Axel Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Hi all, It's getting to the point where I'm destined for a new gaming rig. The only components I'll require will be mobo, cpu, memory and gpu. I don't have a specific budget but I don't wanna waste my money. Currently considering: ?109 Asus P8Z77-V LK Motherboard ?185 i5-3570k ?55 Corsair 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3 1866Mhz Red Vengeance Memory Kit CL9 1.5V ?312 EVGA GTX670 FTW 2Gb Thing is I'm getting really confused nowadays. Too much choice! Like the Z77 saberooth and the Asus Maximus offerings? What tangible advantages do they offer over the reasonably priced board that I selected? I'm mentioning asus specifically as they've always served me well in the past :) Upgrading from a P5K deluxe with a Core2Duo (overclocked 3.6 ghz), 4gb geil low latency memory and an 8800GTS (640mb). Rest of the setup includes a CM Storm Scout case, crucial M4 SSD 128gb, 500gb seagate hdd, pioneer DVD writer, coolermaster V8 cooler, Dell U2711 17" monitor @ 2560x1440 and a Dell 2005FPW 1680x1050 - only gaming on one of them (the big one!). Help much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 I should add that I may indeed just end up waiting for haswell and the 7xx series cards. I suppose my real question is whether there's any point spending upwards of ?200+ on a motherboard these days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threetonesun Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 I should add that I may indeed just end up waiting for haswell and the 7xx series cards. I suppose my real question is whether there's any point spending upwards of ?200+ on a motherboard these days! Nope. I don't think there ever was, personally, unless you're planning on going completely nuts in the overclocking department, or there's a very specific feature you need. And yes, at this point I'd wait for Haswell, at least, if you're in no rush. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason S. Global Moderator Posted April 30, 2013 Global Moderator Share Posted April 30, 2013 there's nothing wrong w/ the setup youre proposing, but i'd also wait for Haswell. It's only about a month away now. as for the nvidia 700 series cards - i dont think there's any firm release date, right? plus, they'll be slightly faster than the 600 series w/ the same Kepler core. the 670 is still a great purchase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 I don't even game that much and my machines perfectly capable as it is. It's well behind the curve though and I feel my gaming has tapered off on the basis that my setup will really struggle to run the likes on battlefield 3 and any other modern games. I'm typically limited to the odd game of CSGO! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threetonesun Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 I don't even game that much and my machines perfectly capable as it is. It's well behind the curve though and I feel my gaming has tapered off on the basis that my setup will really struggle to run the likes on battlefield 3 and any other modern games. I'm typically limited to the odd game of CSGO! 670 is probably a good choice then, unless you're going to game at gigantic resolutions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 670 is probably a good choice then, unless you're going to game at gigantic resolutions. Well 2560x1440 is pretty heavy right? I assumed a a GTX670 2gb would cope with that. The 4gb is almost ?400 and I'm loathed to spend that much on a card! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threetonesun Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Well 2560x1440 is pretty heavy right? I assumed a a GTX670 2gb would cope with that. The 4gb is almost ?400 and I'm loathed to spend that much on a card! Oh, ok, I was confused by your original post, it said there was a 2560 x 1440 17'' monitor... :D Assuming you want to game at native resolution, I'd say 2gb is fine, but get a faster card. A 680 could run something like Farcry 3 at that resolution at ~35 fps, a 670 is going to struggle to consistently hit 30. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason S. Global Moderator Posted April 30, 2013 Global Moderator Share Posted April 30, 2013 Assuming you want to game at native resolution, I'd say 2gb is fine, but get a faster card. A 680 could run something like Farcry 3 at that resolution at ~35 fps, a 670 is going to struggle to consistently hit 30. agreed. At such a high resolution, a single 670 is going to choke on any modern games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 Oh, ok, I was confused by your original post, it said there was a 2560 x 1440 17'' monitor... :D Assuming you want to game at native resolution, I'd say 2gb is fine, but get a faster card. A 680 could run something like Farcry 3 at that resolution at ~35 fps, a 670 is going to struggle to consistently hit 30. Whoops! Typo - that's 27"! Ah dammit - what about AMD's offerings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threetonesun Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Whoops! Typo - that's 27"! Ah dammit - what about AMD's offerings? You'd probably want a 7970. At that resolution, you're going to always be looking at, if not the best card in their lineup, only 1 or 2 steps below that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 So what tends to be the most relevant factor when it comes to increasing res? The amount of memory or the GPU itself? I have heard much about the 7970 offering far better bang for buck but obviously you lose things like PhysX with it. Then you get the option to go with the standard reference card or something that's been rev'd to the moon and back - these things used to be simple!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre S. Veteran Posted April 30, 2013 Veteran Share Posted April 30, 2013 It's getting to the point where I'm destined for a new gaming rig.Just wanted to point how awesome it is that you put this in such a romantic way. Thumbs up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 Just wanted to point how awesome it is that you put this in such a romantic way. Thumbs up. It certainly feels that way! This beaut has served me for the best part of 6 years - one has to choose very carefully when considering a successor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threetonesun Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 So what tends to be the most relevant factor when it comes to increasing res? The amount of memory or the GPU itself? I have heard much about the 7970 offering far better bang for buck but obviously you lose things like PhysX with it. Then you get the option to go with the standard reference card or something that's been rev'd to the moon and back - these things used to be simple!! The long and short of it is that 2gb of memory is good enough for any game out today, and probably will be for a while. At some point using enough high quality textures to saturate 4gbs of memory is going to generate 100 gb games, so... I don't think we'll see them soon, thanks to the limits of consoles and digital distribution. There are already games in the 40 - 50gb range for the PC that still can't use 2gbs of memory on textures. PhysX never really caught on. I know of games which use it, but they're few and far between, and it's not often used to do much. If you really, really want it you can buy any older Nvidia card and use it as a PhysX processor. Reference cards don't really sell anymore, except when they first come out, or on deep discount. Pick a good manufacturer and their SUPERUBERQUADFAN edition will be fine. Just check out the reviews and look for one that's quiet and people haven't been having issues with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason S. Global Moderator Posted April 30, 2013 Global Moderator Share Posted April 30, 2013 The long and short of it is that 2gb of memory is good enough for any game out today, and probably will be for a while. At some point using enough high quality textures to saturate 4gbs of memory is going to generate 100 gb games, so... I don't think we'll see them soon, thanks to the limits of consoles and digital distribution. There are already games in the 40 - 50gb range for the PC that still can't use 2gbs of memory on textures. in general, your point is correct. at 2560x1440, though, 2GB will not be enough for many games. I know Max Payne 3, Crysis 3 and Tomb Raider, all can use well over 2GB. imo, i'd be a shame to have a high resolution monitor like that, and not be able to enjoy the high quality textures! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threetonesun Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 in general, your point is correct. at 2560x1440, though, 2GB will not be enough for many games. I know Max Payne 3, Crysis 3 and Tomb Raider, all can use well over 2GB. imo, i'd be a shame to have a high resolution monitor like that, and not be able to enjoy the high quality textures! At 2560x1440? I thought there wasn't anything going over 2GB yet unless you went up to a triple monitor setup, but admittedly I haven't looked lately. All the same, you're probably talking the difference between "ultra" and "high" settings, and then you're assuming that something like a 680 can run ultra at that resolution to begin with, based on hypothetical performance of not-yet released games... yadda, yadda, a 4GB card is more future proof, depends on what you want to spend. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 So in theory a 3Gb AMD 7970 superultraterahertz edition may be a good compromise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YounGMessiah Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Hi all, It's getting to the point where I'm destined for a new gaming rig. The only components I'll require will be mobo, cpu, memory and gpu. I don't have a specific budget but I don't wanna waste my money. Currently considering: ?109 Asus P8Z77-V LK Motherboard ?185 i5-3570k ?55 Corsair 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3 1866Mhz Red Vengeance Memory Kit CL9 1.5V ?312 EVGA GTX670 FTW 2Gb Thing is I'm getting really confused nowadays. Too much choice! Like the Z77 saberooth and the Asus Maximus offerings? What tangible advantages do they offer over the reasonably priced board that I selected? I'm mentioning asus specifically as they've always served me well in the past :) Upgrading from a P5K deluxe with a Core2Duo (overclocked 3.6 ghz), 4gb geil low latency memory and an 8800GTS (640mb). Rest of the setup includes a CM Storm Scout case, crucial M4 SSD 128gb, 500gb seagate hdd, pioneer DVD writer, coolermaster V8 cooler, Dell U2711 17" monitor @ 2560x1440 and a Dell 2005FPW 1680x1050 - only gaming on one of them (the big one!). Help much appreciated! Okay I would HIGHLY suggest a different motherboard with a better power phase than 4+1+1; this is speaking from owning it and seeing my limitations when trying to overclock and with my memory. If you need suggestions ask, but you can find better power phase systems by using Google. With the memory do not mess with the OCed RAM, stick with 1600MHz Google for the benefits there and how the channels and CPU work with it. VRAM is always good and 2GB, but if you can get higher go for it. I would suggest waiting for the 700 series, looks promising. You didnt list your PSU, but I would suggest upgrading into those nice full modular, certified platinum ones. You will regret it later or end up upgrading any ways. My .000000004 cents Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 Suggestions always welcome so I know what to look for. Like I mentioned I was looking at the Sabertooth with that weird thermal armour but it was about ?70 more than the P8Z77-V LK. As for my PSU - it's probably only a year old. Modular Coolermaster Silent Pro 700w if I recall. As for memory it was Corsair Vengeance 1866 which was the same price as the 1600. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YounGMessiah Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 For a little more, not sure in your country, why not invest into the Asus P8Z77-V Pro? And if they are same price, why not :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 And how does that look against the sabertooth? That and the pro are around about the same price! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YounGMessiah Posted May 1, 2013 Share Posted May 1, 2013 I would go for the cheapest, but from Google I found that the Sabertooth is a bit more durable and recommended for prolonged usage. (If you plan on sticking with 1155) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axel Posted May 1, 2013 Author Share Posted May 1, 2013 Awesome - thanks for the tips! I'm still undecided about whether to wait for the z87 boards and haswell. Decisions decisions... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre S. Veteran Posted May 1, 2013 Veteran Share Posted May 1, 2013 With GTX 700s and Haswell right around the corner (mid-may and early june respectively), unless you're in a hurry, it's well worth the wait. The computer parts you're contemplating now will drop in price and faster ones will replace them. New AVX2 instructions in Haswell could make a big difference in computationally intensive applications like video encoding. x264's changelog currently mentions AVX2 at every opportunity so I would expect massive speedups there on Haswell. Neither will be revolutionary tech but at least you'll have the best there is for a year or so and won't have any regrets. It's kind of psychological :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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