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Non Gaming Discussions => Off-Topic => Topic started by: Cerberus on February 19, 2010, 04:06:21 AM

Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: Cerberus on February 19, 2010, 04:06:21 AM
I\'m looking at getting a new PC sometime in the not too distant future, I\'ve been looking around for a solid gaming system that will double as a general usage computer in my price bracket and have come up with this as a starter:

Quote
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Processor i7-920 (2.66GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache

Memory (RAM)
12GB CORSAIR XMS3 TRI-DDR3 1600MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY

Motherboard
ASUS® P6X58D PREMIUM: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 3-Way SLI

Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£145)

USB Options
8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
2TB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

2nd Hard Disk
500GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
22x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£75)

Graphics Card
2GB ATI RADEON™ HD 5970 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11 (PRE-ORDER)

2nd Graphics Card
NONE

Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium PCI Express (£76)

Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT

Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF 932 FULL TOWER GAMING PC CASE (£115) **SPECIAL**

Power Supply & Case Cooling
1010W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£109)

Processor Cooling
COOLIT DOMINO A.L.C. CPU LIQUID COOLER (£60) **SPECIAL**

Firewire & Video Editing
3 Port IEEE 1394a Firewire PCI Card (£9)

TV Card
PCTV SYSTEMS DUAL TUNER TV CARD & WINDOWS MEDIA CENTRE REMOTE


would this be a good gaming setup? I want to buy a PC that will be good to play a wide range of games, including potentially graphics intensive games.
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: videoholic on February 19, 2010, 09:16:48 AM
Is it worth getting two hard drives that match and stripe them together?  Would make load times far shorter.
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: Cerberus on February 19, 2010, 09:22:09 AM
Quote from: videoholic
Is it worth getting two hard drives that match and stripe them together?  Would make load times far shorter.

dunno, don\'t really know much about that, how would I go about it?
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: THX on February 19, 2010, 09:58:05 AM
Monster setup dudeman!

I\'d get a 32 or 64gb SSD for the OS, then a 2TB drive for everything else
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: Cerberus on February 19, 2010, 10:41:07 AM
Quote from: THX
Monster setup dudeman!

I\'d get a 32 or 64gb SSD for the OS, then a 2TB drive for everything else

so it would handle games that are fairly demanding on graphics and processor?

I haven\'t been on the market for a new pc for a good while, and this piece of shit hasn\'t been powerful enough to run games since 1977, so I\'m kind of out of the loop as to what is capable of what.

I\'ll have a look at the drive setup you mentioned later

ta.
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: JBean on February 19, 2010, 12:52:51 PM
that is a very nice machine for gaming, how much is it total?
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: Cerberus on February 19, 2010, 02:28:53 PM
about £2.5k, I\'m still looking around to see if I can get more or less the same setup cheaper elsewhere
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: Cerberus on February 19, 2010, 02:34:19 PM
actually, it\'s just over £2.3k
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: JBean on February 22, 2010, 05:56:46 AM
only thing I see is you have a SLI motherboard paired up with an ATI video card.  If you are going ATI, I would go with a crossfire motherboard.  An SLI motherboard will not allow you to run multiple ATI cards like crossfire will... unless you get nVidia cards.  If you don\'t plan on adding an additonal card down the road then everything is fine, you can run a single ATI card in a SLI motherboard no problem.

ATI\'s 5970 is a beast of a card, basically 2 gpus & double the ram on one card.  Definitely stick with the ATI card, nvidia\'s new cards have been delayed but should be coming out in the next month or so.  It\'ll be intersting to see how much better (if at all) they are over ATI\'s 5xxx series cards.

I have the 5850 and it\'s an amazing card for the price.  Prices have been driven up since ATI is dominating the video card world, I got my 5850 for about $269... now you are lucky to find one for under $310.
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: THX on February 22, 2010, 10:48:45 AM
PS- probably the most helpful system builder\'s guide I\'ve seen:

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3241890#post369821733
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: Cerberus on February 23, 2010, 02:43:48 PM
Quote from: JBean
only thing I see is you have a SLI motherboard paired up with an ATI video card.  If you are going ATI, I would go with a crossfire motherboard.  An SLI motherboard will not allow you to run multiple ATI cards like crossfire will... unless you get nVidia cards.  If you don\'t plan on adding an additonal card down the road then everything is fine, you can run a single ATI card in a SLI motherboard no problem.

ATI\'s 5970 is a beast of a card, basically 2 gpus & double the ram on one card.  Definitely stick with the ATI card, nvidia\'s new cards have been delayed but should be coming out in the next month or so.  It\'ll be intersting to see how much better (if at all) they are over ATI\'s 5xxx series cards.

I have the 5850 and it\'s an amazing card for the price.  Prices have been driven up since ATI is dominating the video card world, I got my 5850 for about $269... now you are lucky to find one for under $310.

it says here that its crossfire supported

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=wurRaDZ8lo4Ckukj
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: JBean on February 25, 2010, 07:23:34 AM
Indeed it does, I stand corrected

That I one hell of a motherboard.. jesus.  I guess if money is no object go crazy with it.  I would personally get more value for my money and get a system that would perform about the same, but I can\'t fault you for wanting the best of the best.
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: videoholic on February 25, 2010, 08:29:50 AM
So what does this do for you that the 300 ps3 doesn\'t already do?
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: THX on February 25, 2010, 09:08:16 AM
Quote from: videoholic
So what does this do for you that the 300 ps3 doesn\'t already do?

Are you being sarcastic?
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: Cerberus on February 25, 2010, 11:21:32 AM
Quote from: videoholic
So what does this do for you that the 300 ps3 doesn\'t already do?

it allows me to play games that aren\'t available on ps3, as well as all the usual computery activities.
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: Cerberus on February 25, 2010, 11:28:46 AM
Quote from: JBean
Indeed it does, I stand corrected

That I one hell of a motherboard.. jesus.  I guess if money is no object go crazy with it.  I would personally get more value for my money and get a system that would perform about the same, but I can\'t fault you for wanting the best of the best.

well money won\'t be an objection, as it is something I have been saving up for for some time. having said that, just because I will be able to afford to buy it, it doesn\'t meant I don\'t want as much bang for my buck as I can get.

what suggestions for motherboards do you have?

as it stands right about now, I\'m about £300 from my target for buying it, so if I can lower the price by getting a different but very solid MB for cheaper, I\'m interested.
Title: would this be a good gaming pc?
Post by: videoholic on February 25, 2010, 05:11:57 PM
Quote from: THX
Are you being sarcastic?



No...  It\'s just funny to spend so much money on a computer that is mainly just to play games.  It\'s too bad you can\'t write it off.