Spec revision.

Swi1ch

Swi1ch

Swi1ch

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19 Nov 2008
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spec-2.jpg


Budget was £1000 so i've gone a little bit over.
In pre-response to some of the standard questions:
Yes, I need 1TB Space.
Resolution is 1280x1080 but after getting this will be getting a new monitor.
No I don't like Lian Li, and will be sticking with the 1200.

I've basically got a taste for Crysis and want to be able to play it smoothly with some nice graphics (And Far Cry 2) which is the reason for the budget break. Had initially got my eyes on a 4870 1GB but since the Sapphires sold out i've been forced to reconsider. It's definitely between a 4870 1GB and the 260. Although, the 4870 is cheaper and by most benchmarks runs faster, but we'll have to see.

I would like to overclock the CPU and GPU. With ATI overclocking is as simple as using the CCC; does NVidia have an equal? As for the CPU, is that MB good enough to overclock? Would it be worth getting a gigabyte instead?
 
I'm definitely going with the 1200 as a case so no price drops there.

After looking at some reviews and benchies, I'm seriously tempted to go back to the 4870 though.
 
you cant really go wrong either way.. you just need to maximise your potential especially if your talking about crysis smoothly (on max 1920x1200 new screen) bit pricey for a case but its your perogative :) oh yeh.. overclocking is also simple with nvidia as it is with ati so not a problem there. P5Q Pro mobo is crossfire yeh? maybe worth staying ati maybe?
 
Hi Swi1ch, a very nice specification you have done there. All though, if I was spending around £1000, I would personally change the CPU cooler to the Thermalright TRUE Black 120 CPU Cooler which is one of the best air coolers you can get. It doesn't come with a fan so you would need to buy one separately. The Noctua NF-P12 is very highly rated. All together, It is only actually around £8 more than the Zalman CPU cooler that you have chosen but well worth that little extra.

Regarding the graphics card choice. The ATI Radeon 4870 and the Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 Core 216 are both fantastic cards and which ever one you choose, I'm sure you will be happy with it.

You may be interested in these two following articles that are up to date and compare ATI Radeon 4870 and the Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 Core 216 quite closely. :)

Guru3D - Top 10 games Radeon 4870 1 GB & GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 test

Bit-Tech - Christmas 2008 Graphics Performance on Core i7
 
I have highly considered the TRUE, but the Zalman just looks cooler. I'll see what the prices are after Xmas, but I won't be pushing a crazy overclock (3.5 at the very most) so a little dip in performance that I probably won't notice is something i'm happy with for something that looks a whole lot better.

As to the case, yeah it's a bit pricey it's gone up recently, but it's the only case that's really caught my eye (I've not yet had chance to go through the whole LEDs all over the place Case phase), and I like the big fan in top.

Just had a gander at those reviews, and they're totally different to the one's on Tom's Hardware, which shows that at 1920x1200 the 4870 is usually better and that's with a 512 card not a 1gb! It shows that the 4870 512mb was average 37 FPS on max details 0xaa, and 21.6 with 4xaa and AF, whereas Bit-Tech says 4870 1gb 19.5 0xaa and 17.6 with 2xaa! I've however only ever run games at 2xaa and usually 0xaf 'cus I have no idea what AF does.

I'll see what the prices and money situation is like in the New Year (I only need to be able to afford half of it, as my Dad will loan me the other half), and might try and spring for the 4870X2, but that may be wishful thinking.

Oh, and I know this may sound silly, but I havn't had a new PC game in a long time. Even though my current monitor res is 1280x1024, in games I could lower/raise the res to increase/decrease quality, is that still possible?
 
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Fire Wizard said:
You may be interested in these two following articles that are up to date and compare ATI Radeon 4870 and the Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 Core 216 quite closely. :)
Click to expand...

The 260 he's chosen is the OCX version though which beats the 4870 at everything and is very close to the 280 for most games. Its a wise choice IMO.

Oh and yes, I have the same model :D
 
Cybermyk said:
The 260 he's chosen is the OCX version though which beats the 4870 at everything and is very close to the 280 for most games. Its a wise choice IMO.

Oh and yes, I have the same model :D
Click to expand...

I'm a little sceptical about the whole 'Overclocked out the box' thing; some guy on the Graphics Card board said he had to underclock his to get it to run stable, and that it was a common problem :S

Also, I heard that ATi's driver are currently far superior, and I have had better experiences with ATi. It'll come down to prices in the end however.
 
Swi1ch said:
I'm a little sceptical about the whole 'Overclocked out the box' thing; some guy on the Graphics Card board said he had to underclock his to get it to run stable, and that it was a common problem :S

Also, I heard that ATi's driver are currently far superior, and I have had better experiences with ATi. It'll come down to prices in the end however.
Click to expand...

His was probably faulty or a mismatch with his board/PSU then, mine isn't. It's managed all tests so far. Some reviews have clocked them even further.
 
I've had about 4 different pre-overclocked cards from bfg and been able to push them further without any problems. Also I've just got the 260 maxcore myself and its a great card :)
 
Had a massive overhaul of the spec, as you can see:

newspec.jpg


Seems like an idea. £1.5k rather than £1.2k, but much better graphics card and generally better parts.

Graphics card subject to change dependant upon release of GTX295 (Buying mid-Jan most likely) so might change to 4870 etc all depends on prices.
 
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