New Gaming Rig Advice

[Rabbtc]

Hello, i've been meaning to sign up to these forums for awhile and now seemed like the right time.

I currently have a fantasic build (imo) but as this is a pretty expensive addiction of mine i'm wanting to build another, these are the parts i have chosen and i would appreciate your opinion on them

Components:

Zalman GS1000 SE Case

Asus Rampage II Extreme Motherboard

1250W Enermax Revolution85+ PSU, 91% Efficiency

[x2] 2GB XFX HD 4870 X2 Crossfire

Intel i7 920 2.66GHz

1TB Maxtor SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.5 ms,

6GB (3x2GB) Corsair Dominator GT, DDR3 PC3-(2000)

24" Samsung SM2433BW Black Widescreen LCD, 1920x1200, 1000:1, 300 cd/m², 5 ms, VESA

Coolermaster V8 CPU Cooler

Razer Diamondback Mouse

Logitech G19 Gaming keyboard

Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speakers 500w

Zalman ZM-MFC2 Multi Fan Controller

--------------------------------------

Grand total £2280

Cheers!

[Jasp]

Tbh at this point in time given you main rig is seriously powerful already i'd wait, DX11 is around the corner, intel is dropping the i7 920 and 940 chips in favour of the i5 with a new upgrade path.

If you serious about spending more i would just stick another 4870X2 in your current rig.

But to answer your question the build looks pretty sound, you may want to look at the AMD v Intel crossfire review over at modreactor though http://www.modreactor.com/english/Re...onclusion.html seems the cards seem to scale better with a AMD processor though this was with 2X4890s and not the cards you have listed. If i was to to change anything i'd maybe say the PSU was a little over the top for your needs even heavily overclocked on card and cpu a corsair 1000w would handle it fine. Plus scrap the maxtor drive, go with a 3 platter WD black 1TB or the 3 platter samsung spinpoint F1 as both will be faster then the maxtor. http://techreport.com/articles.x/15363

[holy god of nil]

Building an amazingly expensive i7 rig now with your main build how it is at the mo is akin to throwing money down a drain IMO. I really doubt you'll see much difference between the two in the near future unless you were to start playing crysis on a 40" screen or something.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

To the OP save your money as the newer 32nm Intel CPUs and the replacement for the Phenom will be out in the next 12 to 18 months and these should have better performance than the current CPUs. Also DX11 will become a common standard for games too and the DX11 cards should become more refined within the same time period too.

[Rabbtc]

Thank you for all the posts.

When i bought this system last september, i7 core came out a month after i bought it and i obviously didnt do that much research otherwise i would have waited. When these new CPUs come out will they need yet another new chipset? cause if not i will buy this system then just upgrade when the time comes.

I know the HD4890x2 cards come out sometime soon aswell but theres no clear date. Since reading Jasp' reply i think chosing 3x HD4890 cards would be better or simply waiting for the HD4890x2 cards to be released but no doubt when they do it'll be quite costly, hopefully near enough the same price as the Nvidia GTX 295 or cheaper.

[Blaineoliver]

Direct X 11 cards, more powerful, will lower price of older cards and will have new features, good reasons to hold out.

[Bugbait]

If you're itching to spend money (know that feeling) then maybe look at a larger and better monitor? Your existing hardware seems overkill for a mere 22". The proposed spec is serious overkill unless you're intending to boost the resolution you game at.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

TBH, IMHO the OP is just wasting their money on replacing their current system at this time. If anything replacing the Q6600 with a cooler running Q9550,upgrading the monitor to a 24" and getting a faster primary hard disk or even an SSD would be a better use of their funds.

[Rabbtc]

I dont even have the money, the plan is to sell this pc and buy the rest on buy now pay 12 months later with no interest. I see everyones point on wasting money but its more the fact i want to build another pc, i know there wouldnt be much difference in the new system compared to my own but it still doesnt kill that urge.

[holy god of nil]

that's all a bit mental, however if you do decide to do this pm about the sale of your current rig.

[new boy]

id say if ur spending all that money.... then perhaps a little more in the hard drive department would be worthwhile

dut damn dude :O

[Rabbtc]

that's all a bit mental, however if you do decide to do this pm about the sale of your current rig.

I cant actually figure out how to PM anyone on here?

id say if ur spending all that money.... then perhaps a little more in the hard drive department would be worthwhile

dut damn dude :O

I think 1tb is fine for now i can always add to it later if needed, i have a 640GB external aswell so im not running out of space.

[Jasp]

Like i said in my first post, if you are serious about building it scrap the maxtor drive, you want either the samsung spinpoint F1 or the WD Black 1tb, both are based on a 3 platter design so are faster.

[Rabbtc]

Like i said in my first post, if you are serious about building it scrap the maxtor drive, you want either the samsung spinpoint F1 or the WD Black 1tb, both are based on a 3 platter design so are faster.

Yeah ive taken your advice and went with the WD black 1tb (Y)

[Jasp]

Sorry didn't mean to snap lol

[Rabbtc]

Nah i didnt take it like that, just appreciated your input. I dont know much about HDD's just the basics, i wanted a solid state but i dont see the huge attraction to them yet, i know my mates just bought one ill have to ask him what its like.