Review this 650$ build

[Blue Shift]

Uhhh, an xbox is 250$. Are your saying i have to pay more than quadruple that to play my games with alittle more eye candy? I dont want to play all games at MAX settings, i just want medium to high.

You can run most games at high settings with that system, assuming that you're fine with 30 frames per second at 1920x1080. If you want a little bit more performance, consider stepping up to a Radeon HD 6950.

Remember that the XBox 360 usually renders things at 30fps at 1280x720, then upscales them to fit the device. There may be some games that run at 45fps or 1920x1080 native, but not many. Most PC gamers want double the framerates at double the resolution, with textures at least four times as large. That's before you even get into advanced lighting and filtering settings.

$600 buys you a system with a GPU at least 4x as powerful as the one in the 360... Unfortunately, that's not enough for most people.


Edit: You've selected parts for a system with a Performance-class CPU and a mainstream GPU. Your performance in most 2011 games will be, well, mainstream. That means decent (medium to high) settings at 1920x1080, at playable framerates.

 

[Cannibalskunk]

You can run most games at high settings with that system, assuming that you're fine with 30 frames per second at 1920x1080. If you want a little bit more performance, consider stepping up to a Radeon HD 6950.

Remember that the XBox 360 usually renders things at 30fps at 1280x720, then upscales them to fit the device. There may be some games that run at 45fps or 1920x1080 native, but not many. Most PC gamers want double the framerates at double the resolution, with textures at least four times as large. That's before you even get into advanced lighting and filtering settings.

$600 buys you a system with a GPU at least 4x as powerful as the one in the 360... Unfortunately, that's not enough for most people.


Edit: You've selected parts for a system with a Performance-class CPU and a mainstream GPU. Your performance in most 2011 games will be, well, mainstream. That means decent (medium to high) settings at 1920x1080, at playable framerates.

Agreed. I was playing almost every game I own at 1920x1200 with an i7 920 and an Ati 4870 until January of this year. That included Crysis, Starcraft 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Borderlands, etc, etc with fairly high settings but no AA with very playable framerates. Since then I've upgraded to a 6950 and a 2500k, and can play every game I've thrown at the system with high framerates, all the settings maxed and at least AA 4x. The system you're talking about building should be able to play just about any game at 1920x1080 with everything maxed except AA. Like others have said, your biggest bottleneck is going to be the video card, so if you're looking for the biggest dollars to doughnuts place to upgrade, that would be it.

 

[Bryf50]

What's going on in this thread. Since when is a 2500k & 6870 "mainstream". A mainstream gpu is a 65xx and the like. You don't need GTX580 SLI to play games 1080p. Your computer will play nearly any games at max setting with a bit of AA with few exceptions like Crysis 2 and Witcher 2. But even those will do fine at higher setting that'll look way better then an Xbox 360 ever could. A 6870 is more like 10x faster then the gpu in the xbox.

While I don't think that motherboard or psu are ideal, if the price is right you should be fine.

 

[mfenn]

What's going on in this thread. Since when is a 2500k & 6870 "mainstream". A mainstream gpu is a 65xx and the like. You don't need GTX580 SLI to play games 1080p. Your computer will play nearly any games at max setting with a bit of AA with few exceptions like Crysis 2 and Witcher 2. But even those will do fine at higher setting that'll look way better then an Xbox 360 ever could. A 6870 is more like 10x faster then the gpu in the xbox.

While I don't think that motherboard or psu are ideal, if the price is right you should be fine.

The OP asked "An i5 2500k and a Radeon HD 6870 is just 'decent'?" The answer to that question is undoubtedly a resounding "yes". It is decent, nothing more nothing less.

 

[Space Oddity]

The OP asked "An i5 2500k and a Radeon HD 6870 is just 'decent'?" The answer to that question is undoubtedly a resounding "yes". It is decent, nothing more nothing less.

Uh, how is that so? the i5 2500k is one of the best CPUS in the market right now, and the 6870 is an exceptional mid range GPU. I think its a lot better than decent

 

[Cannibalskunk]

Uh, how is that so? the i5 2500k is one of the best CPUS in the market right now, and the 6870 is an exceptional mid range GPU. I think its a lot better than decent

Exceptional mid range != unequivocally exceptional. Will it play his games well at 1080? Sure, with settings fairly high and everything. Is it better than what ~75% of people are using? According to Steam, sure. I'd still only call it the upper end of average for the current generation of cards, though.

Not that I'm advocating he should upgrade. That card will be just fine playing games at 1080 for the next year or more, all things considered, as long as he's not adding monitors or what not. There's almost no reason to upgrade to a 69xx card considering the cost involved and the fact we're coming up on a refresh pretty soon. If the OP wants some more graphical horsepower I'd advise waiting a couple months for a 7xxx series card or getting another 6870 to run crossfire.

Still doesn't change the fact that the 6850 is top-tier mainstream/bottom wrung enthusiast, though.

 

[mfenn]

Exceptional mid range != unequivocally exceptional. Will it play his games well at 1080? Sure, with settings fairly high and everything. Is it better than what ~75% of people are using? According to Steam, sure. I'd still only call it the upper end of average for the current generation of cards, though.

Not that I'm advocating he should upgrade. That card will be just fine playing games at 1080 for the next year or more, all things considered, as long as he's not adding monitors or what not. There's almost no reason to upgrade to a 69xx card considering the cost involved and the fact we're coming up on a refresh pretty soon. If the OP wants some more graphical horsepower I'd advise waiting a couple months for a 7xxx series card or getting another 6870 to run crossfire.

Still doesn't change the fact that the 6870 is top-tier mainstream/bottom wrung enthusiast, though.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

OP, there is no need to be so defensive. We're simply telling you like it is.

Is a 6870 great value for the money? Hell yes.
Is a 6870 anything more than a midrange card in the grand scheme of things? No.

 

[Space Oddity]

Alright, thanks for the help guys, i think i got all the input i needed, I guess i'm gonna go ahead and buy it now.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Looks like a excellent build to me and for only $600:thumbsup:

 

[mfenn]

Good luck, and be sure to update the thread to let us know how the build goes!