Newbie - Gaming System Help

[allmashkis]

Hi. I need your help in building a gaming system. It has been a long time since I looked at a new PC. I have been doing some research on new technologies but I am a bit confused on which is the best way to go. I want to get the best bang for buck in terms of what I am going to use it for and get 3-4 years out of it before I start upgrading.

I like the PC to handle the latest FPS, RPG and flight simulations like FSX and Rise of Flight type of games. I use a CRT and will most likely not go beyond 1600x1200 on the resolution but I do like to have lots of eye candy.

I am a bit confused if I should go with i5 750, i7 860 or 920 for the CPU. I have read mixed recommendations. I am also not sure what the best graphic card and HD options for my requirements. My budget is around $2000 and will most likely will not be building the PC myself at least not this go around. However, I want a case, PSU and other parts to use in a re-build 3-4 years from now.

So, what do you think of this as place to start and expand in a few years?

Case: Cooler Master HAF 932
Processor: Intel Core i7 920
Motherboard: EVGA X58 3X SLI
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Mushkin
PSU: 750W Corsair TX

HD: Operating System: 1x (500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
OR 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor + 1x 500GB 7200 second drive
OR 1TB (500GB) Raid 0 config.

Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 896MB
Cooling AIR: Noctua NH-U12P High Performance Cooler
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition)

Do I need a sound card or use the integrated soundcard with my surround sound?

Thank you.

 

[cmdrdredd]

1) You don't need x58 if you are not going to SLI or crossfire. Why? Because the P55 offers all the same features with slightly slower crossfire/sli performance. Only a few FPS at that. Also, running at 1600x1200 you won't need SLI or crossfire.

2) P55 saves you money on memory and motherboard cost.

3) For your HDDs I would not bother doing RAID, I'd have one main drive for everything and a backup drive to do storage of things you want to keep and to place a backup of your main drive. The velociraptor is up to you. Do you feel you would benefit from the additional speed ans is the cost worth it? The WD Black series are very fast drives on their own too and cheaper too. You might consider a good SSD with a 1TB WD Black for backup and storage. Depends on what you want to spend on this area.

4) Are you going to overclock? If so then consider the fact that hyperthreading (HT) increases heat output from the CPU by a good deal. I'd say average of 10deg C. That's pretty huge and can limit your overclock. By turning HT off you can get better results. That's why many people who are going to be gamers are going i5. My next system in fact will be an i5 750 and overclock it as far as I can get it to go on air cooling. Also of note that for games, HT does nothing. If you do video editing and more professional apps on your PC then you will benefit from HT. An i5 is no slouch either.

5) your video card choice is pretty good for your resolution. You won't need anything more right now. It's too bad ATI dropped the ball on availability of the 5850 and 5870 cards as the 5850 would be a better choice than the GTX 275 overall I think. Then again, we can't have it all.

6) You don't need a soundcard to have 7.1 or 5.1 surround in games and movies from your PC. The on board audio can do that for you no problem. The only reason to buy a soundcard is if you need specific features like HDMI output etc. The other benefit of a soundcard added in is better DACs for more clear sound. Some people cannot tell the difference and I will say that I can tell the difference between the Soundblaster X-Fi and the on board Realtek audio. However, I also have a very high end set of PC speakers in the Klipsch Promedia Ultra 5.1. Most users will not notice the difference or really care. The other benefit is on older games that use EAX (almost every new title released does not use EAX but a more open standard that works with on board solutions), you need a soundblaster card to have positional audio. This is on games like F.E.A.R (the first one), Far Cry (the first one), Doom 3 etc. Games you might not be interested in.

I hope this helped a bit. The short of it is you selected great components but can save money if you were willing to go with a P55 setup. I am looking closely at the EVGA P55 FTW SLI, 4GB of G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3-1600 8-8-8-24 @ 1.6v and a i5 750. This setup should overclock to 4Ghz with relative ease on your Noctua cooler. Make sure that cooler has an LGA1156 mounting bracket or buy one separately if you go this direction.

If you were thinking about future CPU purchases do remember that Gulftown will be $999 in the form of an extreme edition 6 core cpu for LGA1366. The only other alternative will be a Xenon branded 6 core CPU retailing for somewhere around $500. If that seems out of your price range for a CPU and you don't see yourself buying either of these than the P55 platform will work for you. That is if you don't necessarily need the extra PCIe lanes for SLI or crossfire and 6GB triple channel memory isn't necessary either.

 

[allmashkis]

Thank you for your suggestions cmdrdredd.

Would this build be better? I do plan on playing games such as Crysis, Mass Effect, etc...

If I don't overclock this build since I am not very technical, will will this build still give me all of the eye candy for all of the current and near future FPS, RPG and simulation games? Is the HD below good enough?

Should I invest more in the graphic card and get the GTX 285 1GB or 275 is good enough?

I just don't want to put myself in corner and get something (i7 920 vs. i5 750) that is going to be limiting my upgrads options in a few years. What do you think? Sorry for all of the stupid questions.

Case: Cooler Master HAF 932
Processor: Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA P55 FTW Edition
System Memory: 4GB DDR3 1600MHz Mushkin
PSU: 750W Corsair TX (Dual SLI Compatible)
HD: 1x (500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM)
Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 896MB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Sound Card: Razer Barracuda AC-1
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)

 

[cmdrdredd]

Thank you for your suggestions cmdrdredd.

Would this build be better? I do plan on playing games such as Crysis, Mass Effect, etc...

If I don't overclock this build since I am not very technical, will will this build still give me all of the eye candy for all of the current and near future FPS, RPG and simulation games? Is the HD below good enough?

Should I invest more in the graphic card and get the GTX 285 1GB or 275 is good enough?

I just don't want to put myself in corner and get something (i7 920 vs. i5 750) that is going to be limiting my upgrads options in a few years. What do you think? Sorry for all of the stupid questions.

Case: Cooler Master HAF 932
Processor: Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA P55 FTW Edition
System Memory: 4GB DDR3 1600MHz Mushkin
PSU: 750W Corsair TX (Dual SLI Compatible)
HD: 1x (500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM)
Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 896MB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Sound Card: Razer Barracuda AC-1
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)

If you don't overclock then go for i7 860 as the base clock speed is greater thus better performance for you(2.8Ghz vs 2.6Ghz). I would scrap the Razer sound card. It's nothing special. Try the on board audio first and see if you get what you expect from it. You might be surprised. At 1600x1200 I think the GTX 275 is fine. It'll do everything, the only game that might have some slowdown that is noticeable is crysis. That's an oddity in the gaming world right now in that way.

Whether you get the i7 920 or the i5 750 the upgrade options later for each platform are going to be either nothing or prohibitively expensive. The LGA1156 platform will not get the 6 core CPUs while LGA1366 will in the form of an Extreme Edition $1000 CPU and a Xenon priced somewhere around $500 according to what I've read from those who know more than I do. So either way you shouldn't look to future upgrades in that respect. However, you might be greeted with 32nm CPUs of some type which have higher base clock speeds and overclock better sometime down the line. That is yet unknown to me. I'd say the best bet is to go with what you need now, as a gamer your GPU will always be the limiting factor. Any i7 system you build now will last quite a while. Remember, with Turbo enabled you are getting 3.2Ghz on the i7 750 for most things and the i7 860 will go to 3.46Ghz when turbo kicks in.

 

[allmashkis]

OK. Thanks. I think I am finally getting a handle on this. If I want a fast PC today that is going to run most of the games for the next 3 years without doing any overclocking and going over 1600x1200 the i7 860 is the way to go.

The only option that i7 920 gives me is to force me to use a different socket motherboard that will allow for upgrades. Otherwise, I will have to get a new motherboard, CPU and GPU in the future when I ready for an upgrade. Am I correct? If yes, will this new build work best?

Should got with the ATI 5850 or 5870 vs. GTX 275 in order to be ready for DirectX 11? Will I ever need to get a second graphic card if I never go over 1600x1200?


Case: HAF 932
CPU: i7 860
Motherboard: EVGA P55 FTW Edition
System Memory: 4GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified by mushkin enhanced
PSU: 750W Corsair TX (Dual SLI Compatible)
HD: 1x (500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Video Card: 1x ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Noctua Dual 120mm Fans High Performance Cooler (Compatible With ONLY i7 Processors)

 

[cmdrdredd]

If you do not go over 1600x1200 I would say no you won't need to get a 2nd card. You can later on down the road if you choose though.

That system looks really good, assuming the Noctua cooler has a bracket for LGA1156. Also the 5850 video cards are hard to get right now. I don't know how long you are going to wait for this build, but if you do it now it may be hard to grab one of those cards. I would get a 5850 over a GTX275 if I had the option. Later on you could always grab a 2nd one and crossfire them when the prices drop some or you find a good deal. Then you'd have a setup that is on par with a GTX295 or even better than it in many ways.

As for the socket you pick, yes you are right. LGA1156 will not have an upgrade option as far as we know right now while LGA1366 will, but it will be an expensive CPU. So you have your choices to make. I will say that I don't think your i7 860 would ever limit your game performance. Your video card would be slow before the rest of your system. In fact, my current Q9550 system is not slow and it's not even PCIe 2.0, but v1.1 only which offers less bandwidth to the video card. However, it's screaming fast and honestly I don't think it needs an upgrade. I am however going to upgrade as I have a friend at work interested in purchasing this system from me.

 

[allmashkis]

Thank you again cmdrdredd.

I think the i7 860 is the way to go for me. I think I am going to spend a little extra and get the 5870 that way I don't have to worry about anything for awhile.

Is there a better CPU cooler that I should consider?

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

I like the PC to handle the latest FPS, RPG and flight simulations like FSX and Rise of Flight type of games.

Go with X58 and a 920. Get an Antec True Power New 750.