New build for game dev

Aono · 27 Nov 2012 at 15:05

Building a new PC for gaming and game development. I can spend around £600-700. I can reuse any bits from my old one:

Gigabyte P35C-DS3R
Nexus NX-5000 R3 530W PSU
Intel Core2Duo E6850 3.0Ghz
4GB DDR2
Radeon HD5770
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB x2 (one for backup)
LG 24" LCD
Antec Dragon case

I need to be able to run lots of resource hungry programs at once and tab between them quickly (eg, photoshop + visual studio + modelling program + game running in background + browser with a million tabs open). Should I get 16gb for that or is 8gb enough?

The only limitation I have is I need a nvida card for CUDA.

So far I'm thinking something like:
GeForce GTX 660TI - £250
Intel Core i5-3570 3.40GHz? - £160
Which motherboard? Maybe Gigabyte Z77-D3H? - £80
What memory? Maybe GeIL Black Dragon 16GB? - £60

Can I reuse my old PSU?
Can I fit in a SSD somehow?
Anything else I should consider?

I'm not in a huge rush so maybe I can wait for the new year if prices will be better/new stuff will come out but I don't to wait until Q2.

Thanks for any advice.

Kanifee · 27 Nov 2012 at 15:33

What psu do you have currently?

Chicken #16 · 27 Nov 2012 at 15:37

do you think a second screen would be useful?

Stelly · 27 Nov 2012 at 15:39

Chicken #16 said:
do you think a second screen would be useful?

Everyone in the office uses to screens for dev, they see it as a must, and I agree...

Stelly

Kanifee · 27 Nov 2012 at 15:40

my bad psu in op

Im not well!

Aono · 27 Nov 2012 at 16:00

Forgot to say I use an old 19" Samsung as a second screen. I will probably upgrade that to another 24" at some point but that's not included in the budget.

Review of the PSU I've got:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1012-page1.html

It's very quiet I'm just wondering if it's powerful enough.

Mei · 27 Nov 2012 at 16:14

why not go for a 660 instead of the 660ti, i dont think the ti is worth an extra 100, thats ssd money

more likely to be fine on that psu too

olivier renault · 27 Nov 2012 at 17:52

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/02/16/nexus_nx5000_r3_rx5300_psu_reviews/8

I'd build a dev machine around this.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £239.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC Twin Frozr 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Assassin's Creed III PC Game £159.95
1 x Fractal Design Define R4 Midi Tower Case - Titanium Grey £99.98
1 x Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Desktop Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC128D/EU) £81.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £76.99
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel kit (PV316G160C9K) £65.99
Total : £817.48 (includes shipping : £10.50).

LukieBoy007 · 27 Nov 2012 at 18:05

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £239.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC Twin Frozr 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Assassin's Creed III PC Game £159.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Cooler Master CM-690 II Lite Windowed Gaming Tower Case - Black £69.98
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED316GM1600HC11DC01) £49.99
Total : £674.89 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Or with an SSD:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £239.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC Twin Frozr 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Assassin's Creed III PC Game £159.95
1 x Gigabyte Z77-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £79.99
1 x Samsung 120GB SSD 840 SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7TD120BW) £79.99
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX550M High Performance 550W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020001-UK) £59.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED316GM1600HC11DC01) £49.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black £39.98
Total : £723.98 (includes shipping : £11.75).

- Chose a cheaper case to get closer to the budget.

Might be worth waiting till tomorrow, as the new deals will be out.

Aono · 27 Nov 2012 at 20:08

Thanks for the suggestions and help. I can workout some combination of the above I'm happy with.

olivier renault · 27 Nov 2012 at 20:22

yup

4 core hyper-threaded helps (3770K / 2700K), as 16GB (you need win 7 pro or better for over 16GB), Z77, SSD is great for productivity and probably can help your build speeds, good quality PSU, decent GPU (with CUDA / PhysX support if you need), nice quiet case.

Overclokcing possible, but really you'd be wanting stability first.

martinoheat · 27 Nov 2012 at 20:46

olivier renault said:
yup

4 core hyper-threaded helps (3770K / 2700K), as 16GB (you need win 7 pro or better for over 16GB), Z77, SSD is great for productivity and probably can help your build speeds, good quality PSU, decent GPU (with CUDA / PhysX support if you need), nice quiet case.

Overclokcing possible, but really you'd be wanting stability first.

why is that? i thought that only 32bit windows was limited in the RAM it can use (3.5gb) and that 64bit can use any amount?

to the OP: i'd get 16gb ram, i have 8gb and it is plenty for most things, but holding a game in the background along with other intensive programs the extra 8gb would be useful.

olivier renault · 27 Nov 2012 at 21:04

martinoheat said:
why is that? i thought that only 32bit windows was limited in the RAM it can use (3.5gb) and that 64bit can use any amount?

to the OP: i'd get 16gb ram, i have 8gb and it is plenty for most things, but holding a game in the background along with other intensive programs the extra 8gb would be useful.

It's just one of these quirks. Completely arbitrary limitation from MS. Win 7 Home Premium is limited to 16GB.