Some advice please

FARGO

FARGO

FARGO

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Hey all,



I am considering purchasing the below system before the new year; with the UK's expected VAT and component cost increases looming I think that I should invest in a new rig fairly soon. I am by no means a computer 'G', so I would greatly appreciate any input/advice.


This is the system;

"Ultima Viper" Intel Core i7 930 2.80GHz @ 4.00GHz DDR3 System which can be found in the Pro-Gamer Ultima section of the website.



I am just looking for opinions or concerns which you would raise if you were purchasing the system yourself. I am looking for rig which will leave me open to longevity and upgrades further down the line. For example, worth getting a system with USB 3 features etc. Some advice on the graphics options would be good too; I plan to use the system for gaming primarily.

I'm at work atm so I've not really written my first post very well and I'm sure that I more questions will come to me over time!


If I have posted in the wrong section, please move; I'm new to these parts and still don't know my way around :)

Thanks for your time
 
FARGO said:
I am looking for rig which will leave me open to longevity and upgrades further down the line.
Click to expand...

depending how important that is too you, i'd look at an am3 system or wait for the next intel processor release.

of the gfx card options i'd go with the 5850.
 
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Thanks for the reply!

How long do you think the system I posted would be viably 'upgradeable'?. I was hoping for a system that would last around the three year mark before needed to replace it completely.
 
my advice would be ask if they could build you this

build11k.png


if you want it to be quieter than what the 470 gives then an extra £75 will get you a 5870, also that cooler should get you 4GHz on that i7 930, and finally if you have a spare £230(£155 if you stick to the 470) then it might be worth waiting for the 970 price drop as they won't be beaten by a good margin until Q3 2011
 
HW91 said:
my advice would be ask if they could build you this

build11k.png


if you want it to be quieter than what the 470 gives then an extra £75 will get you a 5870, also that cooler should get you 4GHz on that i7 930, and finally if you have a spare £230(£155 if you stick to the 470) then it might be worth waiting for the 970 price drop as they won't be beaten by a good margin until Q3 2011
Click to expand...


Wow, thanks for going to the time to put that together for me HW91!


If you have the time and don't mind, could you expand on why you have chosen these components over the pre-build?

My pc knowledge is not what it should be!
 
as HW mentioned would you be willing to give a self build a go ?

what sort of gaming are you into ?

from what i've read the processors are end of line so wont imagine that would be upgradeable, but if you go sata3/usb3 on the mobo that will give you a little scope etc.

what's your limit for budget ?
 
I wouldn't buy a i7 system if your first post says you want longevity and future upgrades, intel are changing both there sockets next year, the new AMD bulldozer cpus are rumored to still use the AM3 socket, there was also a AMD roadmap at anandtech showing this.

so have come up with this better spec for you.

Untitled-4.png


the motherboard supports symmetrical crossfire and has USB and sata3.0

its got a handy six core cpu, that is still good for games and will help in other tasks.

and the psu is capable of running two cards with its ample power.
 
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mp260767 said:
as HW mentioned would you be willing to give a self build a go ?

what sort of gaming are you into ?

from what i've read the processors are end of line so wont imagine that would be upgradeable, but if you go sata3/usb3 on the mobo that will give you a little scope etc.

what's your limit for budget ?
Click to expand...



Hey, thanks for the reply.


Currently I've been limited to a five year old sytem which I have Frankensteined with 1GB ram (two different branded 512 sticks) and an ATI 4670. As you can imagine, I'm fairly limited for choice when it comes to games. Thoroughly love Valve games and have been sticking with this since HL1. However, I'd like to have the choice to play anything that takes my fancy. Please don't recommend console gaming.

Budget, I suppose I'm willing to shell out £1300 at a real push. Realistically I'd prefer the £1000 mark.


I'd love to give a self build a go; I've never done it before and don't trust myself. I do however have a mate who has bought through OCUK several times and put together systems on his own; I can see if he'd be willing to help.

I don't know how competent he is when it comes to over-clocking processors though.


Thanks for the advice guys and keep it coming.
 
stulid said:
I wouldn't buy a i7 system if your first post says you want longevity and future upgrades, intel are changing both there sockets next year, the new AMD bulldozer cpus are rumored to still use the AM3 socket, there was also a AMD roadmap at anandtech showing this.

so have come up with this better spec for you.

Untitled-4.png


the motherboard supports symmetrical crossfire and has USB and sata3.0

its got a handy six core cpu, that is still good for games and will help in other tasks.

and the psu is capable of running two cards with its ample power.
Click to expand...



Stulid, thanks to you too for the feedback!


Am I correct in thinking that Itel will be forgetting the current architecture for it's current line up of processors to make way for what ever is in the pipeline? Wouldn't this effectively leave anyone with a system using the i-chips left out in the cold without easily being able to upgrade without a full system overhaul? :confused: If so, ouchies.
 
I chose the i7 because if you want to upgrade in a year you can get the 970 which will beat all of the first set of sandy bridge cpu's(as in LGA1155 which come out at the end of this year) and likely the high-end but not top end bulldozers

I chose the Samsung F3 because they're better than the seagates, blu-ray because you said future proof, 470 because it's £75 cheaper than the 5870 and can easily overclock to it's level and it handles AA better, the case because it's basically a better, cheaper Antec 300 and the cooler because it gets good reviews

also if you have a £1300 budget you could upgrade the PSU to an 850w (+£75) so you can add another 470 later or get a new monitor, or change the graphics cards to dual 460 1GB + £115 and get a monitor worth up to £200
 
FARGO said:
Stulid, thanks to you too for the feedback!


Am I correct in thinking that Itel will be forgetting the current architecture for it's current line up of processors to make way for what ever is in the pipeline? Wouldn't this effectively leave anyone with a system using the i-chips left out in the cold without easily being able to upgrade without a full system overhaul? :confused: If so, ouchies.
Click to expand...

they do it all the time, atleast AMD keep similar sockets, AM2, AM2+ and AM3 are backward compatible.

intel is a dead end.

and the F3 drives aren't really faster, just they are cheap at the moment, you could not tell the speed difference between a samsung F3, seagate barracuda 7200.12 and a western digital black.

and have a look at the 1055T cpu at 4ghz- http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amd-phenom-ii-x6-1055t-overclocking.html
 
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As someone who has never invested in a system primarily designed for a high level of gaming I have spent the last year in a cuffufle over when to actually take the plunge.

The rate that computer technology and its associated components progresses is fairly scary to someone like me, who can't really afford to replace a system every two-three years.

I've been trying to find a point in time where a I could find a reasonably priced system which offered great performance as well as having components which would support future upgrades a few years down the line. I know that it isn't really viable to expect a system which will be super-duper-future-proofer for ages to come.

I've had my current system since 2005 and the games which I've been playing have run 'okay'. It's probably this which has had me thinking I could get away with another system for another five years.

Many thanks for the input guys; back to my pit where I can mull over my choices- most likely for another few months to come! If anyone else has any other suggestions of advice, please feel free to post as I'll check the thread throughout the afternoon.

:)
 
you might find it easier if you go for £600 builds every three years with £100 upgrades on the second year then
 
mp260767 said:
what size monitor do you have ?

are there any particular games you have your eye on that you'd like to play ?
Click to expand...



Currently I am limited to the Half-Life series, L4D's, CSS and TF2 (as well as many pre Source engine games.

Ideally I'd like to be able to play the cream of the crop. In a way I'd like to get a system that can run the latest and upcoming games on high settings.

I am currently using a 22 inch Samsung monitor at a it's native res of 1600x1080.
 
made up a build which costs £600, if you want a quad core then you can either try and unlock this CPU or pay an extra £40 for a definite quad core and if you want a graphics card which will last a bit longer it will cost an extra £30

build600.png
 
HW91 said:
made up a build which costs £600, if you want a quad core then you can either try and unlock this CPU or pay an extra £40 for a definite quad core and if you want a graphics card which will last a bit longer it will cost an extra £30

build600.png
Click to expand...


For my current needs this would be absolutely perfect! Do you know how it would cope with more demanding titles such as; Assasins Creed, MW series, Bioshock, Mirrors Edge etc?

Would like a system that could spank the pants off of the more recent titles.

Also, I play TF2 almost religiously; it is known for acting very strangely and giving different performance experiences over a variety of systems. There are people out the with very expensive systems and get very poor performance. Some say is is because the game is 'CPU dependent'. It's quite important for me to be able to play TF2, preferably in all its glory too.

Thanks :)
 
it should be able to play most new games fine, also you can save £20 going for a DVD-RW instead of a BD-R which you can put towards a 1GB 460 which will perform a bit better, also overclocking will help the performance quite a bit
 
From what you guys have said and from what I am getting on other forums, the idea of a 'self build' it becoming increasingly appealing in terms of price and the general experience.

I'm going to have a long think about it.


Thanks so much for your help guys :)


/thread. (For now ;) )
 
good luck :D.

with HW's last spec i'd go with a quad core processor, and as per his last comment gfx card wise either a 5850 or 1gb version of the 460 gtx.

as for the TF2 experience i can't see any obvious reason it shouldn't run it very nicely.
 
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