Gaming PC to last 3 Years

[collettnj]

He WANTS 1366, so this is the spec he has come up with:



+ the Patriot memory from Overclockers UK

I think he sees this as pretty final, but if anyone has any further suggestions then please shout!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The motherboard is just overpriced. An HD4890 in a £1000 PC is pointless especially with HD5850 starting to drop in price back towards the £200 mark:

http://forums.hexus.net/current-barg...very-ocuk.html

The HD4890 would need replacement way before an HD5850 and does not have DX11 either.

[kalniel]

Agreed - supply for the 5850 has just started coming through at last so the price should quite quickly drop to something more reasonable. If the difference becomes less than £50 I'd go with the 5850 - or go to a cheaper motherboard and case.

[Terbinator]

A Corsair Obsidian without watercooling is like a lampshade and no lamp.

[collettnj]

I believe he's looking to order/build in about 1.5 - 2 weeks from now.

On the motherboard front, would it be best to go for the 'standard' P6T then?

Kalniel, given what you said on Page 1, wouldn't the 4890 be perfectly good enough for today's games, and the money saved be put towards a good value card sometime in 2011 when it becomes necessary?

As for the case, he wants the Obsidian for its looks, not its practicality. I feel that the HAF 932 would be a much better option for him, since he says he likes the looks (though not as much as the Obsidian), and it offers far superior cooling for an air cooled setup. Not to mention it's £100 cheaper.

How much longer do you think the 5850 would 'last'?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The HD5850 with the initial launch drivers is considerably faster than a GTX285:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/..._card_review/3

With newer drivers the performance will probably get better too!

[Terbinator]

The standard P6T is a top motherobard and will easily suffice.

[collettnj]

I just feel that £60+ is a lot to spend for an extra 6 fps in Crysis

In the other games he plays at the moment, the 4890 would be more than enough, but of course I have no idea what he might do in the future. The 5850 doesn't seem to be very far ahead of the 4890 in performance, so surely it wouldn't 'last' all that much longer?

Sorry if it comes across like i'm doubting what you're saying, I'm not, it just seems to me to make sense to get a cheaper card that is adequate for today's games, and then upgrade in a year or so when there will be more performance available for the price..

[Biscuit]

id agree the corsair case is overkill unless there are plans for watercooling. To add another metaphor it will be like having one single bed in an entire mansion.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I just feel that £60+ is a lot to spend for an extra 6 fps in Crysis

In the other games he plays at the moment, the 4890 would be more than enough, but of course I have no idea what he might do in the future. The 5850 doesn't seem to be very far ahead of the 4890 in performance, so surely it wouldn't 'last' all that much longer?

Sorry if it comes across like i'm doubting what you're saying, I'm not, it just seems to me to make sense to get a cheaper card that is adequate for today's games, and then upgrade in a year or so when there will be more performance available for the price..

All the reviews were done with initial launch drivers so performance is going to get better with further driver releases. Another thing is the fact it has DX11 which either means better image quality or improved performance over DX10.

You do realise that even a 5fps difference in minimal framerates is the difference between a game being playable and not being playable.

Also consider the fact that the HD5850 has 80% stream processors and more memory bandwidth to play with too. Hence in future games which are shader heavy the HD4890 is going to start falling considerably behind an HD5850. HD5850 cards also can overclock well and consume less power since they are made on a 40NM process. An HD4890 actually consumes more power at both idle and at load than an HD5850 and also runs much hotter too.

OTH,if you go for the cheapest HD4890 1GB then it does make more sense:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-S...VI-I-HDTV-HDCP

Spending £130 on an HD4890 1GB as a stop gap makes more sense than £150!

The graphics card is actually made by Vertex3D which is part of PowerColor:

http://www.vtx3d.com/

[collettnj]

On the grounds of what you've said, I think he's leaning towards the HAF, and spending the money saved on a 5850. I'll keep you updated when we get a final spec

[collettnj]

Here's his final proposal:

[Biscuit]

Looks good to me

You could easily get away with the Antec true power 750W semi-modular PSU and save yourself £30 though. I have it and even though i will probably never get close to full utilization its still great!

You only have one fan specified there, i know the HAF comes with a few but you may want to get a few others while your at it. This fan might be better suited for your CPU as it has PWM http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120mm...nd-Rubber-Pins and the other 1200rpm noctua for the rest of the case maybe?

[kalniel]

Kalniel, given what you said on Page 1, wouldn't the 4890 be perfectly good enough for today's games, and the money saved be put towards a good value card sometime in 2011 when it becomes necessary?

Yes, but if the 5850 comes within £50 of the price then it's worth getting over the 4890 as it'll save one years update.

[Terbinator]

Looks good to me

You could easily get away with the Antec true power 750W semi-modular PSU and save yourself £30 though. I have it and even though i will probably never get close to full utilization its still great!

You only have one fan specified there, i know the HAF comes with a few but you may want to get a few others while your at it. This fan might be better suited for your CPU as it has PWM http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120mm...nd-Rubber-Pins

Yeah, 850W seems overkill to me to say the very least.

[collettnj]

You could easily get away with the Antec true power 750W semi-modular PSU and save yourself £30 though. I have it and even though i will probably never get close to full utilization its still great!

You only have one fan specified there, i know the HAF comes with a few but you may want to get a few others while your at it. This fan might be better suited for your CPU as it has PWM http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120mm...nd-Rubber-Pins and the other 1200rpm noctua for the rest of the case maybe?

I appreciate that 850W isn't really needed, but his (and my) attitude to the PSU is that he doesn't know what his power demands will be in 3 years' time, and the 7 year warranty of the Corsair is a great bonus: He says that he'd like to carry the PSU over to his next build.

As for fans, the HAF 932 comes with all the fans he will need. I run mine with the stock fans and am very impressed! The NF-P12 is very quiet so I don't think PWM is really necessary.