Few questions pre my building of a new PC

Dara Robinson

So been out of the loop for a while now, I went back to college last year and I ended up with my head in the sand so I have no idea whats been going on tech wise. I have been reading some articles lately but I was hoping to get some other opinions and also some recommendations from other ppl as to what to choose, why and so on.

So my first wondering, well more like looking for a confirmation, is Intel Vs AMD... I read some place that AMD have pretty much lost the battle for the moment and that Intel's i7 core is speeding ahead. Is that right/still the case?

Also I read some place that the new 1366 sockets will be used for Intel's planned new generation 32nm 6 core processors, is that still the case? So I am wondering is 1366 the best for a later upgrade?

I am wondering about after market CPU cooling and I was hoping to get my hands on a nice, very efficient and quiet cooling unit and I was looking at Termaltake V1 but I was advised no, any thoughts?

I am looking to get my hands on a good passive board, and I am assuming it will end up being Intel unless some new revelation happens up there, any thoughts?

Finally, any advice on a good GFX set up? Will be looking to do lots of gaming, high end Photography post production and Graphic editing.

ricman

SEE here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/athlon-ii-x3-440-gaming-performance,2619.html
athlon 2 x3 ,triple core cpu should be enough for gaming and then spend your money on a really fast graphics card and 4gig ram. obviously you need to make sure the mobo is compatible with the cpu you buy.SEE here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/balanced-gaming-pc-overclock,2625-2.html it depends on your budget re what card you can afford.
GET a card with 500meg vram if you can afford it with hdmi out .if you might use it on a hdtv.
its hard to advise without knowing your budget.

Deano12345

Dara Robinson wrote: »

So been out of the loop for a while now, I went back to college last year and I ended up with my head in the sand so I have no idea whats been going on tech wise. I have been reading some articles lately but I was hoping to get some other opinions and also some recommendations from other ppl as to what to choose, why and so on.

So my first wondering, well more like looking for a confirmation, is Intel Vs AMD... I read some place that AMD have pretty much lost the battle for the moment and that Intel's i7 core is speeding ahead. Is that right/still the case? No, Intel has the very high end of the market, AMD dominates in the cheaper segments IMO. In practical terms, you wouldn't even notice a difference.

Also I read some place that the new 1366 sockets will be used for Intel's planned new generation 32nm 6 core processors, is that still the case? So I am wondering is 1366 the best for a later upgrade? Again, no. Intel will be replacing 1366 with 2011 in the relativly near future, I'd actually recommend you go with AMD and one of their 6 core processors, cheap and powerful !

I am wondering about after market CPU cooling and I was hoping to get my hands on a nice, very efficient and quiet cooling unit and I was looking at Termaltake V1 but I was advised no, any thoughts? Like I suggested in your other thread, the Xigmatek Dark Night is a great, cheap, quiet cooler.

I am looking to get my hands on a good passive board, and I am assuming it will end up being Intel unless some new revelation happens up there, any thoughts? Pretty much any board is passive, so pick a board that suits your required features.

Finally, any advice on a good GFX set up? Will be looking to do lots of gaming, high end Photography post production and Graphic editing Nvidia all the way, a single GTX465 will provide all the CUDA processing for encoding and hardware acceleration while still having quite a punch in gaming, if you feel confident enough then you could flash it to a GTX470 BIOS to increase its performance

Answers in the bold

Dara Robinson

ricman wrote: »

its hard to advise without knowing your budget.

yea sorry man, that would have helped tbh there is no real budget. I am planning on spending up till Xmas saving so really its about getting some really good hardware without going over board though. I would be very surprised if I go over 2k, especially seeing as I dont need any peripherals or anything like that.

I am using a HDTV as my monitor so I will be using hdmi out, its what I'm using now

And thanks Deano

Deano12345

Dara Robinson wrote: »

yea sorry man, that would have helped tbh there is no real budget. I am planning on spending up till Xmas saving so really its about getting some really good hardware without going over board though. I would be very surprised if I go over 2k, especially seeing as I dont need any peripherals or anything like that.

I am using a HDTV as my monitor so I will be using hdmi out, its what I'm using now

And thanks Deano

Where are you thinking of ordering from ?

Dara Robinson

not decided yet. I'll probably shop around for components and buy them separately as prices dictate. Why any suggestions?

Deano12345

Pixmania are good for graphics cards and have some decent sales.

Elara have a nice selection of parts but are a bit expensive

Komplett are having lots of problems at the moment but they will solve them I am sure. When they wee running normally they had a great section of parts

Peats are handy to go into and look at potential parts, staff are ALWAYS freindly and returns are very easy

Dara Robinson

Hmm.. ok so if the 1366 socket is being replaced soon enough with the 2011 socket whats my best option for buying a system that I can upgrade with confidence in 3-4 years? I was hoping that what I read about the 1366 socket was true and that they would be using the new 36nm chips with the 1366 sockets but if they have changed that now and are bringing out a new line again I'm kind of screwed as the new stuff will be top dolla and the others will be phased out

I noticed that amd have less lines, are they sticking to the AM3 line or anyone know if there are plans to change soon?

Any thoughts on which processor is best for the future?

ricman

My advice is buy the am3 ,for gaming a fast graphics card and 4gig ram is as important as the cpu ,the am3 is getting good reviews.i,d get the system built and try modern warfare 2 or crysis demo on it .I never bother overclocking as i just prefer to buy fast cpu,s ,graphics cards that,ll last for 3 years anyway.Make SURE the psu is powerful enough for the graphics card.

Dara Robinson

yea I dont like overclocking stuff that much either as it tends to shorten the life or the parts. But as for what your saying, with my 6 year old system at the moment I can play MW2 and Crysis no probs. I am looking for something that 1) can handle the new generation of games coming out this year and 2) be in a position that I can upgrade it in 3 or 4 years to bring it back on top again so I can get a total of 6 or more years out of it. Thats the plan anyways. Its what I did with my current system and I have that since early '04

ricman

Well take the advice up above and you,ll have a great pc. ITS up to you how much you want to spend on a graphics card.WHEN developers make pc games they tend to go for pcs that are 3 years old ,ie dual core cpu 200meg video card 1 gig ram ,so a pc bought now should last 4 years anyway.
The graphics card is the most important component eg theres no game at present that wont run on a basic dual core cpu .
Other wise they would not sell many pc games.