Part 1: Building A Balanced Gaming PC

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Hi,

Great article.

As noted, the chart on the last page is prone to misuse, and I find: says nothing to me. The reason: I have a 26" panel with native res 1920x1200 which I'll keep for a while, so I don't care about an average that includes resolutions I never will play.

So I think an average over all games per resolution would contain some information I would be interested in (and I would look only at the one about my favourite res).

That said, I appear to have a reasonably balanced system, which I suspected but it nice to see confirmed. Good work.

- Bertus
 
can anyone tell me why the E6300 paired with a Gtx 295 seems to give the worst performance?
I somehow would think the E6300 paired with the ati 4850 should get the worst performance...
for example in Far Cry 2
 
[citation][nom]evolve60[/nom]I'm pretty sure that its the Q9450/9400 is the one that runs at 2.66 GHz The Q9550 runs at 2.83 GHz.[/citation]
Yes, you are correct. It's a typo on my part and to clarify, the Q9550 was indeed tested at(stock)2.83 GHz. Can't edit it myself but have requested it be corrected. Thanks for the catch.
 
These are the articles I come to tomshardware to read. It's been a long time since I've felt compelled to read a full article here, but this is a solid one. Good job Paul H.
 
[citation][nom]yoy0yo[/nom]Wow, this is an amazingly in depth review! I kinda feel that its sponsered by Asus or Corsair, but I guess you kept with the same brand for the sake of controls etc. Thankyou![/citation]
Thanks yo! I chose a hardware list for the series, and while not "sponsored" we are extremely grateful for their willingness to hop on board and make this possible!
 
[citation][nom]winner4455[/nom]I see a great series coming[/citation]
Thanks winner; we’ve been excited about this one since its conception.

[citation][nom]inmytaxi[/nom]Very helpful stuff.I'd like to see some discussion on the availability of sub $400 (at times as low as $280) 28" monitors. At this price range, does it make more sense to spend more on the LCD even if less is spent initially on graphics? I would think the benefit of 28" vs. 22" is so great that the extra money could be taken from, say, a 9550 + 4890 combo and getting a 8400/6300 + 4850 instead, with the right motherboard a second 4850 later will pass a 4890 anyway.[/citation]
Thanks. Outside the scope here, but that’s a good point. Under real-world budget restraints it’s quite likely gamers would run into a situation where they can afford a new monitor, but not at the same time as the hardware required to run it at native res or the highest detail levels. 1920x1200 has certain become very affordable, but 22” 16x10 or 23” 1080P could save enough to buy the required graphics solution to really push that resolution. LCD size, resolution, and dot pitch desires would vary person to person. One thing’s for sure, 2560x1600 is still way out of reach for the average PC gamer!

[citation][nom]frozenlead[/nom]I like the balance charts. It's a good way to characterize the data. This article is well constructed and well thought-out. That being said - is there a way we can compile this data and compute an "optimized" system for the given hardware available? Finding the true, calculated sweet spot for performance/$ would be so nice to have on hand every quarter or twice a year. I'll have to think about this one for a while. There may be some concessions to make, and it might not even work out. But it would be so cool.[/citation]
Thank you. We tried numerous charting methods for this one, and our bar charts made it very difficult to see the big picture. We even considered two pages per game, adding charts with price on the x-axis. Given the width restraints for our CMS, such a chart was bunched together and far from useful. It would be nice to get such data included; I’d be interested in seeing what you can come up with.
 
I'm probably the tenth to use this word, but: Amazing stuff. This shows clearly how different GPU setups scale on different architectures; how Crossfire works much better than SLI on LGA775 and SLI owns on Nehalem.

It took me completely by surprise how far from a linear increase with CPU power until GPU bottlenecked and vice versa the reality of systems is. I'd love if reviews of new GPUs, processors and chipsets would go through the same battery of tests. This is something I've never seen before.

Love the charts. If you get any good suggestions on how to insert system price as well, please implement.

Looking forward to just about everything in this series. Keep up the good work!
 
Great article. I'm interested in playing 2560x1600 at max, I've got the monitor, but a 3870 doesn't cut it. The entire PC is ready for replacement.

Are any of the games reviewed comparable to Dragon Age?
 
i think they're money scale is off a little bit... err a lot. A Core i7 920 plus the board and ram is way over 750 now add a $400+ G 295 on that... deep pockets my friend deep pockets.
 
Analysis vs. Measurebation: I think this article sets a new bar for enthusiast articles - what are the strengths and weaknesses of a GPU/CPU as part of a game system, not just the ooh, aah, bigger, faster factor. Does this card make sense for me, or do I need to upgrade to even make use of it? Most reviews are merely one dimensional, but this article takes it to a whole new level and provides an answer for neurotic system builders in one page that normally spans dozens of sites looking at different configurations.

Kudos on the line graphs, they are so much more powerful than the bar graphs. I would love to see the line graphs become the standard for individual card reviews, they tell a better story, are more information-rich, and are clearer than the bar graphs. Anyone trying to compare 42.65 fps to 36.89 fps needs to re-learn the concept of significant figures.

My two suggestions for the future articles: (1) add the GPU labels at the end of each line, it would make the charts that much easier to read, and (2) add mouse-overs for the overclock article, so that the OC'd CPUs are on top, but you can flip back to the stock results. I can't wait to see the SLI/overclocking articles, they should have some very interesting twists on the stock performance. And I would love to see more GPU/CPU/settings/game configurations, but I know that what's already here has taken a ton of work already. You have a good balance of architectures and games so that it's easy to extrapolate to other setups and I agree with the focus - keep it geared towards high resolutions/settings/hardware, if you aren't looking for a killer gaming experience, you're in the wrong place.
 
(I had a long reply written, but the great web ate it. Short list...)

1. Thank you for the article/series.
2. No mention of the recently released Intel LGA 1156 socket, including the imminent death of the LGA 775 socket.
3. Even for a colorblind builder, the line charts are easy to read considering the combination of shapes (value) and colors (camps). Thank you.
4. Remember: A 5770, though comparible to a 4890/4870, will have a considerable less pull of power (and heat creation). Thus, when paired to a quad core from the Intel family, a Crossfire board, and an adequate PSU, the 5770 would seem to be the balance king for now and future upgrade-ability. (New monitor=resolution & 2nd card for Crossfire)
5. A lamented loss of the 4850 on the charts, which is compariable to my aging E6750 Conroe / 680i LT MB combo that I cannot upgrade to a Yorkfield CPU. (Thus, my system will be stuck with its E6750/680i LT, 9800 GT/8600 GT PhysX, & 4 GB DDR2 configuration until I build a complete new system.)
 
Really shows me where the bottleneck is on my system with an OC'ed 5200 paired with a 4850!! According to this, I can go all the way up to a i7 system, and it's still not going to get me where I want to go. Looks like I'll have to upgrade to a 5000 series card first.
 
Wow I'm glad I just read this article. I have an almost identical set up to this with the E8400 and Rampage Formula, only difference is I have a 3870x2 CF with a single 3870. I've really been considering upgrading the E8400 to the Q9550 but I really can't justify that now. I think I'll just go buy a single 5870 and be done with it for awhile.

I'm really surprised at how little the E8400 bottlenecked in this article, I can't wait to see its overclocked performance. Its such a champ there.

Amazing article can't wait to read the next installment. Keep up the good work, its articles like this that keep me coming back to THG.
 
WoW really enjoyed reading. Great work! I'm looking foreward to the amd part because I have a phenon II x3 720 paired with a 4890 and would like to know how good the combo is.

Please continue this article line for a long time really loved it!
 
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