Need gaming rig advice

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kat06sa

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Hi all


Planning on buying a new rig. Not really an expert so i need advice. I don't have time to source and build my own rig, so I found the following on the net. Both around R9500

Its either
# AMD PhenomII X6 1075T 3.0GHz Six-Core CPU
# AMD 880G Chipset Black Series DDR3 Motherboard
# NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB 320bit DDR5 OC Graphics Card
# 8GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
# Seagate 1TB Hard Drive
# 750W 80+ Modular Gaming Power Supply

or

# Intel Core i7 950 (8 x 3.06GHz) 8Mb Cache CPU
# ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
# NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 1GB DDR5 DX11 Overclcoked Graphics Card
# 8GB Triple Channel DDR3 1333MHz Gaming RAM
# Seagate 1TB Hard Drive
# 550W 80+ Modular Gaming PSU

Im leaning towards the AMD for the GTX 570.

Comments?
 
kat06sa said:
Hi all


Planning on buying a new rig. Not really an expert so i need advice. I don't have time to source and build my own rig, so I found the following on the net. Both around R9500

Its either
# AMD PhenomII X6 1075T 3.0GHz Six-Core CPU
# AMD 880G Chipset Black Series DDR3 Motherboard
# NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB 320bit DDR5 OC Graphics Card
# 8GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
# Seagate 1TB Hard Drive
# 750W 80+ Modular Gaming Power Supply

or

# Intel Core i7 950 (8 x 3.06GHz) 8Mb Cache CPU
# ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
# NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 1GB DDR5 DX11 Overclcoked Graphics Card
# 8GB Triple Channel DDR3 1333MHz Gaming RAM
# Seagate 1TB Hard Drive
# 550W 80+ Modular Gaming PSU

Im leaning towards the AMD for the GTX 570.

Comments?
Click to expand...

I would rather just build my own specs if u gonna pay that price. Send an email to prophecy.co.za and tell them what u really like and what your budget is and they will build it for you. In the 1st option I would take the graphics card and power supply. In the 2nd option I would take the rest.

But like I said, send prophecy an email and ask them what you could get for your budget, as I bet they could beat the above mentioned quotes.
 
Go for the first option. The X6 AMD is more than powerful enough to handle today's games.
 
My opinion if these are your 2 choices...

kat06sa said:
Its either
# AMD PhenomII X6 1075T 3.0GHz Six-Core CPU
# AMD 880G Chipset Black Series DDR3 Motherboard
# NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB 320bit DDR5 OC Graphics Card
# 8GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
# Seagate 1TB Hard Drive
# 750W 80+ Modular Gaming Power Supply
Very nice

or

# Intel Core i7 950 (8 x 3.06GHz) 8Mb Cache CPU
# ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
# NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 1GB DDR5 DX11 Overclcoked Graphics Card Whut?? This low end card on a gaming rig? C'mon... (unless you play Age of Empires hehe)
# 8GB Triple Channel DDR3 1333MHz Gaming RAM
# Seagate 1TB Hard Drive
# 550W 80+ Modular Gaming PSU That's a little light in the pants...

Im leaning towards the AMD for the GTX 570. YEP! Unless you can change for a better Graphics card and PSU in the 2nd option, which would then be my choice

Comments?
Click to expand...
 
For mid-high end gaming rig you need a decent graphics card like an Nvida GTX 560 Ti / AMD HD 6950 or better.

Games can't make use of more than 3 cores in most cases, which makes the X6 pointless for a gaming rig.

Currently it would be silly not to go for a Sandy Bridge setup, even though that there are issues with the first Intel chipsets with regards to the SATA 2 interface. The i5 2400 and better CPU's perform way better than the current generation AMD CPU's and the older generation Intel CPU's (Socket 1366 included), unless you're running applications that can make use of 12 threads, in which case an i7 980X would give you better results but at 3x the price.

A decent 550W PSU should suffice for a GTX 570 / HD 6950 + Sandy Bridge CPU, seeing that the graphics cards are rated at 219W/200W TDP respectively, and the CPU is rated for 95W TDP.

8GB RAM might be overkill if you're currently running on a system with only 2GB RAM. I have 6GB of RAM in my home PC and it's more than enough for my work and gaming, however at my office I need at least 7GB on a regular basis.

As for online PC shops, I would highly recommend WootWare and Prophecy Shop.
Others that I've had a good experience with are Sybaritic, Take2 and Landmark PC.
 
Pada said:
Currently it would be silly not to go for a Sandy Bridge setup................As for online PC shops, I would highly recommend WootWare.........
Click to expand...

Listen to this man, he speaks the truth!
 
kat06sa said:
Hi all


Planning on buying a new rig. Not really an expert so i need advice. I don't have time to source and build my own rig, so I found the following on the net. Both around R9500

Its either
# AMD PhenomII X6 1075T 3.0GHz Six-Core CPU
# AMD 880G Chipset Black Series DDR3 Motherboard
# NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB 320bit DDR5 OC Graphics Card
# 8GB DDR3 1333MHz RAM
# Seagate 1TB Hard Drive
# 750W 80+ Modular Gaming Power Supply

or

# Intel Core i7 950 (8 x 3.06GHz) 8Mb Cache CPU
# ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
# NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 1GB DDR5 DX11 Overclcoked Graphics Card
# 8GB Triple Channel DDR3 1333MHz Gaming RAM
# Seagate 1TB Hard Drive
# 550W 80+ Modular Gaming PSU

Im leaning towards the AMD for the GTX 570.

Comments?
Click to expand...

Definitely the first setup. Whoever said games only need three cores is smoking something nice. Hope he shares.

BC2 loves threads and it's an old game by today's standards.
 
"# 8GB Triple Channel DDR3 1333MHz Gaming RAM"

Is it not better if you get 6GB . i.e. 3 x 2gb ?
 
Yup. It's cheaper and better to get 3x 2GB for the Socket 1366 motherboards. Most of the motherboards should still be able to run in triple channel with 8GB of RAM if you have 4 modules installed, otherwise they'll run in dual channel with 2 modules installed.

Option 1 is definitely the better gaming rig here, but you can do so much better by building your own.
 
Yeah, build it according to your own spec and don't forget to add the SSD drive :)
 
will prob go with the pre-built option one. not really an expert in comps, so i think having a pre-built rig which I can upgrade would be a good start.

thanks
 
kat06sa said:
will prob go with the pre-built option one. not really an expert in comps, so i think having a pre-built rig which I can upgrade would be a good start.

thanks
Click to expand...

No problems. But if you change your mind and want a much better rig for less, I'm sure all these guys here can help and you don't have to build it yourself (most shops will offer to do it for you).
 
Hey guys

I have also been looking to get myself a gaming rig early next year and was looking at exactly that same rig, the first option stated by the OP.

I have checked prices from the major component sellers and must say that you can't compile that same rig for cheaper than that, as far as my research informs me. But maybe I'm missing something?

I am by no means a PC wiz, but is that a decent rig for gaming? I am not all that tech savvy when it comes to PC's so the thoght of building it myself is a little daunting.

I've done a lot of research and everything seems to suggest this is a very decent gaming rig that will serve me well.

Ant info or suggestions are more than welcome.

Ciao
 
You could get...

A GTX 570 R3,262.47
http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=45_51_245&products_id=9354

An i5 2400 R1,860.16
http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=251_252_255&products_id=5700

8GB DDR3 1600 RAM R254.01x2 = R508.02
http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_4_10&products_id=9115

650 Watt PSU R895.01
http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=39_85&products_id=1520

Intel Motherboard R753.63
http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25_31_259&products_id=5769

1TB Harddrive R912.00
http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=70_233_235&products_id=6801

Zalman Z9 Case R517.60
http://rebeltech.co.za/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=73_81&products_id=1243

Which Comes to R8708.69

Then if you are prepared to go up to 10k you've got about R1000 for a screen which isn't included in the first build anyway.

Some notes,

I never use AMD CPU's so don't know anything about them, it may be you can build a better rig by using one for slightly cheaper.

I am not reccomending any of these parts except the CPU and Seagate HD which I use at home all the others I just found on the site, you may want to check how releaible they are with people who actually have them.

Rather get a SSD now and live with the limited space available till HD prices come down the one listed is on special and at 1k for a terabyte it's still bloody expensive.

Learning to build a PC while daunting is worthwhile and honestly not that hard or time consuming and when you upgrade in a few years the knowledge will come in handy.
 
Thanks a lot for the reply. I was not aware of that site and have been scoping it out.
I see you can get the Phenom IIx6 CPU for about R1600.

Where I get consfused is what motherboards are decent. And what CPU's they can support and stuff like that so I end up reading up about everything. The AMD one on the spec of the PC i'm looking at has got good reviews but I am by no means biased towards any brand. Whatever is going to be the best for my buck is where I'm going.

I just have no idea how the Phenom II measures up vs and i5 2400. Any insight??

Also that intel motherboard you linked, how would I know how that fares vs the AMD 880G chipset. These are things that I get mighty confused about but maybe it's much of a muchness?

Anyhow, thanks for the post, given me more to think about :)
 
I had a look at the i5 2500k CPU which got some raving reviews and has got me quite interested.

I think the only place where I really get lost is motherboards. There are so many different makes and what not I really don't know where to go. What's the difference between the one you linked, R700 odd and a R2000 mobo?
What do I need to go with to best suit my gaming rig?
 
Rossvanwyk said:
Thanks a lot for the reply. I was not aware of that site and have been scoping it out.
I see you can get the Phenom IIx6 CPU for about R1600.

Where I get consfused is what motherboards are decent. And what CPU's they can support and stuff like that so I end up reading up about everything. The AMD one on the spec of the PC i'm looking at has got good reviews but I am by no means biased towards any brand. Whatever is going to be the best for my buck is where I'm going.

I just have no idea how the Phenom II measures up vs and i5 2400. Any insight??

Also that intel motherboard you linked, how would I know how that fares vs the AMD 880G chipset. These are things that I get mighty confused about but maybe it's much of a muchness?

Anyhow, thanks for the post, given me more to think about :)
Click to expand...

I think the X6 uses AM3 motherboards but as pointed out I have never used AMD CPU's so I am not sure on this but I am sure some of the other forum members may know...

What I look for in a motherboard is first reliable make for me intel, asus, gigabyte, MSI. Then what RAM it supports {1333 Mhz, 1600Mhz} and how many slots it can hold 2 or 4 then if it supports USB 3 and after that it all depends what you want, I don't own a SSD but apperently to use own properly you need a motherboard which supports SATA 3 or something like that.

Well best bang for your buck would be to spend like R200 more and get the R2500k it's hands down the best value for money and apperently a lot of people claim it can be clocked all the way up to 4.5Ghz however if you go this route you are going to need a more expensive motherboard, I have never tried overclocking but I believe you need a Z68 board {hopefully someone more knowledgable can correct me} and you will also need a CPU cooler. However even without overclocking I would say thr i5 2400 or 2500 are miles ahead of the X6.

Link: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/185?vs=363

Note the 2400 pulls ahead of the X6 in most areas but most importantly in games at shows a rather significant improvement across the board. The sandy bridge chips ecspecially the i5 and i7 are reaaly really great chips and I may be a little biased but I would say light years ahead of AMD, now AMD are also solid chips and usually go for slightly cheaper but rather get a solid chip now so you don't have to upgrade in 2 years or so.

Can't comment on how the motherboard would compare against the 880G sorry, maybe someone else knows...
 
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