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| Thread ID: 122476 | 2011-12-22 19:16:00 | New Computer Build | user123 (15924) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1250349 | 2011-12-22 19:16:00 | Hi everyone, I am going to build my own computer soon. I have chosen these hardware: 1x Intel Sandy Bridge i5-2500 3.3GHz (ark.intel.com) 1x Gigabyte GA-H67MA-USB3-B3 (www.gigabyte.com) LGA1155 motherboard 1x Corsair 4GB DDR3-1333 RAM (www.corsair.com) 1x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA3 6GB/s 32MB HDD 1x Aywun A1-806 Black mid-tower ATX with 500W power 1x CNet Wireless-N PCI Adapter 1x PowerColor HD6770 1GB GDDR5 128-bit DVI/HDMI/VGA (www.powercolor.com) 1) Is a 500W PSU good enough for this computer? 2) Can my motherboard support 2x PowerColor HD6770 in CrossFireX? It says it supports ATI CrossFireX technology but it also says this: * The PCIEX16 slot operates at up to x4 mode when ATI CrossFireX™ is enabled. What does that mean? 3) Does having 2x ATI graphics cards mean 2x performance? Is CrossFireX even worth it? 4) Is there a huge difference between 4GB DDR3-1333 RAM and 8GB DDR3-1333 RAM? 5) My motherboard has integrated graphics. My CPU has integrated graphics but it requires my motherboard to have integrated graphics. Does the CPU's graphics join up with the motherboard's graphics? Thanks guys!:thanks |
user123 (15924) | ||
| 1250350 | 2011-12-22 19:32:00 | If your gonna crossfire dont go 2x6770 and if you're gonna buy the i5 2500 i suggest you pick a better graphics card, your cpu will outperform your graphics in game which will bottleneck your framerate. That power supply will be absolutely terrible, don't skimp on it. Also for the sake of cable management get a decent case and if you want to go crossfire at least get a motherboard that supports 8x, 4x isn't even worth it. Also a 5830 is still a high end card that pulls in decent frame rates that sells for the same price as the 6770, it's beyond me as to why anyone would buy the 6770 now. | icow (15313) | ||
| 1250351 | 2011-12-22 19:35:00 | a couple of 6770s will be pretty much equal to a higher level card. It doesn't mean 2x performance, and not just because it'll be 2 cards running at PCI 4x speeds when two are used. (Basically the CPU/Mobo can handle up to PCI express 16x, but if you split that between two it lowers to 8 or 4x. Mine can take multiple cards but will run them at 8x each. It CAN be worth it, if you can find the cards cheap enough, but generally not simply on the basis that 2 lower cards as I say will be equal to a higher level card in both cost and performance. Aside from anything else, a higher level card will have less problems due to not all games supporting crossfire and such. You should be able to run the 6770 on 500W, but I would suggest pushing your budget if you can help it to a corsair 600W or higher, and a better graphics card. The 6770 is an updated 5770, and mine's nearing the end of its life for any serious level of gaming. I also suggest you either grab an extra stick of ram or switch to 2x2gb sticks. 2 sticks will let you operate them dual channel, which will give better performance from the 2 as opposed to the same amount in 1 stick. And 8gb would be pretty useful if you ever change your requirements. 4gb is pretty standard now. Oh and as for your integrated graphics thing, that's simply ports on the motherboard. Your CPU has a GPU embedded on the chip, but you can't really plug a monitor directly into a cpu, which is why the motherboard has the ports. They'll work fine together. |
8ftmetalhaed (14526) | ||
| 1250352 | 2011-12-22 19:38:00 | 1) If it's a solid 500w PSU, then sure, but if it's some el-cheapo brand then you might want to invest in something a little better. 2) Why not get this instead: pbtech.co.nz While you're at it, why not fork out an extra $40-odd and get the 6870, it's a nice performance bump. 3) Not quite 2x, but if you leave yourself open to the option in the future, it can't hurt ... 4) For most, no. You can happily run Win7, game with the likes of LOTRO or WoW on pretty damn high detail, and have a dozen browser tabs open and still not be hitting 4GB. Just get 1x 4GB stick, you can always add later. You'd be better spending your $$ on a SSD though, that'd make a *massive* improvement vs a negligible one by upgrading your RAM. 5) Not sure I understand? Speaking of which, spend less on the CPU to offset all the other things you actually *need* to invest in. Hell a dual-core 3Ghz will still make bugger all difference to gaming compared with a quad-core 3.3Ghz with the rest of your system spec'd the way it is. I'd spend more on your PSU first up, so you can always upgrade GPUs in the future. Get a 750w if you plan on doing Crossfire. Then, spend just a tad more and go for the 6870. It's possibly a 20-30% difference in performance? Just taking a stab in the dark ... Then, get yourself a solid-state drive, just have your OS and "currently played games" on it. If you only rarely play a game, throw it on your larger HDD, and keep music / pictures / documents on the HDD. Spend a little less on the CPU. It sounds "nice" to have a quad-core, but you're bragging about the wrong thing there if you're a gamer, or getting in to gaming. The RAM is also going to be easily upgradable in-future if you have a single 4GB stick, especially if your mobo only has 2 slots. If your mobo has 4 slots, it'll possibly be cheaper to get 2x 2GB sticks up-front. Hope this helps :) |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 1250353 | 2011-12-22 20:42:00 | Ok guys thanks for all your help! You have taught me a LOT of things about buying a computer. | user123 (15924) | ||
| 1250354 | 2011-12-22 20:48:00 | 1x Aywun A1-806 Black mid-tower ATX with 500W power 1x powercolor HD6770 Crap PSU - keep the case but change the PSU to a Corsair. Not the best GPU brand either, change it to ASUS or Gigabyte. |
pctek (84) | ||
| 1250355 | 2011-12-22 21:07:00 | How about this motherboard:? Asus P8P67 LE Intel P67 ATX Socket 1155 4x DDR3 Or this motherboard:? Gigabyte GA-Z68M-D2H LGA1155 I need a CPU that has VT-x and VT-d, so that's why I chose the i5-2500. I can't seem to find a cheaper one. Unfortunately, the difference between a HD6770 and a HD6870 is $147.29. |
user123 (15924) | ||
| 1250356 | 2011-12-22 23:01:00 | You need x86 virtualization? Intel isn't the only brand of cpu that supports it... But if you must buy intel: ark.intel.com | icow (15313) | ||
| 1250357 | 2011-12-22 23:14:00 | You'll save that much on your CPU though, and the performance increase in games will be worth it. | Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 1250358 | 2011-12-23 01:59:00 | I presume you will get i5-2500k, the overclock version, rather than i5-2500?? You get 24% more performance for about ?$30? I got the 'k' version but was reluctant to overclock it until I saw that everyone else was doing it. Eventually I set it to the standard 4.1GHz. No problems at all. (I'm beginning to wonder if there is any difference between the two versions. I can imagine Intel making a single Item then blowing a fusible link on some of them to sell at a cheaper price to people who have a very tight budget) |
BBCmicro (15761) | ||
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