Gaming Build - Serious Upgrade

L

LucasG

Gawd
Joined
Jul 2, 2004
Messages
677
You can see my current build in my signature. You may suggest other upgrades if you feel like it could be worth it.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming. Battlefield 3 and other upcoming titles.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$800 with tax and shipping.

3) Where do you live?
Costa Rica, I can buy online in the US and have it shipped.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Mobo, CPU, GPU, RAM, SSD and a mouse. Should I consider a new Audio Card?

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I think I can keep my Cooler Master case, as well as my power supply, the two shitty optical drives, and my 500GB WD hard drive. Maybe the audio card?

6) Will you be overclocking?
Not really, unless someone says I should consider it for gaming, not sure how big of the advantages are on overclocking on today's CPUs and whatnot.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
25.5" which is 1920x1200

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
Don't have any specific need unless suggested by someone to be future proof.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.
 
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Where will you be buying your parts from?

So your purchase date is no longer September 13th?
 
Any US online store. Looking mostly at newegg.com. Nope, no longer 13th of sept, change of plans.
 
$333 - Intel Core i5 2500K CPU + MSI P67A-G45 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard Combo
$55 - G.Skill Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$280 - XFX HD-695X-CNDC Radeon HD 6950 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$117 - Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SSD
----
Total: $785 shipped
 
Danny Bui said:
$333 - Intel Core i5 2500K CPU + MSI P67A-G45 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard Combo
$55 - G.Skill Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$280 - XFX HD-695X-CNDC Radeon HD 6950 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$117 - Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SSD
----
Total: $785 shipped
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What about an nvidia alternative for my monitor with high resolution? Also any good mouse for FPS gaming?
 
LucasG said:
What about an nvidia alternative for my monitor with high resolution? Also any good mouse for FPS gaming?
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There is no competitive GPU from Nvidia in that price range. Many of the GTX 560 Ti cards are roughly in the same oruce range as the HD 6950 - but are clearly slower in performance than the HD 6950. The Nvidia GPU that's closest to the HD 6950 in performance (the GTX 570) costs at least $50 more - and even then, the performance difference between the two is much less than the difference in price on a percentage basis.
 
E4g1e said:
There is no competitive GPU from Nvidia in that price range. Many of the GTX 560 Ti cards are roughly in the same oruce range as the HD 6950 - but are clearly slower in performance than the HD 6950. The Nvidia GPU that's closest to the HD 6950 in performance (the GTX 570) costs at least $50 more - and even then, the performance difference between the two is much less than the difference in price on a percentage basis.
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How about the fact that most games are optimized for NVIDIA? Also NVIDIA pre-releases drivers before games come out and things like that due to exclusive partnerships. That's something that actually affects me the most in my decision NVIDIA vs AMD. With AMD you end up having to wait days on a new release since there's a bug on the drivers that doesn't let you play with this or that, while NVIDIA has alread pre-tested games before being released or things like that.
 
LucasG said:
How about the fact that most games are optimized for NVIDIA? Also NVIDIA pre-releases drivers before games come out and things like that due to exclusive partnerships. That's something that actually affects me the most in my decision NVIDIA vs AMD. With AMD you end up having to wait days on a new release since there's a bug on the drivers that doesn't let you play with this or that, while NVIDIA has alread pre-tested games before being released or things like that.
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The problem with Nvidia is that their cards priced above $250 have a poorer performance-to-price ratio than their AMD competitors. And most of the Nvidia cards priced below that might not be able to run the games that you're planning to play at your monitor's resolution without having to turn down the quality settings to Medium or below.
 
E4g1e said:
The problem with Nvidia is that their cards priced above $250 have a poorer performance-to-price ratio than their AMD competitors. And most of the Nvidia cards priced below that might not be able to run the games that you're planning to play at your monitor's resolution without having to turn down the quality settings to Medium or below.
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Yeah, I might just suck it up and be a man. :eek:
 
The main issue is that the price of the HD 6950 1GB from a reputable manufacturer is not that much less than a HD 6950 2GB. As such, might as well spend the extra tiny bit of cash on the chance that future video cards or even OSes may require even more VRAM.

As for that particular eVGA GTX 570, I think it's overpriced. You can save $20 to $25 by going with this GTX 570 card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130613
 
Nobody else suggesting? I might be able to up my $$$ to 900.
 
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Well that extra cash is more or less not needed if you go with my previously recommended setup. You can use that extra cash on either a larger SSD or to pay for a high-end mouse and keyboard.
$215 - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SSD
 
If you have the extra, cash, I would get a larger SSD. Yeah, you have a 500GB HD, but I would image you would want to install those large games (8GB+ each) on the SSD for fast load times, no?

Danny, may I ask why you recommended that SSD in particular? I am interested in learning a bit more on what's out there as I would really like to pick up some SSD's for my main machine sometime.
 
e2g said:
If you have the extra, cash, I would get a larger SSD. Yeah, you have a 500GB HD, but I would image you would want to install those large games (8GB+ each) on the SSD for fast load times, no?

Danny, may I ask why you recommended that SSD in particular? I am interested in learning a bit more on what's out there as I would really like to pick up some SSD's for my main machine sometime.
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It's one of the fastest SSDs out there that's backed by a company with a solid SSD reputation and customer support. It's also been reliable so far. There are certainly faster SSDs out there but they're from companies that have had a history of low quality SSDs and poor customer support Another recommendation is the Intel 510 series SSDs.
 
Danny Bui said:
At $288 shipped, that GTX 560 TI is overpriced as hell even with the extra VRAM. If you absolutely want a Nvidia card, go with this GTX 570:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130621

Swap out the CPU and mobo and get this CPU + mobo combo instead:
$330 - Intel Core i5 2500K CPU + MSI P67A-G43 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard Combo
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I might just go with the the 6950 2GB as there doesn't seem to be much performance difference against the 570 either, it might be a "bit" faster, but in some benchmarks it can even end up slower.

Also, what's the difference in that combo you just gave me and the old one. It seems one model is MSI P67A-G43 and the other MSI P67A-G45?
 
LucasG said:
I might just go with the the 6950 2GB as there doesn't seem to be much performance difference against the 570 either, it might be a "bit" faster, but in some benchmarks it can even end up slower.

Also, what's the difference in that combo you just gave me and the old one. It seems one model is MSI P67A-G43 and the other MSI P67A-G45?
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Well the G45 no longer has free shipping and now costs $8 more. The only hardware difference is that the G45 has firewire and the G43 doesn't.
 
LucasG said:
Nobody else suggesting? I might be able to up my $$$ to 900.
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That's because we all pretty much listen to what Danny has to say. This forum should be called "Danny's General Hardware Guide" instead.
 
I agree with the MSI + Intel combo. MSI has a very good crop of P67 motherboards. I have the G45 and it's great. I got it because I wanted Firewire, but if you don't need it, get the G43 and save some money.
 
Hey Danni, I'm going to have to wait for Sept 1st to order, I got the money but can't purchase just yet. I've been thinking it might actually be nice to get SLI to upgrade later on during the year, would it be a good idea? Could you add me a good mobo for this and a GTX 570 at almost the same price?
 
Then please wait until AFTER the first week of September to ask for build advice. Prices can and will change between now and then. Not to mention that by then we'll know what September Newegg combo deals will be available. As shown in this very thread, even motherboard recommendations can change after a month solely due to the price changes and Newegg combo deals.

Though at current prices, a SLI mobo will cost you another $55. In addition, you might need to get a new PSU since GTX 570 SLI + the new CPU + mobo + RAM is a tad too close to the limits of that PSU for my comfort. Not to mention that you would be stressing that PSU quite badly. So a new PSU would be a good idea as well.
 
I'm not going to buy both cards just yet, but I'd like to have the possibility of doing so later on.
 
LucasG said:
I'm not going to buy both cards just yet, but I'd like to have the possibility of doing so later on.
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Doesn't change anything I just said: Still another $50 and possibly a new PSU.
 
LucasG said:
But couldn't I keep the same PSU until I decide to add SLI to the setup?
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You could. However, considering that you're basically building a new PC, you might as well save yourself the time and get a new PSU alongside the new parts. That way when you do finally go SLI, you don't have to take apart the PC again and do all that cable management again just to add a new PSU and GPU.
 
Ok, I might hold off on the mouse and gaming mat then. I could to $850 or maybe $900 and just go searching for CPU, Mobo, GPU, SSD, RAM and PSU.
 
Here's a handy tidbit, the MSI P67A-G43 and MSI P67A-G45 both support SLI (8x,8x), you just have to buy the bridge as it doesn't come with it.

They don't advertise it, but it's fully supported on both of those boards.
 
If you could purchase on August 31 before the combos change you would probably be okay. Otherwise you'd ideally want to wait until about Sept 7th (sometimes the combos are out before then, sometimes they aren't.)
 
LucasG said:
And this PSU isn't enough to run two GTX 570? http://www.pcpower.com/power-supply/silencer-750-quad-crossfire.html
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Like I said earlier: "GTX 570 SLI + the new CPU + mobo + RAM is a tad too close to the limits of that PSU for my comfort. Not to mention that you would be stressing that PSU quite badly. So a new PSU would be a good idea as well."

LucasG said:
What type of PSU should I be looking for?
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Corsair 850TX V2 850W PSU

Spudsdude said:
Here's a handy tidbit, the MSI P67A-G43 and MSI P67A-G45 both support SLI (8x,8x), you just have to buy the bridge as it doesn't come with it.

They don't advertise it, but it's fully supported on both of those boards.
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Oh? Proof of this?
 
Danny_Bui, sorry for being so annoying bro, I'm just quiet excited and hoping to get this machine as soon as possible. I might be able to shuffle some things around and order today. Check my new wishlist link: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=24331708

What would you suggest me to change/add, I'm trying to not go over $900, a few bucks might not matter, but not more than $20. Btw, I'll just wait on the PSU until I purchase the other GTX 570 and order them together.

As soon as I get your last word I'm gonna go and see if I can get it ordered today.

Thanks again
 
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