Rig to run crysis on ultra high?

nVid

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 AM3 3.2GHz 8MB Black Edition (€149)
RAM: DDR3 4BG (2x2GB)(€100)
HDD: SATA 7200rpm(€49)
CASE: ATX with 550W PSU(€59)
MOBO: Sapphire PC-AM3RS790G (€129)

Current Total: €486

Still need advice on a GPU have my eye on the Sapphire HD4870(€164) if that card is not up to scratch any sugestions welcome under €200

uberpixie

nVid wrote: »

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 AM3 3.2GHz 8MB Black Edition (€149)
RAM: DDR3 4BG (2x2GB)(€100)
HDD: SATA 7200rpm(€49)
CASE: ATX with 550W PSU(€59)
MOBO: Sapphire PC-AM3RS790G (€129)

Current Total: €486

Still need advice on a GPU have my eye on the Sapphire HD4870(€164) if that card is not up to scratch any sugestions welcome under €200

What resolution screen will you be playing on? (most important question!)

For under €200 look at the 4890, in particular a sapphire vapor x version, circa €180

4870 is a good card, but can be gotten at €110, €164 is too high price for one...

Also I notice you have pricesd a cheap case with a generic PSU. Bad very bad. (two most common noob builder mistakes, made and regretted them my self....)
Be prepared for lots of scolding form Solitaire and other posters. :-)

Look at a good corsair psu cira 500W for around €80. Yes €80. PSU is the most important part of a pc, get a sh it one and watch all your parts fry.
This cannot be said enough.

Also a cheap case = loud due to crap airflow meaning parts getter hotter fans need to be run higher and the fact the case does not muffle sound due to shoddy construction.

For case look at an antec 300, cheap and the best in class for that money with great airflow and half dacent fans as standard.
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=354717 circa €53

nVid

uberpixie wrote: »

What resolution screen will you be playing on? (most important question!)

For under €200 look at the 4890, in particular a sapphire vapor x version, circa €180

4870 is a good card, but can be gotten at €110, €164 is too high price for one...

Also I notice you have pricesd a cheap case with a generic PSU. Bad very bad. (two most common noob builder mistakes, made and regretted them my self....)
Be prepared for lots of scolding form Solitaire and other posters. :-)

Look at a good corsair psu cira 500W for around €80. Yes €80. PSU is the most important part of a pc, get a sh it one and watch all your parts fry.
This cannot be said enough.

Also for case look at an antec 300, cheap and the best in class for that money.

Thanks for the advice will be investing in a better psu for sure.

Solitaire

It'll be grand. Smooth play on Ultra High!

... at 1024*768

Uber covered most points. I'd say if cash is strapped get a cheapie HD4890 and plow the money into a better case and PSU. Also given the amount you're already spending on them change the CPU and mobo to a i5-750 and cheapie LGA1156; that should help secure better framerates than the Phenom The other route is to find a cheapie HD5770 somewhere and OC it. Same advice applies regarding platform. You could run a basic i5+HD5770 rig off a €40 CX400 (which is a good PSU, not like the cack that come with a case!) without needing that much cooling 1337ness between case and CPU cooler, but again if you're looking for good performance you're talking OCing and a slightly bigger PSU for the added overhead. Even a stock HD4890 pushes PSU requirement up to a good 550W, minimum.

nVid

Solitaire wrote: »

It'll be grand. Smooth play on Ultra High!

... at 1024*768

Uber covered most points. I'd say if cash is strapped get a cheapie HD4890 and plow the money into a better case and PSU. Also given the amount you're already spending on them change the CPU and mobo to a i5-750 and cheapie LGA1156; that should help secure better framerates than the Phenom The other route is to find a cheapie HD5770 somewhere and OC it. Same advice applies regarding platform. You could run a basic i5+HD5770 rig off a €40 CX400 (which is a good PSU, not like the cack that come with a case!) without needing that much cooling 1337ness between case and CPU cooler, but again if you're looking for good performance you're talking OCing and a slightly bigger PSU for the added overhead. Even a stock HD4890 pushes PSU requirement up to a good 550W, minimum.

How about the Q9400 core 2quad vs the i5 whats the verdict

uberpixie

nVid wrote: »

How about the Q9400 core 2quad vs the i5 whats the verdict

i5.

marco_polo

nVid wrote: »

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 AM3 3.2GHz 8MB Black Edition (€149)
RAM: DDR3 4BG (2x2GB)(€100)
HDD: SATA 7200rpm(€49)
CASE: ATX with 550W PSU(€59)
MOBO: Sapphire PC-AM3RS790G (€129)

Current Total: €486

Still need advice on a GPU have my eye on the Sapphire HD4870(€164) if that card is not up to scratch any sugestions welcome under €200

Where are you buying from, the 955BE is overpriced by about 20 euros and the GPU at least 40-50 euros over. :eek:

lmimmfn

uberpixie wrote: »

i5.

a Q9550 would be just as fast

uberpixie

lmimmfn wrote: »

a Q9550 would be just as fast

True, but the i5 has some upgrade path at least.
And funnily enough the i5 is about €35 cheaper on komplett to boot!

Scarily enough the Q9400 is only €3 cheaper than the Q9550, even though the 9550 has 12mb cache over the 6mb the Q9400 has.....

lmimmfn

uberpixie wrote: »

True, but the i5 has some upgrade path at least.
And funnily enough the i5 is about €35 cheaper on komplett to boot!

Scarily enough the Q9400 is only €3 cheaper than the Q9550, even though the 9550 has 12mb cache over the 6mb the Q9400 has.....

ahh i know i was only messing , the Q9400 is a bad buy is as the Q96 series, my old Q9550 would hit 4.4Ghz and the temps were fine, it was just limited by the mobos max FSB.

As for running Crysis on Ultra, never, aint going to happen unless you've wadloads of cash to burn, the only setup that i have ever seen that will run Crysis and 1920x1080 at 60FPS+ on ultra settings is a quad 5870 setup on an asus supercomputer mobo with an i7/socket 1366 xeon W3520 or W3580, i5 will bottleneck with that gfx card config - http://www.guru3d.com/news/radeon-5870-quadfire-user-video/ ( see about 4 mins through the vid )

Warhead runs much better than Crysis and looks better too( excluding Crysis with lifesis mod ), i get an average of 50 FPS with an i7@4Ghz, 5850 OC'd and running it at 1680x1050 on enthusiast settings with 2xAA

jonny72

nVid wrote: »

How about the Q9400 core 2quad vs the i5 whats the verdict

Well you are about to spend quite a large amount of money on this, I would recommend reading a review or two, anandtech have a good review of the i5 750 - just google it.

Also what site are you ordering from, prices seem pretty steep

Dublin_Gunner

For gaming, particularly at resolutions of 16x12 or above, any modern CPU will do, so you're probably even wasting money going for the BE Phenom.

With a decent GPU, the differences between even a high end Core i7 and an Athlon II x4 are very slight (maybe 10% or so).

Do you really care if you get 65fps or 70, if you save €100 (plus it can always be overclocked).

I'd save on the CPU (though do get something relatively decent), and get a decent PSU, Case & Graphics card.

the HD4890 is a very good amount of GPU power for the price.

If you look here: (and yes, I know its only a couple of games here)
http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i5-750-core-i7-860-870-processor-review-test/18

You'll see that there is virtually no difference between a Phenom X4 965 & up to a Core i7 870 from 16x12 up.

And in Crysis again:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-athlon-ii-x4-620-review-test/14

Even the Athlon II X4 620 (€90 on Komplett) stays within a frame or 2 of the i5 750 (which according to the first link, is as fast as the i7 870).

And even here:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3641&p=7

Each of the 3 articles above used a GTX280

You will see that there is very little real difference between any modern CPU's (though this particular article does show a bigger difference, as they tested at a more CPU bound 1680x1050 resolution).

Then again, its up to how much you're willing to spend, and buying the best components for your budget. I will reiterate, if its for gaming, you can get away with a very mediocre processor, particularly if you game at 16x12 and up.