Gaming Rigs

[wkoti]

So I'm getting ready to sell off my old gaming desktop and looking to build another. I happen to find some amazing deals at the local stores for various equipment, but I guess my biggest quandary is the processor.

I've always been more of Intel guy since I started building computers when I was a kid, Celerons, Pentium Dual Cores, Intel Core 2 Duos, Intel Core 2 Quad. Now that the "i" series has made some improvements and fixed some stability issues, I was thinking about going with a "i"series, but between price and all the freaking different versions and options, I'm almost detoured. But then there is AMD, which I know just a little about. They are a whole hell of a lot cheaper, granted most can't stand toe to toe with the new Intel. I know they just released the FX 8120-8150 (Bulldozer) 8 core processors, but there is still much debate between 8 cores making a difference with PC gaming compared to 6 or even 4 cores.

From what I've been able to figure out (Could be totally wrong) is that even the new FX 8120-8150 barely surpass the older Phenom II X6 1100T, which barely beats the even older Phenom II X4 980. And from what I hear, the Phenom II X4 980, even though it's out dated and older, is still a solid processor for gaming. It's no Intel i7 3960x, but at over $800 cheaper, I don't expect it to be.

And on the other hand, I have a problem with Intels versions of the same processor, "k" being fully unlocked and the regular being partially unlocked. And the Xeons appear to be completely useless when it comes to gaming performance, not to mention some having a $4000 price tag. The motherboards are also spendy and not easily accessible, being the new LGA1155 compared to AMD sticking with the same AM3+ socket.

I found a super cheap Radeon HD 6870 that I sprung on for the new build and 16 Gigs of DDR3.

I know we have a bunch of PC gamers here, what's your input? What are your experiences? What are your thoughts?

 

[JHolmes763]

I went the i5 route when I built my rig and I haven't had any issues playing games, virutalization or running routing simulation programs (they eat up a lot of RAM and processor). Don't remember the price, but I think I built the whole thing for right at $800.

I didn't see a whole lot of benefit to going the i7 route, other than some raw speed. Good enough, you know.

Always good deals from newegg.com or tigerdirect.com.

 

[B.HOBS]

Not a gamer in the least, but I do build my own PC rigs.... I have a water cooled i7 920/Asus P6T V2/ ATI 4890 combo that runs like a charm. Honestly, save your money on your processor. Everything now is being written for GPU acceleration to handle the heavy graphics loads, whether it is CUDA (NVIDIA) or STREAM (ATI)...most newer GPU cards have this. This reduces the load on the CPU greatly, so CPU speed isn't such a huge advantage anymore, meaning minimal improvement for more $. I will say, the 6870 you picked out looks like it will be SOLID from the specs I read.

Also, maybe try to get a SSD drive....one with fast Read and Write speeds....you will see a pretty noticable gain from having one as your primary drive.

Good luck on your build! Did I mention water cooling....? :whistling:

 

[engspot]

I just built a new rig with an i5-2500k. Air cooled and OCd to 3.5ghz. I've seen people go much higher with water cooling too. For the price, its a great value.

 

[wkoti]

Not a gamer in the least, but I do build my own PC rigs.... I have a water cooled i7 920/Asus P6T V2/ ATI 4890 combo that runs like a charm. Honestly, save your money on your processor. Everything now is being written for GPU acceleration to handle the heavy graphics loads, whether it is CUDA (NVIDIA) or STREAM (ATI)...most newer GPU cards have this. This reduces the load on the CPU greatly, so CPU speed isn't such a huge advantage anymore, meaning minimal improvement for more $. I will say, the 6870 you picked out looks like it will be SOLID from the specs I read.

Also, maybe try to get a SSD drive....one with fast Read and Write speeds....you will see a pretty noticable gain from having one as your primary drive.

Good luck on your build! Did I mention water cooling....? :whistling:

I didn't think about the SSD, I have 2 1TB HDs I was going to use, but the SSD makes sense. I sure don't need the space, out of almost 10TB I'm using 146GB.

I haven't gotten into water cooling yet, when it came out, something about water and expensive electronics made me nauseous.

 

[B.HOBS]

I haven't gotten into water cooling yet, when it came out, something about water and expensive electronics made me nauseous.

It does seem conter intuitive....I have been water cooled for 6 years and not a single problem. The key is to buy the best pump available, so it doesn't crap out and leave your fluid idle.

 

[rbbrock]

The i5-2500k is still the best thing going. The new AMD's are junk, if you want to go the AMD route, stick to the Phenom series. You can get an X2 or X3 and a mobo with an unlocker and maybe get one or two cores for free.

 

[BlindedByScience]

The i5-2500k is still the best thing going. ......

Yep. Completely agree.

I'm still rocking my "old" Core2 Quad rig with a 6950 video card. Just no pressing reason to upgrade. I built and shipped a machine back to my Marine for Christmas; I wanted a fast machine, best bang for the buck. I went with an i5-2500K, Z86 (Gigabyte) MoBo, 8GB Ram, etc....just smoking fast. Gave him my nVidia 260 video card for now, runs better than I remembered. The i5 is so fast, while they overclock like a beast....it's almost unnecessary (gasp). As has been said, the video subsystem is where it's at for gaming these days. That 6870 should serve you well. Reviews of the new 7000 series are all over the web; watch for other 7000 series cards in the next few months. I was a staunch nVidia guy, but damn it, the AMD cards are faster, and about 2/3 the power which means lots cooler. Got a 6950 in my machine, my old 5850 in the wife's machine....very happy with both our machines, to be sure.

Sounds like you're off to a good start. Have fun - B.B.S.

 

[wkoti]

Thanks for the input guys, I was leaning more towards the i5 2500k, I'd overclock it at around 5GHz, 16 DDR3, the new 6870 (Which I put in this box to "test" and it's a beast". The tip about the SSD will be taken into consideration too.

This box isn't a piece or anything, just will all the new chit coming out, I don't want any problems.

This rig has;

Intel 2 Quad 9650 Stock
8 GB of Crucial PC5300 DDR2
MSI G31TM-P21 Mobo
ATI 2250 Workstation Graphics Card

Even thought the processor is over 4 years old, it's still the fastest on the block, but running games at max settings on a multiplayer map, sometimes proves a little to much.

 

[Wurm]

You won't see the new AMD CPUs come to their own until Windows 8 comes out.

Go with a i5 and what ever GPU brand you like.

 

[BlindedByScience]

....

This rig has;

Intel 2 Quad 9650 Stock
8 GB of Crucial PC5300 DDR2
MSI G31TM-P21 Mobo
ATI 2250 Workstation Graphics Card

Even thought the processor is over 4 years old, it's still the fastest on the block, but running games at max settings on a multiplayer map, sometimes proves a little to much.

Stick a 6950 in there with a fresh Windows7-64 install and you'd be running basically what I have here. Drop a bigger hard drive in there when you install Windows, use you old hard drive with an inexpensive USB adapter to transfer your documents back over to the new OS / hard drive. You need a video card, my friend....a whole new PC is optional, IMHO....

Here's the one I'm running....the thing is wicked fast. The improved cooling is really nice, well thought out.

 

[wkoti]

....

This rig has;

Intel 2 Quad 9650 Stock
8 GB of Crucial PC5300 DDR2
MSI G31TM-P21 Mobo
ATI 2250 Workstation Graphics Card

Even thought the processor is over 4 years old, it's still the fastest on the block, but running games at max settings on a multiplayer map, sometimes proves a little to much.

Stick a 6950 in there with a fresh Windows7-64 install and you'd be running basically what I have here. Drop a bigger hard drive in there when you install Windows, use you old hard drive with an inexpensive USB adapter to transfer your documents back over to the new OS / hard drive. You need a video card, my friend....a whole new PC is optional, IMHO....

Here's the one I'm running....the thing is wicked fast. The improved cooling is really nice, well thought out.

Well I just got that 6870, which I have in it right now. (I wanted to make sure it worked in all ) My Windows 7 64 is only about 3 months old, and I have a 1TB running as my primary for the OS and a second 1TB for storage. I'm also using a new Vizio 32" HDTV/Monitor, so I can pump my graphic properties way up, but I keep the resolution on all my COD at 1366 x 768, because between maxing out the graphics, and 32 person MMO game, it sometimes seems to push the limits.

Maybe I'll just overclock a little and keep it a little while, but I figure it's about to for an upgrade, because I think my 9650 was made like mid 2007

Thanks for your input, I do appreciate it, I can't read or hear the same thing from two people if I paid them.

 

[BlindedByScience]

The video card morass is the toughest one for me to make sense out of. Tom's Hardware does a monthly article on the best "bang for the buck" and of course it changes frequently. Here's the article for December.

They also do a great GPU relative performance chart, which I find very helpful when trying to decide on upgrades. Here's a link to that.....linked at the end of each month's article.

I hear you....but the thought of re-installing the world has me holding off as long as I can.... :laugh: Honestly, so far every time I think it's time, a new video card solves the problem. I'll probably wait for what comes after the i5 and then bite....

 

[wkoti]

I love the benchmark tests, in the last 3 days I've seen some many numbers, graphs, and colored bars it makes my head spin.

Thanks for the link I'll take a look, got to love new computer parts, a new card is the price of a new MOBO + CPU. And more ram could buy you a new card.

:laugh:

 

[BlindedByScience]

RAM now is as cheap as I've ever seen it. Buy it now...!!!

 

[wkoti]

That's why I bought 16gb

 

[wkoti]

So I find it funny, I bought myself MW3 for Christmas, been playing about 2 hours now. Graphics are on maximum, everything is set to it's highest setting, and I'm recorded without a hiccup. Flawless videos at 60 fps, but I get laggy with just high graphics on Black Ops, says something for Black Ops. Year older, completely unstable.

 

[Swissy]

I'm going I7-2600k simply due to the quad ability to render video faster.

And it doesn't hurt gaming either...

 

[BlindedByScience]

I'm going I7-2600k simply due to the quad ability to render video faster.

And it doesn't hurt gaming either...

....doesn't hurt, but honestly, Jimmy, it more often than not doesn't help. My kid is running an older Core2 Dual Core....but it's fast as hell. Fast single threaded execution is still what most games look for. With enough Video card horsepower it's working perfectly for Skyrim, etc.

Not suggesting that the new parts aren't fast as hell, but honestly for gaming, video rendering, etc....the I5-2500K is the sweet spot. And, for guys like me with older Core2 Quads, often a little RAM and a new video card breathes new life into the platform. I'll wait to do a platform upgrade for what comes after the current i5 / i7 series.....

 

[emoshun]

Buddy of mine just finished building his rig, thing skates through any game he throws at it.

i7-2600k 3.8gzh
16gb ram DDR3 2133
128gb ssd 100gb dedicated to Windows OS, 28GB dedicated to Ubuntu OS
1tb sata 50/50 partition
Asus nvidia gtx 580
Corsair 850w atx12v

Finished with two 27" monitors to display the glory.

Being a Mac guy I can still appreciate building your own rig, 'tis a thing of beauty!