The Best Gaming Rigs for around $1,500. Your advice

[FreedomEclipse]

you wont kill them so long as you got a good cooler, decent airflow inside your case & dont overvolt them too much

 

[Deleted member 74752]

4.5GHz on a i5 is like 4GHz on a 920 except you can do it on air with the i5.

 

[strafter]

Years...you won't kill one of these chips.

Well I am not talking about killing it so much as when does it start having to run games on low to medium settings. It sounds to me like that system would last 2 years. Is that accurate?

Also I watched that video, how are you planning to OC with such tight quarters and overheating problems?

Also, you guys keep talking about airflow and cooling, any tips on that? Any secrets? I am assuming you should look for a power supply with detachable cables, but what other secrets are there? And what are some good products? I usually just use stock parts as far as heatsinks and fans.

 

[Deleted member 74752]

Have you not been paying attention? These chips don't produce the heat like a 920 will. All the heat from the 5870 will be exhausted from the case. I assure you this has been thought out. Just thought you might want to consider as it is easy and loads of fun to overclock...and the quads beat it at nothing in gaming.

 

[brandonwh64]

I would pull the nvidia cards you have listed off cause of the overpriced DX10. add fermi cards if you want a nvidia option

 

[strafter]

Have you not been paying attention? These chips don't produce the heat like a 920 will. All the heat from the 5870 will be exhausted from the case. I assure you this has been thought out. Just thought you might want to consider as it is easy and loads of fun to overclock...and the quads beat it at nothing in gaming.

But what about future gaming. I don't want to be short sited. Devs must soon jump on the hyperthreading train right? What happens when games take advantage of every core?

I mean it doesn't matter what rig I make. Any rig over $1000 is guaranteed to play any game on ultra high for at least 1-2 years. So when we think about a gaming rig we have to think 2 years down the line as far as longevity goes. And I believe in 2 years games will be utilizing hyperthreading. So will the 920 beat out the i5 if all cores are utilized?

 

[Deleted member 74752]

Maybe, but I live for the here and now...

 

[FreedomEclipse]

stick with the 5970's they consume less power then the GTX470/480 & perform a little better too. unless you are gonna be folding...

 

[strafter]

stick with the 5970's they consume less power then the GTX470/480 & perform a little better too. unless you are gonna be folding...

I was really hoping to stay away from ATI... I guess I don't really have a reason, it's just I got really pissed with them over dropping the x1950 to legacy driver support and thus F(*^&#ing me over with Bad Company 2. Now I can't even play BFBC2 because of ATI's crappy driver support!

But I guess it's too much to ask to see a machine run more than 3 years.... SIGH

Anyway, what about the new NVIDIA cards? And what about the i9's? When to they hit the streets. When do you guys think the optimal time to buy is going to be as far as all the parts and pieces?

I'd like to have a computer in July at the latest, but obviously price aside, I'd rather have a rig as soon as possible. So where is the sweet sweet balance? Opinions?

 

[brandonwh64]

Wait? they have 10.2 drivers for the x1950?

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Legacy/Pages/radeonaiw_xp.aspx?type=2.4.1&product=2.4.1.3.13&lang=English

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I was really hoping to stay away from ATI... I guess I don't really have a reason, it's just I got really pissed with them over dropping the x1950 to legacy driver support and thus F(*^&#ing me over with Bad Company 2. Now I can't even play BFBC2 because of ATI's crappy driver support!

But I guess it's too much to ask to see a machine run more than 3 years.... SIGH

Anyway, what about the new NVIDIA cards? And what about the i9's? When to they hit the streets. When do you guys think the optimal time to buy is going to be as far as all the parts and pieces?

I'd like to have a computer in July at the latest, but obviously price aside, I'd rather have a rig as soon as possible. So where is the sweet sweet balance? Opinions?

well you can go with the 470/480 if you wish - just lettin you know they probably wont be bang for buck nor the most efficient cards compared to ATi's offerings. but its your call. & I apologise but 'hating' on ATi because they dropped X1950 support is silly & if thats your reason for not buying ATi cards then you are a fool as its a really petty reason to just say you wont touch ATi again (no disrespect to you) the X1950 is an old card - they had to drop support some time & the same thing happends everywhere else so its pointless to cry about it.

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'Gulftowns' however will be released in Q2 2010 according to fudzilla. no exact date yet.

 

[strafter]

Yea... but you go out and buy Bad Company 2 when it says it is supported and sit down for opening night all excited to play it and then have it utterly and completely FAIL.... That does something to a man, makes him make rash decisions and say stuff he doesnt mean.

I know it is stupid, it is actually DICE EA's fault and I have said I am never buying another EA game, but hah, that one aint gonna hold up. The minute BF3 comes out I'll be out in line at 12 am to get it..

And I am still open on the topic. What do you think the premium is in dollars if you wanted the EXACT SAME performance from an ATI card and an NVIDIA card? $50? $100?

Also what about the 3rd party goodies? Doesn't Nvidia have a whole line of like 3D gizmos and a lot of research and development prototype stuff they are looking into? What about ATI?

Wait? they have 10.2 drivers for the x1950?

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Legacy/Pages/radeonaiw_xp.aspx?type=2.4.1&product=2.4.1.3.13&lang=English

When I download that and try to install those drivers I get nothing.... It is another common problem a lot of users of the 1950 have. Another point out of ATI's favor. Maybe I am missing something, but I have heavily researched the topic.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I didnt understand what you meant about the premium for ATi/Nvidia - please repeat in engrish. are you talking about the price premium to get 470/480 to perform as good as ATi's top cards??

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have you tried 3rd party 'optimised' drivers?? Omega. DNA & NGO are a few of the names that do them

 

[JrRacinFan]

Just my .02 on the vid card talk. Go with a 5770 or 5850, best bang for buck IMO. Unless you plan on F@H, then GTX275 or GTX470.

 

[strafter]

I didnt understand what you meant about the premium for ATi/Nvidia - please repeat in engrish. are you talking about the price premium to get 470/480 to perform as good as ATi's top cards??

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have you tried 3rd party 'optimised' drivers?? Omega. DNA & NGO are a few of the names that do them

What I mean is, you said the best ATI cards outperform the best NVIDIA. So let's say you have 2 comparable cards that would give you the same performance. One from NVID one from ATI. How much more would I expect to pay for an NVIDIA card. And what exactly are you paying for when you buy NVIDIA? Anything, or is it just marked up because they advertise the hell outta it and its on every game "The way it's meant to be played"?

On the other part, I have heard of Omega Drivers, and they work slightly better, but still crash, and they don't play well with the rest of my games, nor are they updated really so I can't use them, what are the other ones you've listed, I never heard of those. Are there any other 3rd party Radeon drivers out there that might be able to solve my problem?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

ah - read some GTX 470/480 reviews there are enough of them floating around already. as Jr said - a 5850 is still amazing bang for buck but doesnt perform close to the 470/480.

asside from CUDA, PhysX & of course folding asside from that nothing much (unless im missing something) - your paying for the usual getup

but with ATi there is more features such as eyefinity & also lower power consumption.

& the rest I dont really know about - I only read the benchmark results & power consumption/noise charts.

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im not too sure about solving your problesm but NGO & DNA as well as Omega have been on the driver scene for a very long time. Ive used Omega drivers back in the early days but I have always stuck with the official drivers - I cant garantee that the 3rd party drivers will fix your problems but its worth a try as they are usually the ones that will keep offering drivers even though ATi/Nvidia have stopped.

just remember to run driversweeper after each uninstall

 

[Fishymachine]

I noticed something last night...you guys are all saying he should put the second HD5850/GTX470 on a PCI-E x4...and as for scale http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/EAH_5850_TOP_DirectCu/31.html
a 5850 @850 core performs exactly like a stock 5870

 

[strafter]

I noticed something last night...you guys are all saying he should put the second HD5850/GTX470 on a PCI-E x4...and as for scale http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/EAH_5850_TOP_DirectCu/31.html
a 5850 @850 core performs exactly like a stock 5870

Sorry, you'll have to forgive my nubness here, what does this mean? Again I am just an infant when it comes to OC'ing, I have much to learn, but I'd like to start here at the TPU Forums!

EDIT: After further review I understand the second part about the EAH 5850 performing equal with the 5870, but I still don't understand about the first part. Everyone keeps referring to scale, does that just refer to a cards OC potential?

 

[strafter]

How exactly do 2 GPU's scale? What I am asking is when looking at
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/EAH_5850_TOP_DirectCu/31.html
obviously I can't just take the readings from 2 5850's and add them together can I? So how do I compare 2 5850's to a 5970?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

How exactly do 2 GPU's scale? What I am asking is when looking at
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/EAH_5850_TOP_DirectCu/31.html
obviously I can't just take the readings from 2 5850's and add them together can I? So how do I compare 2 5850's to a 5970?

well it obviously falls short against the 5970 - after all the 5970 is a top range card compared to the 5850 which is more mid-range.

its probably also more dependant on the games you play. if you are a heavy gamer or not & how big your monitor is

 

[strafter]

well it obviously falls short against the 5970 - after all the 5970 is a top range card compared to the 5850 which is more mid-range.

its probably also more dependant on the games you play. if you are a heavy gamer or not & how big your monitor is

Yea but I am talking about 2 cards vs 1 card. Why would they obviously fall short. I mean price-wise (2) 5850's are roughly the same as (1) 5970, so which set-up gives you the most bang for your buck.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Yea but I am talking about 2 cards vs 1 card. Why would they obviously fall short. I mean price-wise (2) 5850's are roughly the same as (1) 5970, so which set-up gives you the most bang for your buck.

Im not familiar with USD prices but the 5970 would be faster because you dont need to run a crossfirebridge to link the cards up. (unless you plan to get 2 5970's) from what reviews a 5970 is just a little bit faster then 2 5850's - a gap that can be closed if you can overlock the 5850's.

I think the 5850 is the clear winner here - but there are some games where the 5850 CF doesnt fair so well agains the 5970

here are some reviews from Hexus & Guru3d

 

[strafter]

Great reviews. Whats clear after reading through those is that 5850's Crossfired almost no matter what game it is (other than Crysis Warhead which was an anomaly) always outperform the beefier single 5970. And at the current pricing scheme's you can also get 2 5850's for $50 less than a single 5970. So as far as bang for your buck goes in terms of a single 5970 vs double 5850's my money's on the 5850XF. Anyone see any flaw to this?

My question is do you guys think a single 5850 is sufficient to run any game out there for the next year on the very highest of settings with no visible issues? I am not talking benchmarks or F@H or any of that, just pure gaming fun. My plan is to build the computer with 1 5850 if possible then purchase the 2nd and 3rd later down the line when they are cheaper and I actually need them. Good idea?

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I think that once the drivers mature for the the 5970 - it will really start to pull away from 2 CF 5850's

I think with the i5/i7/i9 processor - you can easily get the most out of a single 5850 but no one can tell how the card will hold up for year - If the industry release games with higher GPU requirements then its all a bit of a gamble. best you can do is overclock that 5850 & hope for the best. similar to what im doing with my 4870's overclocked & still getting excellent frames on bad company 2 with everything set to high.

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the 5850 will run every current game perfectly with the exception of Crysis.

 

[Fishymachine]

Well P55/H55/H57 have 1 PCI-E x16 and 1 PCI-E x4(except for MSI trinergy,or something like that) and that means that a dual card rig will perform worse than one having a X58 (with two 16 lane slots) board (which only supports i7 9xx)
Again in favor of 5850 Crossfire,and to be more precise either the Asus from the above review or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...27500&cm_re=5850-_-14-127-500-_-Product,since these come overvolting BIOS
And as for CF scaling...I might get some scolding for this.. both Crossfire and SLI are basically "mirror" techniques,that's why they scale to at the most 180% of the worst card...and since a 5850(especially an OC'ed one) loses on a x4 slot as much as 25%,the hole rig should have 75% of the framerates of a X58
There is also Lucid Hydra,which,is still experimental to be honest,divides the workload but I haven't really seen any boards and they should be very expensive and that could work with a Lynfield...but that's a different story,and if a recall well Price Charming gets eaten in it