plan for 2k gaming rig

last SG · 2009-12-08T20:33:16+00:00

Wheres UVnium?at sim lim square third floor

jonchao72 SG

Asus rampage II gene i7-920 $784 from tradepac
PALIT GTX-285 DDR3 2GB $599 from bliss
Kingston 3x2GB RAM DDR3 1333 $62 x 3 = $186 from mynextcom
Seagate 1TB SATA $119/122 from tradepac
Samsung s223 writer $31 from cashtronic
Coolermaster hyper 212 $46 from mynextcom
Coolermaster extreme plus 750W $171 from mynextcom
Total cost : $1936 without casing

750 watt enough? can give me opinions about the parts(good/bad)?

will be used for gaming at high res(1680x1050)

should i change the gpu to ati hd 5870 1gb??

hwz ppl tell me to get team elite ram and seasonic power supply but is it really necessary??

thanks guys!

PWNED32 SG

I wouldn't spend so much on that GTX 285, Change it to 5870 would be better.

jonchao72 SG

I wouldn't spend so much on that GTX 285, Change it to 5870 would be better.

same price leh if im not wrong...

Raraken SG

same price leh if im not wrong...

And the HD5870 eats the GTX285 for breakfast. Then eats the GTX295 for lunch. Then kena eaten by the HD5970 :P

Change to a HD5870 1GB, will give you better performance. CPU-wise, pretty much overkill. You could go AMD (And PWNED32 won't like this XP), and invest the money saved (like $400) in a 2nd graphics card (read: HD5870 CrossFireX). 750W will be enough, though I'm not too sure mynextcom has the best deal for it. RAM-wise, if you go AMD (COME TO DA DARK SIDE ), Get Team Xtreem RAM, very fast. If you stick to i7, keep the Kingston. Or Team Elite RAM, if you can find.

I regret recycling all my pricelists, then I can help you further leh.

jonchao72 SG

And the HD5870 eats the GTX285 for breakfast. Then eats the GTX295 for lunch. Then kena eaten by the HD5970 :P

I regret recycling all my pricelists, then I can help you further leh.

i think i'll stick to the i7 first coz i might crossfire it next time if i feel my com isnt up to standard...

hwz got all the latest price lists so yea i went thru all of them and then compiled this

and is coolermaster better or seasonic??

mobo get asus or evga?

Raraken SG

i think i'll stick to the i7 first coz i might crossfire it next time if i feel my com isnt up to standard...

hwz got all the latest price lists so yea i went thru all of them and then compiled this

and is coolermaster better or seasonic??

mobo get asus or evga?

Seasonic makes their own power supplies, and sells them to other companies as well. These companies sell these power supplies as their own under their own brand. Thus, Seasonic is an ODM (Original Design Manufacturer).

Preliminary searching has revealed that the Extreme Power Plus is made by AcBel. They aren't that bad, but Seasonic would be better in quality.

Mobo-wise, if you aren't going to overclock, better off getting MSI or Gigabyte. ASUS Rampage II is meant for enthusiasts, those going to overclock to 4+GHz. EVGA, again, depends on the mobo. EVGA X58 SLI LE is a good budget choice. Or just go with Gigabyte EX58-UD3H. Very good mobo, for those who want to go Socket 1366 on a budget.

jonchao72 SG

Preliminary searching has revealed that the Extreme Power Plus is made by AcBel. They aren't that bad, but Seasonic would be better in quality.

never overclocked but wanna try...

ok i think i will get seasonic

jonchao72 SG

erm gpu got any specific brand that is good?

thinking of getting xfx if i buy 5870 coz the design looks sweet

PWNED32 SG

LOL!!! yea somehow i hate amd =P

Raraken SG

erm gpu got any specific brand that is good?

thinking of getting xfx if i buy 5870 coz the design looks sweet

If based on reference design, then wouldn't say which is good, cos all the same. XFX has good warranties, but kind of ex. I like Powercolor. Cheap but good.

PWNED, why you hate AMD..........you don't know until you try..........join ussss........

Actually, the 955 is my first AMD CPU lor. Try the performance first.

jonchao72 SG

If based on reference design, then wouldn't say which is good, cos all the same. XFX has good warranties, but kind of ex. I like Powercolor. Cheap but good.

PWNED, why you hate AMD..........you don't know until you try..........join ussss........

Actually, the 955 is my first AMD CPU lor. Try the performance first.

xfx 5870 only 5 bucks more than powercolor one leh...

somemore powercolor the design damn funny, the guy looks like he tio constipation one

Raraken SG

xfx 5870 only 5 bucks more than powercolor one leh...

somemore powercolor the design damn funny, the guy looks like he tio constipation one

I meant I usually go for Powercolor for Mid-range cards, since XFX's version can cost up to $50 more for a reference design.

MyPillowTalks SG

Woah i work at mynextcom last time!

Price of mobo and cpu i think can go lower

Keii SG

Sorry to hijack but is there a link to all the prices? I'm looking to invest in a gaming / 3d modelling/rendering rig in a few months. Not sure about budget yet.

I have questions regarding x32 and x64, how they would affect your hardware choices. And about overclocking, how it works, what it does and is it needed?

Raraken SG

Sorry to hijack but is there a link to all the prices? I'm looking to invest in a gaming / 3d modelling/rendering rig in a few months. Not sure about budget yet.

I have questions regarding x32 and x64, how they would affect your hardware choices. And about overclocking, how it works, what it does and is it needed?

HardwareZone has all the pricelists.

All consumer processors now support x64. So they wouldn't affect the hardware choices, only software. I would suggest x64 and lots of RAM, since rendering with less than 4GB is not very ideal (I did 3D rendering on a Pentium M laptop with like 512MB of RAM in school. Not very fun. Kept crashing.)

Overclocking works by forcing your hardware to work outside what they have been officially rated for. It allows you to save money since you can gain the performance advantage of a more powerful component but having cost advantage of cheaper parts.Usually, it isn't needed. Unless you're an enthusiast. For rendering, modelling, don't overclock unless you are willing to risk corruption and instability. Use parts that are guaranteed to run at their rated speed, and use parts have conservative speeds.

Keii SG

So I guess I'm going to look at a x64-capable mobo and prolly about 6-8gb of RAM. On to software, I'm hoping that most of the programs now are x64 compatible.

Are there any other cons or downsides to overclocking? Aside from the corruption/instability issues with rendering?

Raraken SG

Its not so much of a problem with instability. If done right, with good chips and parts, you could have a very fast system, yet stable. Though for things that require precision or high-reliability, don't risk it. Overclocking increases temperatures, so a good cooler is advisable. Also, it puts more strain on the components, meaning they can fail more easily and faster. Other than that, not really any more downsides. One must weigh the advantages and disadvantages before proceeding.

Keii SG

I think I will not be overclocking then. Don't know what parts or setup I should look at though. What kind of setups would I be looking at, a full CPU, if I had a budget of 2k and 2.5k respectively? Just the CPU, I've got a seperate budget for two LCD screens haha.

Raraken SG

Core i7. No wait, wait for Core i9 to come out, 6-core CPU. Dunno how much it will cost though.

If you would be doing heavy rendering, an i7 will be the best way to go.

Core i7 920

12GB (6x2GB DDR3-1333)

A suitable motherboard with 6 DIMM slots (Eh PWNED, help me on this leh. You using i7 right :P)

2 1TB HDD RAID 1

Rendering: NVidia Quadro FX graphics card (Not Quadro NVS)

Gaming: Pretty much HD5800 or bust. Or when GTX 300 comes out, see which one delivers better performance.

750W PSU ( Thermaltake Toughpower would be good, modular, and one of the best watt/$ ratios)

Nice, cool casing. HAF 932 will keep the components nice and cool.

Prolima Tech Megahalem (CPU cooler)

If there is spare cash after this, I would suggest another few hard drives, in a RAID 1 (1:1 Redundancy) or RAID 5 (4 Hard Drives, mirror. Bigger capacity, but will not achieve capacity of 4 hard drives).

For the graphics, it would depend in what you primarily do. If you game most of the time, put the HD5800 or the GTX 300 inside and let the CPU do the rendering. If you primarily render, but might want to game occaisionally, a good Quadro graphics card would be nice. However, keep in mind that the Quadro and FirePro cards are very expensive. You do get better warranty and higher quality than with the regular GeForce and Radeon cards.

Keii SG

I would be using it more for gaming. Would it be reasonable to have dual gaming graphic cards and still perform pretty well for rendering?