PC Upgrade help/opinion

[killadoob]

What compatibility issues would those be?? First time I'm hearing of anything of the sort. This sounds like the good ol' "AMD has crap drivers" BS that some people like to sling around

Ummm it's not BS, it took amd nearly a month to get my 6990 working with bf 3, perhaps even 6 weeks before it finally worked. Actually if i think about it considering the beta plus the launch it took them nearly 10 weeks to get working drivers for crossfire.

Fking BS, i remember with bfbc2 as well when i was using 5770's it took them long to get it working.

So you can call it BS but i know first hand how rubbish they are at releasing drivers. Everything is working except AA post which is busted. Amd have yet to fix the issue nor do i think they will.

If i buy again i won't buy amd if nvidia is near the performance, i will even take a slightly slower nvidia over amd in the future.

 

[Archer]

So thats one issue... and with the latest CCC you can make your own crossfire profiles (which was admittedly loooong overdue), which to my understanding of that particular problem, sorts everything out?

But hey, nvidia is great. Especially when their drivers make your card blow up

 

[LeroyHarr]

But hey, nvidia is great. Especially when their drivers make your card blow up

Lol. Bummer.

Well I have done searching high and low. Am def going for AMD. Their cards have never given me a problem in the past. Why fix something that was never Broken? anyways.

Components I am upgrading:

GPU: xfx HD 7970
PSU: not sure, def 750watt or so.
RAM: not sure, someone here gave me a recommendation so I will look into those more.
Case: HAF-X (depending on how far I feel like going in treating myself.)
Possibly liquid cooling (unknown yet) I am A plumber so I know all about water leaks. Am nervous about that.
SSD: Going to go for 2 x 120 GB OCZ. Pretty neat buggers. Maybe more one day... get them in a raid setup of some sorts.

About SSD's, I hear they are pretty fragile things, life on them isn't too great. Can I install my OS on them?

Cheerz

 

[Archer]

My last comment on driver issues - personally I've never had an issue with either camp. Then I know people who've had endless problems with both. My advice would be to not base any large part of the decision on the quality of the drivers. I read up on the 6990 issue and it was the same story, some people seemed to be gaming happily, others were gnashing their teeth in endless frustration. I happened across some GTX560Ti issues at the same time (also BF3). Its rather ridiculous actually (from both sides)

As for SSD's, they are pretty reliable as long as you get the right firmware on them (its pretty easy to do). After that, watch the read/write cycles. So load your OS, and your most used apps, but then try not to write to it randomly after that so that yuo keep its full capacity as long as possible.

 

[LeroyHarr]

Right okay thanks for the information. I have a No0b question...

GFX cards come with dual power input slots. 6 and 8 pin I believe. As I have never owned a GFX card that requires extra power from the PSU, how do I connect it up? Do I have to put in the 6 and 8 pin or just one of my choice?

Haha sorry ^ really noob question.

Thanks

 

[Archer]

Hehe
You need to connect all pins, so both the 6 and the 8

 

[Nokkie]

why not intel? They are on the ball with their new Sandy bridge CPU's i5 2500k 3.3GHZ , i5 2600k 3.4GHZ , i5 2700k 3.5GHZ

 

[LeroyHarr]

why not intel? They are on the ball with their new Sandy bridge CPU's i5 2500k 3.3GHZ , i5 2600k 3.4GHZ , i5 2700k 3.5GHZ

Because as I said before, don't need to fix what is not broken.

When my AMD goes I will look into the i7. But I really do prefer AMD.

 

[Jimmy-Z]

if u tried to play rage on release day with an ATI card, you'd know couldn't get past the arena without the updated drivers & game patch. Also the guy that bought my card is pretty much unable to play bf3, but his old nvidia card plays it fine

 

[LeroyHarr]

if u tried to play rage on release day with an ATI card, you'd know couldn't get past the arena without the updated drivers & game patch. Also the guy that bought my card is pretty much unable to play bf3, but his old nvidia card plays it fine

I never play a game that requires different hardware to play by "accident" or that needs a patch to run. Tells you something about that gaming company.

I currently have an HD5570, as old as this thing is, it manages pretty well with some games. I can play BF3 with high settings (dont ask me how )

Modern Warfare medium with great frames. I am shocked by this card, but I don't want to game knowing that my card is just cutting it. I need to know that this card is going to brutally disembowel anything that comes near it

 

[froot]

I currently have an HD5570, as old as this thing is, it manages pretty well with some games. I can play BF3 with high settings (dont ask me how )

Modern Warfare medium with great frames. I am shocked by this card, but I don't want to game knowing that my card is just cutting it. I need to know that this card is going to brutally disembowel anything that comes near it

o0

With a 2500k and a 460GTX I can play BF3 on high, at 1920x1080 and I get 50fps.... I don't see how you can play it on high with a 5570

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=624&card2=632

 

[LeroyHarr]

Haha I am more shocked than you are, trust me. Funnily enough. When I play Minecraft, I get lag. I can get maybe 50- 60 FPS.

Oh and on that review link... Mine is not quiet... It's like playing on an airbus A380 testing runway.

 

[killadoob]

Haha I am more shocked than you are, trust me. Funnily enough. When I play Minecraft, I get lag. I can get maybe 50- 60 FPS.

Oh and on that review link... Mine is not quiet... It's like playing on an airbus A380 testing runway.

You get 50-60 frames using that card? I gotta see that to believe it. Fraps and it and show us.

 

[froot]

Frankly I'd prefer to see a screenshot before I'd believe it, and then I'd make sure it's not photoshopped


As to the rest of your config....
What PSU are you looking at? I'd recommend a Corsair TX750, but since you seem to be going big, maybe take a look at the AX or HX series. At least a 750.
Two SSD's are overkill.... whether RAID0 or 1. If you want to go big with that, consider the 180GB Corsair Force GT. It's about R3600. Fragile? Hell no. No SSD is "fragile". They do however have a list of rules you need to abide by, so that you won't shorten their lifespan (things such as defragmenting, etc etc (read up on this)). Yes you can install your OS on it.... that's why people buy them .... If you're a gamer of sorts, and play more than 3 or 4 games, get as above, a 180GB if you can justify the money. I've got a fresh install of Windows, BF3 and a small handful of apps and I'm already on 95GB used on C:\....

Watercooling is awesome. If you're scared of an actual WC system, take a look at the Corsair H100 or Antec Kuhler920 (R1200 and R1000 respectively). I have the H60 and I'm loving the temps.

 

[LeroyHarr]

OMG, Fraps would kill my poor computer. I'm sure then I would be getting something like 2-8 FPS...

 

[LeroyHarr]

Thanks! Very helpful. I was just worried about SSD's, I have heard some bad stories. Will take your advice!

Water cooling is def the route I want to go. Cheerz.

 

[LeroyHarr]

I get 50-60 on minecraft... not BF3...

 

[froot]

Thanks! Very helpful. I was just worried about SSD's, I have heard some bad stories. Will take your advice!

Water cooling is def the route I want to go. Cheerz.

BTW the Corsair and Antec... it's called a closed loop. It's pre-filled, maintenance-free and is midway temp-wise, between air and complete water-cooling.

SSD's are pretty advanced now, much better than when they first started out.

Come to think of it.... your 5570 will do around 1fps on BF3 on high. A 9600GT struggles to play BF3 at all.... on 1024x768 at low it still struggles.