Whats better for gaming?

[tdzmuzza]

will a MSI GTX 2GB 680 (£359.99) or two other cards running sli be better for gaming in the highest settings?but i dont want to spend more than £359.99 on the card/s.

 

[socialfox]

I would say the GTX 680 is a very good card and if you have a very good processor then you can max out most games given you use a resolution of 1920x1080 and below. Also I prefer running a single video card opposed to sli because there is less heat involved, usually the top card takes a good beating from all the hot air from the card below and this causes it to easily overheat.

Edit: In essence, the GTX 680 is a very powerful card, I think it beats the HD 7970. You should have no trouble maxing out almost all games with it given you don't have a poor CPU that would cause bottlenecking.

 

[tdzmuzza]

it will be with a i7-3770k,hm yeah thats true..
or can you recommend a better cpu?
it must be good with video rendering too.

 

[socialfox]

Wow that sure is one expensive rig, I am kind of envious :lol

Anyways take a look for yourself regarding the wonderful performance of that video card and that CPU in games:

Battlefield 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7iLZ_s_I98

Will post more videos if I find any more. Also you own this CPU already? If you don't then an i5 would do fine for gaming.

 

[tdzmuzza]

Corsair 800D, i7 3770k, 16GB Corsair Vengeance Ram,Corsair professional series hx+ 850w modular PSU, Gigabyte Z77X-D3H,Corsair Hydro H60, seagate, barracuda 2tb harddrive and a 160GB ssd data hard drive, MSI gtx 680 2GB

I dont own it yet,but the i7-3770k is on offer at the moment at the website I'm buying it from so may as well?

 

[Mousemonkey]

I would say the GTX 680 is a very good card and if you have a very good processor then you can max out most games given you use a resolution of 1920x1080 and below. Also I prefer running a single video card opposed to sli because there is less heat involved, usually the top card takes a good beating from all the hot air from the card below and this causes it to easily overheat.

Edit: In essence, the GTX 680 is a very powerful card, I think it beats the HD 7970. You should have no trouble maxing out almost all games with it given you don't have a poor CPU that would cause bottlenecking.

No overheating here and one of my rigs has a top card that runs cooler than the bottom one.

 

[socialfox]

what's the price? Ideally you will see little to no difference in gaming between an i5 and an i7. If you are planning on video rendering/editing and that fancy stuff then go for the i7. In addition the 16gb of ram applies as well with the same purpose, 8gb and an i5 will do fine for gaming. If money is not a factor it wont hurt and perhaps in the future games will start to use the i7's unique features. The specific feature is maybe video games will use hyper threading in the future, not sure if there are any today.

 

[socialfox]

No overheating here and one of my rigs has a top card that runs cooler than the bottom one.

Well it was a general statement that I have read on many threads. Anyways what kind of card do you have? Perhaps the heatsink design is different or do you have a pci slot cooler in between?

Edit: here are some threads that I learned of the top card running hotter. Personally I don't crossfire so I can't testify my own opinion.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1038112/top-card-in-crossfire-a-bit-warm
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/327461-33-crossfired-6850s-runs-hotter-higher-usage
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/365185-33-higher-idle-temp-crossfire-spacing

 

[tdzmuzza]

£199.99 so not sure how much in dollars?,yeah its not only for gaming it will be used to do rendering everyday from like 10GB files down to small enough files for Youtube..

 

[Mousemonkey]

Well it was a general statement that I have read on many threads. Anyways what kind of card do you have? Perhaps the heatsink design is different or do you have a pci slot cooler in between?

Personal experience is always better to quote than general stuff that you have read somewhere, in one rig I have a pair of GTX560TI's and the top card in that rig only gets 2 or 3 degrees hotter than the bottom one and the other rig has a pair of GTX660Ti's and the top card in that one runs about 4 degrees cooler than the bottom one and there are no PCI slot coolers involved.

 

[socialfox]

Personal experience is always better to quote than general stuff that you have read somewhere, in one rig I have a pair of GTX560TI's and the top card in that rig only gets 2 or 3 degrees hotter than the bottom one and the other rig has a pair of GTX660Ti's and the top card in that one runs about 4 degrees cooler than the bottom one and there are no PCI slot coolers involved.

You make a good point about the personal experience so we can say that it does not make too much of a difference but at the same time we don't all have the same computer cases and airflow setup (that applies to both of us actually, I can't say that because another person's computer setup and your setup can't determine the OP's results :lol: )

Anyways do you think two cards of lesser performance is better than the GTX 680 which both cards have to equal the price of the 360 pounds?

 

[Mousemonkey]

You make a good point about the personal experience so we can say that it does not make too much of a difference but at the same time we don't all have the same computer cases and airflow setup (that applies to both of us actually, I can't say that because another person's computer setup and your setup can't determine the OP's results :lol: )

Anyways do you think two cards of lesser performance is better than the GTX 680 which both cards have to equal the price of the 360 pounds?

Yes, if one of my cards fail then I will still have one left so that I can continue to use my rig whilst waiting for a replacement to arrive plus the fact that all the cards are used for folding.

 

[socialfox]

Yes, if one of my cards fail then I will still have one left so that I can continue to use my rig whilst waiting for a replacement to arrive plus the fact that all the cards are used for folding.

How about performance wise?

 

[Mousemonkey]

How about performance wise?

All the benchmarks that I have ever ran have the 560's outperforming a 580 and the 660's outperforming a 680.

 

[socialfox]

All the benchmarks that I have ever ran have the 560's outperforming a 580 and the 660's outperforming a 680.

Well after looking online you are correct about that so I must hand it to you :lol:
SO I guess I will change my answer to dual 660 ti's but I would suggest the PCI cooler it would help keep the card on the top cool.

Edit: To the OP you are golden for going SLI if you want, your power supply is good enough and your motherboard will work with it.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Well after looking online you are correct about that so I must hand it to you :lol:
SO I guess I will change my answer to dual 660 ti's but I would suggest the PCI cooler it would help keep the card on the top cool.

Thank you.

No point, it will just block the air flow. A fan on the side of the case would be a better solution IMHO.

 

[tdzmuzza]

well im in a pickle now i have a budget of £1330 avg, max £1350?
so what would be best for my budget..

 

[tdzmuzza]

and how does the i7 3770k do when overclocking?

 

[NV88]

Don't bother with SLI. Games are built with consoles in mind and proper SLI support is right at the bottom of the to do list. A 680 is what I got and is what I recommend. AT 1200p it has all the grunt to max out 98% if games at over 70+. The usual DirectX 11 suspects are at 60FPS+ with some tweaking, like Metro's DOF.

For the GPU I'd a 3770 for video rendering and a 3470 for gaming unless you really want to overclock.

 

[tdzmuzza]

so youd not recommend the 3770k?

 

[ericlw]

personally i wouldnt get an i7. i have i5 2500k and gtx 670 and i run all my games at max.i dont think sli is such a big deal. i would get a 680 or somthing rather then 2 video cards.

 

[tdzmuzza]

but i wont only be playing the games ill be playing them whilst recording at the same-time,i am getting a gtx 680 and not sli

 

[socialfox]

Well either way at 1920x1080 resolutions you will have real good FPS playing almost every single game. I believe FRAPS takes away a bit of FPS but with that video card I would not worry about it.

 

[tdzmuzza]

thank you guys,one more thing ah,what is there to worry about whilst building a pc?i know about EDS or something along the line of static electric which shorts parts,but anything major?

 

[socialfox]

Keep yourself grounded, work away from a carpet (I tend to work in a room without the carpet, I move it away). If intel CPUs are like AMD in terms of installing then do not force the CPU into the socket but align it with the holes in the socket, there should be a direction on the socket that tells you which way it should be facing. In addition, just drop the CPU lightly, no need for any force or else that would bend the pins. Also if you can fit it in your budget get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16899261005

I have built my first two computers without it and it was fine but now I just wear just for safety. As long as you don't work in a static environment you don't really need the strap but if you want to be safe then do it. Also don't wear any silky clothes, I believe they hold static charges on them like crazy.

When inserting ram make sure you release the lock lever thing (two tabs) and insert the ram with a finger on both sides. When doing your video card insert it with a bit of force until you hear a clicking noise or something along the lines of that. Lastly if this is a entirely new build try and read the motherboard manual to get the hang of where to insert the front panel connectors.

Edit: Also for fan orientation, I tend to keep the low fans (front, side and bottom fans) as intakes meaning they blow in cool air, keep the high fans (Top and rear fan that is near the top) as exhausts.
Good Luck,

Socialfox