Purchasing advice - Buying components versus prebuilts - Hardware & Software

[QUOTE=Hezzy;17810977]What are people's thoughts on these two?[/QUOTE] well you'll need to go buy windows 7, mine comes with it

[QUOTE=Hezzy;17811239]How's this; [img]http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q198/Hezzy88/build.png[/img][/QUOTE] Looks fine :c00l:

[QUOTE=Hezzy;17811239]How's this; [img]http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q198/Hezzy88/build.png[/img][/QUOTE] You're underpowering with the 5850, grab a 5870 instead

There's two of them

If you were thinking about crossfiring those two 5850's, that motherboard won't do Crossfire (and you're wasting your money a bit)

[QUOTE=leach139;17811310]If you were thinking about crossfiring those two 5850's, that motherboard won't do Crossfire (and you're wasting your money a bit)[/QUOTE] It does support crossfire

you will need to have a 64bit OS in order to use any system posted here effectively

[QUOTE=apwd007;17811332]It does support crossfire[/QUOTE] Yeah I'm just going to go jump out of the window now

Get Win7 x64 Best OS. Ever. [editline]04:33PM[/editline] Either this: [img]http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q198/Hezzy88/build.png[/img] Or this: [img]http://img2.pict.com/77/bb/71/1758499/0/800/hezyy.jpg[/img] Would be best.

[img]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w79/corvettefisher/build2a.png?t=1255448214[/img] pic of case [img]http://image.ebuyer.com/UK/P0128508_C0000023_P0000000.jpg[/img]

It's powercolor, and it's not euros. [editline]04:36PM[/editline] Also they're the same games

there is nothing wrong with powercolor

You have no heatsink/fan, and you have an OEM processor. [img]http://img2.pict.com/40/4e/b8/1759330/0/800/suphezzy.jpg[/img]

just remember you have to get an OS that is 64bit, mine includes one and is only 1000

[QUOTE=Hezzy;17811239]How's this; [img]http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q198/Hezzy88/build.png[/img][/QUOTE] With this build I'd want to be getting a 64bit version of Windows 7, yes?

[QUOTE=Hezzy;17810920]I want something that will be upgradable in the future, the i7 seems like the right way to go because of that. An i5 seems like it'd just hold the rest of the system back. I'd rather pay an extra £40 or so and have it be flexible for upgrading[/QUOTE] the only reason 1366 [B]looks[/B] more upgradable is because there's more out already for it and if you mean i9, they look [B]very[/B] expensive (going by specs) and workstationish meanwhile the i5 is one of the best, if not just the best, bang for buck in it's price range. Think of now, not the distant future

To Hezzy: 2x HD 5850+ Free game, two licenses (for a friend to have one or something), i7-920 with a heatsink+fan, 750W Antec Modular PSU, 6GB 1600MHz OCZ RAM, 1TB 7,200RPM HDD. [editline]04:44PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Hezzy;17811475]With this build I'd want to be getting a 64bit version of Windows 7, yes?[/QUOTE] yes

you'd want 64-bit anyway, there's no reason to get 32 with it

[QUOTE=TheMadness;17811512]you'd want 64-bit anyway, there's no reason to get 32 with it[/QUOTE] Unless you have a really old printer or something that only has x86 drivers.

[QUOTE=Hezzy;17811475]With this build I'd want to be getting a 64bit version of Windows 7, yes?[/QUOTE] With anything recommended in this thread you would.

[QUOTE=JohnEdwards;17811410]there is nothing wrong with powercolor[/QUOTE] Johns right, nothing terrible about Powercolor, but I try and stick with XFX myself for their lifetime warranty. Wow, should of refreshed the page, this post was way late..

Is it true that some games don't support crossfired video cards?

[QUOTE=Hezzy;17814176]Is it true that some games don't support crossfired video cards?[/QUOTE] Yes, quite a lot don't actually. You're usually better off buying a single, powerful card. I'll have a shot at this. What website do you prefer? I am not really into British hardware websites. Alright, here's my build: [URL=http://filesmelt.com/][IMG]http://filesmelt.com/downloader/hezzybuild.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Explanation: The Lian-Li case is [b]very good[/b], so good that I just [i]have[/i] to bold it. It will easily last you a decade. The front fans are all in a door with a dust filter behind it so you can clean the dust with a single swipe of your Dyson vacuum cleaner. Which is in comparison to the Antec Nine Hundred I own which covers my desk in a layer of dust about 15 minutes after turning it on. There is plenty of space in the case for even two or three HD 5870's. The 750W PSU will easily power two 5870's in case you want to expand. I chose the i5 750 since it performs better than the i7 920 and the motherboards are cheaper for it. I chose a quite expensive but very good CPU cooler which allows for plenty of overclocking room in terms of temperature, in combination with this very well. I chose for just a 1TB HDD, that should you last you a good while. If you need more space, you can fit like 10 harddrives in that Lian-Li case in which case I also recommend you buy a RAID controller. In terms of graphics, I chose a 5870 simply because it is the best single-gpu graphics card on the market right now, and it also comes with a free game. You can add in a second one easily ( when the need arises in two years or so ) since the motherboard supports CrossFire and the PSU is plenty to power two 5870's. About your question, not all games support CrossFire. But if you play Source games a lot then it's well worth it, as the Source engine is optimized for ATI cards. But some games optimized for NVIDIA cards do not always support CrossFire. But for all those games a single 5870 will easily max them out. In terms of ram, I chose a not too expensive DDR3 dual-channel kit, but the memory is still fast enough and will also be very well overclockable due to the heat spreaders, speed of the memory and the low temperatures inside the case itself. When choosing an optical drive, I had to go with a DVD RW with a SATA cable. I could have picked a Blu-Ray drive for just about 20 or 30 quid more but that would drive the price over £1000, which I wanted to avoid. Note that the blu-ray drive does read blu-rays, dvd's and cd's but it cannot burn anything unlike the DVD RW. I have not included any OS, as I always order my PC's without them because I can get them off MSDN ( Microsoft Developer Network ). I would go with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit though. Do not get a 32-Bit OS. Another note. Some people might go "ahh no don't get the i5 you never know when you might need 8 threads". Well, unless you want to spend the extra money for an i7 and X58 motherboard and you're actually going to use all of them, just get the i5. In my own case I would get the i7 as I do use some applications that could use 8 threads very well (Supreme Commander, video/audio decoding, using Rainbow Tables and Jack the Ripper).

The thing is it is £100 cheaper to crossfire the two cards that have been suggested to me, and it's about 1/3 more powerful. I don't mind if it doesn't work in one or two games, as far as I see it sometimes isn't supported at retail start but it often gets patched in at a later date. I have tried looking it up on the internet and there isn't much in the way of people complaining about games not working. Are there any people registered on here that have had trouble recently with crossfiring? If so, which games have you had problems with and was compatibility patched in at a later date?

[QUOTE=Hezzy;17814906]The thing is it is £100 cheaper to crossfire the two cards that have been suggested to me, and it's about 1/3 more powerful. I don't mind if it doesn't work in one or two games, as far as I see it sometimes isn't supported at retail start but it often gets patched in at a later date. I have tried looking it up on the internet and there isn't much in the way of people complaining about games not working. Are there any people registered on here that have had trouble recently with crossfiring? If so, which games have you had problems with and was compatibility patched in at a later date?[/QUOTE] Well, if you want me to adjust your build to that, I can make it happen

COD4 supports it, COD5 supports it, Crysis supports it. Most of the games I've played have supported it. [editline]09:12PM[/editline] The games that don't support crossfire will usually run fine on 1 of those cards anyway. [editline]09:13PM[/editline] [img]http://img2.pict.com/40/4e/b8/1759330/0/800/suphezzy.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=CombineGuru;17814969]COD4 supports it, COD5 supports it, Crysis supports it. Most of the games I've played have supported it. [editline]09:12PM[/editline] The games that don't support crossfire will usually run fine on 1 of those cards anyway. [editline]09:13PM[/editline] [img]http://img2.pict.com/40/4e/b8/1759330/0/800/suphezzy.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] Which haven't supported it, and how much did it have an effect on gameplay?

Well, there's so many games. I don't know if it's supported or not, but I get way better FPS in source games with both my cards enabled. Runs fine with one though. Crysis had a patch to support Crossfire after the release, I can run well on one card, but again, two is better. COD4 supports it. COD5 supports it. COD:MW2 will support it. You can run just about any game with one 5850 anyway, and most of the graphical-intensive games support crossfire.

[QUOTE=CombineGuru;17815045]Well, there's so many games. I don't know if it's supported or not, but I get way better FPS in source games with both my cards enabled. Runs fine with one though. Crysis had a patch to support Crossfire after the release, I can run well on one card, but again, two is better. COD4 supports it. COD5 supports it. COD:MW2 will support it. You can run just about any game with one 5850 anyway, and most of the graphical-intensive games support crossfire.[/QUOTE] There's more games than COD and Crysis.

Yah, but those are the ones I've played. [editline]09:20PM[/editline] Some more: Unreal Tournament 3 Bioshock Medal of Honour HL2/Source S.T.A.L.K.E.R Gears of War Hellgate London Call of Juarez Gothic 3 Oblivion WoW [editline]09:22PM[/editline] [code]D3D (ati3duag.dll) *.scr 3DMark2001SE.exe 3DMark2001.exe 3DMark03.exe 3DMark05.exe 3DMark06*.exe 3dsmax*.exe acad.exe AcesOfTheGalaxy.exe AcroRd32.exe ACTOFWAR.exe AFR-FriendlyD3D.exe Age3.exe AgeOfConan.exe aJewelQuestSolitaire.exe arma2.exe ARX.exe AssassinsCreed*.exe aquamark.exe BA2.exe Backspin.exe Battleforge.exe Battlefront.exe BattlefrontII.exe battleofthegods.exe BF2.exe BF2142*.exe BfVietnam.exe Big Kahuna Reef.* Bia.exe Biademo.exe biahh.exe bionic_commando.exe Bioshock.exe BOS.exe Breed.exe BreedSPD.exe bsp.exe Buildalot2.exe BurnoutParadise.exe cabalmain.exe cccprev.exe chess.exe Chuzzle.exe Client.exe CMR5.exe CoD2?P_s.exe CoDWaW*.exe CoJ.exe CoJBiBGame_x86.exe Condemned.exe CompatAFR-1x1.exe crossfire.exe Crysis*.exe cstrike.exe CT3.exe Dead Space.exe DevilMayCry*.exe DFX.exe Diner_Dash_Flo_On_The_Go.exe DiRT.exe DOW2.exe Driv3r.exe DungeonSiege2.exe Dwm.exe EE3.exe EndWar.exe Ehshell.exe EiB.exe ElvenLegacy*.exe Empire.exe episode.exe EverQuest2.exe ExeFile.exe eXperience112.exe Fable.exe FallOut3.exe FarCry2*.exe FEAR.exe fear2*.exe FEARspdemo.exe FEARXP.exe FF2client.exe FFOW.exe FFXiBench.exe FFXiWinBench.exe FH.exe fifa07*.exe FlatOutdemo.exe flashpoint*.exe Flip Words*.exe ForceSingleGPU.exe FreeCell.exe FreeRunning.exe fs9.exe fsx.exe Fuel.exe game.dat (Command&Conquer 3) game.exe GameClient.exe GH3.exe ghost_w32.exe GodFather.exe godfather2.exe Gothic3.exe graw*.exe grimmgame.exe Grid.exe GTAIV.exe gt.exe GunBound.gme GW.exe gwdev.exe H5_Game.exe halo.exe HAWX.exe Hearts.exe hellgate*.exe HitmanBloodMoney.exe hl.exe \half-life 2\hl2.exe \half-life 2 Demo\hl2.exe \half-life 2 episode one\hl2.exe \half-life 2 episode two\hl2.exe \portal\hl2.exe \team fortress 2\hl2.exe \half-life 2 deathmatch\hl2.exe \half-life 2 lostcoast\hl2.exe \counter-strike source\hl2.exe \day of defeat source\hl2.exe \half-life deathmatch source\hl2.exe \half-life source\hl2.exe InkBall.exe Inventor.exe iw3mp.exe iw3sp.exe Jewel Quest Solitaire.exe Jericho.exe JustCause*.exe kaneandlynch.exe KingKong*.exe KingKongDemo*.exe left4dead.exe Legend.exe legends.exe Legendary.exe LegoStarWarsII.exe Lithtech.exe LockOn.exe LostPlanet*.exe Mahjong.exe mahjongg_artifacts.exe MassEffect.exe Matrix.exe MaxPayne2.exe MaxPayne2Demo.exe MEM_7.exe Merc2-Demo.exe Mercenaries2.exe Minesweeper.exe MirrorsEdge.exe mm.exe MOHA.exe mohpa.exe MonsterGame.exe Morrowind.exe narnia.exe nba2005.exe nbalive06.exe NFSC_demo.exe NFSC.exe nhl06.exe nhl2007.exe NWN2*.exe oblivion.exe Overlord*.exe PandoraMultiPlayerDemo.exe PainGame.exe Painkiller.exe Pariah.exe patriots.exe PCMark04.exe PCMark05.exe pc_matador.exe pol.exe pop.exe pop2.exe pop3.exe primarysurf.exe Prince of Persia.exe ProjectG.exe prototype?.exe PT2Start.exe PurblePlace.exe R6Vegas_Launcher.exe R6Vegas2_Game.exe RaceDriver.exe RCT3.exe RelicCOH.exe RD2.exe RD2D.exe RD3.exe Rome*.exe RomeTW*.exe Sam2.exe Scarface.exe SEGA Rally*.exe Settlers6*.exe ShadowVault.exe Shift.exe SilentHill.exe Sims2.exe Sims2EP1.exe Sims2EP2.exe SinEpisodes.exe Snowblind-Demo.exe Snowblind.exe Solitaire.exe SpaceSiege.exe speed.exe Speed2.exe speedDemo.exe Speed2demo.exe SpiderSolitaire.exe SplinterCell.exe SplinterCell2.exe SplinterCell3.exe SplinterCell4.exe SporeApp.exe starwars_pc.exe Stranger.exe *Stranglehold.exe Studio.exe Suffering2*.exe SupremeCommander.exe sweaw.exe Swat4SPDemo.exe Swat4.exe SwgClient_r.exe TechDemo.exe TerminatorSalvation.exe TestDriveUnlimited.exe theHunter*.exe thief.exe thrones.exe Tiger 2004.exe Timeshift*.exe TLR*.exe TRAOD*.exe tra.exe Transformers*.exe trgame.exe tribesv_?pdemo_en.exe trl.exe Tropics.exe tru.exe TurokGame.exe TV_CD_DVD.exe TW2005.exe TW2004.exe TW2007.exe TW2008.exe Unigine.exe USM.exe UT2003.exe UT2004.exe UT3*.exe Validator.exe w40k.exe wanted.exe war3.exe Wargame-g4wlive.exe WheelmanGame*.exe white.exe wic*.exe witcher.exe Wolf2.exe Wolverine.exe WoW.exe X2.exe X2-Demo.exe x3*.exe XPANDRALLY.exe XR_3DA.exe xrEngine.exe[/code]