ISO New Heavy Gaming Rig. Questionnaire, included!

ZDPhoenix

Gawd
Joined
Dec 7, 2008
Messages
787
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

Heavy Gaming, Texture Heavy, High Resolution Skyrim!

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

Around $1500, but I'm flexible. Yes.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

US, Just south east of Chicago.

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.

Whole new system; Mobo, PSU, CPU, RAM, Case, GPU, HDD (SSD?), I have all accessories.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

I have an older OCZ 64 GB SSD that I've been using as a "Skyrim Drive", for all my modding and high res textures. Currently, my standard Skyrim install jumped from 13 GB (vanilla), to 31 GB (modded)... and I'm not done yet.

6) Will you be overclocking?

If I can achieve stability. Not the best OC'er.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

1080p, Panasonic Viera 37" LED TV.

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

In the next month, would be willing to wait till May, if preferable new products are on the way.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.

I would like USB 3.0 and SATA. Perhaps a quality onboard sound system; for immersive gameplay.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

64-Bit Yes, although I'm willing to pick up another if bundled into a great deal.

Poster Notes:

My PC's 5 years old now and I'm giving my old beast to my wife, whose been getting back into gaming with me (!!). I play WoW, Skyrim (HD EVERYTHING) and games like Borderlands 2 and Dishonored. I don't invest time in shooters, but occasionally play RTS games, like StarCraft and Warhammer.

I'm looking for a video card that will last me; and that will allow my ultra setting easily on Skyrim. I've heard great things about the GTX 670, but haven't bought an Nvidia card since my SLi'ed 8800 GTX's at their release years ago.

I'm also mildly interested in "beyond standard" cooling methods, for my new build; but know very little on the subject. Finding a simply put guide on the matter has been challenging.
 
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You'll probably get plenty of advice here (the first piece of which will probably be to wait until you're closer to actually buying to start deciding on things), but you can check this thread for a recent ~$1,600 build that I just finished a couple of weeks ago:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1743353&page=2

The PSU and cooler on that build are probably overkill as is the 840 Pro SSD, and you could probably squeeze in a higher-end video card than I got (like a GTX 670) if you shuffle things around some, but overall I'm pretty happy with it so far.
 
Checked out your link. I personally think the 840 Pro is definitely worth the extra cost for it's speed. The 850 watt PSU may be a lil overkill, but I'd rather be higher, than lower. I had a 1000 watt before, for SLi'ed 8800 GTX's and a pro sound card. That was obviously totally ridiculous on my part. But I didn't know better at the time.

Hoping to hear some feedback today, in order to start planning out the new machine.

Edited the OP, to include my current "Skyrim drive".
 
Haswell is being released june or july. If you're waiting until may can you wait until june or july?
 
Haswell is being released june or july. If you're waiting until may can you wait until june or july?

I'm sure I probably could.

I would definitely want to upgrade my GPU before then; as I could just re-use that in the new machine, when it arrives.

AFAIK there's no new stellar GPU's coming out by then.
 
Yeah I highly recommend waiting till Haswell is released to do an upgrade. As for a GPU upgrade now, what case and PSU do you have right now? You know what? Full specs of your current PC would help.
 
Then I definitely recommend waiting till Haswell as that'll be more of a noticeable jump in performance than going with Ivy Bridge right now. As for the GPU upgrade, for the HD 7950 3GB or GTX 670 2GB.
 
Then I definitely recommend waiting till Haswell as that'll be more of a noticeable jump in performance than going with Ivy Bridge right now. As for the GPU upgrade, for the HD 7950 3GB or GTX 670 2GB.

Thanks! Any preference between the two? I haven't used an Nvidia card since my SLi'ed 8800 GTX's when they first came out.
 
Thanks! Any preference between the two? I haven't used an Nvidia card since my SLi'ed 8800 GTX's when they first came out.

Flip a coin to be honest. Some info:

HD 7950 3GB: Cheaper than the GTX 670 by $60. Has an extra 1GB of VRAM which may come in handy with your Skyrim modding (HD texture packs and all that). Often comes with free copies of Crysis 3 and Bioshock. Unfortunately AMD's drivers haven't always been the best.

GTX 670 2GB: Costs $60 more. Generally more reliable drivers. Does outperform the HD 7950 3GB depending on the game. Often come with $150 worth of in-game money for Hawken, World of Tanks, or Planetside 2.
 
Flip a coin to be honest. Some info:

HD 7950 3GB: Cheaper than the GTX 670 by $60. Has an extra 1GB of VRAM which may come in handy with your Skyrim modding (HD texture packs and all that). Often comes with free copies of Crysis 3 and Bioshock. Unfortunately AMD's drivers haven't always been the best.

GTX 670 2GB: Costs $60 more. Generally more reliable drivers. Does outperform the HD 7950 3GB depending on the game. Often come with $150 worth of in-game money for Hawken, World of Tanks, or Planetside 2.

Nice! Just did a lil research and in game cash for PS2 is the same as EQ, EQ2, DCUO, etc. So I pay $60 more, get a theoretically better card/drivers and $50 for Sony games.

That's enough right there to make me shop around online for the card today.

Thanks a bunch!
 
Danny beat me to it but as always his suggestions are spot on. I use a 680 2gb version for Skyrim and it plays fine at 2560 x 1440 so that 670 will rock it at 1080.
 
Ok, last comment, before I pull the trigger on one of these. I've done a lil more research and I'm torn between two 670's.

I've found through reading on Tom's, Amazon, and a few other places (Like the official boards), that a heavily modded Skyrim install at 1080p, can use more than 2.5 GB of VRAM.

That would eventually lead to a cap on VRAM, as modders are getting more and more into using 4096x4096 textures and more complex meshes (Skyrim Nexus researching of the "Meshes and Textures" category from the last year paying off right there).

So, I found this 4GB 670.

Obviously, I wouldn't use all 4GB; but I would definitely use a lil more than 2.5 at times; and that may pave the way for keeping this card a few more years.

However, there's only a $50 price difference versus the 670 2GB FTW SE.

Is it worth the extra $50 to go 4GB; and be guaranteed not to hit a graphics wall, with a 2GB 670?
 
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HardOCP Review of Skyrim and various top end cards.

I'm fine running Skyrim at 2560 x 1440 with my gtx 680 2gb and I'm running skyrim pretty heavily modded with hi res textures, meshes, and graphic mods and still maintaining 60+fps. I turn off ENB when I'm playing and only use it for screenshots now because that can kill my frame rates at times. 4GB will make a noticeable difference when you start looking at multi-monitor gaming; however, if you don't mind the extra $75 dollars or so than ya get the 4gb version but honestly on a single monitor at 1080 I doubt you'll see much difference.
 
HardOCP Review of Skyrim and various top end cards.

I'm fine running Skyrim at 2560 x 1440 with my gtx 680 2gb and I'm running skyrim pretty heavily modded with hi res textures, meshes, and graphic mods and still maintaining 60+fps. I turn off ENB when I'm playing and only use it for screenshots now because that can kill my frame rates at times. 4GB will make a noticeable difference when you start looking at multi-monitor gaming; however, if you don't mind the extra $75 dollars or so than ya get the 4gb version but honestly on a single monitor at 1080 I doubt you'll see much difference.

Think it'd let me keep ENB on at all times?
 
Possibly. I could keep mine turned on but found it more distracting with it on which is primarily why I turned it off. A lot of the graphical mods give a better game play experience than ENB. It really makes for some nice screen shots but gameplay it did nothing for me at least.
 
I was considering the same two cards and I decided the 4GB card was worth an extra $50. I'm pretty sure I will be using this video card for a few years and I wanted to make sure that I would have no issues loading high-res textures in Skyrim. When considering the overall cost of the machine doubling the video memory for $50 doesn't seem like a terribly big decision.
 
I was considering the same two cards and I decided the 4GB card was worth an extra $50. I'm pretty sure I will be using this video card for a few years and I wanted to make sure that I would have no issues loading high-res textures in Skyrim. When considering the overall cost of the machine doubling the video memory for $50 doesn't seem like a terribly big decision.

That's what I was thinking. I'm aware there's no real way to future proof a GPU; but if it gets max everything, 99% of the time on the current eye candy games, I think I'll be quite happy.

I've yet to see a comparison of the 5850 (current card) with the 670, but I've read enough data now to make my decision.

Thanks again, all of you!

I've developed a lot of good buying and researching habits, thanks to the [H] over the last few years. :D
 
Came in this afternoon and testing already underway.

I can tell you that with Ultra, ENB, tons of 4096 textures and aMidianborn's hi-res gear, there's absolutely NO slowdown, whatsoever. Running up over mountains and not having to wait for background loading is WONDERFUL.

Thanks again for all the help in the decision, guys. This card is definitely THE choice for Skyrim.
 
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