A Sweet gaming system

Primary usage will be gaming. So is I7 worth the money? Or the smart and better way would be the phenom II X4 965? And mybe take gtx480 instead gtx470 with amd? Or would SLI gtx 460 perform better(higher memory& fps?)? As present games dont use over 4cores anyway...
 
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If you want futureproof/upgradable what about?..

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The new AMD CPUs (when they're released) are probably going to work in AM3 sockets. That motherboard supports full 16x/16x Xfire if you want to get a 2nd graphics card in the future, SATA 6Gb/s for when you want to upgrade to SSDs, USB 3.0, the PSU will supply enough juice for two graphics cards. That case will fit a 5970 + an extra 5 inches if newer cards get even longer. And you can obviously chuck in another 4gig of RAM when you feel like it.
 
World said:
Primary usage will be gaming. So is I7 worth the money? Or the smart and better way would be the phenom II X4 965? And mybe take gtx480 instead gtx470 with amd? Or would SLI gtx 460 perform better(higher memory& fps?)? As present games dont use over 4cores anyway...
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No, i7 doesn't perform better than i5 quad in games. Phenom II X4 965 is the same CPU as 955 with 1x multi up. They're both BE so you can just bump the multi by one and have the same CPU and few pounds more in a pocket. SLI GTX 460 perform well but no better than Crossfire 5850s. They will require Intel setup since SLI works only with Intel chipsets. Intel will cost more. Don't know what you're talking about cores, all i7s (apart from 970 and 980) are quads with HT, so 4 physical cores only. They have HT that isn't used in games anyway.

They guy above just wasted £250, you'd have to be mad to get his spec (besides he didn't bother to include a monitor).

I included a great monitor that you will benefit from for years and I'm sure you'll never go back to a TN panel monitor (unless you're colour blind).
 
Krugga's build with Ripjaws is the best AMD build (complete with that monitor *drools*) you'll get.
If you could stretch another £50 on your budget you could upgrade from that build to Ripjaws + Fenrir cooler
 
Burty88 said:
If you want futureproof/upgradable what about?..

1kUpgradeSpec.png


The new AMD CPUs (when they're released) are probably going to work in AM3 sockets. That motherboard supports full 16x/16x Xfire if you want to get a 2nd graphics card in the future, SATA 6Gb/s for when you want to upgrade to SSDs, USB 3.0, the PSU will supply enough juice for two graphics cards. That case will fit a 5970 + an extra 5 inches if newer cards get even longer. And you can obviously chuck in another 4gig of RAM when you feel like it.
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6 this but pay the extra £10 for the 700D, far better case
 
Mr Krugga said:
They guy above just wasted £250, you'd have to be mad to get his spec (besides he didn't bother to include a monitor).
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Great... go with this chap buy a Xigmatec Asgard, and a 500W OCZ psu and save £250. Just plugging money into stuff you're going to want to change soon.

Built my new pc recently (i5 750, 5850, modxstream, Xigmatec Asgard etc) Already regret skimping on the psu and case (case especially). Wish I'd gone AMD with the chance of future proofing it, the motherboard I've got isn't Xfire compatable (didn't think I'd need it). Now when I want to upgrade the only real option <£200 that will make a computing difference is RAM or an SSD. Definitely paid for what I got.

IMO spending the "wasted" £250 gets you an extra few years of cheaper upgrades to keep you up to date.

(The reason I didn't spec a monitor is because he said he could spend an extra £200 if it gave him a more future proof spec... hence I envisioned him spending it on a monitor)

P.S I admit the case is quite a lot for a midi (but it's damn cool!) go HAF or likewise and non-modular and shave £50-£75 off if you want

P.P.S If you are going with Mr Krugga's build at least buy some better RAM, a lot of the OCZ Gold stuff has been turning up dead.
 
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World said:
Is the Dell ultrasharp 23"LCD really better than Benq 24"LED?
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It most likely is but to be honest, most users won't be able to tell the difference, as in, if you removed the branding from the case and they wouldnt know which one it is - they will be happy with either as both are huge improvements over older TFT/CRT and old LCDs.
 
PhoenixUK said:
It most likely is but to be honest, most users won't be able to tell the difference, as in, if you removed the branding from the case and they wouldnt know which one it is - they will be happy with either as both are huge improvements over older TFT/CRT and old LCDs.
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Most users can see the difference between an IPS panel (ulstrasharp) and a TN panel (benq).

However, is the difference worth it for the average computer user?
Probably not.

Main advantages of IPS: Colour is much better and more detailed, there's no dithering so gradients display properly instead of looking grainy, viewing at different angles doesn't shift colours.

Main advantages of TN: Faster response times for gaming, cheaper.


I have the benq and I work on an IPS apple cinema display at work & the difference is massive in colour accuracy - I also massively dislike the thick coating of anti glare on the newer TN panels which makes whites look 'grainy'.
 
rickh said:
Most users can see the difference between an IPS panel (ulstrasharp) and a TN panel (benq).

However, is the difference worth it for the average computer user?
Probably not.

Main advantages of IPS: Colour is much better and more detailed, there's no dithering so gradients display properly instead of looking grainy, viewing at different angles doesn't shift colours.

Main advantages of TN: Faster response times for gaming, cheaper.


I have the benq and I work on an IPS apple cinema display at work & the difference is massive in colour accuracy - I also massively dislike the thick coating of anti glare on the newer TN panels which makes whites look 'grainy'.
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They can, if you give them both next to each other and tell them which one is which ; ).

If I gave them the benq in dells case with dell logo, they won't be able to tell that it actually has "colours not as good as dell".

I'd say it's not worth it unless you really need that colour perfection - ie you're professional graphic designer.
 
About the monitor, ill think about the Dell and will go see around Manchester to see the difference in some shop.

What about this specs?
Total cost about 1,125£.

And i really like the Coolermaster case :D

The 850W power supply coz in near future will be buying a second GTX 470 to SLI. (Will 850W powwa be sufficient?)...

Can anyone get more gameing power out of 1,200£ budget? (Limiting it to 1200, and will not go any higher).

1) Asus M4N98TD EVO, NF 980a SLI, S AM3, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 1066/1333/2000(OC), SATA 3Gb/s RAID, ATX

2) AMD Phenom II X4 955 BlackEdition, Soc AM3, 3.2GHz, 8MB Total Cache, 125W, Retail

3) ZOTAC GeForce GTX 470 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Exp (5year warranty)

4) 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.65V

5) Corsair TX 850W ATX SLI Compliant Power Supply

6) 500 GB Western Digital WD5000AADS Caviar Green, SATA 3Gb/s, IntelliPower, 32MB Cache

7) Coolermaster CM 690 II Advanced, Black, Mid Tower Case

8) Zalman CNPS10X Flex CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1156/1366)

9)Samsung SH-S223L/RSMN 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Beige/Black/Silver) - Retail

10) Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard

11) Logitech G500 Gaming Mouse

12) Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail (Full Version)

13) BenQ G2420HDBL 24" Widescreen LED Monitor - Black

Do i need a better sound card to? Coz ill be using Logitech Z-5500 speaker set.
 
A nice soundcard is a good addition if you have good set of speakers, I'd rather buy it 2nd hand tho as they seem sort of expensive now, you should be able to get something good for around 20quid.

I wouldn't spend so much on a PSU either, especially on non modular one.
 
Burty88 said:
Great... go with this chap buy a Xigmatec Asgard, and a 500W OCZ psu and save £250. Just plugging money into stuff you're going to want to change soon.
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I speced him Coolermaster II 690 which is probably one of the best Midi Tower air-cooling cases around. Your case is not worth the money on the other hand, you're basically telling him to waste some £65 for no benefit.

Built my new pc recently (i5 750, 5850, modxstream, Xigmatec Asgard etc) Already regret skimping on the psu and case (case especially). Wish I'd gone AMD with the chance of future proofing it, the motherboard I've got isn't Xfire compatable (didn't think I'd need it).
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These are only your mistakes, how are they relevant? Again, the board I speced to World does symmetrical Crossfire.
Now when I want to upgrade the only real option <£200 that will make a computing difference is RAM or an SSD. Definitely paid for what I got.
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What RAM did you buy that is so bad?

IMO spending the "wasted" £250 gets you an extra few years of cheaper upgrades to keep you up to date.
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O rly?
(The reason I didn't spec a monitor is because he said he could spend an extra £200 if it gave him a more future proof spec... hence I envisioned him spending it on a monitor)
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You haven't speced anything that is more futureproof than my build thus you wasted £250 ish.

P.S I admit the case is quite a lot for a midi (but it's damn cool!) go HAF or likewise and non-modular and shave £50-£75 off if you want
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Just a quicky - why spend more?

P.P.S If you are going with Mr Krugga's build at least buy some better RAM, a lot of the OCZ Gold stuff has been turning up dead.
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OCZ Gold has failed only for some triple channel builders, it's not the case here. That Phenom II is Black Edition meaning an unlocked multiplier, no need for a high-end memory. He may always grab a more expensive memory for memory intensive tasks but it wouldn't help in games anyway.
 
Mr Krugga said:
Stuff
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IMO I'd rather spend money on the case, psu and mobo (former two specifically) as they're the parts the you tend to hang onto for a good few years. A 600W psu would be very close to the limit for SLi 470s.

The spec the OP last posted was good, my case admitidly was my personal preferance and a bit lavish, although I'd probably look to get a SATA 6Gb/s motherboard, and would get a Samsung SpinPoint F3 instead of the caviar green.
 
I have come up with this so far, and think this is quite best way to go.
What you think?

*Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail
*Asus P6X58D-E, Intel X58, S1366, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR3 2000 (OC), SATA 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX
*1280MB Asus GTX 470 V2, 40nm, 3348MHz GDDR5, GPU 607MHz, Shader 1215MHz, 448 Cores, 2xDVI,mini HDMI
*OcUK Crusade 850W Dual Rail High Efficiency Modular Power Supply
*Coolermaster CM 690 II Advanced, Black, Mid Tower Case w/o PSU
*1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM
*OCZ Gold Low Voltage 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-16000C10 2000MHz Triple Channel (OCZ3G2000LV6GK)
*Samsung SH-S223L/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM
*Zalman CNPS10X Flex CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/AM2/AM2+/AM3/775/1156/1366)
 
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