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

[strafter]

@ Fishy

Yea I think you just sold me, I am definitely looking at the X58 board (probably the ASRock for best affordability) and a i7 930. Correct me if I am wrong but the x58 boards have 3 x16 slots correct?

I think I am going to go with the i7 930, the X58 and a single 5850 for the first 6-12 months and then an additional 5850 after the first 6-12 months and a 3rd 5850 at around year 2. I think after research that will give the best gaming performance over time at the MOST cost effective point. Anyone see this to be incorrect?

 

[Fishymachine]

most do,even dough some work x16-x8-x8 in tri-fire,but that's still good enough
930...agree,higher multiplier is better despite similar overclock
and yep get a twin frozr or a cucore now and another later on
and as for brand...if I'm not mistaking ASRock is the cheap division of Asus...so seems decent enough...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=asrock_x58_extreme-_-13-157-163-_-Product
for RAM the Corsair from earlier seem good,unless some discount came along the way

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I think I am going to go with the i7 930, the X58 and a single 5850 for the first 6-12 months and then an additional 5850 after the first 6-12 months and a 3rd 5850 at around year 2. I think after research that will give the best gaming performance over time at the MOST cost effective point. Anyone see this to be incorrect?

from what ive seen in benchmarks against a GTX 470 & 480. Id stay that you you got the extra cash. why not invest in 1 powerful card instead of going crossfire the 5970 currently punches way above the 480. in most tests - even in crysis.

If you do get a 5970, not only will it save a bit of power, it will also create less heat, minimise the likely hood of 'un-optimised' problematic crossfire drivers & still give you excellent performance for a long time to come.

it boils down to how much you really need that sort of performance though.

heres another review that makes a good read if you got the time check out the 5970's performance, the heat & power consumption of the 480.

 

[deaffob]

holy crap? here I was thinking 650 for 5970 is too much but it's now 699 at newegg! Def go for cheaper 2X 5850! BTW unless you need all those HDD space, buy 1 HDD and 1 SDD imo.

 

[Fishymachine]

why not 5970...because you can't OC to 1000 core and in 6 months time a second 5850 will be as cheap as dirt

 

[Socratus]

holy crap? here I was thinking 650 for 5970 is too much but it's now 699 at newegg! Def go for cheaper 2X 5850! BTW unless you need all those HDD space, buy 1 HDD and 1 SDD imo.

Google.com/products in your hands
625$ W/Shipping ASUS HD5970 Voltage Tweak Edition
http://www.provantage.com/asus-eah5970g2dis2gd5~7ASU916V.htm

 

[strafter]

Yea I just think the 5970 isnt really the best route. First of all I will get a whole bunch of 'useless power' Here's what I mean. I can buy a 5970 for $625 (thanks Socratus ) and play every game for the next 2 or 3 years on high settings. OR I can buy one 5850 for $275 and play all the games out today on super high settings for 1 year or maybe more, and than buy another one at $175 or less and end up with a better or equal performance output as the 5970 and then at year 3 I can either buy a 3rd for 5850 for NOTHING practically. The 5850 option gives me the perfect gaming over time output and I can eventually buy 3 5850's for less than the price I would pay for a 5970 today.

Are there ANY faults with this logic?

If you look at the front page I am updating it to my most current specs, should be updated within 10 minutes, let me know what you think of my most current build. It is going to be a 930 with one initial 5850 and 6 gigs ram.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Why not wait until next month and see a review on an AMD x6?

 

[strafter]

I am not quite hammered out on the MoBo yet. Does anyone know any reason why the ASRock ISN'T a good choice? I mean I am no MoBo guru like some guys out there, to me it looks like it has all the right stuff.

It has 3 PCI x16 which is the most important.

My only concerns are the audio and the storage options see below

Storage Devices
PATA 1 x ATA133 IDE connector (supports 2 x IDE devices)
SATA 3Gb/s 6
SATA RAID 0/1/5/10 Matrix RAID

Does that mean my 6GB/s harddrives I have selected are useless? And is this a big deal or not?

Onboard Audio
Audio Chipset Realtek ALC890
Audio Channels 8 Channels

Is this a decent on board audio set-up?

As always thanks for your expert help guys you are the best!

 

[strafter]

Why not wait until next month and see a review on an AMD x6?

Ok I'll bite and show my ignorance here, what is the AMD x6? Ok ok I know it is their new processor, but does anyone know how it is going to compete with the i-series? Prices? Release date?

 

[TheMailMan78]

Next month. Top end is $295. Who knows how it will fair. Thats why I said wait

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Id still be fairly sceptical about AMDs processors to date - Im not saying they cant suddenly turnout this amazing processor that will finally win them back some of the market share - but if the previous processors are anything to go by & also by intels progress AMD have to pray to many gods. as always AMD must remain competitive but with Intels agressive price cutting that will be very difficult.

so yeah - expect better then AMDs current processor - but not much greater. I doubt they will suddenly finally come up with an answer to the Core 2 series overnight. but who am i to judge.

it would be fucking amazing if they rolled out a processor that could really compete with the i5's & i7's so people dont feel the need to buy into AMD on a whim because AMDs processors genuinely perform better like the good old days when AMD64's were kicking the P4's ass.

if not - price cut should be pretty nice

 

[strafter]

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-470-480-review/35

Just read this great article from Guru. I am going to have to really put my thinking cap on as far as the 470 vs the 5850 scenario goes. It seems that the 470 outperforms the 5850 in most games and that it has some tricks up its sleeves as well with PHYSX and CUDA. Obviously it is coming at a cost premium, but since I have decided to just go with 1 card out the gate I am thinking possibly I could afford it. What do you guys think? Is the 470 worth it?

EDIT: BUT at $350 would I end up just bumping it up another $40 and go with the 5870 which crushes the 470.... ?

 

[TheMailMan78]

Id still be fairly sceptical about AMDs processors to date - Im not saying they cant suddenly turnout this amazing processor that will finally win them back some of the market share - but if the previous processors are anything to go by & also by intels progress AMD have to pray to many gods. as always AMD must remain competitive but with Intels agressive price cutting that will be very difficult.

so yeah - expect better then AMDs current processor - but not much greater. I doubt they will suddenly finally come up with an answer to the Core 2 series overnight. but who am i to judge.

it would be fucking amazing if they rolled out a processor that could really compete with the i5's & i7's so people dont feel the need to buy into AMD on a whim because AMDs processors genuinely perform better like the good old days when AMD64's were kicking the P4's ass.

if not - price cut should be pretty nice

Well he wants a gaming PC and AMD as a whole is a cheaper platform. Not by much anymore but still cheaper. For gaming AMD does a GREAT job. Just as good as any Intel made. Also I wouldnt be surprised if the new x6 tied the i7 in most things. However I doubt it will beat it.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-470-480-review/35

Just read this great article from Guru. I am going to have to really put my thinking cap on as far as the 470 vs the 5850 scenario goes. It seems that the 470 outperforms the 5850 in most games and that it has some tricks up its sleeves as well with PHYSX and CUDA. Obviously it is coming at a cost premium, but since I have decided to just go with 1 card out the gate I am thinking possibly I could afford it. What do you guys think? Is the 470 worth it?

EDIT: BUT at $350 would I end up just bumping it up another $40 and go with the 5870 which crushes the 470.... ?

Um a 5850 is a MUCH better buy than the 470.

 

[deaffob]

I don't think it's worth it. If you wanna pay some premium, go triple 480 or 2X5890. Personally I would just go with a 5850 and get another in the future. I'd save a lot of money that way. No matter what you buy right now, it'll be medium-end soon anyway.

@FreedomEclipse AMD CPUs' strong point is their price/performance ratio. 965E is just as good as any i7. Synthetic benches don't mean much in gaming. i7s are just little bit better. Their top-end is 300? What about intel's top-end? $1200 I'll just laugh at anyone who buy that kind cpu.

 

[mastrdrver]

Since you main point is gaming, you will not see a difference between AMD and Intel. You also won't see a difference between 4.5Ghz and 3.33Ghz as long as you have a quad minimum at your resolution.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

On the 5970 thing, don't do it. I've been down that road with a 4870x2. You will get better clocks and the gpus will run cooler with 2 cards instead or 1.

The real AMD vs Intel question is how much do you want to pay for your 6 core cpu? 1366 is required and I think the 970 is suppose to be the cheapest at ~$600. AMD will get you a BE for ~$300 plus you can spend the extra coin on one of those nice 890FX boards to get your 16x/16x Crossfire action on.

On motherboards, spend the money and get something good. The old saying "you get what your pay for" is true when it comes to those cheaper high end boards. I've had 3 Asus Intel boards (2x 775s and 1x 1366), 2 Gigabyte AMDs, and 1 MSI AMD board. I want to try out a AMD Asus board just to confirm it, but would spend the money extra money on a Gigabyte board any day but (assuming here based on Intel experience) would rather have a Asus board given the option. While the two Gigabyte boards clock very well, the components can be twitchy sometimes on them. Never had this problem on any of my Asus boards but would like to eventually get an AMD one just to make sure. Don't get me wrong, the Gigabyte boards have been very good almost all the time. Its just those few times that I've had problems, I've never have experienced that on an Asus board.

 

[strafter]

Well he wants a gaming PC and AMD as a whole is a cheaper platform. Not by much anymore but still cheaper. For gaming AMD does a GREAT job. Just as good as any Intel made. Also I wouldnt be surprised if the new x6 tied the i7 in most things. However I doubt it will beat it.

Since you main point is gaming, you will not see a difference between AMD and Intel. You also won't see a difference between 4.5Ghz and 3.33Ghz as long as you have a quad minimum at your resolution.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

Sorry, I've been outta the game a while, why is AMD good for gaming but not other things?

Um a 5850 is a MUCH better buy than the 470.

Why is this? I mean dollars aside, because the 470 is about $75 more obviously. The 470 is a better card am I right? Are you just stating that performance/$ the ATI is better? Because I would agree with you on that.

What is you all's opinion then on the 5850 vs the 5870? If I am only going to be running one card for at least a year and I want the highest of high settings on 1680x1050 do you think the 5850 is not gonna cut the mustard? Do I need the 5870 to be sure it will last over a year before XF.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

I don't think it's worth it. If you wanna pay some premium, go triple 480 or 2X5890.

when 1 480 is already hot you want to have 3 of them - not to mention the 1.5k/W PSU you'd have to buy to support everything. also a new case with good airflow, Aircon your room to keep ambient temps down & a fat wallet - not just to pay for everything else already mentioned but also future electricity bills too because your gonna be selling your body to pay your bills. its a stupid idea - but if you got cash to waste then more power to you.

Sorry, I've been outta the game a while, why is AMD good for gaming but not other things?

Generally - AMD processors arent as 'perfect' as intels - the topline Phenom II X4's arent as efficient somewhat & tend to eat a lot of voltage (1.5v+) to get to 4ghz (or at least that was the case in Guru3D's review or the 965BE) its a bit difficult to explain really.

the only saving grace is the price which here is around £150 but just £10 more can get you an i5 750 which will clock to 4.2Ghz & much much higher with the right gear & at that speed it will totally smash the 965 BE not just in synthetic benchmarks but in gaming also!

you can do a lot with a quad core processor - correct, but you can do it a lot faster with the right quad IMHO.

that is my personal opinion. its hard to recommend AMD compared to the performance of what the i5 750 gives you. for the same or slightly more money.

 

[Socratus]

1. You should get motherboard (whatever Intel or AMD) with SATA III Support. I am predicting we will meet SSD Hard Drives with SATA III in the near future.
2. IMO, i5 platform (LGA 1156) is not the best choice for future, maybe because of future upgrading for cheaper gulftowns. X58 or 890FX.
3. Myself is building too gaming rig, but around 2000$. Already built a list of hardware, tell me if you wanna look at

 

[strafter]

1. You should get motherboard (whatever Intel or AMD) with SATA III Support. I am predicting we will meet SSD Hard Drives with SATA III in the near future.
2. IMO, i5 platform (LGA 1156) is not the best choice for future, maybe because of future upgrading for cheaper gulftowns. X58 or 890FX.
3. Myself is building too gaming rig, but around 2000$. Already built a list of hardware, tell me if you wanna look at

1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157163 where would it say it is SATA III?
2. I think I have already totally written the i5 off the list, I am almost definitely going with the i7 930 I think. I'll look at the x6, but won't hold my breath
3. PLEASE I'd love to see what you got cooking, PM or if youre feeling couragous post it here for all to see! =)

 

[Binge]

I love how all the reputable folks who game every day are being ignored by the OP lol

@ Fishy

Yea I think you just sold me, I am definitely looking at the X58 board (probably the ASRock for best affordability) and a i7 930. Correct me if I am wrong but the x58 boards have 3 x16 slots correct?

I think I am going to go with the i7 930, the X58 and a single 5850 for the first 6-12 months and then an additional 5850 after the first 6-12 months and a 3rd 5850 at around year 2. I think after research that will give the best gaming performance over time at the MOST cost effective point. Anyone see this to be incorrect?

I find a serious flaw with this logic.

 

[Socratus]

Here is it:

Emm, little mistake on the top. AMD Phenom II X4 960T* not X6

 

[Binge]

Add $150 to your total, pay for shipping, and I'll sell you my rig with a cherry picked 930 in it, OCed.

 

[Socratus]

Add $150 to your total, pay for shipping, and I'll sell you my rig with a cherry picked 930 in it, OCed.

No thanks, i'm not from US..Shipping over 20 lbs costs billions $$
Anyway, how is that Intel/AMD builds look like?

 

[Binge]

No thanks, i'm not from US..Shipping over 20 lbs costs billions $$
Anyway, how is that Intel/AMD builds look like?

I was talking to the OP, not you. I don't personally like your builds, but that's just me.