Gaming Rig, (for battlefield 3 max settings)

[Buckley]

Need feedback, thanks in advance.

Video card: http://www.amazon.com/Geforce-Graph...3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1310127013&sr=1-3

164 euro. CPU: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7073161&CatId=6988

178 euro. Mom: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7343077&CatId=6978

64 euro. RAM: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=40739&CatId=4534

66 euro. HDD:http://www.dabs.ie/products/seagate...J.html?refs=4294946982-52770000-4294946954-12

200 euro. SDD: http://www.dabs.ie/products/ocz-tec...ive-7HR2.html?refs=4294946440-450300000-50121

100euro. Power supply: http://www.dabs.ie/products/corsair...thusiastseries-7CHC.html?refs=418520000-50113

166euro. Case with built in cooling: http://www.dabs.ie/products/antec-lanboy-air-blue-modular-gaming-case-76C4.html?refs=50882

Cost: around 1100 euro

Shipping: 50 euro

 

[sam235]

for the CPU i would recommend u check out AMD phenom II x6 its alot better for gaming, and its cheaper, also i would recommend an ATI Redeon same reason as the cpu, if u want a good mother board to go with AMD check out asus.com, also kingston isnt really a good brand IMO, i tried alot of their products and they have all failed me, they dont really last that long, Samsung has gr8 ddr3 to match the asus mother board @ a good price, last but not least if u want a really fast computer i think u should consider an SSD drive
Good luck pm me if u need anything else
-sam

 

[connchri]

for the CPU i would recommend u check out AMD phenom II x6 its alot better for gaming, and its cheaper, also i would recommend an ATI Redeon same reason as the cpu, if u want a good mother board to go with AMD check out asus.com, also kingston isnt really a good brand IMO, i tried alot of their products and they have all failed me, they dont really last that long, Samsung has gr8 ddr3 to match the asus mother board @ a good price, last but not least if u want a really fast computer i think u should consider an SSD drive
Good luck pm me if u need anything else
-sam

You are joking right??

Compare Intel Core i7-2600K (Sandy Bridge 4c/8t), AMD Phenom II X6 1100T (Thuban 6c).

If anything, save yourself some money, and go with the i5 instead. Sure you get 6 instead of 8 MB L2 cache and hyperthreading, but these never show their worth other than in exceptionally rare circumstances. Here's the i7 comparison to the equivilent i5:

Compare Intel Core i5-2500K (Sandy Bridge 4c), Intel Core i7-2600K (Sandy Bridge 4c/8t)

They can both overclock like crazy. I have my i5-2500k at 4.53GHz on stock voltages! Prime 95 tested. Solid as a rock. AMD can't touch these CPU's on performance or overclockability. Value, maybe, but nothing else.

The GPU is a decent one, nothing too wrong with that. If your on a budget you could try and get a hold of a cheaper GTX460 and overclock it. Or a reference HD6950 and unlock it to HD6970 specs.

I'd forget about the soundcard as well. You'll notice no difference in anything rather than perhaps the odd pain in the neck with the drivers. Unless that is, you've got a thousand pound speaker set and even then, you'd be hard pressed. FPS gain could work either way and even then with your CPU it would be negliable. That Realtek ALC889 is a decent HD chip and is more modern. As such it supports all you need to play Blu-Ray with the encrpyted output and the likes.

Everything else looks fine. Decent PSU. Same mobo as mine (almost, I got the P8P67 LE - same chipset) - very decent and will clock that CPU to the heavens. I don't think the GPU cooler is in need, but if your confident about changing it and voiding your warranty, who am I to say otherwise. Just chuck that soundcard out and think about the i5 over the i7 (I've posted my system benchmarks on the benchmark thread, and once it get accepted it will be number 1 on the site - all from a wee core i5-2500K).

Just one more thing, make sure that your CPU heatsink won't obstruct any if your DIMM slots. I'm using an Arctic Freezer Cooler 7 pro, and it's stopped me from using one of my four dimm slots.

Hope that helps, and pay no attention to the myths coming out of Mr AMD fanboi above - all reviews and benchmark results state otherwise.

 

[Buckley]

You are joking right??

Compare Intel Core i7-2600K (Sandy Bridge 4c/8t), AMD Phenom II X6 1100T (Thuban 6c).

If anything, save yourself some money, and go with the i5 instead. Sure you get 6 instead of 8 MB L2 cache and hyperthreading, but these never show their worth other than in exceptionally rare circumstances. Here's the i7 comparison to the equivilent i5:

Compare Intel Core i5-2500K (Sandy Bridge 4c), Intel Core i7-2600K (Sandy Bridge 4c/8t)

They can both overclock like crazy. I have my i5-2500k at 4.53GHz on stock voltages! Prime 95 tested. Solid as a rock. AMD can't touch these CPU's on performance or overclockability. Value, maybe, but nothing else.

The GPU is a decent one, nothing too wrong with that. If your on a budget you could try and get a hold of a cheaper GTX460 and overclock it. Or a reference HD6950 and unlock it to HD6970 specs.

I'd forget about the soundcard as well. You'll notice no difference in anything rather than perhaps the odd pain in the neck with the drivers. Unless that is, you've got a thousand pound speaker set and even then, you'd be hard pressed. FPS gain could work either way and even then with your CPU it would be negliable. That Realtek ALC889 is a decent HD chip and is more modern. As such it supports all you need to play Blu-Ray with the encrpyted output and the likes.

Everything else looks fine. Decent PSU. Same mobo as mine (almost, I got the P8P67 LE - same chipset) - very decent and will clock that CPU to the heavens. I don't think the GPU cooler is in need, but if your confident about changing it and voiding your warranty, who am I to say otherwise. Just chuck that soundcard out and think about the i5 over the i7 (I've posted my system benchmarks on the benchmark thread, and once it get accepted it will be number 1 on the site - all from a wee core i5-2500K).

Just one more thing, make sure that your CPU heatsink won't obstruct any if your DIMM slots. I'm using an Arctic Freezer Cooler 7 pro, and it's stopped me from using one of my four dimm slots.

Hope that helps, and pay no attention to the myths coming out of Mr AMD fanboi above - all reviews and benchmark results state otherwise.

Yeah I was tossing back and forth between the i5, more or less flipped a coin on the i7 lol! Thanks for all the help but I have to ask how you saw the part about the videocard fan after I updated the thread and removed it from the list? If you were looking at the original I've changed the mom, RAM and threw in an SDD for the OS and important program files, everything else like media and docs will go on the HDD. Does the rig still look good?

Cheers for the help!

 

[connchri]

Yeah I was tossing back and forth between the i5, more or less flipped a coin on the i7 lol! Thanks for all the help but I have to ask how you saw the part about the videocard fan after I updated the thread and removed it from the list? If you were looking at the original I've changed the mom, RAM and threw in an SDD for the OS and important program files, everything else like media and docs will go on the HDD. Does the rig still look good?

Cheers for the help!

Hmm, dunno how that happened, maybe I was looking at the old copy in another window. Yeah, the rig looks good. One thing though, see if you can get a decent price for the OCZ Vertex 3 as opposed to 2. It's got a Sata III interface that would sit nicely with that P67 chipset and is more or less the benchmark for other SSD's that us mere mortals can afford. It's bloody rapid from the benchmarks I've seen and I'm saving up for one myself.

 

[Buckley]

Hmm, dunno how that happened, maybe I was looking at the old copy in another window. Yeah, the rig looks good. One thing though, see if you can get a decent price for the OCZ Vertex 3 as opposed to 2. It's got a Sata III interface that would sit nicely with that P67 chipset and is more or less the benchmark for other SSD's that us mere mortals can afford. It's bloody rapid from the benchmarks I've seen and I'm saving up for one myself.

100 extra dollars for a Vertex 3,OCZ VTX3-25SAT3-120G Vertex 3 Solid State Drive - 120GB, 2.5, SATA III at TigerDirect.com, it may just be worth the extra cash in the long run. I'll have to think that one over, but it is tempting.

btw I'm probably gona keep the sound card as it will actually save me money on buying new speakers ( I already have speakers from dell that use that card). I may rip my existing one out and re-use it but I'm not sure if the rusty old thing will be compatible with anything, only 30 bucks anyway.

 

[connchri]

Just out of curiosity, why would the onboard one not be compatiable?

 

[Buckley]

Just out of curiosity, why would the onboard one not be compatiable?

Tbh the answer is I'm not sure, I know Dell hardware can be a bit dodgy if it isn't used with the right cards so basically I'm spending the extra 30 quid to be on the safe side.

 

[connchri]

Ok doke, but in all honestly, as long as it uses 3.5mm jacks or the optical out, it shouldn't make a difference. If you ever do run into problems playing blu-ray and the likes though in the future, try using the onboard.

Happy rig building!