Few questions about a new build

[clydefrog]

Hey guys,

So I've been building computers for a while now, however due to my studies and being jobless for a while (damn economy), i've been away from building for about 3 years now.

Apparently a lot has happened in 3 years, and i need some catching up. I am building this rig to do some sick gaming.

I was thinking about building a new Bulldozer or Sandy Bridge rig yet i need some pointers:

1. Do you think I should go ahead with the Sandy Bridge or wait until Bulldozer? I want to wait, just so i can make a more informed decision but as of now, i have been unable to find a release date for bulldozer; or some info at the least...

2. If i should choose Sandy Bridge, which socket do you think will offer the most longevity to my build? 1155, 1156 or 1366?

3. Do hexa-cores scale well to gaming yet? Or is it like when quad-cores first came out and they sucked for gaming?

4. I've never done an AMD build, and i was looking at some of the specs for their phenomes but i was unable to find the FSB speeds. AMD's dont have this? Because i remember i had to crosscheck the cpu's fsb with the mobo's fsb speed in my older builds...

5. As for the graphics card, i'm most comfortable with ATI's (sorry AMD's; i can never get used to saying that... ). I was planning on using a 6990, but do you think it would be better to go for a single 6970 and then add a second one later to avoid any issues with games not supporting multicore gpus? What is the strongest single core ATI and Nvidia card on the market now? How about the strongest multicore?

Sorry for bombarding you all with questions, but this will be great help for me, as i really need to be brought up to speed...

thanks guys

 

[brpeden82]

Exactly how much are going spend

do have anything monitor keyboard mouse OS

the FSB ISNT important anymore and the X6 suck at gaming they get asses kicked a by Intel I5 2500k Quad Core and it uses Socket 1155

as far as bulldozer IT takes a 8 Core bulldozer to equal a I7 2600k not sure about the Quad or Six Core Bulldozer Im gonna guess the 8 core by about the same price as the i7 2600k i hope

 

[clydefrog]

i'm willing the spend about $2000 but i want to keep it less than that if possible.

Why isnt FSB important anymore?

 

[brpeden82]

AMD run at 200 Mhz

Intel Sandy Bridge runs at 100 MHz

The currrent Platfroms are Socket 1155 For Intel

and AMD dead Platform AM3 soon to be AM3+ for bulldozer

 

[raptorjesus]

Single GPU winners are the 6970 for AMD and the GTX 580 for Nvidia. The 580 is an absolute monster card.

 

[clydefrog]

thanks guys.

So apparantly there is this new intel cpu coming out called ivy bridge; should i wait for that or use sandy bridge instead? Which socket is best now 1156, 1155, or 1366?

 

[mjmjpfaff]

ivy bridge is probably going to use 1155 socket the best gaming only cpu is the i5 2500k and that is 155 socket

 

[clydefrog]

ivy bridge is probably going to use 1155 socket the best gaming only cpu is the i5 2500k and that is 155 socket

i see, thanks.

just curious though; what exactly do you look for in a cpu when say it's the best "gaming" cpu? The clock rate, the number of cores, etc...

i havent really built a high performance gaming rig before.

 

[clydefrog]

Bump.

(are we allowed to bump?)

 

[mjmjpfaff]

i5 2500k will be your best bet. pair it with an asrock p67 extreme4 motherboard. 6970 then upgrade to cf later. scythe mugen 2 cpu cooler. gskill 8gb 1600mhz ram. nzxt phantom case pick your color. this psu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371050&cm_re=900w-_-17-371-050-_-Product . any dvd drive under 25$. samsung spinpoint f3 1tb hdd at amazon it is cheaper there. pick an ssd for your budget. monitor- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236117&cm_re=asus_monitor_led-_-24-236-117-_-Product . g500/518 mouse and a g110 keyboard at tiger direct for 50$. windows 7 home premium oem for 100$. logitech speakers. did i cover everything?

 

[clydefrog]

i5 2500k will be your best bet. pair it with an asrock p67 extreme4 motherboard. 6970 then upgrade to cf later. scythe mugen 2 cpu cooler. gskill 8gb 1600mhz ram. nzxt phantom case pick your color. this psu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371050&cm_re=900w-_-17-371-050-_-Product . any dvd drive under 25$. samsung spinpoint f3 1tb hdd at amazon it is cheaper there. pick an ssd for your budget. monitor- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236117&cm_re=asus_monitor_led-_-24-236-117-_-Product . g500/518 mouse and a g110 keyboard at tiger direct for 50$. windows 7 home premium oem for 100$. logitech speakers. did i cover everything?

Haha thank you.

You seemed to cover just about everything i need to know about my build.

However I just need clarification on a few things:

1. How do you know what makes for a "good" gaming cpu?

2. will ivy bridge be any better than sandy bridge? is it worth the wait?

 

[jbakerlent]

1. You have to look at gaming benchmarks for the specific games you are interested it, mostly. Also, very high end features such as HT aren't important in gaming as games can't generally utilize more than 4 threads.
2. Yes, but waiting is a slippery slope - there's always something better on the horizon, so buy what you need when you need it imo.

And to answer your question about bumping, no bumping is generally frowned upon, but in this case it's perfectly acceptable, you had a legitimate question that hadn't been answered for several days.

 

[clydefrog]

1. You have to look at gaming benchmarks for the specific games you are interested it, mostly. Also, very high end features such as HT aren't important in gaming as games can't generally utilize more than 4 threads.
2. Yes, but waiting is a slippery slope - there's always something better on the horizon, so buy what you need when you need it imo.

And to answer your question about bumping, no bumping is generally frowned upon, but in this case it's perfectly acceptable, you had a legitimate question that hadn't been answered for several days.

I see. Thank you.

Also thank you for the heads up on the bumping.

 

[mjmjpfaff]

ivy bridge will more than likely use p67 motherboards

 

[clydefrog]

Best answer selected by clydefrog.