Mid level gaming pc

[Jun aka Pekto]

So far so good. The Gigabyte board seems to be doing a good job auto-adjusting the voltage (if any). I haven't done anything on my end.

I'll keep it at 4 cores for a while.

[Jun aka Pekto]

I stressed the pc with FSX and converting recorded tv shows to Divx and mp4. No ill effects with the unlocked 4th core. But, reading around...... I think I'll have to stick with either 4 cores at the stock 2.8ghz or revert back to 3 cores and overclock to say, 3.2ghz or higher. But not both at the same time. That would have to involve buying a new HSF. I don't really feel like taking apart the pc again when it's running very well.

For now, I'll stick to 4 cores * 2.8ghz.

I'll consider doing both when it's near my next upgrade cycle.

[Jun aka Pekto]

is the Intel Core i7 920 and X58 Motherboard combo any good ????

Well, it quicker than most Core 2 and AMD cpu's that came before it.

I considered buying an X58 motherboard and an i7 920. But, that would have been an additional $270 minimum at newegg.com for something that's really less and less important in a mid-range gaming pc.

[tidus1203]

Ang mamahal pa ng i7 sa Pilipinas, not worth it. I will buying mine next year hopefully mura na yan or maskin Quad Core mag mura na...

[Jun aka Pekto]

Get the i7 920 if you do a lot of 3d stuff or video-editing/encoding. That's where the i7's and many Core 2 Quads shine over AMD.

In gaming, it's more and more the video card. I wanted a 5850. But, every store was sold out. So, I settled for the lower power draw 5770.

My full pc upgrade cycle is also coming up sometime next year. That means an all new pc. I definitely will move up to i7 or even the i9 (6-core).

[tidus1203]

Overkill IMO. And IMO get an AMD kapag DDR3 memory gagamitin mo. Kasi yung mga DDR3 motherboards ng Intel super mahal lagpas P10,000... Samantala AMD motherboards with DDR3 compatibility meron as low as P5000-P6000 range lang...

[tidus1203]

Speaking of the PC I am getting one today or tomorrow. Forget na next yar, di na ako makaintay!

I will post the specs later... Its not as good as Jun's pero should be good for my cause!

[Jun aka Pekto]

How about Core i7 860 ? Is this good enough? I just play games really. Never encode or do 3D.

Despite the smaller numbering of the i7 860, its clock speed is actually higher than the i7 920 (2.8hz vs 2.66ghz). I think the i7 860 has lesser hyperthreading pipelines.

Still, checking around.... the i7 860 seems to be as quick or quicker than the i7 920 in many non-gaming tasks. Needless to say, it destroys all current AMD cpu's. Average margin vs my Phenom II X3 720 is 20-30%.

On most current games, the margin is lesser say, 10-15% average which indicates the video card matters more.

Pricewise, the i7 860 is $1 more than the i7 920 and $171 more than my Phenom II X3 720. I also intended this pc mostly for gaming.

I'm at least a couple of years behind on my gaming. So actually, most games I'll be buying will be one to two-year old games except for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and either ArmA 2 or Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.

I game online mainly with relatives in a private server. We're all moving up from Battlefield 2 to Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The only other online gaming I do is with FSX. No one in my group has plans to upgrade beyond FSX.

The good part is many of the older games like Mass Effect and Red Alert 3 are down to $20 plus games such as Fallout 3 will soon be heavily discounted.

[tidus1203]

Got my PC today, here are the specs...

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 945 (3.0Ghz)
Mobo: MSI 790-GX-G65 (AM3 and DDR3 compatible)
RAM: 2X 2GB DDR3 1333 Kingston (I figured at this stage 4GB is sufficient I have 2 slots left anyway, will buy as required)
HDD: 1TB Samsung 7200RPM SATA 32MB cache
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 4670 1GB (I know kinda low spec but its so hard to find HD 5000 series here)

[Jun aka Pekto]

Got my PC today, here are the specs...

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 945 (3.0Ghz)
Mobo: MSI 790-GX-G65 (AM3 and DDR3 compatible)
RAM: 2X 2GB DDR3 1333 Kingston (I figured at this stage 4GB is sufficient I have 2 slots left anyway, will buy as required)
HDD: 1TB Samsung 7200RPM SATA 32MB cache
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 4670 1GB (I know kinda low spec but its so hard to find HD 5000 series here)

I thought you were going to get that 9800 GT/GTX.

[tidus1203]

Na for compatibility sake I got an ATI.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Na for compatibility sake I got an ATI.

Make sure to check your installed programs for nVidia's PhysX. ATI cards current doesn't support it which means your cpu will take a very steep hit if you use it.

Me. I'm not sure how PhysX got into my pc. But, it was slowing down some games. So, I uninstalled it.

[Haruto]

Got my PC today, here are the specs...

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 945 (3.0Ghz)
Mobo: MSI 790-GX-G65 (AM3 and DDR3 compatible)
RAM: 2X 2GB DDR3 1333 Kingston (I figured at this stage 4GB is sufficient I have 2 slots left anyway, will buy as required)
HDD: 1TB Samsung 7200RPM SATA 32MB cache
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 4670 1GB (I know kinda low spec but its so hard to find HD 5000 series here)

Sir

how much damage ng rig nyo na to?

[tidus1203]

Around P33K++ Mahal yung MOBO nasa P7000 na, yung Phenom II X4 945 nasa P9000. The memory is P5000 for both yung video card mas mura P3700 and the 1TB HDD is P4000... Binili ko sa PC Gilmore sa V-mall...

[Haruto]

Thanks sa info sir. hmmm. sakto, nasira yung athlon 64 ko. ) hehhee. mukang pasok sa budget to.. ^^,m

[Horsepower]

I'd suggest that you go with a Gigabyte instead of an MSI. Make sure all capacitors are solid type. Also, Western Digital instead of a Samsung.

[tidus1203]

Ang problem lang dito sa Gigabyte is ang hirap maghanap ng specs na gusto ko. Meron sa mga price list nila pero laging wala silang hawak special order pa... Yung hinahanap ko kasi AM3 socket na and DDR3 compatible na...

[Haruto]

I'd suggest that you go with a Gigabyte instead of an MSI. Make sure all capacitors are solid type. Also, Western Digital instead of a Samsung.

oks. pero sir, question... Pano malalaman kung solid type yung capacitors ng Gigabyte na mobo?

[Jun aka Pekto]

I think all motherboards switched to Japanese solid-state capacitors after 2006.

[rion]

ngayon ko lang napansin, i5 boards are capable of handling DDR3-2400?

daig pa niya current i7 boards * 1600 lang...

there are also i5 boards that go as cheap as 5.3k the Asrock P55M Pro, CrossFireX ready pa