Physically Possible to do better with £1200 ?

BauerCTU

BauerCTU

BauerCTU

Associate
Joined
21 Feb 2004
Posts
320
Location
Lake District
No monitor, OS or speakers needed. Nearly did a new rig when sandybridge launched but decided against it. New range of games + aging hardware means i think its time. Will be wanting to max out games at 1080p resolution thats all have a Acer Revo for XBMC etc.

EVGA GeForce GTX 580 DS SuperClocked 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** EVGA GeForce GTX 580 DS SuperClocked 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £389.99
(£324.99) £389.99
(£324.99)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £159.98
(£133.32) £159.98
(£133.32)
Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £159.98
(£133.32) £159.98
(£133.32)
NZXT Hush 2 Silent Midi Gaming Case with Fan Controller - Black NZXT Hush 2 Silent Midi Gaming Case with Fan Controller - Black £89.99
(£74.99) £89.99
(£74.99)
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 750W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXV2UK) Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 750W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXV2UK) £87.98
(£73.32) £87.98
(£73.32)
Asus Xonar D2X 7.1 PCI-E Sound Card Asus Xonar D2X 7.1 PCI-E Sound Card £86.99
(£72.49) £86.99
(£72.49)
Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £54.98
(£45.82) £54.98
(£45.82)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £45.59
(£37.99) £45.59
(£37.99)
Western Digital Caviar Blue 750GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD7500AALX) Western Digital Caviar Blue 750GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD7500AALX) £40.99
(£34.16) £40.99
(£34.16)
Saitek Cyborg V5 Illuminated Gaming Keyboard Saitek Cyborg V5 Illuminated Gaming Keyboard £35.99
(£29.99) £35.99
(£29.99)
Saitek Cyborg V3 Gaming Mouse Saitek Cyborg V3 Gaming Mouse £21.98
(£18.32) £21.98
(£18.32)
Ozone Ground Level Small Gaming Surface Ozone Ground Level Small Gaming Surface £7.14
(£5.95) £7.14
(£5.95)

Total : £1,198.09 with free shipping :-)
 
Better, IDK.

YOUR BASKET
2 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 TOXIC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex Games £239.99 (£479.98)
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail with FREE TrackMania 2 Canyon PC Game £161.99
1 x Asus P8Z68-V Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £124.99
1 x Antec TruePower New Modular 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £85.99
1 x Corsair Carbide 400R Midi Tower Case - Black £79.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 32MB Cache - OEM (ST31000524AS) £47.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £45.59
1 x Qpad 5K Laser Gaming Mouse £42.00
1 x Microsoft SideWinder X4 Gaming Keyboard - Retail (JQD-00006) £34.98
1 x Thermalright MUX-120 Black CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1155/LGA1366) £26.99
1 x Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card with built in Headphone Amp £25.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £1,190.96 (includes shipping : £13.75).



XFire 6950's. Mouse is personal preference, but not a massive amount of choice. Could go for G400, but I have the Qpad and I like it. Uncomplicated and very nice feel and build. Sound card if you don't like the onboard, Cooler is good probably up to 4.6GHz or something usable like that. Motherboard is not gen3, but imo it's a bit overrated. There are virtually no difference between x8x8 and x16x16 already.
 
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Thanks for the input, never thought about Xfire 6950's as i wanted the possibility of Sli 580 in the future so my upgrade path isnt as damaging on the wallet.

The sound card is a must as I wont be using my PC monitor, its getting hooked up to my home cinema so i need DDLive/DTS Connect capable soundcare to realtime decode me 5.1 audio via optical/coaxial as all the cables are already in the walls/floor or i could have used 5.1 analog and got a cheaper sound card :-(

Off to check 580 vs 6950 xfire.......
 
IMO, the 580 prices are crazy high, since you can get a xfire / sli setup that will destroy it (provided SLI xfire is supported adequately in the games).

Secondly, the 6950 has 2GB vram. Starting to see a trend where games use more and more vram. Note that in Xfire / sli setups, you don't get 2x Vram.
 
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Had slight updated build then just losing the KB/Mouse which im sure i can live without for the small time being. Can also use another HDD from another Pc and get a upgrade at another point in time.

Better/Worse ?

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 TOXIC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex Games Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6950 TOXIC 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE DIRT3 & Deus Ex Games £239.99
(£199.99) £479.98
(£399.98)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM £159.98
(£133.32) £159.98
(£133.32)
Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £159.98
(£133.32) £159.98
(£133.32)
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 750W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXV2UK) Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 750W V2 High Performance '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CMPSU-750TXV2UK) £87.98
(£73.32) £87.98
(£73.32)
Asus Xonar D2 7.1 PCI Sound Card Asus Xonar D2 7.1 PCI Sound Card £87.98
(£73.32) £87.98
(£73.32)
Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive Crucial RealSSD M4 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £77.99
(£64.99) £77.99
(£64.99)
Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) Antec Kúhler H2O 620 CPU Watercooler (Socket Intel LGA 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / AMD AM2 / AM3 / AM2+ / AM3+) £54.98
(£45.82) £54.98
(£45.82)
BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black BitFenix Shinobi Gaming Case - Black £49.99
(£41.66) £49.99
(£41.66)
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £47.99
(£39.99) £47.99
(£39.99)
Sub Total : £1,005.72
Shipping cost based on delivery to Home, ***** with:
FREE SHIPPING (DPD Next Day)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £201.14
Total : £1,206.86
 
That'll work. I'm still on the fence for the GPU configuration, and what card would be best for the purpose (I think the Toxic will work, reference-ish design). Best talk to the graphics forums and see what the guys think.

A note on the SSD

You can use 64GB SSD for OS and programs, but requires some clean ups, especially moving the virtual memory page file to another drive (will be quite big with 8GB ram), and possibly do away with the hibernation feature. I'm using a 60GB vertex2, 56GB effective, and I have 21GB free at the moment. I have no virtual memory (8GB is plenty for my uses), and I disabled hibernation to free 6GB.

The Shinobi will accomodate 6950's. I still prefer the Corsair Carbide for that purpose, it has more cooling options.


6950 toxic.
 
Thanks for all the help will be doing the ATI gfx card route and i can bin off the sound card in the process as i stumbled across the fact ATI cards let you output Raw LPCM via HDMI which is a million times better than encoding and then re-encoding audio before it hits the speakers :)

Double happy now BF3 here i come.
 
BauerCTU said:
Thanks for all the help will be doing the ATI gfx card route and i can bin off the sound card in the process as i stumbled across the fact ATI cards let you output Raw LPCM via HDMI which is a million times better than encoding and then re-encoding audio before it hits the speakers :)

Double happy now BF3 here i come.
Click to expand...

I would love to do that. However I had a 1920x1200 monitor before... which my amp only outputted 1080 :(... now I have three monitors, so I have to use an optical cable.
 
Get the window version of the shinobi case for an extra side fan to keep those GFXcards cool :)

I read the window version has a toolless side also, unlike the none window version.

Speaking of fans, you have not added any extra ones to your list.
 
Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **Supplied with FREE Batman: Arkham City PC game** £251.99
(£209.99) £503.98
(£419.98)
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £161.99
(£134.99) £161.99
(£134.99)
Corsair Graphite 600T Midi Tower Case - Limited Edition White £139.99
(£116.66) £139.99
(£116.66)
MSI P67A-GD53 Intel P67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard ** B3 REVISION ** £107.99
(£89.99) £107.99
(£89.99)
OCZ Z-Series 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £96.98
(£80.82) £96.98
(£80.82)
OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive (AGT3-25SAT3-60G) £77.99
(£64.99) £77.99
(£64.99)
Kingston HyperX Genesis Grey 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (KHX1600C9D3X2K2/8GX) £45.98
(£38.32) £45.98
(£38.32)
Zalman CNPS10X Extreme CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/775/1155/1156/1366) £39.98
(£33.32) £39.98
(£33.32)
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Sound Card (70SB057002003) £26.99
(£22.49) £26.99
(£22.49)
Sub Total : £1,001.56
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
FREE SHIPPING (DPD Next Day)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : FREE
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £200.31
Total : £1,201.87
 
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The reason people are suggesting ATI 6950 as stated before is the 2GB Vram, BF3 looks to be eating that up for breakfast. So no no for 570.
 
Meloco said:
The reason people are suggesting ATI 6950 as stated before is the 2GB Vram, BF3 looks to be eating that up for breakfast. So no no for 570.
Click to expand...


battlefield3betagpu5p0n.png
 
stulid said:
battlefield3betagpu5p0n.png
Click to expand...

Seen the graph, but if you read through people's reviews of the beta throughout this forum you can see people are complaining that the game crashes/stops working after a few rounds because of the VRAM being eaten up.

Graphs only show so much ;)
 
Whole couple of FPS between the 5870 1GB and the 6970 2GB. Reinforces my thoughts that people are obsessing on VRAM usage for little or no reason.

Game seems to favour nVidia cards by some margin. Large amounts of tessalation in the terrain?
 
Meloco said:
Seen the graph, but if you read through people's reviews of the beta throughout this forum you can see people are complaining that the game crashes/stops working after a few rounds because of the VRAM being eaten up.

Graphs only show so much ;)
Click to expand...

You think the final game will crash after a few rounds because of VRAM usage?
 
I just had a look through that thread quickly.

You got some people with rubbish cards doing better than more expensive cards (6870 vs 5970 for example)

You got some people with ATI 2GB cards crashing.

Think I saw three people moan at the lack of Vram on the Nvidi card.

You got some people doing some huge frames per second on their SLI/Crossfire setup despite the fact the vram doesn't double with two cards.

You got people using early drivers and some using the newer BETAS.

Added to an unoptimized game, that even last night I was falling through some floor:D
 
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