Spec me a BF3 / Skyrim killer at high res - pls

Jed Shields · 9 Aug 2011 at 11:22

Hi guys,

Time for a new PC so I’m looking at a BF3 and Skyrim killer. I’ve currently got an air cooled Q6600 o/c at 3.0GHz, 4Gb DDR2, ATI 4890 running a Dell 2407 at 1920x1200, but may be looking at a Dell U2711 or hopefully U3011, running at 2560x1440 and 2560x1600 respectively. I’d like to be able to play with bells and whistles for as long as possible. I also do a fair bit of photo editing (Lightroom) as well as audio mixing (Adobe Audition), so I’m looking at maxing out on RAM. Anyway, here’s the list so far:

Intel i5 2500k

Asus P67 Sabertooth

4x 4Gb DDR3 RAM – no idea what type to go for.

Graphics – not sure. I’ve read either 2x 6970s or 1x 580? If I go for 2 cards, I could spread the cost by buying one now and getting another if I get a new monitor and move from 1920x1200 up to 2560x1600. I’d appreciate any thoughts here.

Corsair Water Cooler H80?

PSU? I currently have a Corsair 620W – will that be enough if I go for 2 graphic cards?

Case – Corsair Obsidian 650D. A nice big, sleek case that should last for a while.

Any thoughts, alternatives, recommendations?

Cheers,

Jed.

stulid · 9 Aug 2011 at 11:25

The HX620 isnt enough for two cards, but is ok for one.

I would get a single GTX570 now and a second later on and change the PSU at the same time.

Whats your budget? what exactly do you need? (harddrives/operating system etc?)

And I will come up with the best selection for you

King Damager · 9 Aug 2011 at 11:26

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/188

Is useful for working out your power usage

Maybe a solid state drive? You may already have one?

Consider 6950's to 6970's and unlock them, also if you're going crossfire, maybe look into a multiple monitor setup rather than just increasing size?

Budget would be useful for others I'd imagine

Also RAM get whatever is reasonably priced at the time

kd

stulid · 9 Aug 2011 at 11:28

King Damager said:
Consider 6950's to 6970's and unlock them,

Cant do it anymore, no more Revision1 cards, unless you can find one second hand.

Jed Shields · 9 Aug 2011 at 11:32

SSD - I currently have an Intel 120Gb. I'll use that for now, although two of the new Corsair 80Gb in a RAID 0 config looks good ;-p

Budget - my original list is probably around £1200 and I'd guess that's probably my limit. However, the 2x 6970s takes a huge chunk of that, so buying one card now and another later on would free up some cash if there's anything that's worth putting extra money towards now.

Will a 570 run BF3 okay at 2560x1600, or is that when I'd need to look at doubling up?

Unlocking 6950s - hadn't heard of this. Easy to do? EDIT - aha, answered above

stulid · 9 Aug 2011 at 11:34

But waht do you need for your £1200? a base unit? an operating system? monitor etc? keybaord and mouse?

Jed Shields · 9 Aug 2011 at 11:37

Sorry, the parts I've originally listed only: CPU, MB, Graphics, Cooler, RAM, Case, maybe PSU.

I'll be keeping my OS (Win7 Home 64bit), keyboard, mouse, monitor (for the time being).

ng93 · 9 Aug 2011 at 11:38

stulid said:
I would get a single GTX570 now and a second later on and change the PSU at the same time.

6970 has more vram, could be useful at 2560x1600, plus iirc they scale better in crossfire and use less power (cheaper psu).

stulid · 9 Aug 2011 at 11:43

ng93 said:
6970 has more vram, could be useful at 2560x1600, plus iirc they scale better in crossfire and use less power (cheaper psu).

The cheapest 6970 is £280!!!

BF3 is a blatant Nvidia optimized game, and a 750W PSU for SLI is £73, SLI scales very well

See how 6950 crossfire doesnt match GTX570 SLI in BF2 - http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6950-crossfirex-review/12

Infact you could get a single GTX580 now and SLI that later on with a 850W PSU - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/298?vs=308

Jed Shields · 9 Aug 2011 at 11:52

I've had nVidia and ATI cards before, so I'm not too worried which way I go.

How does the vram cope if I have 2x 570s running at 2560x1600?

I'm guessing that 750 should run 2 cards comfortably?

stulid · 9 Aug 2011 at 11:55

Jed Shields said:
I've had nVidia and ATI cards before, so I'm not too worried which way I go.

How does the vram cope if I have 2x 570s running at 2560x1600?

I'm guessing that 750 should run 2 cards comfortably?

The GTX570 is ahead of a 6970 at all resolutions - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/Radeon_HD_6990_CrossFire/18.html - except at 2560X1600 where its a small 2% slower, but a GTX570 is £30-£40 cheaper than a 6970 per card!!! thats £80'ish less for a pair.

And a 750W PSU will do a pair of them - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-LA&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2057

That money saving can go towards something else to make this a killer PC.

stulid · 9 Aug 2011 at 11:59

Jed Shields said:
Sorry, the parts I've originally listed only: CPU, MB, Graphics, Cooler, RAM, Case, maybe PSU.

I'll be keeping my OS (Win7 Home 64bit), keyboard, mouse, monitor (for the time being).

Your basketProduct Name Qty Price Line Total
MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Twin FrozR III Power Edition 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £254.99
(£212.49) £509.98
(£424.98)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £159.98
(£133.32) £159.98
(£133.32)
Silverstone Raven 2 RV02B Full Tower Case - Black £129.98
(£108.32) £129.98
(£108.32)
OCZ Z-Series 850W '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply £99.98
(£83.32) £99.98
(£83.32)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £53.99
(£44.99) £53.99
(£44.99)
Gelid Tranquillo CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/AM2+/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £25.99
(£21.66) £25.99
(£21.66)
Sub Total : £951.58
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £14.75
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £193.27
Total : £1,159.60

So thats a pair of overclocked GTX570's for SLI

A Gold rated efficiency (draws less power from the wall socket) modular PSU.

A Gen3 motherboard that has Ivybridge and PCI-E3.0 support - http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68 Extreme4 Gen3

And a very unique case - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l3al-eskoo

But I would get one GTX570 now, and either buy a second hand one when you need too, or sell it and get the next generation stuff released next year.

Jed Shields · 9 Aug 2011 at 12:03

How do the Corsair H60,80,100 compare to air coolers, with respect to o/c the 2500k?

stulid · 9 Aug 2011 at 12:06

Jed Shields said:
How do the Corsair H60,80,100 compare to air coolers, with respect to o/c the 2500k?

They cant compete with the best air coolers, the Thermaltake Silver arrow at £50 being possibly the best.

But big air colers are huge and chunky, a closed loop water cooler such as a H80 etc leaves the case looking a bit more neater, they will still mangage a huge 4.5ghz+ overclock as the sandybrideg chips dont need much volts and run cold.

Look at this - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=19783948&postcount=37 - the white case is a Raven03, the red innards case is a FT02 limited edition.

Jed Shields · 9 Aug 2011 at 12:18

stulid said:
But big air colers are huge and chunky, a closed loop water cooler such as a H80 etc leaves the case looking a bit more neater, they will still mangage a huge 4.5ghz+ overclock as the sandybrideg chips dont need much volts and run cold.

Yeah, I like the fact that they look a lot neater and can still perform well in overclocking. What about the noise? Any difference.

Nice cases btw, which is yours?

stulid · 9 Aug 2011 at 12:22

Jed Shields said:
Yeah, I like the fact that they look a lot neater and can still perform well in overclocking. What about the noise? Any difference.

Nice cases btw, which is yours?

They are quiet, very quiet, you will here the pump bubbling more than the supplied fans.

Neither case is mine, i have a Coolermaster ATCS840, I just wanted to show you the sort of high end air cooling case you should be looking at, with heat rising naturally, rotating the whole inside like those cases is a smart thing to do.

A good high quality case will last years and years, an investment if you will, while other parts are being replaced, the case will keep managing

Moothead2 · 9 Aug 2011 at 12:32

At 2560x1600 1.2GB of vRam is NOT enough for it to be considered a "BF3 Killer". Either get two 2GB 6950s or go for one of the 570s with 2.5GB of vRam.

stulid · 9 Aug 2011 at 12:33

Moothead2 said:
At 2560x1600 1.2GB of vRam is NOT enough for it to be considered a "BF3 Killer". Either get two 2GB 6950s or go for one of the 570s with 2.5GB of vRam.

Already shown that at 2560X1600 a GTX570 is very capable against a 2GB 6970

SLi scaling is brilliant with the new generation and latest drivers.

And just to show the effect a 3GB has - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_580_Lightning_Extreme_Edition/27.html

Thats a GTX580 3Gb against a GTX580, at 2560X1600 its just 5% ahead, and that is because of the MSI Lightnings overclocked settings,

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_580_Lightning_Extreme_Edition/

Core speed, 832mhz vs 772mhz and RAM 1050mhz vs 1002mhz

So NO, 3GB or 2.5GB is not needed at these resolutions.

ng93 · 9 Aug 2011 at 13:37

stulid said:
The cheapest 6970 is £280!!!

BF3 is a blatant Nvidia optimized game, and a 750W PSU for SLI is £73, SLI scales very well

See how 6950 crossfire doesnt match GTX570 SLI in BF2 - http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6950-crossfirex-review/12

Infact you could get a single GTX580 now and SLI that later on with a 850W PSU - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/298?vs=308

damn i thought they were still 250 lol

actually just having a look around and nowhere seems to have stock, [off topic] maybe 7000 is soon

[/off topic]

although i still reckon at 2560 the extra vram will make a difference on the higher settings (compared to a 570).

stulid · 9 Aug 2011 at 13:40

ng93 said:
although i still reckon at 2560 the extra vram will make a difference on the higher settings (compared to a 570).

I expalined directly above that it doesnt using two GTX580's, one with 3Gb and the other with 1.5gb, its only the clock speeds of the MSI card that makes it a miserable 5% ahead.

All for £100 more (standard GTX580 1.5gb vs a standard GTX580 3gb)