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Trying to build a decent game computer
Okay, I'm in the market and have been TRYING to keep things reasonable (under $1000). It's been 5 years since I built my last computer but I'm ready for an upgrade!!
So, question #1: Quad or Duo Core? Currently I have an Duo.
Question #2: SLI or not (this can definitely get expensive) I could put in an ATI 5850 or duo 2 5770's for about the same price. Not sure what do do here.
Question #3: Fan cooled or Liquid Cooled....I've never tried Liquid.....is it difficult to install/maintain?
I'm not partial to AMD OR INTEL, so either is fine for me...I like the ASUS motherboards, but I'm definitely open for suggestions. I was thinking the Intel i5-750....it's reasonable for undern$200.
Any recommendations? Opinions? Builds?? Help?
Thanks in advance!
Cheers!
Comments
#1 - Go Quad Core and as high as your MoBo can support it
#2 - A Majority of games DO NOT support SLI or Crossfire (Nvidia's dual graphic option) so unless you plan on playing one that does I'd just get a high end DX11 Card
#3 - Fan Cooled takes ALOT of power to maintain a cool core temperature whereas Liquid cooled runs on a set amount of power and cools everything down moderately well. Fans however are easiest to maintain as if something goes wrong with Liquid cooling something goes REALLY wrong.
If you have a case to put all this in already it'll save ya some $$$ as well as if you have a Power supply that supports the ability to power a video card and SATA Drives (or SSD "Solid - State disk")
If you can jump slightly above $1000 you can get a computer that'll set ya straight for another 5 years before HAVING NO CHOICE but to upgrade (I'm at that point with my processor...If only I had got the Dual Core way back when...oh well)
If you go Intel you'll be looking at getting a GeForce card as AMD has kinda got it now that their processors work REALLY well with their cards (Yes they own ATI).
Check out NewEgg.com and TigerDirect.com they usually have combo deals on MoBo's and GFX Cards or Processors with them.
Wrong ,please stop giving false advices.
Azuredin 1-quad ,still some games cant use all cores but if youll keep pc a long time youll need later.
2-i would pick 5850 ,some games gain from crossfire/sli some dont .
3-Air , if you are not into heavy overclocking and know what you are doing .There are very good coolers out there .
For $1000, throw the liquid cooling idea out the window. You're looking at $200 - $500 just for liquid cooling alone. Since you're looking at a lower end gaming machine, that's too big of a chunk to take out when you can just put it into more powerful parts. IMHO, Liquid cooling should only be used for uber-high end gaming machines. ($5000+ when building yourself)
With today's fans, you can actually OC very will with air cooling. I have my i7 920 OC'd to 3ghz on a air cooling. I have a buddy with an i7 920 and the same fan, he's running his at 4ghz. Vigor Monsoon III, it was the best for i7 around the time of release. I haven't kept up with what Zalman has been doing, but usually they have the top air coolers on the market and aren't all that badly priced.
GamerAeon, is right about alot of games don't support SLI/Crossfire. You can get better performance sometimes, by going that route. But, all in all it's just worth it to buy a better single card. Again, you're looking at a low end gaming machine, SLI/Crossfire IMHO should only be done on the uber-high end gaming machines or if you already have a machine and want a cheaper upgrade.
I say lower end gaming machine, but that doesn't mean you can't get a damn good machine for $1000. If you're looking at just the machine and not the case or monitor, then you can do really well if you shop around on newegg and look for as many combo deals as you can find. I just built a $550 machine for my wife and if I would have spent $1000 on it, I could have done ALOT better than just a $500 difference. Because at that level ($550) there aren't many good combo deals, where as at the $1000 level there are quite a few. My rig (mid/high range gaming machine built last year), I think I saved close to $600 using combo deals and open boxes.
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#1 i would go quad
#2 just bought a 5850 for GF's comp it preforms near if not same as my 4870x2 so i would say no Sli/X-fire
#3 if your not into OC that much i would run air
The following statement is false
The previous statement is true
Why keep it reasonable? For 1000 bucks you can set your self up with a pretty nice system. Two 5770's in crossfire rip it up, there's no doubt about that.
i7 920 Gaming $1000
Use the stock heatsink, with that case's airflow you should have no problem getting to 3ghz with decent temps. If you ever feel the need for more power (highly unlikely) upgrade to to an aftermarket later
Later on, strap in another 5770 and you'll be ready to lock and load
That's darn nice imho
Stock Heatsink is really really bad. But a better one isn't too expensive.
Also, it's going to be hard getting all that into a mid tower. I would suggest a full tower, I have one and my parts barely fit in it.
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The stock heatsink is only bad if you have horrible caseflow, also room temperature is a varying factor. The heatsink is more than sufficient to supply cooling to the CPU at stock speeds. Upon monitoring temperatures you can choose whether or not you feel comfortable OCing on it. Bottom line, it comes with the CPU, its there, may as well use it. Later on you always have the option of upgrading to an aftermarket.
With proper cable management (Which this case gives you great CM), you can easily fit this build into the case.
Tons of pics
Wow! Lots of great replies!! Thanks to everyone! I'm going to spend this snowy weekend looking around....I do like the i7 setup,,,,actually...it fits right in there
.
Thanks to everyone who has replied! All opinions are appreciated and it's always great to see differing opinions.
Cheers!
also if your dont want to drop 1k and still get great performance
look at the new Amd Phenom 2 x4 955 or 965 BE pair that up with a Asus Board Crosshair III and some ddr 3 ram. then you can use amd Super easy over clocking tool Amd Over Drive to OC . your looking at 500 bucks for ram cpu and mobo.. drop in a high end ati or nvidia card you will be rockin man!
Pretty much, you can get alot for 1000 bucks as I've already shown and that's just a quick throw together build. If you take your time, catch the parts when they're on sale or open box from various places, $1000 bucks can go a long way.
Thanks again to everyone who replied!!! I have a lot to digest here and see about which options to pursue....I'll be back with more specific questions if I have any.
Cheers!