Building new PC - Help will be appreciated.

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Baggs
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Building new PC - Help will be appreciated.

Post by Baggs »

Hey guys, I haven't been around here for a long long time (a year or two) but I'm sure you still love me lol.

I'm currently in need of a new PC which can only be delayed until December 1st. That's because I've started a gaming news blog (http://www.betacake.net) and I will need the new computer for testing out games in Beta phase starting December 8th with ArcheAge by XLGAMES (its a Korean mmorpg).

My current setup is :

E8200 @ 3.20 Ghz
Vapor-X ATI Radeon HD 4890 2 GB
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3l
Corsair CM2X2048-6400C5 (4GB Ram @800Hz)
Tagan TG700-U33 2-ForceII Series (700W PSU)
Case / Cooling : Thermaltake Armor+LCS Case with integrated watercooling for CPU (http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.a ... =1480#Tab0)


What I want to build is a computer for video games. My resolution will never be above 1920x1080, currently still using a 17" monitor at 1280x1024.
I will not be buying the monitor yet, I'm waiting for some further price drops on a 120hz 3D LED Full HD 1080p monitor that I'm keeping an eye on. Hopefully the monitor will come around x-mas.

The computer now. I need the following parts :

CPU
GPU
Motherboard
RAM


My budget is 900€(~$1200), strictly.
Might be able to pay another 20€ or 40€ but anything above that is a big NO-NO. Anything below is a big YES-YES :mrgreen:

So, I want the new computer to last at least 2 full years of playing video games at the best possible graphics settings, preferably maximum. I don't mind losing some shadow quality and I certainly don't mind using 2xAA instead of 8x or even 16x.

I'm one of those people who claim to be able to feel the difference between 45 FPS and 85 FPS. The first is unplayable for me. Any game must be running above 60 FPS.

So I was thinking something among these lines :

CPU : i5 2500k - 196€
RAM : G.SKILL F3-12800CL7D DDR3 PC3-12800 RIPJAWS DUAL CHANNEL KIT - 50€
Mobo : Asus Sabertooth P67 B3 - 170€ or Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z Republic of Gamers - 170€
GFX : 2 x Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2GB Edition (http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentatio ... 1021&lid=1) - 480€


My main concern is the graphics solution. Should I go Crossfire? Is it going to benefit me in games like Skyrim, BF3, etc?

Let me know what you think.

Thanks in advance.
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Major_A
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Re: Building new PC - Help will be appreciated.

Post by Major_A »

Looks good to me. One thing I'd change, and it's only for your testing reasons, the video card. Get a Geforce that can utilized PhysX. If you want to review every aspect of the game then nVidia's hardware PhysX should be included.

Since you're getting a socket 1155 have you considered a Z68 board? It doesn't add much over the P67 but it is newer tech. If down the road you want to add an SSD to run the SSD as a cache drive.
Example:
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1677/13/
D.Bowder
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Re: Building new PC - Help will be appreciated.

Post by D.Bowder »

Because you are on a $1200 budget, keep the AMD Graphics Cards, you get much more bang for your buck.
omegadraco
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Re: Building new PC - Help will be appreciated.

Post by omegadraco »

Keep in mind you can always add crossfire to the machine as long as you buy a good enough mobo which looks like you are heading in the right direction.
Go with the ASUS Maximus IV(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131759) over the Sabertooth. I would grab a decent cooler as well the stock coolers stink.
Baggs
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Re: Building new PC - Help will be appreciated.

Post by Baggs »

Thanks guys.

I ordered the 6950s and went for the Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z mobo.

I'm afraid my PSU wont be good enough tho.

Here it is :

Image

Here's what AMD suggests : http://www.corsair.com/power-supply-uni ... upply.html

Image


Should I get a new PSU?
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Major_A
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Re: Building new PC - Help will be appreciated.

Post by Major_A »

I think you're right. If you plan on overclocking your CPU and/or GPUs then definitely not.
Baggs
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Re: Building new PC - Help will be appreciated.

Post by Baggs »

I'm actually planning to overclock the CPU, nothing major, just a bit past the 4Ghz, surely my motherboard and watercooling will help me to achieve that.

Its the reason why i'm not getting the i7 over the i5.

I won't be overclocking the GPUs, however, they will be unlocked via AMD's drivers, because I always set the fans on my cards to 90% speed. I don't really trust the automatic setting, the cards run hot for a good minute or two until it decides to speed it up.

I also got several fans in my system, I dunno how much power those draw, plus the power the waterpump uses to operate.

Dumb questions :
Should I even fire my new pc up with the old PSU?
What's going to happen if its not good enough? Is it just not going to boot, or is it going to hurt the new hardware?

If there's any risk of burning stuff I can barely afford in the first place, then I might as well just go the extra mile and get a new PSU.
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Major_A
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Re: Building new PC - Help will be appreciated.

Post by Major_A »

I'm probably wrong on this but I'm going to add my $0.02 anyway. I would think that if the power supply isn't enough you could take the chance of overloading it and it blowing. When a power supply goes out in spectacular fashion it usually doesn't just kill itself. It's a selfish little guy and likes to take out motherboards and video cards with it. I assume that's why when a site tests a power supply and it "pops" it is because of the voltage load.
Baggs
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Re: Building new PC - Help will be appreciated.

Post by Baggs »

Yeah well I'd rather not take any chances.

I'll just get a new PSU and get his over with.

Thanks for the help guys, I'll post back when the new pc is done. With pics ofc!

Have a nice day!
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