Building a gaming computer

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TMHill

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Hi All

I'm scoping out a new system - primary use will be gaming, but i'd also like this to be quick at handling things like large home video file conversions and handling of audio data manipulation.

My starting point is to build around the right processor. So my question is this:

With my budget, I can afford the i7 920, but could probably spend a bit more. However, I keep reading that Intel are not good for games boxes - and some of the benchmark stats back that up. BUT I've also read that benchmark stats are not worth the pixels they occupy!

Aargh - anyway... my question is this: A few people here have recommended the AMD Phenom II X6 (I currently happily use an Athlon 3400) and so should I really wait for that to come out and then build a system around it? Will it be much more expensive than the i7 920? Should I instead go for the X2? (but then will I be buying a mobo that I have to bin when the x6 is available??!)

Sorry for lots of questions, but each is inter-related and I can't see how to ask one without asking them all!

Many thanks for reading, and more so for any thoughts you have. And apologies in advance for somewhat unclear thinking...



Tom
 
The AMD X6 hasn't been released yet so we can't make any judgments on it until we see it's price / performance after it's launch.

For now, if you have a big enough budget, the i7's are best. Best for gaming or anything else for that matter. So if you're building NOW, and you have the money, go for an i7; if not now, then wait till the X6's are released, and see what happens with prices. I don't know when they're gonna be released.
 
AMD is releasing the first of the Phenom II X6's in April.
It will retail for around $300~ the same cost as an i7 920 basically.

Later on cheaper Phenom II X6's will release around $200-250

From the benchmarks I've seen, I'd say the Phenom II X6's will perform above the i5 750, but either equal or below the i7 920, but not by too much.

In non multi-threaded applications, I expect the i7 920 to reign supreme.
In multi-threaded applications, I expect the Phenom II X6 to have the advantage due to actually having 6 physical cores versus the i7 920's 4 physical cores.
 
Thank you both. I'll post the full specs of the system i'm going for later on tonight and would love to get your feedback if you have time and don't mind.

Also: I'm in the UK - I don't suppose you have any idea whether the April release applies over here, too? I can't find any info on the AMD website, and am quite used to the UK being 6 months being the US on everything else!

Thanks again


Tom
 
Thank you both. I'll post the full specs of the system i'm going for later on tonight and would love to get your feedback if you have time and don't mind.

Also: I'm in the UK - I don't suppose you have any idea whether the April release applies over here, too? I can't find any info on the AMD website, and am quite used to the UK being 6 months being the US on everything else!

Thanks again


Tom

If you'll pay the cost + shipping I could send it to you when it releases over here in the US. :p
 
orihS ‪‪‪Shiro;1791448 said:
If you'll pay the cost + shipping I could send it to you when it releases over here in the US. :p

Tempting - but with import duty it would probably be cheaper for me to relocate to the US!


So here's the spec i'm looking at:

Processor: i7 920
MoBo: Gigabyte EX58-UD5
RAM: 6GB Corsair 1600MHz DDR3
Graphics: XFX ATI Radeon 5770 HD 875 MHz 1GB PCI-express HDMI (XXX Edition)
Audio: Creative X-FI TITANIUM FATALITY PRO
HD: Western Digital 1TB Caviar Green SATA 7200
Antec Nine Hundred/Ultimate Gamer Case

plus DVD rewriter, Windows 7, fans/paste, etc. Already have fantastic PSU.

One thing i'm concerned about - do I really need an audio card? I've read that this particular mobo's sound is terrible, so I could change mobo rather than buy seperate soundcard. (Ironically I have a far more expensve soundcard [Waveterminal 192X] which i'm going to get rid of, because its a pro-musician card and not good for games)

Thanks for any opinions you can offer on this line up. Its going to cost me around £1,100 ($1,650) including £100 on the OS and i'd really rather get the price down a little on the whole thing.

Cheers



Tom
 
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