New PC time... What Im looking at and some questions.

[Talshere]

So its new PC time and this time its guna be a 100% overhaul. Even the case has to be replaced as it hails from the 7000 era Nvidia cards and its way to small for modern MB's, GPU's and cooling solutions. Im building for a gaming PC.

Im trying to decided what to buy but Ive been out of building for some time and Im catching up. Seems Ive decided to build on the eve of a tech change so Im after some advice if at all possible. Also unlike the past Im full time employed and looking to build a high end machine rather than a budget job which has changed the game somewhat.

Principally Im trying to decided between AMD and Intel chipset but this has several issues within it.

#1 PROCESSOR
AMD have always been value for money, slightly lower performance in gaming for a drastically reduced budget. With AMD topping out at £300 and Intel not really starting until £250. As a result Ive always been an AMD core person. This is still true but importantly, the PS4, XBOX One and Steam Machine all have AMD processors. Typically the problem with AMD performance was one of optimisation rather than actual quality. Given ALL the console variations of note have chosen AMD, we can expect vast improvements in AMD optimisation, making it a much more viable choice.

#2 MB/RAM
It seems DDR4 for MB memory is now a thing. I know GPU's have been DDR5 for some time but DDR4/5 never became available for RAM, something to do with optimisation for general memory and broad spectrum use? Im not specific on the why, only that it wasnt worth it. Ive seen a few post that suggest currently, DDR4 is at best only as good as good DDR3 memory and is expensive for what it is. However, like the shift from DDR2 to DDR3, not changing to DDR4 now, while Im changing anyway could prove a mistake as MB's are either DDR3 OR DDR4 compatible. If I go DDR4 now, I could just upgrade in a few years when the tech has improved rather than needing a MB overhaul again.

HOWEVER,

Only Intels X99 boards, 2011 chipset currently seem to support DDR4. Meaning if I want to go DDR4 it seems I MUST choose an Intel processor.

So, Question

Are we expecting DDR4 compatible AMD MB's soon? Have I just missed them and should I consider waiting till they become available? Or are Intel CPU's better performance anyway?



Additional items

GPU
Seriously considering a Titan card. I havnt really got this far yet. Looking at some early benchmarks its looks like both performance and economically 970's or 980's will be a better choice but Im not sure I want to mess around with dual cards. We will see.

Case
Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra Tower Case
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-249-CM
Its expensive but Ive been showhorning modern large components into a case from the Nnvidia 7000 series era. This will give me space to get everything in easily. Handles for lugging it around when I move and room to try my hand at water cooling for the first time.


Any comments welcome.

 

[DoPo]

#1 PROCESSOR
AMD have always been value for money, slightly lower performance in gaming for a drastically reduced budget. With AMD topping out at £300 and Intel not really starting until £250. As a result Ive always been an AMD core person. This is still true but importantly, the PS4, XBOX One and Steam Machine all have AMD processors. Typically the problem with AMD performance was one of optimisation rather than actual quality. Given ALL the console variations of note have chosen AMD, we can expect vast improvements in AMD optimisation, making it a much more viable choice.

For a gaming machine, what CPU are you looking at, for Intel to start at £250? The i5s I can see on Amazon are less than £200 - the i5 4690k is £173. Even an i7 4790k is £232. I'm not saying "get one of them", but I'm more concerned about the fact that you may be aiming for an overkill - i5, and equivalents, should support your gaming needs just fine. And if you chip in a bit more for a "k" series one, you can overclock it, if needed.

So, Question

Are we expecting DDR4 compatible AMD MB's soon? Have I just missed them and should I consider waiting till they become available? Or are Intel CPU's better performance anyway?

Now, do bear in mind, I've got no hard data here, but my gut feeling is to not go with DDR 4. Not worth the money at this moment, if you wait, you'll be able to upgrade to DDR 4 with the savings. Well, you might wait for a year or two, but I don't really see the rush, unless you really want bleeding edge.

 

[Albino Boo]

Dont expect because AMD's are used in consoles that means better PC optimization. 85% of the PC market is intel and companies will only spend money on optimising things for the greatest number of machines and that means Intel. Consoles have lightweight operating systems that allow directly addressing hardware whereas under windows all the hardware is sitting under the hardware allocation layer

AMD's are way off in terms of performance in comparison to intel. Thier best CPU will only compete with a mid range intel. There is no point going for DDR4 on this generation of AMD's because the CPUs aren't strong enough to warrant the extra memory speed under windows.