Voodoo

7-800 Umart Computer Notebook&PC Parts - Umart online® Your one stop Computer Shop for computer parts,notebook and new system gogo,
could go to 9 if pressed.

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Fandom Ruck

Build catered more for video/graphics work than gaming. The graphics card is still fine for maxing out most games (including Black Ops of course).

$112 P7P55-LX P55
$312 i7 870
$132 ATI HD5770
$112 Centurion 5 II + 500W PSU
$59 Corsair 4GB (2x 2GB) RAM
$96 Samsung 2TB Spinpoint F3 Ecogreen

$823 Total

I went by what was in stock.

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oneinchwunda

Go for i5 over i7-860. Better for gaming.

GTX460 offers better value than the 5770 now, although it is still a great card.

Wouldn't suggest a case and PSU bundle. I'll look on this site for alternatives in a bit.

F3 Ecogreen drives don't exist. You probably mean F4. These are fine for storage, but as a main drive are tediously slow. I would look at a F3 1Tb.

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Fandom Ruck

Wasn't meant for just gaming >.>
Not on this website or any other Aussie one I've checked on so far.
True but I couldn't find one under budget.
The website had this:


Also: Samsung SpinPoint EcoGreen F3 Review (HD203WI) | StorageReview.com

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Dante

Yeah, i'd generally avoid anything with "Eco" or "Green" in the name when considering PC components, and this has both ^^.

I bought a 1TB F3 yesterday for cheaps, just waiting on it's arrival now.

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Voodoo

moar suggestions

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Dante

Parents announced today that it's high time my brother got a new PC, did some currency conversion and it seems i'm in the same sort of budget. (£500-600)

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Olaf Vikingsson

i5 is still better in terms of value than i7 for this type of audience. I'd personally put the money saved in the CPU department into getting a better GPU. In short, a lack of GPU performance is far more noticeable than a lack of CPU performance to non-professionals. Other than that and the dubious-looking HDD, FR's post seems sound.

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oneinchwunda

This is what I've come up with.

i5-760 $210
Asus P7P55-LX mobo $112
2x2Gb Corsair XMS3 1600MHz $59
Powercolor HD6870 $268
Coolermaster RC430 Elite Case $64
Corsair TX650 $115
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1Tb $57

Total $885

Better gaming performance due to better GPU and CPU (the i5 performs better in games for whatever reason, just do some research).
Faster HDD.
Arguably better case. You could go with an Antec 300 for $10 less, but I'm being different.
Better PSU.

All for ~$60 more.

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Voodoo

except with a lot less tax i'd imagine.

Just realised I can't rip my current DVD drive since it's fucked.

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abc

What will this be used for? What have you already got that is salvageable?

I have yet to see an Elite with a 400 number on it, but the 300 series was nowhere near the A300. Avoid any 800 series i7 as it's an entirely redundant middle ground. The i5 usually works out faster in gaming, certainly cod spec games, due to a more aggressive turbo mode.

Without looking at the case or mobo, I have nothing to add really. Another i5/5770 build is a bit of a boring suggestion, worth at least investigating a six core AMD build for future proofing and enhanced video editing (which I think you may do some of?)

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oneinchwunda

The CM 430 is quite a new case. Probably doesn't look quite as good, but has more fan spaces with dust filters, all black interior and a hole in the mobo tray for easier installation of CPU coolers. Advice to Voodoo is to take a look at both, and see which you most prefer.

The motherboard was really a quick decision. As soon as I saw that none of them had decent Crossfire capabilities (x8 and x8 as opposed to x16 and x4), I chose the same motherboard as Fandom for comparative purposes.

I might come back and attempt an AMD spec if I have time later.

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Olaf Vikingsson

I can't seem to dredge anything up on this. Can I see some details? This sounds quite intriguing, even though it's old news.

I was assuming that Voodoo would mainly be gaming, in terms of high-req activities. He doesn't render stuff professionally so there's no real need for a powerhouse CPU past the gaming spec.

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oneinchwunda

Looking up benches is a good idea to start with. Try Anandtech's CPU benchmark comparison.

Just googling things like "i5 vs. i7 gaming" should bring up some interesting stuff.

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abc

Right so "turbo mode" is all about overclocking cores when a whole bunch of parameters allow, a key one being heat. i5 700 & i7 800 series have a lower TDP than the i7 900 series (95w vs 130w) giving it/everything-else more thermal headroom.


Each CPU has a set of multipliers (of the QPI, aka FSB) for each amount of cores being used expressed as 4cores/3cores/2cores/1core etc

i5 750 & 760 are 1/1/4/4
i7 900 series quad cores are 1/1/2/2

So using 4/3 cores, turbo adds 133MHz to each core of each CPU, but when using 1 or 2 cores the i5 is boosted to 3.2GHz and the i7 only 2.9GHz.


The multiplier that each core can OC by can be seen in some BIOSes, typically beta releases or those found on very high end motherboards, and thus have been re-produced in the same way den kirson get's his stats. Intel's whitepaper on turbo mode (Sec 2.3, P8) names where the data can be found if you wanted to go and find it, though it's software dev type stuff. Wikipedia's "list of xx proccessor" pages (e.g. here) show the multipliers for each CPU.

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"I don't like new Linkin Park, I don't like old Linkin Park... I JUST LIKE LINKIN PARK"

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Fandom Ruck

But I posted an i7 870 (not 900 series) which does have a more aggressive turbo boost.

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Olaf Vikingsson

Cheers for that, Abc.

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abc

No problem.

@ FR - yeah the i7 800 series is kind of odd, it's extremely unpopular but sounds like a great idea (fully-fledged-i7 matching CPU performance but on a much cheaper P55 motherboard and with cheaper memory) it's just no-one wants i7 levels of performance but without the extra RAM, SLI/CF performance or OC'ing potential. It retails for £5 less than the proper i7 but the real nail in the coffin is that the i5 is so damn good anyway and much cheaper.

@ OP - as ViS advised earlier it's a lot more noticeable and instantly rewarding to put money into the GFX card. i5 is more than enough whereas a better GPU will instantly give you a better gaming experience. Also GPUs develop faster so you will see the reward of the 'better GPU now means longer till an upgrade is due' sooner. The i5, when it does eventually become inadequate, offers superb gains from overclocking. The way Intel is going (unlike AMD) also means by the time you need to upgrade you'll need a whole new mobo, ram and CPU anyway - another hint at throwing more at the GPU now. Although who knows, maybe LGA1156 (what an i5 uses) will buck the recent Intel trend and actually IS here to stay and therefore it'd be smart to get a great mobo and a cheap, easily upgraded, CPU! Look how long LGA775 was here and how good that was for consumers! Mind you Intel did have a different strategy back then. This post has now got beyond plausible planning and onto speculation.

The most useful outcome of the above ramble is that the things that matter to your build (GFX performance and having an intel CPU) move a bit too quickly to plan upgrades in advance. The 'safe' option would be the traditional CPU bias builds that have been suggested throughout this thread.

The real value-for-money option is taking a very cheap AMD setup, overclocking it and whacking on a gigantic GFX card with the money saved. This is a much faster and more exciting build (for the same money) but would most likely require a new GFX card and CPU (and mobo & ram) at the same time. This strategy is great for those wanting very high performance for very little money but are prepared to upgrade in large chunks rather than small cheap increments (which is something that 'future proofing' will allow) Most people go for the safe option of a CPU biased & future proof rig and then proceed to never take advantage of how easy and cheap it is to tactically and effectively upgrade bits as they go along till it's so old they need to replace everything at once anyway.


There, that was as long and as overly-complicated as usual. I'll have to get around to suggesting two builds and showing benches that demonstrate my point.

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"I don't like new Linkin Park, I don't like old Linkin Park... I JUST LIKE LINKIN PARK"

COD owner - COD expansion pack owner - COD2 owner - COD2: BRO player - COD3 owner - COD4 owner - COD:WaW owner - COD: MW2 owner - COD: BO owner

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abc

Corsair XMS3 2x2GB (1600MHz, C8) - $59 (according to oneinchwonda, which seems really really low. I thought I saw it for $120?)
Corsair VX550 - $98
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - $57
AMD Athlon II X4 (3GHz) - $100
Xigmatec cooler (S1283, Dark Knight) - $58
Antec 300 - $60
Gigabyte GA-770t-UD3P - $100 (we don't need CF now that I've crossed out my 2x 5770 suggestion below)



Leaving $365 for graphics, which could be spent on:

2x Sapphire VaporX 5770 - $300 (a single 5870 would be a safer bet?)
1x ATI HD5870 - $330
1x ATI HD6950 - $335 (should be quicker than a 5870)
1x OC'd 5870 is probably in your budget

Another idea would be to drop the CPU cooler, spend $50 more and get a Phenom II 955 (faster & will probably OC to 3.6GHz ish on the stock (included) cooler) swap the motherboard for a GA-770-UD3 (equally as capable, but no crossfire) and upgrade to a TX650 which would all together free up and be able to power $405 ish of graphics - a GTX 570.




Rubbish website, a massive 12pt list isn't the easiest thing to browse. Budget is alright, seems to get you what you need (good quality components without needing to sacrifice performance)

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"I don't like new Linkin Park, I don't like old Linkin Park... I JUST LIKE LINKIN PARK"

COD owner - COD expansion pack owner - COD2 owner - COD2: BRO player - COD3 owner - COD4 owner - COD:WaW owner - COD: MW2 owner - COD: BO owner

This is getting repetitive.

oneinchwunda

Are you blind? Umart Computer Notebook&PC Parts - Umart Online® Your one stop Computer Shop for computer parts,notebook and new system

I did briefly consider a GPU biased build, but went for i5 due to the fact that he does video work.

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Olaf Vikingsson

ಠ_ಠ

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oneinchwunda

Die.

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abc

Apparantly.

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"I don't like new Linkin Park, I don't like old Linkin Park... I JUST LIKE LINKIN PARK"

COD owner - COD expansion pack owner - COD2 owner - COD2: BRO player - COD3 owner - COD4 owner - COD:WaW owner - COD: MW2 owner - COD: BO owner

This is getting repetitive.

Voodoo

Thanks for all the suggestions. Should be dandy from here on.

I might wait a bit, I hear intel is bringing out new processor(s)/architecture?

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abc

I'm sure they are one day...

I haven't heard/read anything. AMD launched Fusion today/yesterday/sometime-very-recently but that doesn't concern us high performance people yet. 2011 is supposed to see the launch of AMD's "Bulldozer" achitecture which has a lot of hype around it.


P.S. In all honesty you should probably just get an Alienware or Dell XPS or something since they feature "Intense power and immense expandability." Here is another gem "I've always heard Alienware were the best, but now with technical support from Dell they are over the top!" I should probably mention that AKgriffin is a world-renowned performance computer component reviewer at best a completely clueless customer and at worst a totally made up name written below a made up quote.

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"I don't like new Linkin Park, I don't like old Linkin Park... I JUST LIKE LINKIN PARK"

COD owner - COD expansion pack owner - COD2 owner - COD2: BRO player - COD3 owner - COD4 owner - COD:WaW owner - COD: MW2 owner - COD: BO owner

This is getting repetitive.