TriniWyatt's Gaming PC

[TriniXaeno]

Well fellas, it's been about 9 months since the last upgrade. A modest move from the Nvidia 8800GT to the capable ATI 4870.

Looking to up the ante on performance even more.

I present for your scrutiny:

Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D Dominator 6 GB 3 x 2 GB PC3-12800 1600MHz 240-Pin DDR3 Core i7 Memory Kit: $229.99

Corsair CMPSU-750HX 750-Watt HX Professional Series 80 Plus Certified Power Supply compatible with Core i7 and Core i5: $139.99

Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 1 GB DDR5 Dual DVI-I/HDMI/DP PCI-Express Graphics Card 100282-2SR :$339.99

Intel Core i7 Processor i7-930 2.8GHz 8 MB LGA1366 CPU $285.00

MSI X58 Pro-E Core i7/Intel X58/6DDR3-1333/ATI CrossFireX/GbE/R/A/1394/ATX Motherboard $189.99


Unfortunately, this blows past my budget of TT$4000.00

So might have to take this in a phased approach.

Thoughts, recommendations?

[Arcmanov]

My name is Arcmanov, and I approve this upgrade.

[Eroo]

You going to be overclocking the chip at any point? If so you will have to factor in a good cooler, if not then you probably don't need the dominator. Should be able to get the Corsair XMS3 for a bit less.

[Spazosaurus]

He's not going to be overclocking because he lame like that. I like the choices. IF you want, you can safely save about $70us on the memory and go with something like this,  especially taking into account you're not interested in overclocking. Even if u were, they'd be an excellent choice.

Im still amazed how some things keep getting more expnsive. I paid $100us for that memory a year ago, now its 160. $275 I paid for that card now is more than $60us more.

Another thing, you can save another $50us on the visiontek version of the card. I havent heard anything going wrong with that brand. They're all basically the same thing anyway.

All prices I referenced are from Amazon.

See I show u how to save $120us. Where's my cut??

[Redfish]

*looks at wyatt with a crazy-eye*

let's see in total that is about  USD 1,184.96 which is approx. TTD 7,600.00........


I know you want stuff that you won't touch for a while but those are quite an expensive bunch of items and yes I know Arc go approve that even though you on a 4000 TTD budget lol.

As Capt said if you not overclocking ease up on the overkill parts 


It would be like hiring a call girl to just have her sit there and you play with her boobs 

[TriniXaeno]

lol, that ain't sounding bad redfish.

yeah awesome said it....no overclocking. Stockist immc.

Last thing I need is for battlefield to crash and have me wondering whether its that cpu/gpu overclock that is responsible.

As is, when a game crashes on my machine, I can safely say its the games fault and not my own.

Thanks for the recommendations. Definitely need to cut some corners to get down to $4000.00

Gonna have to split it in two purchases. One month end, phase one.

then another like six months down the road, phase two.

Would the mobo/cpu/ram be the best bet for Phase one?

[Spazosaurus]

I think you need all parts to see any improvement. A 5850 on ur current setup is likely to push games the same amount as the i7 with your current video card.

Basically, any move other than an all out upgrade will mos likely result in no visible change. This is why I prefer the incremental upgrade as opposed to the all out one since at the tail end of the cycle you'll experience times...just like you are now...where u feel ur running on inferior hardware.

My personal agenda aside, you're probably more likely to see the bigger performance boost from a new card on ur current setup. If you dont want to spend a lot right now, id go as far as to say buy the card now and upgrade to one of the lower end quad cores like the q8200 and sell the one u have now to slightly offset ur cost.

But then again, u like high stock clocks...

[Netizen1]

How come that mobo? What about the one Arcmanov posted the other day?

Here

Found it for $167 at amazon: http://amzn.com/B0030BERL4

[MessiaaH]

i highly recomend going with 2 5750 or 2* 5770, over d 5850.

look at d benchmarks, dey speak for themselfs, and price wise dey are comparible.

i replaced meh 4870x2 with 2 5770. dem thing going for rel good price.


5750 especially, and 2 will outperform d 5850 no problem:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-5970-review-test/17

watch cutass going on there, 82FPS vs 66, lol, and the other games and benches reflect similar benches. And 2*5750 cost less money dan ah 5850 on amazon right now :S http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=5750&x=0&y=0

If u have a 30" montior with 2560*1600 res, obviously 2*5750s wont cut it.

but like i say, d benchmarks speaks for themselves. and is LESS money lol.

scrutinizing yuh other parts in ah bit.

Edit:

http://www.amazon.com/G-Skill-PC3-16000-2000MHz-Trident-9-9-9-24/dp/B002OB47IY/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1269455264&sr=8-13

Best budget i7 memory imo, overclcoking potential is there if u want it, and 12gb of dat runs stable even at overclocked settings. and it is comparable in price to d corsair. That's d memory i was going with for my super build, but it was out of stock all over, considering replacing my ocz with 12gb in dat sucker.

(D chips used in that mem is d little brother to d stink corsiar elpida chips)

GOOD SHIT!, fuh GOOD PRICE.

[Spazosaurus]

See, when u crossfire lower end cards, you pretty much shooting your next upgrade in the foot simply because you'll have to replace two cards instead of one.

Sure the Sapphire 5850 he posted is way over the normal price, which is why I suggested the $290 visiontek. This is exactly the cost of 2 5750's, which in 90% of the case is on par our outperforms 2x5750's.  Right there in guru3d's benchies look at the performance difference in the other titles. Licks in MW2, same in Far Cry 2, Licks in Crysis and licks in Vantage. licks in the polica van.

But if he goes with the 5850 now, he can easily get another one 6-8 months from now when the price falls, pop it in and instantly increase his performance.

Wheras he uses 2 5750's, if he wants to get any better performance he hadda scrap BOTH them cards and start over which obviously is the more expensive route. Not to mention 2 cards are warmer and more hungryy than one.

[MessiaaH]

point taken, but consider this.

ppl does always overlook d resolution, and waht is required by current games.

if u ent plan on goign 30" resolution, it ent have no game coming out anytime soon,
dat will tax 2 5750s. yuh go be able to run dem 2 cards for ah good while.

a second 5850 6 months down d road eh go do much, if u stuck at d same low resolution.

dem 2 5770s i put in dat machine, runs every game out there, max, at 1920*1200.
and u still have d msi afterburner tool, to oc both those cards, which ups performance ah good bit.

Both routes make sense, depending on yuh upgrade path.
Dats why to be safe, i went with 2 5770s, insetead of d 5750s, and d 5770s blowing out ah 5870 in ah good few isntances, for less money.

anything more dan 2 5770s, an yuh have to upgrade yuh monitor fuh it to make sense.

and if yuh shellin fuh ah 30" monitor, yuh wont be cosnidering dem low end cards anyways.

[Spazosaurus]

True, but remember that game tech not standing still too. Newer games need more power to run at the same resolution. A man res might be at 1080p and he go be playing his games now with no problems, what about when more taxing titles come out and game start to frame. It sure will be useful to be able to pop in a second card to take care of that problem.

[MessiaaH]

point taken,

but consider this.

new game titles and technology goes hand in hand with new graphics card developments. and i found it is not practicaly anymore, building a rig, catering to add a next card later on. when a game is released dat cuasing yuh thing to frame, is most likely a new gerneration of graphics cards on the market.

and d new gen cards, will be cheap and outperforming d last gen cards at d same price point. it go be more practical to get rid of d last gen cards, and get a new gen, rather dan adding a second last gen.

it wil be easier to sell 2 Gen1 cards when Gen2 is avaiable, dan trying to sell 2Gen1 cards when Gen3 is avaiable.

D rate graphics tech changing now, dey kinda remove all sense of buyin a second card later down.

When 5000 series it, i would much faster sell my 4870 and go 5k series, fuh dx11, cuda, and d words, as apposed to adding a second 4870.
Den if i added d second 4870 now, what i going to do with dem 2 cards, when 6k series out, dem thing wil be so old, nobody go want it, or yuh go have to sell it rel cheap.

I say buy yuh parts for what avaiable now, and dont average to upgrade in d gpu, becuase by d time d upgrade actualy makes sense for d games, it wont make sense, for d hardware available at d time.

[Arcmanov]

I guess now would be a good time to peddle my 4870X2? 

[Spazosaurus]

Excellent point, but there's one critical element to consider.

I wouldnt buy a new card 3 months before new ones are due out.

Let's assume that generations are a year apart. If you buy a new card soon after a new generation comes out (like now or maybe a little earlier), you're pretty much guaranteed that no new tech (save for the inevitable product refresh) is going to come out within a year.

Boom. Buy a new card in the earlies, wait a 4,5,6 months midway in the cycle and hit them again with another in the same card, (which now costs less than what u paid for the first) and you always have a top tier performing system without the "god boy ah really hadda upgrade" phase. Rince and repeat anytime a new gen comes around.

Of course, this method only works with mid to high end parts. Consumer wares like the 57xx and lower, not so much.

[TriniXaeno]

interesting

Let me examine this with a real world example.

About 9 months ago, my current rig got upgraded with the 4870 which cost me US$200.00 - $250.00 (can't recall exactly)



I see they are now going for US$149.00

This graphic represents current performance and the gain I could expect from adding a second card (run on a 3ghz cpu)




The million dollar question:

If I was on a crossfire mobo, would it be practical to buy a second 4870 today to increase performance?

The answer to this would steer the course of the upgrade.

If yes, then it would be safe to follow along captain awesome's thinking and get a single 5850 today with an eye to a second one in December.

If no, then Messiah would be on the money, saying two 5770's represents the better deal today (since buying a second card of old tech in the future is less practical)

What sayest thou?

Netizen, I absolutely love gigabyte but that board has only 4 mem slots. I need 6 because I wanna go to 12gb at phase 2. Also there are zero reviews on amazon. Doesn't give you that warm fuzzy feeling. lol. Nice to use a product that is tried and true by my fellow amazon tech consumers.

Awesome, the memory you linked too has qc issues. The first few reviews all complain about getting bad memory and having to RMA before they got good working ones. Scary!

[Spazosaurus]

Well in any case, 2x5750 and one 5850 is 6 in one, half ah dozen...the same thing pricewise looking at the visiontek 5850 on amazon.

I'd say get the 5850 simply because its one card which possibly runs cooler on less power and you have the added advantage of running a second one later down the road if you so desire.

Thats a big negatory on a second 4870 at this stage of the game. Forget that nonsense. My theory works mostly for current generation parts. Have you SEEN this game in DX11? I dont know how it looks in dx9/10 but it is on CRYSIS WARHEAD level graphics.

[MessiaaH]

if yuh upgrading, i dont think u shud buy a second 4870 now, unless yuh getin it rel rel cheap.

its old tech, les driver support, no dx11, no gpu processing of other tasks, etc etc.

5000 series is only going to get better with later driver relases, 4000 series is pretty much forgotten about by amd at this point, dont expect any future support on that line of card. and d 5000 series go handle dx10 titles better also., not to mention like i say, d added advantages of all d other tech, cuda, eyefinity, whatever.

and if u buy a seocnd 4870 now, when next u upgrade, who is going to buy dem thing from u?  at d price yuh go want to sell it.

if u sell yuh 4870 now, yuh go get ah decent enough askin price fuh it, and as it stand, u going to already have to call ah cheap price fuh men to buy dat over 5000.

Capt.awesome upgradfe path makes sense, if u buy yuh second card, within 3-6 months of d first purchase. but if u lookin tuh add yuh second card 8months+ later, it starts to make less sense.

So in d end, decide based on when u planing on upgrading next, if u dont plan on upgrading again no time soon, spending more money fuh ah 5850 now, makes no sense.

and i think awesome made my point for me, with not buying a second 4870 now, so if u plan on getin yuh second 5850 in d same timeframe, doh bother.

and  as ah side note, d cooling on d 5770 rel good, i overclock dem cards, and d fan is QUIET, at 100% u could barely hear ah difference, 80% sounds jus d same as stock, with some nice numbers coming of d sensor. dont know bout d 5750 cooling doh, but i recon it will be similarly impressive.

i got the sapphire v2 of d cards.

i was faced with dis same decision, 2*5750 or ah 5850, in d end, i settle with 2 5770., cant go wrong wiht 2 of dat once oc'd, so consider that as an option, if u willing to shell out ah bit more.
i also buy with d plan ofb breaking d crossfire fuh 2 shit gaming rigs lata down.

[TriniXaeno]

interesting.

Well that sounding like a thumbs up for the 5850

http://www.amazon.com/Visiontek-Radeon-HD5850-Express-900297/dp/B002QEBGGA

This one looking good awesome and nice price. Thanks for the nod.

I expect second phase to be in december

Messiah, the G.Skill memory has no reviews on amazon and its a little more expensive than the much lauded corsair sticks. No doubting it's enthusiast gold but I like to stick with items  that have pleased the (quick to condescend) masses that make up amazon reviewers. lol

Only barely making an exception with the processor because (as capitan pointed out) I run everything stock and prefer higher clock. Would have loved for a quad core cpu @ 3ghz to be a part of my next upgrade.

Is that too much to ask in 2010?

One more thing to add, my monitor is an asus 24" LCD. In love with it. Native res, 1920x1200

[Arcmanov]

Lawd...so after all that, your initial choices stand?