Help Choosing A Spec

shadowake · 20 May 2009 at 16:10

I'm having trouble deciding on a system from all the specs people have given me. I was originally going to go for the AMD 940 but since realising it's only AM2+ I've been looking at the AMD 955. I then noticed the AMD 720 which has really good reviews for gaming and is a ton cheaper than the 955. Set on this, I then realised I could get an i7 (didn't think I could afford one originally).

Here are the four specs I'm working with. The prices/components are pretty rough at the min. I want to decide on a definate processor before I iron out an exact spec.

As you can see the better the processor the worse the graphics card etc. This is already pushing my budget to the max.

The system will be used for roughly:

20% High end gaming (Crysis etc)
40% Other gaming (Older less demanding games)
20% Photoshop
10% Webdesign (Dreamweaver)
10% General web browsing, file creation etc.

Resolution is 1920x1200 on dual 24" monitors and i like to run games on max setting with as much AA as possible

I will also be doing some moderate overclocking.

OK - PLACE YOUR VOTES NOW!

Admiral Huddy · 20 May 2009 at 16:13

If you have 3 physical drives (opt1 and 3), then go for RAID-5 and 4 indentical drives (opt2) then go for RAID 10.. Avoid just RAID-0.

4GB of ddr3 in your i7?? You'll need multiples of 3 to enable triple memory so you need either 3 or 6gb.

I would go for the i7 but with RAID-5 and possibly a 4870 x2

wbc1 · 20 May 2009 at 16:16

720 spec.

shadowake · 20 May 2009 at 16:20

Admiral Huddy said:
If you have 3 physical drives (opt1 and 3), then go for RAID-5 and 4 indentical drives (opt2) then go for RAID 10.. Avoid just RAID-0.

4GB of ddr3 in your i7?? You'll need multiples of 3 to enable triple memory so you need either 3 or 6gb.

Oops your right should read 3GB on the i7 build. I have an external backup so I prefer the extra speed of RAID0 since I don't need the redundancy.

Admiral Huddy said:
I would go for the i7 but with RAID-5 and possibly a 4870 x2

If I had bottomless pockets I would too...

shadowake said:
This is already pushing my budget to the max.

Admiral Huddy · 20 May 2009 at 16:26

I would certainly look at a Raid 1 or 5 solution, given the amount of work on Photoshop and Web designing you do.

shadowake · 20 May 2009 at 16:33

Admiral Huddy said:
I would certainly look at a Raid 1 or 5 solution, given the amount of work on Photoshop and Web designing you do.

Files are backed up when they're modified to network storage and I normally have a copy on my work machine and/or pen drive. I don't want to slow the CPU working out calculations for the RAID, if I can afford a RAID card at a later date I might switch to 5 or 10 as I do like the idea. But at nearly £100 for a four port, I can't afford it ATM.

wbc1 · 20 May 2009 at 16:35

How about.. i7 + 2x 4770 in crossfire (better performance than a 4890).?

cmndr_andi · 20 May 2009 at 16:38

Howabout using this RAM with the i7 spec?

You could always use an antec 300 (still a very good case) and use this 4890 instead of the gtx 260.

shadowake · 20 May 2009 at 16:39

wbc1 said:
How about.. i7 + 2x 4770 in crossfire (better performance than a 4890).?

I plan to add a second card later (in about 6 months when I can afford it). If I went with 2 4770's it would be better short term, but 2 4890's long term would be better.

shadowake · 20 May 2009 at 16:43

cmndr_andi said:
Howabout using this RAM with the i7 spec?

You could always use an antec 300 (still a very good case) and use this 4890 instead of the gtx 260.

Not a fan of the 300 at all. That memory certainly seems cheap for 6GB.

Sycho · 20 May 2009 at 16:50

Go for the i7 spec with the XFX 275GTX £198 which should be in stock soon i believe?

shadowake · 20 May 2009 at 16:53

Sycho said:
Go for the i7 spec with the XFX 275GTX £198 which should be in stock soon i believe?

I'm already over budget, the extra £65 would kill me (or more to the point my partner would). Initial budget was £700-800

Sycho · 20 May 2009 at 16:58

shadowake said:
I'm already over budget, the extra £65 would kill me (or more to the point my partner would). Initial budget was £700-800

I would still go the i7 build, it's more than enough even to run Crysis....my friend has a worse cpu but 260GTX yet gets 40fps 1920x1200 very high and can just add another in the future like you said.

Didn't notice 260GTX is £136 or so. :eek:

wbc1 · 20 May 2009 at 17:04

As you use the PC mostly for gaming, the tricore+ 4870x2 should perform the best.

shadowake · 20 May 2009 at 17:38

wbc1 said:
As you use the PC mostly for gaming, the tricore+ 4870x2 should perform the best.

Yeah I think it's definately between the 720 and the i7 now. I do like the idea of a 4870x2 would be awsome in six months when I can add a second!