New PC

[Wolfram23]

So I was thinking of buying this rig....
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=254044&Sku=SYX-1088

I was looking for some opinions on the processor and GPU. I mainly want it for gaming and with some of the upcoming releases this year I really need to upgrade.

This is pretty typical of what they do. This is not a gaming PC. A 550Ti is a low end card, while the i7 2600k is a beast of a CPU. But what would you need a $300 CPU for? Unless you're doing a lot of F@H, video rendering, or encoding, you're not at all going to need the best CPU out there.

Anyway I would highly recommend a DIY approach to this, but if you don't want to then rather than TigerDirect, try http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

For example http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/CyberPower_Z68_Configurator/ starts at $680. Add the 560 Ti (maybe?) for another $250 and you've already got a solid gaming rig, for less. Plus as you can see, you're able to basically fully customize the entire build anyway.

 

[SJXarg]

The PC in his TigerDirect link is a 2600, not a 2600K, so no easy overclocking.

 

[Sephren468]

So I was thinking of buying this rig....
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=254044&Sku=SYX-1088

I was looking for some opinions on the processor and GPU. I mainly want it for gaming and with some of the upcoming releases this year I really need to upgrade.

This is pretty typical of what they do. This is not a gaming PC. A 550Ti is a low end card, while the i7 2600k is a beast of a CPU. But what would you need a $300 CPU for? Unless you're doing a lot of F@H, video rendering, or encoding, you're not at all going to need the best CPU out there.

Anyway I would highly recommend a DIY approach to this, but if you don't want to then rather than TigerDirect, try http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

For example http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/CyberPower_Z68_Configurator/ starts at $680. Add the 560 Ti (maybe?) for another $250 and you've already got a solid gaming rig, for less. Plus as you can see, you're able to basically fully customize the entire build anyway.

Thanks for that link that site looks pretty nice. Went ahead and build one on that site for about $1300 with Software and shipping. =)

 

[Sephren468]

Thanks for that link that site looks pretty nice. Went ahead and build one on that site for about $1300 with Software and shipping. =)

What specs did it have??

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2GB 16X PCIe Video Card
8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module
Intel® Core? i5-2500K 3.30 GHz 6M Intel Smart Cache LGA1155
[CrossFireX] MSI Z68A-G43 (B3) Intel Z68 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ Lucid Virtu + Intel Smart Response Technology, OC Genie II, Winki 3 & 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe & 2 PCIe X2
750 Watts - Corsair Professional Series CMPSU-AX750 Gold 80 Plus Power Supply
1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD

 

[Robert Ewing]

I'd build your own PC, it's much more fulfilling, it's a lot of fun, although sometimes frustrating. Which is all the more better when you succeed. And you gain a unique understanding of your rig. Not to mention it's hella' cheap. I recommend you go to Tech conventions or the like (they happen everywhere.) Basically a car boot sale but for tech. You can get amazing graphics cards for dirt cheap. I got my gaming rig for a total of around £500, all of my stuff is from car boot sales, it sounds a hilarious prospect, but it can run (And I know this is a noobish thing to say) Crysis 1 + 2 at the same time, at 60fps. Impressive for a second hand mash up PC.


Warning: You DO need to have knowledge of PC's beforehand, you don't want to buy a processor to find that no other hardware is compatible. I've done that before, sucks ass.

 

[SJXarg]

Everything there looks good, but I must ask, is that HDD a Western Digital? If so, is it a Caviar Blue or Caviar Black?

 

[BigTortoise]

Thanks for that link that site looks pretty nice. Went ahead and build one on that site for about $1300 with Software and shipping. =)

What specs did it have??

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2GB 16X PCIe Video Card
8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module
Intel® Core? i5-2500K 3.30 GHz 6M Intel Smart Cache LGA1155
[CrossFireX] MSI Z68A-G43 (B3) Intel Z68 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ Lucid Virtu + Intel Smart Response Technology, OC Genie II, Winki 3 & 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe & 2 PCIe X2
750 Watts - Corsair Professional Series CMPSU-AX750 Gold 80 Plus Power Supply
1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD

That's a good build and in the future you can just get an after market cooler and OC your CPU instead of having to upgrade it.

Actually, the new Sandy bridge coolers are pretty fucking rad. OP should have no problem overclocking.

 

[Wolfram23]

Thanks for that link that site looks pretty nice. Went ahead and build one on that site for about $1300 with Software and shipping. =)

What specs did it have??

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2GB 16X PCIe Video Card
8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module
Intel® Core? i5-2500K 3.30 GHz 6M Intel Smart Cache LGA1155
[CrossFireX] MSI Z68A-G43 (B3) Intel Z68 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ Lucid Virtu + Intel Smart Response Technology, OC Genie II, Winki 3 & 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe & 2 PCIe X2
750 Watts - Corsair Professional Series CMPSU-AX750 Gold 80 Plus Power Supply
1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD

Hey. Not a bad start but I would highly advise you against the 560 Ti 2gb. The only reason for the 2gb card over 1gb is that it is going to have a little more headroom for huge resolutions - that is to say, triple monitors. However, a single card itself isn't going to have the horsepower to push that anyway so you'd need 2, and the motherboard is Crossfire (AMD Radeon) not SLI (Nvidia) compatible.

There's also the fact that Palit makes the only 2gb 560 Ti and it's actually not a very good product. The VRAM doesn't even have cooling.

I would therefore recommend the 6950 2gb if you want "future proof", which is in fact slightly faster than the 560 Ti but on top of that they can be "unlocked" to 6970 2gb performance if you have a little luck and the balls to try it (2nd fastest single GPU on the market). Otherwise there is a 6950 1gb, but it's actually the bastard child of the 2gb version lol, and it cannot be unlocked. It performs basically identical to the 560 Ti 1gb. Also, in benchmarks I've seen, they actually both have very similar performance to their 2gb brothers right up to 2560x1600 resolution.

2gb isn't a bad idea for potential future games that can use it, but right now 1gb is all you need for any game. And like I mentioned before, your board supports crossfire so if you get a single AMD now, in a year you could double up for a good price (they usually drop by ~$100 before they go out of production) and trust me, two 6950 2gb cards are hella fast. Those are what I'd buy right now if I were shopping. Currently using two 5850 1gb cards and they're maxing out everything at 1080p.

 

[achilleas.k]

A lot of people are mentioning the 2500K and for good reason. Put a bit of consideration into the build-it-yourself option. It's really not as hard as anyone thinks. Also, be open about overclocking that chip. It's a 3.3 GHz CPU but everyone buys it because it can safely overclock to around 4.5~4.9 GHz using a good air cooler.

As for specific components, I nearly blindly trust the judgement of Bit-Tech.net, a UK hardware website. If you can't be bothered to look at benchmarks and reviews for each individual component (Tom's hardware is also good for benchmarks), I suggest you read through their latest buyer's guide [http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2011/07/11/pc-hardware-buyer-s-guide-july-2011/1]. You don't have to follow it to the letter but you can surely bet that if they picked a specific part over its alternatives it's for a good reason.

If I were you, which I sort of am right now, since I've been considering getting a new gaming PC, I'd go for the "Enthusiast Overclocker" from the linked article and possibly mix in a few parts from the "Gaming Workhorse" if there was room in my budget.

Have a look!

 

[SJXarg]

I would therefore recommend the 6950 2gb if you want "future proof", which is in fact slightly faster than the 560 Ti but on top of that they can be "unlocked" to 6970 2gb performance if you have a little luck and the balls to try it (2nd fastest single GPU on the market).

If you're gonna try this, do your research very carefully, AMD has already phased out that model and put out a new 6950 that canNOT be flashed to a 6970, and understandably stocks of the flashable card have been in very high demand. That said, even if you can't flash the bios on it, a 6950 2gb should be a very solid card for what you pay.

 

[Wolfram23]

I would therefore recommend the 6950 2gb if you want "future proof", which is in fact slightly faster than the 560 Ti but on top of that they can be "unlocked" to 6970 2gb performance if you have a little luck and the balls to try it (2nd fastest single GPU on the market).

If you're gonna try this, do your research very carefully, AMD has already phased out that model and put out a new 6950 that canNOT be flashed to a 6970, and understandably stocks of the flashable card have been in very high demand. That said, even if you can't flash the bios on it, a 6950 2gb should be a very solid card for what you pay.

Um... "phased out"? I assume you're referring to the 6970 flash and NOT to the 2gb product line... And, well, you're kind of right but kind of wrong. At least as far as I know, all the "reference design" versions are flashable, as well as quite a few of the custom design ones too. But you are right, before purchasing it would be beneficial to search for the specific model and see if it will be flashable, assuming that's the selling point.

 

[SJXarg]

Yeah I was referring to the flashing a 6950 to a 6970... understandably AMD doesn't like people getting a better card for free.. afaik it is getting harder to pick up a flashable one, but they do still exist, and if you can find one, jump on it.

 

[Wolfram23]

Well I don't know about that. I mean, AMD are the guys who put out X2 and X3 CPUs and allow you to (try) unlocking cores