My new rig

So I have done some reading, asked for help from people more knowledgeable than me and this is what I came up with:

Processor: Intel Core I7 860 2.80 GHz, Quad Core
Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D-E EVO
Memory: Kingston ValueRAM, 4 GB : 2 x 2 GB
Graphics: 2x (as in two cards) Radeon HD 5770 - PCI Express 2.1 x16 - 512 MB
Storage: Samsung SpinPoint F3 Desktop Class HD103SJ - 1TB
Disc Station: Samsung SH-B083L (Blue Ray)
Power Supply: OCZ StealthXStream - 600 Watt
Enclosure: Cooler Master CM 690 - Midtowermodel
Additional cooling: Scythe Mugen 2 Rev.B
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - 64 bit

Cost: €1214

What do you guys think?

 

I've read that two cards in SLI/Crossfire do not provide enough performance to warrant the combined price. Is there a particular reason you opted for this? As for the RAM, important factors like clock speed and data access time (the CL thing) are missing, so those are something to note.

Interesting that you are going for additional cooling, especially considering that you're not going for some noname case but something that might have decent airflow. These might explain the price tag and I don't know how much Windows costs, but judging strictly by numbers this might be a little bit overpriced in my opinion.

 

I've read that two Radeons HD 5770 perform better than one Radeon HD 5850, and it's cheaper. We could both be right / wrong here though.

Regarding RAM:
Kingston ValueRAM - 4GB : 2 x 2GB - DIMM 240-pins - DDR3 - 1333 MHz / PC3-10600 - CL9 - 1.5 V
Is it decent?

The extra cooler costs €30. Why did I go for an extra cooler? The standard cooler won't be enough to optimaly cool down the system, which will make the system perform less satisfactory. I also feel that €30 isn't that big of a money drainer for this build.

Windows costs €100.

Also don't forget that European prices are much higher than in the US, where this same build will probably be available for a lot less money.

 

SLI/crossfire often gives inconsistent performance from game to game. i'd generally want the single card over the dual, as it's just more predictable.

RAM clockspeeed/latency is overrated, you won't be able to notice any difference outside of artificial benchmarking software.

if you want to cut down the costs, going to a cheaper I5 processor would still be more than sufficient for gaming. not sure how much work you do on your computer, but very few things really stress processors these days outside of (intense) photo and video editing or scientific apps.

 

And in terms of longivity? Generally I want a PC that will still last a few years before being outdated. My reasoning was that in a few years, instead of an i5 you'll need an i7 for general gaming.

Edit: obviously I don't know very much about computers

 

True, a lot of new games are becoming increasingly threaded. That said, be aware that you probably won't have any upgrade path for the CPU - at least none that would be worth the cost. It's pretty hard to build for future needs given you have no idea what the future will bring. As a compromise, I would suggest the Core i5-750. Nearly a hundred bucks less and I reckon not much different in gaming performance compared to the i7-860.

 

An CPU as strong as an i7, even the lower end one you've got, won't be necessary for years and years, barring major leaps. More and more of the gaming workload is being taken over by the GPU, so a top end GPU is a more worthy investment.

The upper end i5 is about 300USD cheaper, and you drop 0.2 GHz iirc (too lazy to look up price/specs >.>). That's roughly 250EU. A quad 2.6GHz is still nothing to thumb your nose at, as my 4x2.4 laughs at anything I throw at it.

As far as RAM goes - No, YOU won't notice a difference between a 1333 and a 1066 (your wallet does though). However, there IS a tangible difference two steps apart (ie 667-1066, or 833-1333). 1066 is PROBABLY sufficient for most anything the next few years. However, it does kinda bug me that your mobo apparently only has 2 RAM slots. Might be something to think about, as 4 2 gig sticks is waaaaaay cheaper than 2 4 gig sticks.

 

The i7 - 2,80 GHz in my list costs 244€.

I could get a :
Intel Core i5 661 / 3.33 GHz - LGA1156 Socket - L3 4 MB (€196) or a
Intel Core i5 670 / 3.46 GHz - LGA1156 Socket - L3 4 MB (€263) instead.

If I understood correctly you are also saying I would be better of with a top end video card? Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks for the advice!

 

Hey Guys I was also getting a new rig. I opted to buy one from my local computer store because I don't know much about computers and they offer warranty and repair for 1 year. I've also bought many items from them before and have no complaints.

They deal in parts mostly but they also offer system specials that require up to 2 days to build. I found this one and was wondering if it was a decent CPU and planned to use it for SC2/D3.



Processor: Intel E8400 Core2 Duo Dual Core

Memory: 4 Gig Dual Channel DDR2 1066 Ram

Case: Black Mid Tower Case

Power Supply: 500 Watt

Video: Nvidia Gefore GTS 250 1GB PCI Express

DVDRW Drive: 24x Black DVD+-RW SATA Lightscribe Drive

Hard Drive: 500 Gig 7200rpm SATAII Hard Drive

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP43-UD3L

Sound Card: 8 Channel HD Audio

Network Card: 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet

USB 2.0: 10 USB 2.0 Ports

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium w/ COA and Disk (64B)


**1 Year Parts & Labor Warranty**

Cost : $850
So lemme know what you think.

 

I think you hijacked my thread, other than that I am missing the GHz.

 

Processor([== Quad Core ==] AMD Athlon™ II X4 620 Quad-Core CPU)
Processor Cooling(Certified CPU Fan and Heatsink)
Memory(4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR3-1333 Memory Module - Corsair XMS3 Dominator w/DHX technology)
Video Card(ATI Radeon HD 5770 - 1GB - Single Card)
Video Card Brand(Major Brand Powered by ATI or NVIDIA)
Motherboard(Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3 -- AMD 770)
Motherboard Add-on(None)
Power Supply(700 Watt -- Power Supply - SLI Ready)
Primary Hard Drive(1 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive)
Data Hard Drive(None)
Optical Drive(24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black)
2nd Optical Drive(None)
Flash Media Reader/Writer(12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer - Black)
Meter Display(None)
Sound Card(3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard)
Network Card(Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100))
Netbook / Notebook Bundle(None)
Operating System(None- Pre-formatted Hard Drive Only)

969 USD
Minus 70 for shipping and I don't even know how much they jacked me for their rush service.

 

The irony.

 

How about the following for the CPU:
Intel Core i3 530 2.93 GHz Clarkdale 2C/4T 4M L3
Intel Core i5 750 2.66 GHz Lynnfield 4C/4T 8M L3

Video card, best single GPU is the HD 5870. Value-wise, though, I think you'd better stick to the HD 5850.

 

So I've completed my rig, here's what it turned out to be:

System:
Processor: Intel Core i5-750 / 2.66 GHz - LGA1156 Socket - L3 8 MB - Quad Core €197
Motherboard: Asus P7P55D-E Deluxe - €230
Memory: Kingston ValueRAM, 4 GB : 2 x 2 GB - €102
Graphics: 2x Club 3D Radeon HD5770 - PCI Express 2.1 x16 - 512 MB GDDR5 - €270
Storage: Samsung SpinPoint F3 Desktop Class HD103SJ - 1 TB - 3.5" - SATA-300 - 7200 tpm -buffer: - €56
Samsung SH-B083L - DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM / BD-ROM - 8x - Serial ATA - 5.25" - €76
Power supply:Antec EarthWatts 650 - ATX12V 2.2 - 100 - 650 Watt - €64
Enclosure: Cooler Master CM 690 – Midtowermodel - €60
Extra cooling: Scythe Mugen 2 Rev.B - €36
CrossFire cable: Club3D ATI CrossFire Bridge - €7
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - 64 bit - €100

Keep in mind these are not US prices.
Total Cost: €1200, €16 cheaper than my previous build but more efficient and higher performance.

Notes:
- Automatic overclocking to 3,2 GHz
- Manual overclocking up to 4 GHz
- 2x Radeon HD5770 using CrossFire, better performance than 1 Radeon HD5870
- Extra cooling for optimal overclocking performance

Edit: I'll probably be ordering this in the weeks to come.

 

I think you should go create your own thread --leave hijacking to terrorists.

4GB --good. But is it 1066? It’s DDR2 so, get the fastest available; DDR2 will be obsolete in 2 years.

Sorry, no, that’s not right. Peruse the benchmarks here:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5770-review-test/15

Crossfired 5770s run maybe 1--2 FPS faster in some games, and a little slower in others.

I would opt for a single 5850, rather than a crossfire rig; both crossfire and SLI are notoriously unreliable, and your mileage will vary from game to game.

 

How come you only saved €16? Did you choose a more expensive motherboard? I also noticed you replaced the power supply. Was it less expensive than the OCZ StealthXStream you had on your list earlier?

That should be DDR3. Pretty sure the memory controller on Nehalem doesn't support DDR2. If it's DDR2, he wouldn't even be able to insert it in the RAM slots...

 

Thank you.

It's DDR3.

I'm not an expert on these things so I don't really understand. On the site you linked to, the 5770 Crossfire is performing +-on par with the 5850 - sometimes better, sometimes worse. I've done some more 'research' and came up with the following:

- Two Radeon HD 5770 perform 74,2 % faster than a single card, and 22,3% faster than 1 Radeon HD 5850. This page also has a nice table with all the results. link
- On Tomshardware they also say the 5770 is 'bang for your buck', outperforming the 5850.
- On legionhardware the conclusion is:
The Radeon HD 5770 performance when working in Crossfire mode was impressive to say the least. Although we are not normally advocates of multi-GPU technology, in this instance it does make sense. The Radeon HD 5770 configuration was able match or beat a single Radeon HD 5870 in almost every game, and costing around 16% less, that is pretty good value.
While we would not go as far as to say you should forget the Radeon HD 5870 and go for a pair of Radeon HD 5770 graphics cards, there is no denying that these budget graphics cards are really something when used in Crossfire. For those looking to spend around $300 US on their graphics card budget, we feel that the Radeon HD 5770 Crossfire configuration is the way to go.

On none of these websites was there mention of instability / unreliability. In fact, I wasn't able to find any website saying the CrossFireX is unreliable except a forum, and even there they were argueing whether the cause was CFX or related to hardware, overclocking etc.

I'm definately not saying you are wrong, but it looks that for now I will take my chances with CrossFire and the pair of HD 5770s. If the cards are not performing satisfactory in the first week I'll send them back and get the 5850.

Nevertheless, thank you for your post.

I changed the:
- Processor: €45 cheaper
- Power supply: €5 more expensive
- Added a Crossfire cable: €7 increase in total cost.

Balanced: €33 cheaper. Hmmm it seems like I have made some miscalculations somewhere. Anyhow, the total product is somewhat cheaper and has a better Power Supply.

It's indeed DDR3.

Thanks for your time!

 

I didn't say "unstable". By "unreliable" I meant that they do not yield consistent performance from game to game. But if YOU feel confident with your research, then go for it.

I forgot that you had an I7; of course, that's DDR3 RAM, silly me. What speed?

Everything else looks good, except for the price, but that can't be helped.

 

I thought it would better serve the forum to not create numerous posts on the same topic. The title of this thread was 'My new build' so in effort to consolidate posts I posted my build in this thread also.

Instead of wasting your time ridiculing me you can either ignore my post or offer constructive opinion on my specs.

 

Another example of how language can cause misunderstandings.

You're right regarding the unreliabilty in performance from game to game, however even the 'worst' performance that could occur is still more than satisfactory for me at this point. Again, I could be wrong and regret my purchase, time will tell.

I've opted for an i5 now at 2.66 GHz, 3.2 GHz with the automatic overclocking so for convenience sake, it's 3.2 GHz.

The price is indeed a bit of a letdown, however as I have an old computer which has done its job I'm ok with investing a sum of money into a new desktop that will last me for at least 8 years. I have also not bought a PC game in about 5 years, so there are quite some titles out there that I will still want to play, for a tenth of the original cost.

Thanks for your advice.

Kraetos, you may take over the thread. I suggest you repost your specs to get some feedback.