GPU Advice

[maddesa]

Hello all. I just built my first system and stats are as follows:

CPU: Intel 3770K Ivy Bridge (Not overclocked yet.)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-D3H
PSU: ThermalTake SMART m850w
Storage: OCZ Agility 4 120gb SSD for OS. (Win Ultimate 64)
Western Digital Blue Caviar 1tb 7200rm HD
Memory: 16 GB (8x2) G.Skill Ares 1600MZ

Quite a rush to actually put my own rig together! My question is this--- I'm currently using the vid card I had installed in my previous setup, an eVGA 8800GTS 320mb. For what I'm currently using the system for it works just fine, but soon I plan to buy some high-end, graphics-intensive games and will need to replace the card. With a budget of $250 or less what are my best options? Please give rationale. I will also be using this computer for some light video editing, etc. Thanks in advance!

 

[TheBigTroll]

7870 is the way to go. xfx 7870 is selling for 229.99 after MIR at newegg and us.ncix



now to your rig

-why did you get a i7 and 16gb of ram? if you are doing some CAD and rendering work, then it is reasoned out
-bought a low end power supply.
-agility drives are known to fail. good luck

 

[darktanget]

i have
AMD 3+ 4100 fx x4 3.6ghz
asus m5a78l-m lx v2 + ati 3000hd
6gb DDR3 Ram
500gb
could you please suggest me the graphic card supported on this board.
i already have nvidia GEforce 2gb gt520 - will this upport it ?
also if you could suggest me which one shall i install?

Regards

 

[TheBigTroll]

i have
AMD 3+ 4100 fx x4 3.6ghz
asus m5a78l-m lx v2 + ati 3000hd
6gb DDR3 Ram
500gb
could you please suggest me the graphic card supported on this board.
i already have nvidia GEforce 2gb gt520 - will this upport it ?
also if you could suggest me which one shall i install?

Regards

it will but your rig wont play games. the 520 can really only do flash games.fx sucks for games and 6gb of ram isnt all that useful

dont know if the motherboard works with fx chips even

 

[maddesa]

7870 is the way to go. xfx 7870 is selling for 229.99 after MIR at newegg and us.ncix



now to your rig

-why did you get a i7 and 16gb of ram? if you are doing some CAD and rendering work, then it is reasoned out
-bought a low end power supply.
-agility drives are known to fail. good luck

Thank you for the constructive criticism. Bear with me, I'm fairly new to all this. That being said, a couple questions:

1. Why is 16GB of RAM not a good thing with the 3770K? Or are you simply stating that it's unnecessary for what I'll be using it for?

2. I researched power supplies and the new ThermalTake Smart 850w modular psu's scored very well on many tech review sites. Why do you refer to it as "low-end"?

3. Please point point me in the direction from which you derive the conclusion that "agility drives are known to fail". This is disturbing, as data preservation is paramount to me.

Thanks again, and please, if you can make any other observations which will make my system "better", by all means, do so.

 

[darktanget]

it will but your rig wont play games. the 520 can really only do flash games.fx sucks for games and 6gb of ram isnt all that useful

dont know if the motherboard works with fx chips even

the mobo says it amd 3+ ready and the chip is work just fine as of now.
so could you suggest what shall i put it on GPU.

i am upgrading the ram to 8gb or 12gb depends.

 

[darktanget]

it will but your rig wont play games. the 520 can really only do flash games.fx sucks for games and 6gb of ram isnt all that useful

dont know if the motherboard works with fx chips even

the mobo says it amd 3+ ready and the chip is work just fine as of now.
so could you suggest what shall i put it on GPU.

i am upgrading the ram to 8gb or 12gb depends.

 

[darktanget]

sorry for double reply, the internet page didnot refreshed..

 

[TheBigTroll]

1: i7s are useless if you are not doing CAD work or rendering. same goes with 16gb of ram. you just wasted money if do not plan on doing that
2:thermaltake doesnt make good power supplies compared to seasonic or superflower rebrands. i generally never recommend anything out of those 2 OEM companies
3:my friends brother had his 60, 120, and 240gb agility 3 ssd fail.

and 25% of the users on newegg have experienced fails
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-227-726&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

and the fact that agility drives use the async nand which is a good bit slower than the standard sync flash found on the vertex 4s

maybe the marvel hardware on the agility 4 wil help with reliability but not guaranteed

 

[TheBigTroll]

the mobo says it amd 3+ ready and the chip is work just fine as of now.
so could you suggest what shall i put it on GPU.

i am upgrading the ram to 8gb or 12gb depends.

just stick to your 6gb. wont make any difference if you add more.

id suggest at least a 7850 for gaming. if not,get a 6870 or a gtx560. nothing lower

 

[TheBigTroll]

*sigh*

That's not a reliable way at all to judge things, as you are MUCH more likely to go on newegg and write a review when you're pissed at a DOA/dead drive than you are if it just works and you have no issues.

Also, you critique him for buying a faster-than-necessary CPU and more-than-needed RAM, and yet you want to pick on him for getting a good-enough SSD? I think your personal biases are coming through a bit much...

1: yes i know it isnt but it does give you a rough idea on how reliable it is. im also basing this off of experiences from someone that i actually know

2: if you ask anyone on the build section on getting a i7 for gaming, you would be instantly hit with comments telling you not. and the fact that toms never recommended a i7 for gaming proves my point that i7s are not for gaming
3: yes you need a better SSD but if you have it already, i cant change anything. just putting things out there

 

[TheBigTroll]

What exactly do you need a better SSD for on a general use gaming machine? 1 second faster boot times? 0.1 second faster application launch times? How is that any different from a tiny increase in FPS from the CPU?

How is one person's experience enough data to make generalized statements about a product? Every single tech product out there is going to have some bad apples. OCZ has an OK warranty on their drives... as long as he has a backup HDD in place, he's fine. SSDs are still new tech and there's inherently more risk in them than an HDD no matter what brand you buy.

Look, if he were asking for new build advice, I'd understand where you're coming from, but he's not, and his system is perfectly fine for gaming. There's nothing in his build worth picking on. It's not like he's trying to run quad-SLI 680s with an FX-6100 or something.

Back on topic @OP - just drop a 7870 in there and you're good to go

some products have more bad apples than others in which the agility series are. a better SSD wont make much of a difference but im just saying he could have got better for the same amount of money. if ones experiences happens to match many others experience, i dont see why i couldnt make a generalized comment.

im just pointing it out the facts out for future references so that he could make a better purchase. im not saying it was a terrible purchase, just that he could have done a bit better for the same money or less

and yes a 7870 is the way to go