help me build a gamer pc

[Tacit Blue]

So it's time to buy a new PC. I've been eyeballing the " Sandy bridge" I7 cores on newegg with a mobo with a requirement for two PCI-E slots ( Video card). Only problem is that with everything including the power supply unit, case , video card. The price tag comes out to 1,000$

I want a Nvidia graphics card because my friend insists that I cannot miss out on Physx effects He says anything above a " 6 series " is good. But everything he suggests is too expensive for me.

My old PC has a Quadcore 620 and a ATI 5770 with 256Mb. My old PC can barley play ARMA 3, it struggles badly. BF3 no problem.

Any suggestions?

[Peter.Steele]

Are you planning on going Crossfire / SLI? If not - and I really can't recommend it - you're not going to need extra PCI-E slots.

Also, there's a vast difference in graphics cards within a series. When he says "anything above a 6 series," is he talking nVidia or ATI? Big difference there, too. I'd put my ATI 4870 up against anything from nVidia below 650, and anything from ATI below about 75xx.

RE: multiple graphics card solutions ... they're not really all they're cracked up to be. The effect is not additive or multiplicative. Multiple graphics cards will not enable you to run higher resolutions, because they're still each using the same amount of video memory. If one card runs great at 1366x768, then two cards will run really great at that resolution... but they may not do so well at 1920x1080, because they'll still run out of memory just as fast. Also, driver support is a massive issue: relatively few games are truly optimized for multiple cards. Crysis, for instance, was the benchmark for years. I get worse benchmark results using my pair of 4870's than I do when I disable one. It's seriously about a 15% FPS boost to disable half of my graphics power.

[Peter.Steele]

Another thing: for gaming, an i7 is a waste of money. Get an i5.

i7's are great for multitasking, but almost no games are able to take advantage of the extra cores. Unless you're doing a lot of high-end video editing or rendering 3D stuff, those extra cores are just a waste of your money, because you'll never see them get used.

[pluke the 2]

its the kid who wants to buy a Porsche on a flipping burger budget

[Tacit Blue]

Are you planning on going Crossfire / SLI? If not - and I really can't recommend it - you're not going to need extra PCI-E slots.

Also, there's a vast difference in graphics cards within a series. When he says "anything above a 6 series," is he talking nVidia or ATI? Big difference there, too. I'd put my ATI 4870 up against anything from nVidia below 650, and anything from ATI below about 75xx.

RE: multiple graphics card solutions ... they're not really all they're cracked up to be. The effect is not additive or multiplicative. Multiple graphics cards will not enable you to run higher resolutions, because they're still each using the same amount of video memory. If one card runs great at 1366x768, then two cards will run really great at that resolution... but they may not do so well at 1920x1080, because they'll still run out of memory just as fast. Also, driver support is a massive issue: relatively few games are truly optimized for multiple cards. Crysis, for instance, was the benchmark for years. I get worse benchmark results using my pair of 4870's than I do when I disable one. It's seriously about a 15% FPS boost to disable half of my graphics power.

Hi Peter,

Yes I was planning on using SLI. I plan on running dual cards that's why I mentioned the dual PCI-E slot. I am eyeballing the GTX 660TI series. So you think the I-5 is the way to go? The I-7 in the shopping cart was one of the most expensive items at almost 300$. Doesnt seem like alot, but it all adds up.

[Tacit Blue]

its the kid who wants to buy a Porsche on a flipping burger budget

Of course the usual calguns troll shows up.

[pluke the 2]

have you seen toms hardware budget gaming builds. no body can suggest better/best bang for hole system builds then their articles.

[pluke the 2]

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($75.66 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($193.98 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-G300LX 802.11b/g PCI Wi-Fi Adapter ($12.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Monitor ($159.99 @ Microcenter)
Keyboard: Lite-On SK-1788/BS Wired Standard Keyboard ($12.98 @ Newegg)
Speakers: Cyber Acoustics CA-3090 10W 2.1ch Speakers ($27.09 @ NCIX US)
Total: $883.63

[Peter.Steele]

Hi Peter,

Yes I was planning on using SLI. I plan on running dual cards that's why I mentioned the dual PCI-E slot. I am eyeballing the GTX 660TI series. So you think the I-5 is the way to go? The I-7 in the shopping cart was one of the most expensive items at almost 300$. Doesnt seem like alot, but it all adds up.

For what you're planning on doing, just get an i5 and a single graphics card. If you're looking at nVidia, just get a 650 or better, and you'll be able to play any game you want at 1080p.

Seriously.

i7 is just about comparing penis size, unless you're doing high-end video editing or 3D design / rendering. There are almost ZERO games out there that will take advantage of the extra money you spend on it.

Instead of paying for an i7 and multiple graphics cards, take that extra cash and put it into a solid state hard drive. You'll see MUCH more benefit from an SSD than you will from an i7 or dual 660's.



(that said, my next CPU will almost certainly be an i7-4770k, because the stuff that I do actually does use all the cores plus the hyperthreading.)

[pluke the 2]

bro

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-31.html

[Tacit Blue]

For what you're planning on doing, just get an i5 and a single graphics card. If you're looking at nVidia, just get a 650 or better, and you'll be able to play any game you want at 1080p.

Seriously.

i7 is just about comparing penis size, unless you're doing high-end video editing or 3D design / rendering. There are almost ZERO games out there that will take advantage of the extra money you spend on it.

Instead of paying for an i7 and multiple graphics cards, take that extra cash and put it into a solid state hard drive. You'll see MUCH more benefit from an SSD than you will from an i7 or dual 660's.



(that said, my next CPU will almost certainly be an i7-4770k, because the stuff that I do actually does use all the cores plus the hyperthreading.)

What do you think of this CPU ?

i5-3570K

Architecture : Ivy Bridge
Frequency (Turbo) : 3.4 (3.8) GHz
Cores (Threads) : 4 (4)
Cache (L1, L2, L3) : 4 x 64 KB, 4 x 256 KB, 6 MB
Integrated GPU : HD Graphics 4000 (650 MHz, 1.15 GHz Turbo)
Memory Support : DDR3-1333/1600, dual-channel, up to 32 GB
TDP : 77 W
Process : 22 nm
Socket : LGA 1155

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

I was also looking at the lower version of that called the i5-3350P.

Pluke thanks for that link! I'm doing lots of research I like their honest practical reviews.

[Peter.Steele]

i5-3570 is good to go. It'll overclock nicely as well.


Check out www.pcpartspicker.com. You can find all the hardware you want for the lowest prices. You might wind up buying from 4 or 5 different sites, but you'll get the lowest prices for each part.

What do you think of this CPU ?

i5-3570K

Architecture : Ivy Bridge
Frequency (Turbo) : 3.4 (3.8) GHz
Cores (Threads) : 4 (4)
Cache (L1, L2, L3) : 4 x 64 KB, 4 x 256 KB, 6 MB
Integrated GPU : HD Graphics 4000 (650 MHz, 1.15 GHz Turbo)
Memory Support : DDR3-1333/1600, dual-channel, up to 32 GB
TDP : 77 W
Process : 22 nm
Socket : LGA 1155

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

I was also looking at the lower version of that called the i5-3350P.

Pluke thanks for that link! I'm doing lots of research I like their honest practical reviews.

[Merc1138]

Dual 660's? Don't bother.

Don't go SLI or crossfire. Like previously pointed out, they are not additive, and it doesn't even work well in some games. The only reasons to even bother considering it would be

1: Triple monitor gaming setup with a pair of really high end cards to push the needed resolution.(and I doubt you would consider dropping $1500 on videocards plus matching monitors to do this, plus the PSU to handle it...).

2: You happen to have the extra pci-e slot and your 4-6 year old card isn't doing so great on it's own and you can score a matching card for dirt cheap.

Get the I5, and if you want to go nvidia(I'd recommend AMD, but they seem to have forced ATI to make their drivers crappy again, after they had spent a few years making them great... after a few years of being terrible... I don't get what's up with that company), use the cash saved on a i5 over i7 to get a 670.

An SSD is really nice, but it depends on what you're actually doing with it. If you never turn your computer off... having a sub 10 second boot time doesn't matter. If you put applications on it, those will indeed load much faster. If you put games on it, they tend to load faster... but with some games you're waiting on the slowest person anyway when it comes to multiplayer(in an RTS like SC2 when both players need to start at the same time).

[pluke the 2]

i5 is g2g for sure.

here is one of my builds in the back ground

[pluke the 2]

with my dedicated 22lr of course