benchmark scores that supposed build would result in?
Also i checked out your benchmark test between the amd and intel I7. While i would like the better cpu to be the amd one your correct that the intel has the edge atm. I'm hoping that amd comes out with a new chip in the same socket family that pushes past the current cpu, which is why im going to the amd for now.