Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

[The_Eliminator]

Im looking to upgrade my rig mainly for BF3 however i also want it to be a pretty high end spec machine that will perform when i need it to :) Im pretty out of the loop on all the latest and greatest tech as i havent upgraded in about 3 years. Here is what i was thinking:


CURRENT RIG:
Windows 7 Professional
Intel E8400 Dual Core @3.0Ghz
ATi HD4870 (1024mb)
Gigabyte X48-DS5 Motherboard
4gb DDR2 RAM
250gb Boot drive and applications
1TB drive for videos/music etc

POTENTIAL NEW RIG:
Windows 7 Professional
Intel Core i7 2600K LGA1155 @3.4Ghz (Want to know if its worth spending a little more for a better performing processor? e.g i5 2500K?)
Nvidia GTX580 (1536mb) (Good card?)
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 i7 LGA1366 X58 MB DDR3 Triple USB3 Crossfire Heatpipe (Is this the best one to get or could i get away with less/more?)
8gb DDR3 RAM (Is this enough or should i get 12gb?)
60gb SSD Drive for Boot (I would assume this is plenty for Windows and a few applications?)
1TB Drive for everything else (How do i know what makes a fast drive?)



As i said im really out of the loop and i want to get the best for my money as i know this wont come cheap. If anyone has any feedback on what i left in bold then please help me out, that includes letting me know if some of the components i have suggested are way over spec (motherboard?) or under spec (processor?) for what i would need. Thanks again for all the help its much appreciated.

[Vreki]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

Windows 7 should be 64 bit.

[The_Eliminator]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

Thanks Vreki i will keep that in mind

[Anarchy1]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

Downgrade to the i5 2500k unless you do a lot of 3D/video rendering stuff.

Card is perfect, RAM is more than enough.

Not really sure about the motherboard. I don't know much about them so I can't say. But I know that the EVGA Z68 was just released and I've read that it is supposed to support the Sandy Bridge architecture very well. And I think you can use the onboard graphics in conjunction with your card in some sort of SLI mode for slightly increased performance? Not sure about that, but I remember reading about it somewhere.

[The_Eliminator]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

I have been thinking about downgrading to the i5 as from what im told it matches the i7 2600K in terms of performance and is actually better for FPS gaming? Im also completely unaware about motherboards as they baffle me completely so for all i know i might have chosen something completely high end spec or not useful at all.

In terms of the card is it better than the ATi 6970? I would assume the GTX580 would be fine to run BF3 on max settings?

[Anarchy1]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

Neither one is better than the other in terms of gaming performance. In some benchmarks, the i5 actually outperforms the i7. In others, the i7 outperforms the i5. But the differences are always very small. The thing with the i7 is that it has hyper-threading, which is great for those 3D modelling and video programs, but can actually hurt gaming performance.

And the 580 is better than the 6970. It should be able to run it on max settings. It is the best card available commercially right now. The computers used at Gamescom and the ones used to record the trailers are using the 580 in SLI I believe.

[Anarchy1]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

Here's a site with some benchmark comparisons:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=287

The i7 basically wins all of them apart from some of the gaming ones.

[signa]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

60Gb ssd is going to be too small.

formatted it will be 58Gb.
minus ram x 2 for pagefile (16Gb in your case. this is adjustable and can even be turned off).
minus ram x 1 for hibernation (this can be turned off).

even if you turn off of that off, its going to be woefully small.

I'm looking at a build similar to yours. I would still like to know how hyper threading hurts gaming?

[Anarchy1]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

I'm looking at a build similar to yours. I would still like to know how hyper threading hurts gaming?

I can't tell you why, but it does.

Don't get me wrong, it won't shave off any significant amount of FPS, but if you want maximum performance, hyperthreading is not the option for gaming. You can turn it off of course, but it is so helpful for other programs. I leave mine on.

Here is an article I found where they did a quick test in games (scroll down to the bottom): http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...0_7.html#sect0

And here is another: http://vr-zone.com/articles/does-cor....html?doc=6160

[signa]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

interesting. i wonder how good i5's are for overclocking?

[Stev0esque]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

wait, will that i7 fit in with that MoBo? I have a GA-X58-UD3R LGA1366 and my processor is an LGA1366 socket, the one you listed is an LGA1155 while the UD5 you listed is an LGA1366 as well...

[CptainCrunch]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

wait, will that i7 fit in with that MoBo? I have a GA-X58-UD3R LGA1366 and my processor is an LGA1366 socket, the one you listed is an LGA1155 while the UD5 you listed is an LGA1366 as well...

WINNAR! +Rep.

Stevo is correct, your motherboard choice will not work with your proc selection.

As for hard drive speed. You can look at read/seak times as well as RPM. SATA3 is faster than SATA2 also, as far as throughput. Cache size helps some as well, but not as much as you think.

The rest of the stuff looks good.

Crunch

[The_Eliminator]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

I have been over at the whirlpool forums and completely revamped my potential rig, here is what we came up with:

Windows 7 Professional 64bit
Intel Core i5 2500K
NVidia GTA570 1280mb RAM
Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD5B3
G.Skill Ripjaws-X 8G Kit(4Gx2) DDR3 2133
Crucial M4 120gb SSD
1Tb Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200rpm
ThermalTake V9 BlacX
750watt Power Supply
Cooler master hyper 212+ CPU fan.

What does everyone think of that?

Basic changes are GTX570 rather than 580 due to price compared to performance, 120gb SSD rather than the 60gb. Core i5 2500K (STILL NOT SURE). Z68 chipset motherboard for all that sandy bridging stuff.


Anyone have any opinions on the case?

[The_Eliminator]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

Actually scratch that case it hasnt picked up very good reviews. Any case buffs here who could give me a few recommendations?

[eradicator8]

Re: Potential new rig, any comments/suggestions?

Also check the QVL on the RAM. As far as I can see the board does not support 4Gb blocks at 2133Mhz.
It "only" support´s 4GB at 1866 Mhz.
Though Gigabyte does not list all models due to all the different kinds it would be sad to end up with RAM´s that does not work with the rig.
I personally prefer Asus to Gigabyte due to the extra features thats a matter of taste.