New computer

[civ_king]

I'm looking for a new computer, this computer will be essentially exclusive for Civ V. I don't need the shiniest graphics, medium at a good FPS is probably fine, I normally play Civ IV at 1366x768, but I eventually I'll get a new monitor. I am looking for a k-series processor in a P67 or Z68 mobo so I can overclock it (turn speed is what I care about). anyone know where I can find a computer that combines k-series, overclocking chipset and great cooling (so the CPU can be clocked high). I'm looking at ~$800, but not over ~$1000.

 

[Zelig]

Get a new monitor first.

30" 2560x1600 is good, or 2x 24" 1920x1200.

 

[innonimatu]

I'm looking for a new computer, this computer will be essentially exclusive for Civ V. I don't need the shiniest graphics, medium at a good FPS is probably fine, I normally play Civ IV at 1366x768, but I eventually I'll get a new monitor. I am looking for a k-series processor in a P67 or Z68 mobo so I can overclock it (turn speed is what I care about). anyone know where I can find a computer that combines k-series, overclocking chipset and great cooling (so the CPU can be clocked high). I'm looking at ~$800, but not over ~$1000.

Overclocking is a pointless gimmick, good only for wasting time. You want more speed, you pay a little more for a tested piece. Unless your time is worthless.

 

[Zelig]

Overclocking is a pointless gimmick, good only for wasting time. You want more speed, you pay a little more for a tested piece. Unless your time is worthless.

I've been running my $100 cpu 40% overclocked for the past 5 years.

If I had the fastest cpu ever released for my socket, it would have been several times more expensive and still slower.

 

[civ_king]

Get a new monitor first.

30" 2560x1600 is good, or 2x 24" 1920x1200.

My civ computer is running a Pentium 4 @3.2GHz with a 9600 GSO

Overclocking is a pointless gimmick, good only for wasting time. You want more speed, you pay a little more for a tested piece. Unless your time is worthless.

I am a student, my time is worth very little for the next month and a half. I can deal with overclocking. OTOH my dad loves civ and plays it a lot, if I can coax a i5-2500k to run at 4.5GHz I'm totally happy

 

[GenMarshall]

You may want to also invest in a aftermarket water cooler for the processor. And some RAM sticks with a cooler on them.

 

[civ_king]

You may want to also invest in a aftermarket water cooler for the processor. And some RAM sticks with a cooler on them.

water cooling I can see, but why should my RAM have coolers on them?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

You may want to also invest in a aftermarket water cooler for the processor. And some RAM sticks with a cooler on them.

water cooling I can see, but why should my RAM have coolers on them?

Go with a modern intel chip and you wont need water cooling at all to get some massive overclocks. The Core i7-2600K has been shown to hit like 4.5gHz on not much more than decent air cooling. If you really want to splurge on cooling though, get a good Noctua or a Corsair H50/70

 

[civ_king]

Go with a modern intel chip and you wont need water cooling at all to get some massive overclocks. The Core i7-2600K has been shown to hit like 4.5gHz on not much more than decent air cooling. If you really want to splurge on cooling though, get a good Noctua or a Corsair H50/70

Yeah, I'm looking at the i5-2500k, I think a computer with the i7-2600k is out of my price range

 

[Nials]

I just built this and am very happy with it -

Intel i5-2500k
ASRock Z68 Extreme4
Crucial 128GB C300 SSD
8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600MHz

All built within a Fractal Design Define R3, which is a great case considering the price. Pretty quiet.

I pulled a 2TB Hitachi HDD and my Radeon HD 5770 from my old PC. Don't feel like upgrading the video card just yet.

I spent about €650 + VAT on CPU, RAM, motherboard, SSD, case, plus I got an aftermarket cooler and an Asus Xonar DSI discrete sound card.

You might want to opt for the P67 chipset instead if you don't care about the few extra features that Z68 offers (SSD caching and integrated Intel HD graphics). I just got it because the price difference was negligible when I compared it to P67 boards that I was interested in, like the Asus P8P67.

 

[civ_king]

Is this a good deal?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.667376

 

[innonimatu]

I've been running my $100 cpu 40% overclocked for the past 5 years.

If I had the fastest cpu ever released for my socket, it would have been several times more expensive and still slower.

Meh... processors are fast enough for just about everything I need but some work-related tasks, and for those I can't risk corrupting the data. I did play around with overclocking, since the supersparc workstations where you had to make a few changes to the mainboard, until the Pentium II/Celeron A days when changing a few dip switches got you up to those 50% overclocking and did a lot of difference. Then the interest just died. Can't even bother to tweak BIOS settings now! Then again, I'm not playing civ5, new games are probably the only think which keeps driving up processor requirements for home machines.

I guess I got old. I better get off your lawn and let you young folks play with these new iProcessors!

 

[civ_king]

Meh... processors are fast enough for just about everything I need but some work-related tasks, and for those I can't risk corrupting the data. I did play around with overclocking, since the supersparc workstations where you had to make a few changes to the mainboard, until the Pentium II/Celeron A days when changing a few dip switches got you up to those 50% overclocking and did a lot of difference. Then the interest just died. Can't even bother to tweak BIOS settings now! Then again, I'm not playing civ5, new games are probably the only think which keeps driving up processor requirements for home machines.

I guess I got old. I better get off your lawn and let you young folks play with these new iProcessors!

I dunno about you, but when the time between turns breaches 10 seconds I stop enjoying it a lot, once it breaches 30 I'm not amused and by 60 I'm pissed

 

[innonimatu]

I dunno about you, but when the time between turns breaches 10 seconds I stop enjoying it a lot, once it breaches 30 I'm not amused and by 60 I'm pissed

Two words: smaller maps.

But yes, I know, too small and it's no fun...

 

[civ_king]

Two words: smaller maps.

But yes, I know, too small and it's no fun...

Actually I don't run into 60 second turns, my dad does though.

 

[tokala]

Is this a good deal?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.667376

Looks good, but if this is gonna be a dedicated CiV machine, you should buy a nVidia card instead of the 6850. Some 460/560 should do decidedly better for about the same price.