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    The PC (Personal Computer) is a highly configurable and upgradable gaming platform that, among home systems, sports the widest variety of control methods, largest library of games, and cutting edge graphics and sound capabilities.

    Gaming PCs: Best Performance for the Price (March 1, 2010)

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    Geno

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    #1  Edited By Geno

    Table of Contents

    i.                      Introduction

    ii.                    Methodology

    iii.                   Terminology

    iv.                  Graphics Card Rankings

    v.                    $800 Build (Mid-End)

    vi.                  $1,400 Build (High-End)

    vii.                 $2,000 Build (Extreme)

    viii.               What’s Ahead

    ix.                  Closing Comments

    x.                    Disclaimer and Terms of Use 


    i.                      Introduction

    I’m starting a new series which will be updated monthly and will showcase the most value and performance that can be bought for a gaming PC at 3 price points. These price points will be: $800, $1400, and $2000, providing a good range of builds. I’ve seen many threads on the forums asking for help building a PC or buying parts at a particular price point, so hopefully this guide will prove useful for many people. The following will be the guidelines to my methodology, along with a glossary containing brief definitions and descriptions of commonly used phrases and abbreviations that you will see a lot when reading about hardware. You can skip around by using Ctrl+F to get to the section that you want. 


    ii.                    Methodology

    Builds must have an acceptable performance in most of the latest games at high to highest quality settings. While there may be a graphics card out there for under $100 making it cheap and probably good value for money, there’s no point in getting it if it will only play games at low-medium settings at 20fps. “Acceptable performance” is defined at a minimum of 40fps, above 60 preferably. High settings is normally what you can enable in the game options menu minus things like high antialiasing and ambient occlusion (extremely taxing for most systems), highest settings is all slider bars and resolution pushed to max (1920x1080/1200 to 2560x1600), as well as things like forced antialiasing and anisotropic filtering.

    All pricing will be from newegg.com, the largest North American e-tailer of computer components. its prices are competitive, it has a good reputation amongst customers, and sticking with one website will keep pricing consistent. In many cases you may be able to find the item slightly cheaper at places such as Amazon or TigerDirect, but Newegg prices serve as a good guideline in the vast majority of circumstances. For Canadians there is newegg.ca, where prices are generally about 10% higher in Canadian dollars. Combo deals, rebates and sales will generally not be considered because they are extremely transient. I will give myself about a 5% leeway in the final cost (meaning an “$800” build may cost up to $840).

    All components will have a reasonable amount of quality to them. If a poorly-reviewed generic motherboard is $20 cheaper to a brand-name, well-reviewed motherboard while carrying the same specs, I am likely to choose the brand-name motherboard because long term stability is worth more than $20.

    Build considerations will not include exterior features to components such as overclockability, core unlocking, wattage, temps etc. Many of those things are subjective as to their value, excluding them will keep build methodology consistent. Components will be considered based on their stock performance. Because of the disregard for overclockability and temps, coolers will not be included in builds.

    I will not be personally testing any of my builds, but I will be using cross-analysis from several established hardware sites to give relatively accurate evaluation as to final performance. There are an abundant amount of reviews for each hardware component out there, and I will do my best to provide a fair conclusion for performance based on benchmarks.

    Builds will not include monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers or OS cost as it is presumed the buyer will get these based on their tastes and needs. In general, to add the cost of a typical monitor and OS you need to add $300. Mouse, keyboard and speakers’ costs are highly variable depending on the quality you want to get. It should be of consideration however that the newest 3D development platforms such as DirectX 11 will only be available on the newer OS’s, in this case Windows Vista and Windows 7; Windows XP can only run up to DirectX 9, meaning paying for DirectX11 functionality will be wasted if you decide to go with that OS. In addition, 32-bit OS's cannot run more than 4GB RAM. 

    Builds will also not include shipping or tax fees, for obvious reasons. 


    iii.                   Terminology (Alphabetical) (work in progress)

    Ambient Occlusion – Technique that provides realistic lighting effects on irregular surfaces. Generally very GPU-intensive, sometimes with only negligible results.

    Anisotropic Filtering – Filters textures so that they look more accurate over a distance at certain angles. A cobblestone road without AF will look like a muddy road in the distance; with AF turned on, it will still look distinctly like a cobblestone road even as it approaches the horizon. AF is generally not very GPU intensive, even on its highest setting (which is 16x at the moment).

    Antialiasing = Image quality method that reduces the “jaggies” or pixilation around the edges of in-game objects. Typically carried out using the efficient multisampling method, there also exists supersampling antialiasing which uses brute force graphical power to calculate the image in many times its original size, and then downscales that for extreme detail. This typically looks better than any other form of antialiasing, but is also extremely intensive on the hardware. The standard level of antialiasing is 4x MSAA with 8x MSAA considered standard for the high end, but levels can currently go up as high as 32xQ AA.  

    Bottlenecking – When one component significantly limits another. Components depend on each other to operate, and if one component reaches its maximum performance level, the corresponding performance level of a component that depends on it will be “bottlenecked”. Example: Game X has a maximum framerate of 100fps using an extremely fast processor and graphics card, and a framerate of 20fps using an extremely slow processor and the same fast graphics card. The graphics card is capable of attaining 100fps, but can’t due to the slow processor, and is thus being bottlenecked. The extra graphical power it is capable of is essentially being wasted. In system builds it is important for components to be both powerful and balanced.

    Cache =  Can refer to many different things, but in hardware it’s usually used on the processor and hard disk. The processor has a small memory reserve referred to as the cache which contains very fast memory; the larger the cache, the faster your processor will be able to retrieve commonly used data. This is fairly useful for games, and higher end processors have larger and faster cache. The hard disk also has a cache, which is a disc-based buffer kept in RAM that also allows for faster access times.

    CF = Crossfire, ATI’s multi-GPU scaling solution. Crossfire generally refers to two cards, Tri-fire 3, and Quad-fire 4. Crossfire Hybrid X refers to a Crossfire relationship between a graphics card and an integrated graphics chip, usually present on more elementary motherboards. Like SLI, Crossfire will not achieve its theoretical 100% performance boost most of the time, but it will be fairly close.

    CPU – Central Processing Unit. The “brain” of a computer, it essentially directs all of the actions of the other components. In gaming, it’s usually the GPU that is most important in determining performance but an abnormally weak CPU will bottleneck the performance of the graphics card.

    DirectX = An application programming interface for 3D applications including games, usually distributed in runtime libraries. DirectX11 is the newest version of the 3D development platform, sporting features including tessellation, better multithreading support, Shader Model 5.0, and more optimized performance.

    Frames per second (framerate) = The amount of time that the game updates the live image per second. Games start to feel significantly laggy below 40fps, and 60fps is currently the standard for optimal performance (though higher frames up to 120 currently exist). The frames per second in games is slightly different from the frames per second in television in movies in that it typically lacks motion blur, so high amounts are needed in order to compensate for smoothness. This is why TV and movies look smooth at 24fps, while games are basically unplayable at that framerate.

    FRAPS = Handy program that measures framerates, records benchmarks and movies, and takes screenshots. Generally what reviewers use to measure framerates for their benchmarks.

    GPU – Graphics Processing Unit. This powers your graphics card and specializes in processing intensive 3D graphics in real time. In contrast to CPUs, they are highly parallel, with lower clock speeds but many more individual processing units. The most important factor in graphics performance.

    GTX = Nvidia’s line of GPUs, the higher the number the better. Currently in the 2xx series.

    HDD = Hard Disk Drive. This is your mass storage device that usually runs on the SATA interface. Windows users are probably familiar with it, it is the drive usually labeled “C:\” in My Computer.

    Hyperthreading = Intel’s built in feature that allows a single physical core to be divided into 2 logical threads; enhances multitasking. Usually has little effect in games but functionality may increase as games become more multithreaded.

    HyperTransport = Replacement for the front side bus, this system has a higher bandwidth and universalizes several different FSB frequencies.

    LGA 1156 = Core i5 and i3 socket. The core i5 architecture is similar to that of the Core i7, except it has lower all around specs and lacks hyperthreading. It serves to bridge the gap between mainstream and enthusiast processors. The Core i3 line are dual core processors with hyperthreading.

    LGA 1366 = Core i7 socket. Currently Intel’s flagship platform, sporting the most high-end processors with the greatest amount of L3 cache, hyperthreading, as well as the fastest QPI.

    Multi GPU – Either SLI or Crossfire configuration. To get an idea of the performance that multi-GPU yields, refer to these:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCj4r2Gskqw&feature=player_embedded

    http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd5800-crossfirex_5.html#sect0

    http://benchmarkextreme.com/Articles/HD%205870%20TriFire/P1.html

    OS = Operating System. For gaming PCs this will be Windows. The newest version of Windows is Windows 7, and it along with Windows Vista supports DirectX11.

    P55 = A chipset that works to connect the QPI of LGA 1156 processors with peripheral devices. Used in reference to motherboards.

    PCIe = PCI express. This high bandwidth slot is where your graphics cards are inserted. The current version is 2.0, with a 2.1 revision.

    PhysX – Nvidia’s onboard physics solution. Many of Nvidia’s newer cards come with an onboard PhysX chip, which allows for the efficient processing of physics in games that support it. Physx actually doesn’t require much hardware power, but it will take up an entire graphics card in a multi-GPU setup. ATI cards are also unable to run Physx. That is why some people opt to buy a single, cheap Physx capable card such as the GT 220 and use that as a dedicated card to do Physx. There are other cards where an additional PhysX chip is actually onboard the video card itself, such as the GTX 275 Co-Op Edition: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/evga-gtx275-coop-physx_8.html#sect1

    QPI = Quick Path Interconnect. The successor to the front side bus and originally seen on AMD chips in the form of HyperTransport, it allows for extremely fast transfer rates from the memory controller to the CPU.

    Radeon HD = ATI’s line of GPUs, the higher the number the better. Currently in the 5xxx series.

    RAM = Random Access Memory, also referred to as “memory”. These act essentially as worktables for the applications that you run, storing the data of currently active applications to be used. The more and faster RAM that you have, the better games will run (to an extent).

    Resolution – This will affect the overall detail of your game. Changes in resolution decrease performance, as more pixels need to be processed per frame. Standard high end resolutions are 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 1920x1200, and 2560x1600.

    SLI – Scalable Link Interface. Nvidia’s multi-GPU solution, it allows 2 or more graphics cards to communicate to each other over the PCI express lanes, achieving a theoretical x-scaling in performance where x is the number of graphics cards. In reality you usually see less than the theoretical scaling, but the performance benefits from multi-GPU can still be very significant, typically resulting in a 80-90% performance boost rather than the theoretical 100%

    Socket AM2/2+ = Socket for AMD’s previous generation processors including the Athlon 64 and Phenom lines.

    Socket AM3 = Socket for AMD’s current generation of processors including the Athlon II and Phenom II lines.

    SSD = Solid State Disk. Fast and efficient storage resembling very large flash drives. They’re still very cost-prohibitive at the moment, with even the smallest ones containing only a few dozen GB costing over a hundred dollars. At the moment, generally used to speed up Windows startup time (benchmarks exist that demonstrate startups as short as 20 seconds), and load times. Not a very good choice in builds based on value, but something to keep your eye on in the months/years ahead.

    Vertical sync – Locks your framerate to that of your monitor (usually 60). The benefit of this is it prevents screen tearing, which appears as a thin horizontal line that stretches across your screen momentarily due to the frames exceeding that of your monitor and not matching up.

    X58 = A chipset that works to connect the QPI of LGA 1366 processors with peripheral devices. Used in reference to motherboards. 


    iv.                  Graphics Card Rankings (strongest to weakest, “=” implies similar average performance)

    Radeon HD 5970 = Radeon HD 5850 CF

    GTX 295 = GTX 260 SLI

    Radeon HD 5870

    Radeon HD 5850

    GTX 285

    Radeon HD 5830

    GTX 275 = GTX 280

    Radeon HD 4890

    Radeon HD 5770 = GTX 260

    Radeon HD 4870

    (anything under this point is not really worthwhile to get in terms of a new gaming PC) 


    v.                    $800 Build (Mid-End)

    Case:

    Cooler Master is the overall best in computer cases, and is topped by only Lian Li at the extreme price ranges. For a mid-tower case, there is no better in terms of price and quality.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068 ($50)

    Processor:

    AMD provides very good performance for the price, with the Athlon II series essentially beating out any of Intel’s offerings at the same price point in the budget to mid-end area. The X3 435 is a triple core processor that can play most games at acceptable settings, and has performance in line with much more expensive processors. The only notable problem is its lack of L3 Cache, which makes it significantly slower than its more powerful brethren. But at $75, it’s a steal.  

    http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3663&p=8

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103724&Tpk=x3%20435 ($75)

    Video Card:

    The Sapphire Radeon 5850 Toxic Edition is factory overclocked, cooled with their proprietary Vapor-X system, and has a cool design to boot. The stock 5850 already has amazing games performance (the second fastest single-GPU on the planet) and the Toxic Edition marks about a 10% performance increase on top of that. All of these features make the extra $30 premium over the stock version well worth it, and the card itself is the best card in its price range.

    http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/29112-sapphire-radeon-hd-5850-1gb-toxic-edition-review.html

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102881&cm_re=5850_sapphire-_-14-102-881-_-Product ($340)

    Memory:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193 ($105)

    Hard Drive:

    Western Digital is the leader in hard drives, and the 500GB Caviar Blue model is fast and should fit the storage needs of most people. Priced at $56, there is nothing much to compete with it at that price and performance level.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/500gb-hdd-disk,2150-8.html

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073 ($56)

    Motherboard:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392 ($77)

    Power Supply:

    Antec is a good brand in power supplies, and its 500W Earthwatts model will power most mid-end gaming PCs, and definitely those with only one graphics card.  

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007 ($70)

    Optical Drive:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289 ($27)

    Net specs:

    Cooler Master Centurion 5 Mid-Tower Case

    AMD Athlon Phenom II X3 435 2.9Ghz Triple Core

    Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 Toxic Edition

    G. Skill 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 Memory

    Western Digital 500GB 7200 RPM Caviar Blue HDD

    Gigabyte AMD AM3 770 ATX Motherboard

    Antec 500W Earthwatts Power Supply

    Liteon DVD/CD read/writer

    Total cost: $800

    Conclusion: Except in relatively demanding games such as Far Cry 2, Crysis or World in Conflict, this setup will give you outstanding performance at high to highest settings. Few games will limit it graphically. 


    vi.                  $1400 Build (High-End)

    Case:

    The Antec 1200 is a favourite amongst enthusiasts for its size, cooling and aesthetics. Though expensive, every dollar is worth it.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043&cm_re=antec_1200-_-11-129-043-_-Product ($160)

    Alternatively, you could get Cooler Master’s HAF 932, which is equally good (but arguably not as cool looking):

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160&cm_re=haf_932-_-11-119-160-_-Product ($160)

    Processor:

    The AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition CPU is great value for money, while not as fast as Intel’s Core i7 line, it’s not nearly as expensive either. You will see great performance in most titles.

    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-x4-965,2389-8.html

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727&cm_re=965-_-19-103-727-_-Product ($180)

    Video Card

    At $310, The Radeon HD 5850 provides some of the best performance there is. What can beat that then? Well two 5850’s certainly can. With this GPU setup, you will be running with power equivalent to the HD 5970, which is currently the fastest discrete graphics solution in the world. Aside for a small minority of titles, you will be able to run everything maxed out smoothly.

    http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3679&p=1

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161302&cm_re=5850-_-14-161-302-_-Product ($310x2 = $620)

    Memory:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193 ($105)

    Hard Drive

    At 1TB, 7200 RPM and 32MB cache, nothing really beats Western Digital’s Caviar Black HDD at $100.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284 ($100)

    Motherboard

    The Asus 790GX has two PCIe slots, meaning it can support CrossfireX.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131366 ($140)

    Power Supply

    For a dual GPU setup, a minimum of 600W should be used. For maximum stability and quality, I have chosen a 750W Corsair Power supply that has been very popular and very well-received on newegg thus far:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006 ($120)

    Optical Drive:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289 ($27)

    Net Specs:

    Antec 1200 Full Tower Case

    AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4 Ghz Quad Core

    HIS Radeon HD 5850 Crossfire

    G. Skill 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 Memory

    Western Digital 1TB 7200 RPM Caviar Black HDD

    Asus AMD AM3 790GX ATX Motherboard

    Corsair 750W Power Supply

     Liteon DVD/CD read/writer

    Total cost: $1452

    Conclusion: Except for games like Crysis, Stalker or Arma 2 at the very highest settings, this will play everything at highest settings at 60fps or above (way above in some cases). This is arguably the “sweet spot” in terms of buying gaming PCs. It should be noted however that with an additional $60, both of the 5850’s can be upgraded to their superior Toxic versions, yielding around another 10% in performance. 


    vii.                 $2,000 Build (Extreme)

    Case:

    The Antec 1200 is a favourite amongst enthusiasts for its size, cooling and aesthetics. Though expensive, every dollar is worth it.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043&cm_re=antec_1200-_-11-129-043-_-Product ($160)

    Alternatively, you could get Cooler Master’s HAF 932, which is equally good (but arguably not as cool looking):

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160&cm_re=haf_932-_-11-119-160-_-Product ($160)

    Processor:

    Intel Core i7 sits atop the performance chart, with the 920 providing a great balance between performance and value. With the LGA1366 chipset, you also have more motherboard options regarding PCIe and memory. LGA1366 is also better suited towards multi-GPU setups.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202&cm_re=920-_-19-115-202-_-Product ($289)

    Video Card:

    Running hot and heavy, this rig will consist of THREE Radeon HD 5850s, enough to blow the tops off of games like Stalker, and even enough to play Crysis at highest settings (1920x1080, 8x AA, 16AF, Very High) at acceptable framerates (A GTX 295 which is about half the graphical power plays Crysis at those settings at about 25-35 fps). For an idea of the real world performance look here (HD5850 ~ 0.8HD 5870, Trifire~Quadfire due to PCIe and driver constraints):

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88WXAIVj_4I (Resident Evil 5 maxed settings)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJyV8zwDqI (Crysis @ 4xAA, maxed settings)

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161302&cm_re=5850-_-14-161-302-_-Product (3x$310 = $930)

    Memory:

    With LGA 1366, we have access to faster and more memory, going for 6GB Tri-channel DDR3, enough to handle any game:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231223 ($160)

    Hard Drive:

    At 1TB, 7200 RPM and 32MB cache, nothing really beats Western Digital’s Caviar Black HDD at $100.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284 ($100)

    Motherboard:

    An extremely robust board, the EVGA E758-A1 board is the perfect solution for LGA 1366 and multiple graphics cards.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188039 ($270)

    Power Supply:

    The Rosewill Bronze Series 1000W Power Supply is just extremely good value for money, and enough to power our setup with 3x 6-pin and 3x 6+2-pin connectors.

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182188 ($130)

    Optical Drive:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289 ($27)

    Net Specs:

    Antec 1200 Full Tower Case

    Intel Core i7 920 Processor, 2.66Ghz Quad Core with Hyperthreading and 4.8GT/s QPI

    HIS Radeon HD 5850 Tri-Fire

    G. Skill 6GB Triple Channel DDR3 Memory

    Western Digital 1TB 7200 RPM Caviar Black HDD

    EVGA 3-Way E758-A1 X58 Core i7 Motherboard

    Rosewill Bronze Series 1000W Power Supply

    Liteon DVD/CD read/writer

    Total Cost: $2066

    Conclusion: High resolution, high antialiasing, ambient occlusion, high frame rate, max settings and even tessellation should be no problems with this build.  The only thing that would beat this in performance is either 2x 5970 or 4x 5870, but both those builds are $3,000-$4,000 and only yield marginal performance benefits over this $2,000 build. For the ultimate PC at $2,000, a core i7 920, 6GB Tri-channel DDR3 memory and 3xRadeon HD 5850 will obliterate any game you put in front of it. Except for Crysis of course :P. 


    viii.               What’s Ahead?

    With the release of Nvidia’s next gen graphical architecture codenamed “Fermi”, how will the landscape change? Will we have a new graphics king, and if so will this make ATI lower their prices? What will ATI’s response be, and can Fermi fight back against the massive market dominance ATI has established this year with their robust DX11 5000 series GPUs? 


    ix.                  Closing Comments

    Thank you for reading and I hope it has helped or at least informed you in some way. This is only the very first edition of the series so there’s bound to be errors and places I could improve, if you have any corrections or suggestions feel free to tell me and I will look into it. 


    x.                    Disclaimer and Terms of Use

    Disclaimer: This is merely a guide to what is currently available in terms of hardware. It is up to you to buy, build, and use responsibly, and by reading this post you agree that I cannot be held liable or indemnible for any damages incurred as a result of the content in this article, to any party, monetary or otherwise, whatsoever.  

    Terms of Use: This information may be freely used and distributed :) . Happy building.  

     
    If you liked this guide, you can find it and more at my new blog: Twizzlehertz. The focus is to provide coverage of all things PC gaming, from the hardware to the software, filtering out all of the stuff that is useless to you as a PC gamer. Hope you'll find it useful and make sure to subscribe and comment if you do. 
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    captain_clayman

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    #2  Edited By captain_clayman

    UGH this just makes me want my rig to be complete even more! 
    i'm totally getting i7, i know that.  and at first i'm gonna get a medium/low range nvidia card (i'm thinking GTS 250) then move up to the 5870 or the 5970 when i have more money.  Then when i get a 5870 or 5970, i'll use the GTS 250 as dedicated PhysX so it's not going to waste.
      
    also, haf 932 looks way cooler than the 1200.

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    Famov

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    #3  Edited By Famov


    The real question is, how much of this list will remain true on March 3, 2010? 

     

    Pretty great post though. As a non tech guy, people like me need this kind of help.

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    JeevesPleez

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    #4  Edited By JeevesPleez

    Hell yeah, dude. Definitely keep this up. I've been out of the PC loop for a while, so this will really help me out.

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    Geno

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    #5  Edited By Geno
    @Famov said:
    "

    The real question is, how much of this list will remain true on March 3, 2010? 

    "
    Hopefully most of it :) , I don't think we'll be getting official Fermi benchmarks until the end of March. 
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    mrhankey

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    #6  Edited By mrhankey
    @Geno: I disagree with your Extreme build....3 ATI HD 5850s? Theoretically you're adding power on power, but in reality, in real word applications, it doesn't work that. I feel as if that is a waste money and you should stick with a one or two card setup, otherwise you're wasting a lot of money. Otherwise great guide.
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    Geno

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    #7  Edited By Geno
    @mrhankey said:
    " @Geno: I disagree with your Extreme build....3 ATI HD 5850s? Theoretically you're adding power on power, but in reality, in real word applications, it doesn't work that. I feel as if that is a waste money and you should stick with a one or two card setup, otherwise you're wasting a lot of money. Otherwise great guide. "
    Yeah I know, the $2,000 is more or less for laughs. That's not to say there isn't any games that could benefit (Crysis would -still- not be 60 fps at max settings with that build, though close), it's just that 99% won't need it and Crossfire scaling begins to break down at that point, leading to diminishing returns. I was considering 5870 CF + GT 220 for PhysX, but it would perform slightly worse and I decided to go with pure performance this run through. I mentioned in the guide that the most reasonable setup is probably the $1,400 one in terms of overall price and value for real gaming situations, but decided to also add an "extreme" class for the people that actually are willing to spend that much, and to explore the upper bounds of what can be achieved with a gaming setup. 
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    Willy105

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    #8  Edited By Willy105

    I would really like you to continue doing this.
     
    This is incredibly helpful.

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    Geno

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    #9  Edited By Geno
    @Willy105 said:
    " I would really like you to continue doing this.  This is incredibly helpful. "
    Thanks :)
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    sparky_buzzsaw

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    #10  Edited By sparky_buzzsaw

    Great post, Geno.  Very helpful and direct.
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    fripplebubby

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    #11  Edited By fripplebubby

    Just installed a new GPU not ten minutes ago. Gee, thanks for the guide.  
     
    (it is a good guide though, for the time being)

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    sjschmidt93

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    #12  Edited By sjschmidt93

    Good work.

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    Scooper

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    #13  Edited By Scooper

    Great series, Geno! Keep this shit up and I'll keep reading!!

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    #14  Edited By Geno
    @Sparky_Buzzsaw: @Fripplebubby: @SJSchmidt93: @Scooper:  
     
    Thanks for the comments. And yes these will be updated monthly (I will try to get them ready on the 1st unless there are extraneous circumstances). 
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    Seedofpower

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    #15  Edited By Seedofpower

    Sigh i may need to upgrade my graphics card soon at least next year maybe

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    Jadeskye

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    #16  Edited By Jadeskye
    @Geno:
    Sir, as a fellow builder i have to commend the huge amount of effort you put into this. 
     
    Well done!
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    Claude

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    #17  Edited By Claude

    I bookmarked this. Thanks. I like to keep up with the tech and this is helpful.

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    RsistncE

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    #18  Edited By RsistncE

    Even though my PC is going to be about three years old soon, it still runs the vast majority of games (new and old) at high settings. I almost wish it didn't so I had an excuse to build a new rig...

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    Bogitt

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    #19  Edited By Bogitt

    Wow this is an awesome thread, well done dude

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    IncredibleBulk92

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    #20  Edited By IncredibleBulk92

    I like this thread and the builds you suggest, the $2000 seems a bit too much, your guide seems to be built to support the average board goer who might want to build a new PC.  3 5850's is pure madness especially when you consider that my single 5850 runs crysis at 30fps on 1920x1200, I just have to drop the AA which doesn't bother me that much.  I'd suggest keep the builds slightly more realistic, 2 5850's seems like a crazy high build anyhow but maybe a tad less intimidating for the purpose of the guide.  But overall I love the idea of this guide and I hope you keep it up for a while at least, every geek should build their own PC at least once.
     
    Also no core i5 love? It's 90% of the performance of the i7's at 75% of the price, apparently the 1156 socket will be supported for longer than the... bigger one too.  Seems like it would be better for a upper end budget build.

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    Geno

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    #21  Edited By Geno
    @IncredibleBulk92: This was my first foray so I'm entirely open to suggestions. If you have any ideas for different build budgets I will look into it (it seems that the $2,000 build may indeed be a bit overboard). I would however like to keep the quantity to 3 different builds.  
     
    I was considering Core i5 (specifically the Core i5-750 which performs similarly to the Core i7-920) but there were two reasons why I chose i7 instead. The first reason is that it handles multi-GPU better. The second is that an LGA 1156 mobo with true 3x PCIe 2.0 (and not 2 fast + 1 slow) is actually very expensive (~350), and the cost would come out the same in the end, with less performance. As you can see, both were choices stemming out of the need to satisfy 3x GPU. I am more than willing to opt it out for something else, but I would like some suggestions first so I know approximately where to aim. Perhaps a $1600 extreme build with a $1200 high end? 
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    jack_daniels

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    #22  Edited By jack_daniels
    @Geno:  Wow thanks dude. Looks great. Ive got the Radeon HD 4870 crossfired with a Radeon HD 4890. I wonder how that combination would stack up against those other highend cards.
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    mrhankey

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    #23  Edited By mrhankey
    @Jack_Daniels: 
    I should be able to tell you soon. I'm building a pc with an HD 5870 for a friend today, i'll run the STALKER benchmark and post the numbers for you to see.
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    IncredibleBulk92

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    #24  Edited By IncredibleBulk92
    @Geno: Ah ok I see your reasoning there.  It is your guide and I enjoy reading other people's grand designs.  It's probably worth talking a little about certain components every once in a while, maybe choose a component and talk about why you chose that over something else, it's important people know what their putting in their machines.  I mean a friend of mine bought a very cheap PSU that overloaded one day and fried his graphics card.   I don't want to make more work for you or anything lol. 
      
    To answer your question I'm not too sure about where you should put your budgets and I honestly don't know where I'd put them.  When I built my PC I looked for things that were mid-high end and good value for money.  If I'd doubled my budget I don't know that I would have changed very much, maybe double up on the 5850 and get a nice i7 instead and then kept the change for a rainy day but my idea was to save money on a PC that's likely able to run things on high for the next 3/4 years.  I don't know if people reading this guide are looking to build a 3x 5850 PC as their first custom build or if they're just cheap asses like me :)
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    #25  Edited By jack_daniels
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    #26  Edited By Geno
    @Jack_Daniels said:
    " @Geno:  Wow thanks dude. Looks great. Ive got the Radeon HD 4870 crossfired with a Radeon HD 4890. I wonder how that combination would stack up against those other highend cards. "
    That's not a bad setup and I don't think it requires upgrading. 4870CF performs slightly above an HD 5870, which is a fairly high end card at the moment. 
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    Th3_James

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    #27  Edited By Th3_James

    Only if i had alot more spare cash ATM, I would build a beastly rig. 

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    #28  Edited By Geno

    So right now I'm considering revising the budget of the extreme build - $2,000 on a gaming rig (not including cost of OS or peripherals) is probably way more than the average gamer is willing to spend, and does start to run into diminishing returns in terms of price and performance.

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    jack_daniels

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    #29  Edited By jack_daniels
    @Geno:  Haha Heck no. I just got my 4870 like two weeks ago. I won't be upgrading for ATLEAST a few years.
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    armaan8014

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    #30  Edited By armaan8014

    Hey... You said anything below the mentioned cards is not worthwhile!
    My 8600 gt can run all new games at medium-high settings, I guess a 9800gt is a good enough card then!

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    #31  Edited By Geno
    @armaan8014 said:
    " Hey... You said anything below the mentioned cards is not worthwhile! My 8600 gt can run all new games at medium-high settings, I guess a 9800gt is a good enough card then! "
    I said they weren't worthwhile in terms of getting as a new card. If you currently own a card that can play games at medium settings and you're happy with it, that's fine. I'm just saying that anyone who is going to consider getting a new PC or a new graphics card shouldn't consider anything under that list if they want the performance specified in my methodology. 
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    #32  Edited By armaan8014
    @Geno: Well ok.. I guess you're right!
    (I hadn't read your methodology :D)
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    #33  Edited By grilledcheez

    Great work!  I'm going to end up getting a low end gaming PC eventually here and it looks like you compiled a pretty good rig for $800.

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    #34  Edited By Geno
    @GrilledCheez01: Thanks! Note that prices and availability of all recommended products are subject to change, and the recommended builds are always most relevant near the time of posting. For example at March 1 when I posted this, the 5850 Toxic Edition was $340, and now just a week later it's at $380, most likely because like-minded people found it as good value and are cleaning out the stock. Stick around for the next edition if you want the best value for money :)
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    #35  Edited By Whisperkill

    wow, awesome. There should be somewhere you can post this as a guide

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    #36  Edited By monkeyroach

    If u have 200$ to spend on a cpu the i5 should be your only choice.You can build a i5 system with a 5770 right now for 800$ with the newegg bundle.
     
    the 5770 is weaker then the 4870 by a few points but you get dx11..etc
    the 295 is 2x 275 sli
    the 5970 is 2x 5870 but with a lower clock

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    mrhankey

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    #37  Edited By mrhankey
    @Geno:  Id say $1600 should be the limit for the build....or less.
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    #38  Edited By mracoon

    You should make this into a GB guide, it's really good.

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    #39  Edited By iBePeRFeCT

    Great thread man!  This is going to be extremely helpful for me since I'm about to start PC gaming.  Keep this thread going and thanks!!

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    #40  Edited By Geno
    @monkeyroach said:

    "If u have 200$ to spend on a cpu the i5 should be your only choice.You can build a i5 system with a 5770 right now for 800$ with the newegg bundle.  the 5770 is weaker then the 4870 by a few points but you get dx11..etc the 295 is 2x 275 sli the 5970 is 2x 5870 but with a lower clock "


    1. My choice of i7 was almost strictly to handle Tri-SLI. I am noticing that many people consider the "extreme" build to be too impractical, so I'm probably going to lower the price point for it in the next edition. The i5 line are indeed good value for money in the upper ends, you're right there.  
     
    2. The 5770 is indeed weaker than the 4870, thank you for the correction (will be changed in next edition, with credit to you).  
     
    3. The 295 is closer to GTX 260 SLI in performance: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-sli,2298.html, GTX 275 SLI consistently outperforms it, albeit only 5-10%.

    4. The 5970 is structurally 5870x2 but functionally it's only 5850x2 because of the downclock you mentioned (the graphics card rankings are meant to be based on performance, not architecture).  
     
    Again, thanks for corrections and notes from you and other posters.  
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    #41  Edited By mrhankey
    @Jack_Daniels:  Hey man! So i ran the STALKER COP bench on my friends new pc with the following base specs:
    AMD 3.2ghz Phenom II X4
    4gb of DDR3 1600 ram
    Radeon HD5870
     
    Everything turned on: 150-230 FPS. I'll provide a screenshot of the graph ASAP.
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    #42  Edited By jack_daniels
    @mrhankey: Post the Screenshot!!!
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    sjupp

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    #43  Edited By sjupp

    I expect super update /w phat Fermi stuff!
    *bump* 

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    #44  Edited By Geno
    @Sjupp said:

    " I expect super update /w phat Fermi stuff! *bump*  "

    April Edition.
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    #45  Edited By sjupp
    @Geno:  I thought you were going to re-up this thread :C Awesome nevertheless!

    This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

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