Guideline: Gaming-PC for your budget!

[Hitman]

Theres a problem, you're an Nvidia fanboy. Put ATI instead of Nvidia since >

there is no such thing as ATI

[DowJones]

those prices are bullshit

pls link me to where you got them from.

[Hitman]

those prices are bullshit

pls link me to where you got them from.

note that their in  EUR and not USD.

the prices are not bullshit, thats the price if you order the hardware parts and build the PC together on your own. If you go for a pre-built desktop you'll most likely end up paying 50% more.

[DowJones]

i can read and i asked for a link. those prices are just too good, did you take them from newegg or what

[DowJones]

another thing that bugs me and would like to complain about is the 3GB GTX580 and 8GB ram. do you honestly need a 3GB card? unless your playing on 2560x1600 res or something. 8GB is also useless unless you do some heavy media related work or multitasking. 4GB is more than sufficient.

also the 620W PSU seems a tad bit weak for the last 3 systems, if you buy an unlocked processor id assume you will also be overclocking it. that would really be pushing it.

[Hitman]

A 620W PSU is nowhere weak. Most current CPUs consume 95W at MAX (and next to that, how often are all 4 cores of your CPU on 100% load? yeah, like never), and most highend GFX cards have a TDP of ~180-250W (the GTX 580 being the exception with 275W). So unless you feel the need of using SLI or Crossfire a PSU with more power is a waste of money. In addition to that, normal overclocking (i.e. increasing front side bus clock) doesn't affect power consumption, it will only affect that if you also change voltages (well thats what experienced overclockers do), but then again people who have decent overclocking skills are also smart enough to buy the correct hardware they need on their own and dont need an advice thread like this.

CPU and GFX card eat most of the power, and with a GTX 580 and a normal quadcore you wouldnt even reach 400W even if both your GFX card and your CPU were on 100% load at the same time (and this wont ever happen during normal-use or gaming). Leaves plenty of power for minor shit like RAM, HDD and so one who barely eat 10-30W each.

To the prices, there are websites to compare prices, i took mine from  geizhals.at/de  (a website to compare prices in german-speaking countries, meaning Germany, Austria and Switzerland). I only did take prices into account that were listed in trustable shops and were ready for deliver in 3 days max.

I just briefly compared it to UK prices, and I get about the same result, slightly more expensive (~15€). Not included are shipping costs ofc.


Oh and, yeah, 8GB ram are needed. Come on, RAM is cheap as fuck atm, and 4GB is barely enoguh if you use Win7 or Vista, there  2-2.5GB are already used if you use Aero design and have your normal tasks like messengers and browser running in the background. So why the hell not choose 8GB

About the 3GB videoram GFX card, yeah thats one to argue about. I just thought why not, seeing as it only costs 15-20€ more than the one with 1,5GB.  People that spend 1500+ EUR on a computer want stuff like that

[DowJones]

sure a 620W is fine if your running your CPU/GPU on stock settings but if overclocked it will really be pushing it. I would spend 20-30 bucks more to get more high watted PSU just to have some OC headroom and future proof. 8GB is a waste. no game currently uses more than 4GB and by the time you actually need the 8GB, we have already been moved past DDR3. and if your windows uses more than 2GB then you have too much shit open, i have w7 too and it never uses more than 1.2-1.5GB

[Hitman]

people who actually know how to overclock their system in a stable way won't need a thread like this.

Also they will buy entirely different hardware, people planning on overclocking spend way more cash on mainboards and RAM than on other stuff, plus their choice of brand would be entirely different, expert overclockers would go for DFI rather than Gigabyte, Asus or MSI.

With the PSU i chose there you still have ~100W "headroom" as you call it for overclocking. This is MUCH MUCH more than any overclocking you would ever do could consume, seing as the 275W a GTX 580 is already pretty much at the limit when it comes down to power consumption seeing as a PCI-Express slot can only provide 75W + the 8pin and 6pin power plug (is that the right english term? not sure) can only come up with 225W extra (that would mean the max would be 300W for the card anyways, even if overclocked. Not sure if there are GTX 580s out there that have 2x 8pin powerplugs that can provide more power, maybe some. Then again, people who know about this stuff wont need this thread.

As you can clearly see, a 620W PSU is way more than enough for the systems in the startpost, even if overclocked. Aslong as the PSU is by a good brand and offers enough Ampere on the 12V rail (?? again, not sure if thats the correct english expression).

About the 8GB ram thing, im pretty sure everyone can agree that 4GB simply cant be called "enough" seeing as RAM prices are ridiculously low and there actually are applications that improve with the extra ram (like Photoshop, other photo editing software, video editing software, CAD programs and whatever). Okay, this might look like its only for certain people but many people use Photoshop or other applications like that. Also, there are also games that improve by the extra RAM, also more and more games are getting released with native 64bit support (such as Crysis, Crysis 2, Warhead, Gothic 3 if im not mistaken, GTA IV (? notsure here), Supreme Commander and so on, who can also use more than 2GB of ram (which a 32bit task is limited to)

[DowJones]

whatever, i would still pick a higher wattage PSU.

4gb IS enough for the programs you mentioned, 8GB is only needed if you do HEAVYER video editing or HEAVYER photo editing or multitasking. but for a everyday average video editing or some silly signature making its more than sufficient. also RAM is still not that "cheap" as you call it (atleast not here.)

[iou]

Hmm, I'll be getting a lot of money soon and I'm going to upgrade my rig a bit.
I believe I'll be trying out some Intel and Nvidia this time, I've always bought AMD and ATI previously.
My rig is no doubt a good one, but it struggles to run these newer games at maximum settings with a good framerate.

Now I thought about buying GeForce 570 at first, but then I saw the 580 which costs a 3rd more.
I checked out the specs and compared, there's not a huge difference except for a few things, like memory bandwidth which is important.

I will have enough money for one of the newest Intel i7, GeForce 580, new ASUS motherboard, and perhaps newer RAM (I got 4GB though).
But the thing is, I want to save much of the money I'll be getting as well, it's always nice to have some money stuffed away.
So my question is, would it be worth getting the 580 instead of the 570?