Trying to help a friend get a new machine

SpecialKO · Jul 25, 2011

Okay, so I have a friend who wants to get a new PC for BF3 in particular, and next-gen FPS games in general. Despite my suggestion, he does not want to take the time and trouble to build it himself, so he's going with CyberPowerPC and this build. He freely acknowledges that he does not know very much about this, and welcomes advice.

He does not need this much power for work (he works from home), just gaming and HD media.

Suggestions I have made (while trying to stay within the options that CyberPowerPC allows):
-Drop down to the i7 950, since there's really no point for what he needs.
-Step up to either an 850/950/1000W PSU from a known brand instead of CyberPowerPC's generic

I do *not* know enough about the other components to be able to judge. I have heard that the mboard has a problem using more than 16GB of RAM, but I don't know this to be true. I also wonder whether he couldn't get more performance by doubling up with a pair of slightly less powerful video cards.

Thoughts?

PatrThom · Jul 25, 2011

980 = 6 cores 3.33GHz/3.60GHz max turbo (+266)
970 = 6 cores 3.20GHz/3.46GHz max turbo (+266)
960 = 4 cores 3.20GHz/3.46GHz max turbo (+266)
950 = 4 cores 3.06GHz/3.33GHz max turbo (+266) (notice a trend?)
Specifically for gaming? Get the 960. All of these CPUs turbo up depending on heat load, and the 4-core chips generate less heat, keeping them at the higher multipliers for longer. Especially since he's getting the 10% factory overclock. He's not going to notice the -4% (133MHz) difference in speed, but he will probably notice the -$320 difference.

The liquid cooling system will fail eventually. Make sure he is prepared to deal with that inevitable fact. Air coolers are noisier and not as efficient, but they are much easier to maintain.

I'd upgrade to one of the >1000W Gold-rated PSUs, like the TPG-1050M. Gold-rated PSUs have high efficiency and will actually use less power than the store-brand 950 when not at max load. Also, the GTX590 is an absolute monster when it comes to power draw.

A single GTX580 should make him just as happy but with significantly less cost and power draw (meaning less heat and lower electric bill). And yes, dual 580's in SLI are noticeably faster (and hotter) than a single 590.

I'd change the Mobo to either the ASUS Rampage III Formula or the Gigabyte X58A-UD5, just because I know those two brands are the two that everyone gets compared to, and those specific boards have lots of slots/connectivity/overclockability/etc.

All of that said, I still feel like I just helped someone pick out the best DVD player while surrounded by Blu-Ray. If he is really serious about looking for a gaming rig, he'll abandon the whole idea of an X58 build and go instead with something based on Z68.

--Patrick

SpecialKO · Jul 25, 2011

Thank you! This is along the lines of what I was looking for.

PatrThom said:
Specifically for gaming? Get the 960.

Would it be crazy, if he picked a Z68 base system, if he stepped down to an i5 2500K? And does he really need more than 8GB of RAM for gaming (I doubt it)?

The liquid cooling system will fail eventually. Make sure he is prepared to deal with that inevitable fact. Air coolers are noisier and not as efficient, but they are much easier to maintain.

I suspected, but it's good to have it confirmed. I'll recco he get an air cooler, then. One of the reasons he's not building himself is because he wants as little fuss as possible, but still get a decent machine.

Thanks, man, really appreciated. :thumbsup:

PatrThom · Jul 25, 2011

-Actually, the 2500k is probably THE best value in gaming right now. It's actually a step up from the 970, performance-wise (for things that can't use all 6 of the 970's cores...such as most games).
-There's nothing wrong with going with liquid cooling, it just requires more maintenance. They make the computer a lot quieter. If they break, however, they make the interior suddenly a lot wetter, and this causes problems. Expensive problems.
-Z68 will also enable SSD caching, which is bound to make him drool.

--Patrick

DarkAudit · Jul 26, 2011

That system is way overkill. Felix cost just over $1000 to build, rates a 7.7 on WEI, and it will run just about everything out there at ultra resolution and 1080p. Check the benchmarks from this Tom's Hardware system builder article for the crossfire setup.

SpecialKO · Jul 26, 2011

I actually sent him that article as the first thing I did, but he's a big believer in "spend more now, spend less later", despite that not necessarily working for consumer PCs.

PatrThom · Jul 27, 2011

If he's not going to be satisfied he's getting a killer machine unless he spends a lot of money on it (or because it contains a lot of buzzword components), then let him. But make him promise to watch some footage of the Ariel Atom on YouTube, first. Maybe he'll get that money isn't power, power is power. And more power for less money is always a delight.

--Patrick

DarkAudit · Jul 28, 2011

24GB of RAM is just excessive. If it's just for gaming and watching (instead of transcoding) media, even 16GB is far more than necessary. 8GB is the sweet spot, and will be for as long as games are coded for 32-bit machines.

linglingface · Jul 29, 2011

DO NOT ORDER FROM CYBERPOWERPC

Seriously. Check out the customer feedback forums. I ordered from them and they messed up HARD.
I don't know much about specs, but I have read on the forums that if you're ordering high quality parts, then they're fine to order from. But there are A LOT of upset people on the forums, and I just wish I had checked it out before ordering from them. They're awful. Just awful.

If you order from them, then best of luck. I hope your friend gets a computer that works straight out of the box and also hope you guys have MUCH better luck than I did.

DarkAudit · Jul 29, 2011

I heard back from no less an authority than Robert Heron of Revision3 (formerly of TechTV), that for a gaming and media viewing rig, 8GB of RAM is *plenty*. The rig I built, and the $1000 enthusiast PC from Tom's should be plenty. The $2000 Tom's rig should be more than plenty, and will still leave $1000 in your friend's pocket.

SpecialKO · Jul 29, 2011

heatherling said:
If you order from them, then best of luck. I hope your friend gets a computer that works straight out of the box and also hope you guys have MUCH better luck than I did.

I believe he did, unfortunately. Well, here's hoping.

DarkAudit said:
I heard back from no less an authority than Robert Heron of Revision3 (formerly of TechTV), that for a gaming and media viewing rig, 8GB of RAM is *plenty*. The rig I built, and the $1000 enthusiast PC from Tom's should be plenty. The $2000 Tom's rig should be more than plenty, and will still leave $1000 in your friend's pocket.

Yeah, as I mentioned in the OP, he's not so down with building it himself (I suggested the $1000 build to him). If I were within driving distance, I'd build it for him, but that's not in the cards.

When I upgrade, I'm probably going with the $500 build or so.

linglingface · Jul 29, 2011

If by chance it has any issues (fingers crossed for your friend!!), pack it up, get a refund and start over. Their return policy is crap and rather than send it in for repair and wait and wait and run the risk of running past the return date, just do a full refund and start over.

There's a guy on the CyberPowerPC forums who responds to every customer feedback thread (he kind of trolls the forums...) BUT he has had success with with them (he says he only orders quality parts) so he's not there to troll and tell everyone to GTFO. He's just there to make sure everyone gets a working computer in the end and to make sure people know what has been tried before and if people have had similar issues.

Covar · Jul 30, 2011

DarkAudit said:
I heard back from no less an authority than Robert Heron of Revision3 (formerly of TechTV), that for a gaming and media viewing rig, 8GB of RAM is *plenty*. The rig I built, and the $1000 enthusiast PC from Tom's should be plenty. The $2000 Tom's rig should be more than plenty, and will still leave $1000 in your friend's pocket.

I will second that. I have 24GB of ram in my system, but I will admit that is purely because I could (plus the sticks were on sale at newegg). No practical reason whatsoever, and it didn't make a lick of difference on my system.

linglingface · Jul 31, 2011

I don't think many people have had trouble with laptops, just desktops.