Assembling a new PC, advice appreciated.

Albert on 29/10/2012 at 14:18

Someone told me the 570 is better than a compareable 600 range card for the buck, is this true? I want a damn fine card that I can trust will work for Linux. Like I said, I'm throwing away that sissy ATI HD 4XXX series card and going for the real deal... But, I'm slightly budget conscious ($350-375) because I want to get a new 1TB HDD as well.

Not meaning to hijack the main point of this thread, but people wanting to make the jump to Linux are well compensated now, thanks to Thief getting the patch of a lifetime and all... Hmm, and I swore I wouldn't talk about that anymore. :cheeky:

bikerdude on 30/10/2012 at 17:21

Quote Posted by Albert

It depends, if you mean and (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_660_HAWK/16.html) 570 versus the 670 then absolutely not. If you mean the 570 versus 660 then they are about the same in old games but the 660 will be better in the newest games. Or spend a few bucks more and get the 660ti.

And that's not forgetting the 600 series is based on new (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/05/15/nvidia_kepler_tesla_gpu_revealed/) Kepler architecture, which is cooler running and does more work per watt. Cheapest prices for a 570 and 660Ti on newegg -

GTX570 - $219
GTX660 - $229
GTX660ti - $279

If your not worried about having half descent OpenGL compatibility of perf then an AMD 7890 or 7950, but they cost more...

HD7870 - $229 - (a tad faster 570 but slower than a 660)
HD7950 - £299 - (a tad faster then a 660ti, but $20 more)

The best bang for $280 bucks is a 660Ti and then you can go buy a WD 1TB 7200RPM for $70, grand total $350

Albert on 30/10/2012 at 21:37

Gee, that sounds like a perfect idea. I'll think about going with that, bikerdude! :thumb:

Maybe I'll go to Fry's. Depends on if I can get the time, because it's like an hour away from me. :p

Hiatus on 30/10/2012 at 22:22

@bikerdude and others:

I'm in a market for a new case. Which one would you recommend in up to $150-170(max) price range (with place for PSU at the bottom, dust filters also very handy/necessary)?

bikerdude on 31/10/2012 at 11:18

Quote Posted by Hiatus

I'm in a market for a new case. Which one would you recommend in up to $150-170(max) price range (with place for PSU at the bottom, dust filters also very handy/necessary)?

Well the case Im using its actually quite good, Fractal Design R3, but its end of line, so the R4 is the replacement and has some of the features I hacked into my R3. But Fractal have removed the side fan which in my book is a an issue if you have a high-end gfx card you want to keep cool. It doesn't come with a side dust filter so I used a magnetic one similar to this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999234) Silverstone example

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352021) $119 @ NewEgg
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbhlQ0hrZMo)

Or we have the Fractal Design Arc, which is a smaller case which is fine if you not running a top tier hot gfx card.
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352007)
$69 @NewEgg
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzNGJohj5vY)

But in order to get you the best case for your money tell me what case make/model do you currently have atm and what components you have inside?

zombe on 31/10/2012 at 12:13

The new PC should be delivered tomorrow (i hope, as due of a bad-timing issue - i do not have a PC at the moment. So, sorry for not showing up earlier - my internet access is a bit hampered).

So, time to say "Thank You" for all involved in helping me make up my mind and avoid some bad decisions.

Clearing up a few things:

Quote Posted by bikerdude

Looks good, but the issue your gonna have with that motherboard is its a very cut down model. For a start it dosent have SATA 3 (6GB/s) and if I were buying a new PC thats something I would want in case I wanted to get an SSD drive in the future.

Quote Posted by Jason Moyer

I wouldn't waste money on an H61 mobo at this point. Get an H77 if you're not overclocking.

That mobo had a bigger problem - no support for DDR-1600. So, as i noted in that message, asked (and got) this instead:
(http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4151#sp)

Quote Posted by Jason Moyer

What GPU are you getting? That CPU doesn't have onboard video, although for $5 more the i5-3450 has onboard video and a higher boost frequency.

On-board video excels in complete worthlessness (for me) - also, costs 20-30€.

Quote Posted by Jason Moyer

Unless you're running a triple monitor setup or something a GTX660 seems like overkill. I'd get a 7850 or something instead and put that $100 into something else. Edit: Actually, unless I'm missing something, the 7850 and GTX 660 are basically identical in terms of performance.

* 7850 stats:
1024:64:32 bandwith: 27.52 / 55.04 / 153.6 GF: 1761.3
* GTX660 stats (slightly altered from base model):
960:80:24 bandwith: 26.3 / 87.8 / 144.2 GF: 1881.6
Based on that, GTX660 should be slightly faster in every context (texture samplers and bandwidth for them [hell f* yeah!] is much better and the vague/theoretical GF is slightly better too).

Pretty much equal price for both (via relevantly local price-watch aggregate site), BUT:
* AMD is persistently the lowest common denominator for the last frigging decade as far as features are concerned. Nothing a simple user should much care about, but i have my developer glasses on, so - AMD offer is absolutely laughable in comparison. Also, AMD still has not managed to get a driver for latest OpenGL out.

Quote Posted by Albert

Someone told me the 570 is better than a compareable 600 range card for the buck, is this true?

My 2c based on the research i went through:
* 500 series is exclusively 40nm tech - expect it to draw more power without any speed benefit.
* The pricing for some (well, did not notice any exceptions, but i did not look too much after a few crapshots) 500 series cards is unbelievable robbery - watch out! Cheat sheet:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_500_Series)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_600_Series)
Paying attention to core-config and bandwidth/fill-rate (and perhaps the vague gigaflops number) is the easiest to get a general feel of what the card is worth (i would bet bandwith/fillrate to be more important than calculation power in most games except a few of the newest eye-candy focused games).
* 570 is sold around here for 260€-330€ ... which given its stats (480:60:40 BW: 29/44/152) is a robbery (might have more reasonable prices around you). Hell, my 660GTX, which is better (in addition: having nearly double of the memory), costs only 210€.

660GTX Ti is a nice step up from 660GTX, but so is the price (for me it was not worth it as everyone here added 100€ to the price tag - which is just too much for it :( ).

oh ... bikerdude already replied ... but i leave mine for extra opinion.

bikerdude on 31/10/2012 at 13:01

Quote Posted by zombe

* That mobo had a bigger problem - no support for DDR-1600. So, as i noted in that message, asked (and got) this instead: (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4151#sp)
* Based on that, GTX660 should be slightly faster in every context (texture samplers and bandwidth for them [hell f* yeah!] is much better and the vague/theoretical GF is slightly better too).Pretty much equal price for both (via relevantly local price-watch aggregate site), But my 660GTX, which is better (in addition: having nearly double of the memory), costs only 210€.

*
* Good choice on the mobo its the bare minimum I would have recommended.
* Go for the GTX660, its 15-35% faster than the 7850 in various games and you will get better OpenGL compatibility and perf, and as its the same price where you are its a no-brainer.

I would just like to say to the community at large, I am neither an AMD or nVidia fan. I just go for the best price/perf/compatibility ratio and atm that's nVidia. Just to give you an idea here is what I have had over the last 17yrs -

* Voodoo 3D
* Voodoo 2
* Hercules prophet 3D (banshee)
* Geforce 256
* Geforce 2 ti
* Radeon 7500
* Geforce 4 mx
* Geforce 4400 ti
* Radeon 9700 Pro - one of the best cards of all time, I had this card for 2.5yrs.
* Radeon 9800 pro
* Geforce 6800 GT
* Geforce 7800 GT - I had 2 of these at one point and it was the first and last time I played with SLI.
* Radeon X1800 XT
* Geforce 7950 GT o/c
* Geforce 8800 GTX
* Geforce 8800 ultra - got a good trade in on the GTX.
* Geforce GTX 280
* Geforce GTX 285 - cooler & quieter
* Radeon HD 5870
* Radeon HD 6970 - sent it back after 1 day, too loud & not fast enough for the money.
* Geforce GTX 480 - with custom tri-fan cooler
* Geforce GTX 670 - waiting for it to be delivered today in-fact.

Most of the cards in the last few years have been owned for roughly 1-1.5yrs before being upgraded. and another related comparison here is a 'very rough' list of the CPU's Ive had

* Amiga A1200, w/68030 & 8Mb - I loved that computer.
* 486 DX4100
* Pentium pro
* Celeron C300 - this chip overclocked like you wouldn't believe.
* Athlon Xp 2000
* Athlon Barton 2500 - another good overclocker.
* Athlon 64 3000
* Athlon X2 4000 - ah those were the days from the Xp to the 64.
* Core2duo E6300
* Core2duo E8400
* Core2quad Q9650
* Core i5 2500K - still the best bang for bug chip @ the £160 price mark.

In the same time I have only owned 4 sound cards - Awe32, Live 5.1, Audigy 1 & Xfi.