- Oct 21, 2012
- 71
- 1
- 18,630
This is my current plan for the build, which is for bf3 at/near ultra at 1920x1080:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nkqH
I'm thinking of changing the ram to corsair vengeance 2x4gb (http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmz8gx3m2a1600c9), which is cheaper and matches the mobo, but has a cas (?idk but I hear lower is better) of 9.
The psu is so high because I want to be able to upgrade in the future, but should I get a modular/non psu, and should it have a lower or higher wattage if I am not going to sli immediately, but might consider 2 sli later?
Does a ssd improve performance as well as speeding boot and load times? I can live with longer loads as long as they are under 1-2 min. But if a ssd would increase performance as well, then I would be more likely to get one.
How much of a concern is the limited number of writes on ssd issue anyway? I think I read somewhere that one would have to be read/writing many Gb a day for several years to risk breaking a ssd. Installation of a game like bf3 would only happen once (plus updates), but what about things like loading youtube videos? Those can be very big, depending on length and quality of the video. Would there be a way to set temporary data like that and swap space onto the spinning hd?
Does the cpu cooler I picked come with a thermal paste, or should I get a seperate one? This article(http://www.geforce.com/optimize/guides/how-to-build-a-kick-ass-battlefield-3-pc/#3) recommended IC Diamond 24-Carat, but is stock (if it is supplied) ok for a light overclock?
I looked at the gigabyte mobo and found that it is very similar to the asrock mobo, except it supports mSATA and the asrock doesn't. Does that mean a ssd would not work with the asrock mobo?
About the catalyst 12.11 driver: should I let that influence my choice of gpu?
Before that update, most of the benchmarks I looked at for 1920x1080 bf3 ultra showed that the nvidia 670 beat the radeon 7970 (non ghz). I only found one benchmark for those settings created after the driver update, so should I change my plans to reflect that, or wait for more benchmarks or a nvidia driver?
I guess the real question is whether the new ati driver's performance is worth $50 more ($400 for 7970 non ghz, I found evga ftw 670 for 350 w/rebate)
Since I'm trying to future-proof this build, I'm planning to get windows 8 (would go with ubuntu if wine supported bf3). Is that a good idea, or should I just get 7 and upgrade when it is no longer supported? I could easily adapt to the new interface or change it, but I like 7's better currently.
Is there any way to tell how loud these parts are going to be? I almost considered putting a sound-dampened case, but would that help/is it necessary?
I found a build similar to this one on craiglist: http://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/sys/3370368415.html
not including the monitor I put in the pcparts build, the prices are similar. The case and cpu in the craig build are better, but there is no guarantee on the condition of the parts (even though post says built new for sale). Also, I wouldn't get to build it my self except for plugging in gpu. Still, is this a better deal than my pcpartpicker plan?
If this benchmark (http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/05/10/nvidia-geforce-gtx-670-2gb-review/5) shows 670 can get past 75 fps on ultra 1980x1080, do I need to get a monitor with more than 60 hz refresh? I've heard that a 60 hz monitor limits fps to 60. Would a fps of 75 be a noticable improvement, or would it cause screen tearing? The monitor in the pcpartspicker build above has a horizontal refresh of 30~83 KHz, and a vertical refresh of 50~75 Hz. What is the difference between vertical and horizontal refresh? If vertical refresh is more important, would a 50~75 Hz rate mean it can be set permanently at 75, or does it vary? Should I skip this monitor and get a 120hz, or would this monitor be good enough, since the 670 can only get 75 fps?
Most of these questions were already posted on another thread (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/370123-31-want-opinion-build-plan), but after my last post, the thread got buried under 2-3 pages of new threads. I tried posting another post, but with the same result.
In the future, what should I do if I get no response in 1-2 days? Should I post new posts on the same thread to bring it up to the top, or should I create a new thread like I am doing now?
I know this is a lot at once, but thanks for reading and answering these questions!
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nkqH
I'm thinking of changing the ram to corsair vengeance 2x4gb (http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmz8gx3m2a1600c9), which is cheaper and matches the mobo, but has a cas (?idk but I hear lower is better) of 9.
The psu is so high because I want to be able to upgrade in the future, but should I get a modular/non psu, and should it have a lower or higher wattage if I am not going to sli immediately, but might consider 2 sli later?
Does a ssd improve performance as well as speeding boot and load times? I can live with longer loads as long as they are under 1-2 min. But if a ssd would increase performance as well, then I would be more likely to get one.
How much of a concern is the limited number of writes on ssd issue anyway? I think I read somewhere that one would have to be read/writing many Gb a day for several years to risk breaking a ssd. Installation of a game like bf3 would only happen once (plus updates), but what about things like loading youtube videos? Those can be very big, depending on length and quality of the video. Would there be a way to set temporary data like that and swap space onto the spinning hd?
Does the cpu cooler I picked come with a thermal paste, or should I get a seperate one? This article(http://www.geforce.com/optimize/guides/how-to-build-a-kick-ass-battlefield-3-pc/#3) recommended IC Diamond 24-Carat, but is stock (if it is supplied) ok for a light overclock?
I looked at the gigabyte mobo and found that it is very similar to the asrock mobo, except it supports mSATA and the asrock doesn't. Does that mean a ssd would not work with the asrock mobo?
About the catalyst 12.11 driver: should I let that influence my choice of gpu?
Before that update, most of the benchmarks I looked at for 1920x1080 bf3 ultra showed that the nvidia 670 beat the radeon 7970 (non ghz). I only found one benchmark for those settings created after the driver update, so should I change my plans to reflect that, or wait for more benchmarks or a nvidia driver?
I guess the real question is whether the new ati driver's performance is worth $50 more ($400 for 7970 non ghz, I found evga ftw 670 for 350 w/rebate)
Since I'm trying to future-proof this build, I'm planning to get windows 8 (would go with ubuntu if wine supported bf3). Is that a good idea, or should I just get 7 and upgrade when it is no longer supported? I could easily adapt to the new interface or change it, but I like 7's better currently.
Is there any way to tell how loud these parts are going to be? I almost considered putting a sound-dampened case, but would that help/is it necessary?
I found a build similar to this one on craiglist: http://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/sys/3370368415.html
not including the monitor I put in the pcparts build, the prices are similar. The case and cpu in the craig build are better, but there is no guarantee on the condition of the parts (even though post says built new for sale). Also, I wouldn't get to build it my self except for plugging in gpu. Still, is this a better deal than my pcpartpicker plan?
If this benchmark (http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/05/10/nvidia-geforce-gtx-670-2gb-review/5) shows 670 can get past 75 fps on ultra 1980x1080, do I need to get a monitor with more than 60 hz refresh? I've heard that a 60 hz monitor limits fps to 60. Would a fps of 75 be a noticable improvement, or would it cause screen tearing? The monitor in the pcpartspicker build above has a horizontal refresh of 30~83 KHz, and a vertical refresh of 50~75 Hz. What is the difference between vertical and horizontal refresh? If vertical refresh is more important, would a 50~75 Hz rate mean it can be set permanently at 75, or does it vary? Should I skip this monitor and get a 120hz, or would this monitor be good enough, since the 670 can only get 75 fps?
Most of these questions were already posted on another thread (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/370123-31-want-opinion-build-plan), but after my last post, the thread got buried under 2-3 pages of new threads. I tried posting another post, but with the same result.
In the future, what should I do if I get no response in 1-2 days? Should I post new posts on the same thread to bring it up to the top, or should I create a new thread like I am doing now?
I know this is a lot at once, but thanks for reading and answering these questions!
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