What do you think about this computer?

[Birdjaguar]

You might run into trouble if you try to use most of the PCIe slots and/or USB3 and SATA6GB, as there are not enough PCIe lanes for all potential devices. But you are probably not planning to use Crossfire or fill the case full of PCIe cards, so this should not be a problem

Huh?

I have no experience regarding watercooling, but from heresay i assume it's more suited for geeks/enthusiasts, not for someone who wants to put together a system and then won't touch it for the next 5 years
Something that's only $10 more than the stock cooler sounds suspicious

And similiarly I would not trust a no-name PSU to work for 5 years in a fairly powerful system without giving you trouble. They charge pretty outrageous sums for quality PSUs, but I would seriously recommend to invest $70 more for the Corsair 650W.

Ok let me go see what the PS options are.

 

[tokala]

Huh?

Sorry for the tech-gibberish

Just consult the manual if you decide to buy expansion cards a few years down the road

 

[Birdjaguar]

I switched out the ps to a corsair 650. and the cooling to:

FAN: * Thermaltake V1 Gaming CPU Cooling Fan (Excellent Overclocking + Silent Proof + Smart CPU & System Thermal Monitor) [+13]

 

[civ_king]

Huh?

Ok let me go see what the PS options are.

There are these things called PCI lanes, they are limited by Lynnfield to 16, a powerful GPU uses 16 lanes so any other cards cut into the lanes, each lane supplies 500MB/s.

 

[Zelig]

There are these things called PCI lanes, they are limited by Lynnfield to 16, a powerful GPU uses 16 lanes so any other cards cut into the lanes, each lane supplies 500MB/s.

Last time I checked, benchmarks showed there's no practical difference between running cards in 8x and 16x... has this changed recently?

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Not as far as I know. 8 or 9 lanes give plenty of bandwidth to the cards.

 

[tokala]

Indeed PCIe 2.0 8x is more than enough for a single video card, problem is, those newfangled SATA and USB controllers are also connected via PCIe. According to the manual, the second 16x slot is electrically only 4x and shares the connection with one 1x slot via switch. If you populate all PCIe slots and use crossfire, the second card will only get a 1x link, and that should be noticable.
There are also reports that the second 16x slot will not work AT ALL if the two 1x slots are populated and/or USB3/SATA6GB is used, but that might be due more to some finicky devices than a general inability.

But the limited PCIe lanes are a general problem of LGA1156 boards, as Intel apparently limits PCIe lane numbers and bandwidth to entice power users to buy a more expensive LGA1366 system, which otherwise would provide no clear advantage. The PCIe lanes on a LGA1156 board are/were sufficient for the average user, but those highspeed SATA/USB controllers were not planned for when Intel designed those limitations, so board manufacturers are using various crutches if they want to use those on a LGA1156 board.

 

[Birdjaguar]

So is this a problem for me?

 

[tokala]

You can use
1 video card (PCIe 16x)
1 PCIe 1x card
3 PCI cards
2 SATA/6GB drives
2 USB3 devices
at the same time without getting problems. And than there are more than a dozen conventional USB and SATA ports you can use in any case.

So no, there shouldn't be a problem.

You should only stay away from dual graphics cards (Crossfire), but that's a good idea anyway

 

[Birdjaguar]

Thanks!

 

[civ_king]

But you are probably not planning to use Crossfire or fill the case full of PCIe cards, so this should not be a problem

I was just trying to explain what a PCIe Lane was

 

[Fëanor]

I dont know if you already have bought your pc, but if you didnt wait a few days!

nVidia has just announced further price cuts to try to spoil today's launch of the ATI AMD HD68xx cards.

Be aware that AMD has changed their naming scheme so the HD68xx series will become the mainstream cards and replace the HD57xx series and not the high-end HD58xx (the naming would imply that the HD6870 would replace the HD5870, but instead it replaces the HD5770).

 

[Birdjaguar]

Actually, Because I will be away for a few days and if i had ordered last weekend it would have arrived while I was gone, i put off ordering until I get back next week. Thanks.

what video card should i include? I had planned on the ATI 5770

 

[tokala]

You should really wait a few days more and watch the prices coming down
The GTX460/768 has already dropped to <$150, the 1024MB version to <$180. And the AMD 5xxx cards will probably get a readjustment after launch, too.

Unless the 6xxxx cards are really competetively priced, the GTX460/1024 looks like the best choice for a computer "to last" at the moment.

Edit: Reviews are out and cards listed. 6850 is roughly on par in price and performance to a GTX460/1024, so my recommendation extend to that one as well.
In Civ5 the 460 has the edge, though. Another point for the 460s: Tesselation performance of the 68xxs is improved, but still far behind the 460.

Scratch the "5xxx cards will get a readjustment". The 68xxs are positioned between the 57xx and 58xx cards and against the nVidia 460s, and the 57xx have already dropped with the 450 launch.

 

[Fëanor]

Things are pretty insane right now! I can get factory overclocked GeForce GTX 470 <&#8364;170 (about &#8364;80 cheaper than a few days ago)
The GTX460's are now <&#8364;160 and <&#8364;140 for the for the 1GB and 768MB versions respectively.

The HD6870 are going for &#8364;220 and the HD6850 goes for &#8364;170, however in Germany (where availability is better) they are already selling for &#8364;20 cheaper.


AnardTech's benchmarks (frames per second score) of Civilization 5 @ 1920x1200 + 4xAA with current newegg prices

42.6 | GTX470 - $239.99 (after $20 rebate + Mafia II Game)
42.2 | GTX460 - $229.99 (EVGA FTW 1GB, after $10 rebate)
38.5 | GTX460 - $169.99 (Stock 1GB, after $20 rebate)
36.4 | GTX460 - $139.99 (Stock 768MB, after $20 rebate)
34.9 | HD6870 - $239.99
32.3 | HD5850 - $194.99 (After $60 rebate)
32.2 | HD6850 - $179.99
26.0 | HD5770 - $124.99 (after $20 rebate)

note that Civ5 seems to favor heavily nVidia cards and that on average the AMD cards perform considerably better than this.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I have been using my new computer for a couple of weeks now and it is great. I got a GTX460 with 1GB as my video card without any more money. No Civ 5 yet, but Total War EB plays super fast at great resolution. I am quite happy with Cyberpower.