Best of 3 Systems for value/performance

[olliiee]

Looking for a gaming pc that will last me 1+ years running games on max/almost max settings. ie I don't want to spend $540 now and have it perform poorly managing to only play it on low settings in 6 months when BF3/COD/Whatever else is coming out is released.

I have done a bit of research and designed three systems. The lowest possible amount spent is ideal. My current favourite is option 2 because the board is eligible for the AM3+ update (http://event.asus.com/2011/mb/AM3_PLUS_Ready/) and supports crossfire. So in 12+ months time I'll just upgrade the CPU to Bulldozer and add an additional 6870.

The PSU I've also done extensive research and is apparantly very capable (can handle any crossfire thrown at it) and has a 5 year warranty! +it was reconmended for use on the Coolermaster PSU calculator so it must be good enough.

I want to be able to play games like Crysis on max settings and for it to keep up for a year or more until I upgrade the RAM, Crossfire and if I go for option 2 upgrade CPU to Bulldozer.

Option 1:
CASE: Antec Three Hundred – $55
PSU: Thermaltake LitePower 500Watt – $ 57
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition – $148
MOBO: Asus M4A87TD-USB3 Motherboard – $99
RAM: Kingston KVR 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333 – $44
HDD: Hitachi 3.5" Deskstar 1TB SATA HDD $59
GPU: Radeon HD6870 1GB – $220

Total = $686

Option 2:
CASE: Antec Three Hundred – $55
PSU: CoolerMaster GX 550W 80+ – $ 90
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition – $148
MOBO: Asus M4A89GTD-USB3 Motherboard – $166
RAM: Kingston KVR 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1333 – $44
HDD: Hitachi 3.5" Deskstar 1TB SATA HDD $59
GPU: Radeon HD6870 1GB – $220

Total = $786

Option 3:
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500 $219
Mobo: Asrock P67 Pro3 B3 $169
RAM: Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1333 $44
HDD: Hitachi 3.5" Deskstar 1TB SATA HDD $59
GPU: 1GB AMD Radeon HD6870 $220
Case: Antec Three Hundred – $55
PSU: CoolerMaster GX 550W 80+ – $ 90

Total: $856

(I don't want to spend over 700... but I suppose if the i5 is THAT much better I can deal with the money) also is the 6870 in crossfire comparable to like a 6950?

And finally should I be holding off a few months for something new thats coming out that I'm not aware of or just bite the bullet now..

Thankyou in advance

Want to run it on 2 screens when I get the $$ for a second 22"+ plus monitor (1920x1200)

 

[olliiee]

@jtt283 how does this PSU look? http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=140&bid=2&sid=59999

I have a friend who is ademate that AMD X4 955 will perform equally to the i5 2500 and I should save the $100 to spend on a better monitor etc :/

Am I going to see a significant drop in performance from a 2500 or 2400 or 2300 although I wouldnt save much on that front....

Also GTX560, will it handle dual monitors, one at 1920x1080 one at 1680x1050 or is the HD 6870 a better option for this?

 

[ethel]

@jtt283 how does this PSU look? http://www.umart.com.au/pro/products_listnew.phtml?id=10&id2=140&bid=2&sid=59999

I have a friend who is ademate that AMD X4 955 will perform equally to the i5 2500 and I should save the $100 to spend on a better monitor etc :/

Am I going to see a significant drop in performance from a 2500 or 2400 or 2300 although I wouldnt save much on that front....

Also GTX560, will it handle dual monitors, one at 1920x1080 one at 1680x1050 or is the HD 6870 a better option for this?

The PSU looks a little underpowered but it should cope.

Your friend is wrong, the sandybridge chips are awesomely fast. You may not actually notice the difference, however (as you're doing mostly gaming the GPU is the main thing).

The GTX560 will easily give you dual 2d desktop (even an integrated gpu could do this)

 

[banthracis]

However, it is still a luck of the draw and I'd be shocked if the success rate was more than 50%

Actually it's 100% for reference boards. They don't use bad chips, they just disable the shaders and use cheaper memory. It's better to just unlock the shaders and overclock the core a bit than to flash to 6970.

False. I've personally gone through 8 6950's 2gb reference designs from several vendors this year.

So far only 3 are stable unlocked under furmark.

There's a huge difference btwn simply enabling disabled shaders, which you can do on 100% of the cards, and having these disabled shaders actually work properly under load.

 

[olliiee]

The PSU looks a little underpowered but it should cope.

Your friend is wrong, the sandybridge chips are awesomely fast. You may not actually notice the difference, however (as you're doing mostly gaming the GPU is the main thing).

The GTX560 will easily give you dual 2d desktop (even an integrated gpu could do this)

So you think a 2300 will perform aswell as for as long as a 2500? or is it worth spending the extra $20?

When I say will it handle I mean will I be losing alot of performance while playing games if I do this with the 560?
I've read alot of forums about the GTX 560Ti failing on startup with dual monitors so I guess I'm leaning towards single monitor or downgrading to the HD6870.. :/

 

[Onus]

That PSU is decent.
Introduce your friend to the wonderful world of benchmarks. Like I said, the 955BE can play any game, but it is not as fast. In some games, the difference will be insignificant. In others (e.g. Starcraft 2), it is a lot. Look through benchmarks of the games you want to play, or at least the type(s) of games.
I recently chose a GTX560Ti because I wanted to max Civilization V, and I wanted PhysX because I have Sacred 2. Just as CPU benchmarks can help you decide if AMD is good enough (it may well be), so they can also help you choose a GPU.

 

[olliiee]

Thanks for your advice guys!
However I have slept on my builds and seeing as I wouldn't be able to get some of these products from my local PC store for 2 weeks or so +an extra week for putting it together installing windows etc seeing as I can really only do stuff on the weekends as I have school all week. This means I wouldn't be able to get my system together for 3 weeks or so and by then I'd be in the thick of my assesment (final year of highschool) so wouldn't have time to play around on it until my holidays 3-4 weeks later (Mid-June till Mid-July).

With this in mind I figured I was better off saving all my pennys till the week before holidays go buy my gear and then I can use it over the holidays and if I get a dud part I can return it. This also gives me the option of waiting to see what Bulldozer brings which I've heard will be released June 7th or July even which could only lower the price of an i5 chip or give me a better AMD one!

 

[banthracis]

Clock for clock, don't expect BD to be better than SB. However, where there could be a big shift is performance for the money. Keep in mind that gaming wise, you're still fine with a phenom II x4 or core 2 quad.

Especially at high resolutions and with eye candy on, the GPU not cpu is the bottleneck to playability. Even in games that are CPU bound, you won't see this until well over 40FPS.

 

[olliiee]

Yeah I figure BD is either going to be alot better than sandy bridge and therefore cost shitloads and make inte chips cheaper. Or its going to perform at a slightly lower level than sandy bridge and therefore BD will be pretty cheap. Either way I'm going to have to wait a while anyway, may aswell wait another 2-3 weeks and see what happens, prices will only fall. If I do stick with the i5 I'm pretty sure this will let me run atleast 2 years of games at medium

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500 $219
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-P8H67MA - $119
RAM: Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1333 - $44
HDD: 1TB SATA HDD 7200RPM Samsung Spinpoint - $65
GPU: Sapphire ATI HD6950 2GB - $300
Case: Antec Three Hundred - $55
PSU: Antec 520W ATX NEO 520C ECO PSU - $68

 

[Onus]

I'd think that would run most games maxed out, likely for at least another year.

 

[banthracis]

Well, until next gen consoles come out, I don't think any game would be an issue for your current setup. Problem is that most major game companies make multiplatform games which need to work on 6 yr old hardware, aka PS3 and xbox 360.

The few that make PC exclusives, like blizzard, make PC games that'll work on 6 year old PC's.

The only exceptions are 3d and eyefinity/surround or getting a 2560x1600 monitor. Those would probably require an upgrade.

 

[olliiee]

Nah I wouldn't be using eyefinity or anything I sit fairly close to my screen less than half a metre I'd say so monitors much more than 24inches I'd have to turn my head to look from one side to another