Turbo boost only kicks in when thermals are permitting and it would help with the given workload. And if you are delicate with your overclock, you can actually preserve turbo boost on top of your overclocked base speed. But you're definitely correct that overclocking I'd much less important now. Back in the day, a mild overclock could actually increase efficiency and save you power. Now they just cost you power because turbo boost keys you cover that "mild" overclock.
Spartacus and Wookie - amazing information - much thanks ! I started as recommended with CPU and fell into Motherboard and video land... back to CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K $330 Definately want quad core. What is the Intel HD Graphics 4000? Seems this is the socket you recommended. MSI Z77A-G45 Thunderbolt LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS Free 8GB desktop memory w/ purchase, limited offer $154 - was on sale for $149 last week, so I suspect that this is a decent price. LGA1155 but MSI. Seems higher price and higher rated than ASUS - so can you help me break it down and comment on what sucks here or that is good : MSI Z77A-G45 Thunderbolt LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS - good ? Free 8 GB desktop memory - seems "Desktop Memory" means cheap shit. Is this OK ? Video Cards Using TechBargains the deal of the week is: SAPPHIRE 100352-4L Radeon HD 7950 3GB GDDR5 PCI-Express Video Card with Boost Which is $270 after rebate and includes: Free Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon, Crysis 3 & Bioshock That's $120 worth of games. Bu Bye - Empires Looks like three items in the shopping cart and I'm upto $754. Half way home ? I have not seen a real gaming machine in over ten years so I will be blown away by even a meager 7950. Spartacus your chart is great to show me that this is middle of the road. I just don't know if it would run the huge resolution that Wookie mentioned on the 27" screen. My choices will be cost based. If I can find a 27" high res display for a decent price, I'm on it. Assuming this type of video card can drive that high a resolution. I just saw a 40" 60hz 1080p screen for under $300, but that may be TOO BIG. I don't want to sit in the first row of the movie theater and I do think 27" is about the right size. Again - Thank you! JustGoFly
I would not recommend getting a display with higher res than 1920x1080 unless you are going for a really high-end gpu setup. Your 7950 can go upto 4096x3112 depending on the output interface, but to run games at native res any higher than 1080 (especially far cry and crysis) will give you considerable slowdowns. The high res displays are generally for benchmarking purposes anyway, I don't see many consumers using them. Just get a high quality 1080 display.
I do agree with you. My expectation was that at that high resolution the game would still be very fluid or else it would be useless. I may be expecting too much from todays technology. But I am waiting to be amazed. JustGoBuy
I don't recall saying anything about screens so far. I'd get 2x 24" 1920x1200. It's nicer for office work Also for gaming monitors latency is a bit important. Will do a decent post tomorrow, PM me if I forget.
Right - McGyver mentioned: "Dell UltraSharp U2713HM monitor (27", 2560x1440)" That's a $750 monitor. HOLY SHIP ! And Two of them - Yikes ! I think I'll stay 1080p. What hz, refresh or anything else I need to know about monitors should I be targetting ? JustGoMonitor
I was thinking of an older Sandy bridge i5 as an example. We were talking about i7s and i5s... dunno what you are talking about. For overclocking, it won't matter if you're only increasing by a few fractions of a point. I would be more careful with Ivy bridge CPUs, as it runs hotter and its die was not soldered to the heat spreader. No, I'm not trolling. Aside from my point above about overclocking a 3570K, I also lose hyperthreading. While it may not make a difference for older games, it will for newer engines and non-gaming purposes. My system is not exclusively for gaming (whose is anyway). Even if it were, I never understood the value of spending more time/money than necessary just for an extra 5fps in games that already run at +60fps... unless you are those that jerk off to their benchmark reports. For the best value, get an older overclockable Sandy bridge i7 (or i5 if just doing current games). Ivy bridge is not that much of an upgrade (still uses Sandy Bridge microarchitecture).
Nice selection of parts but the SAS drive is a bit unnecessary. The SAS controller however, is a definite recommendation, USE it with SSDs instead of a SAS HDD.
Any comment on list of components listed in my previous note here ? PS: If you want the BEST Tablet on the market - (Fuck IPAD) - buy this: Asus TF700T-B1-CG Transformer Pad Infinity 10.1" 32GB Tablet On sale today only at Woot.com for $370. I'm all over it. Tossing that piece of shit Kindle Fire at my brother in law. He'll think I did him a favor. Thank you JustGoSpendMoney
I would seriously get an aftermarket cooler for that cpu. The heatsink that comes with it will make your system an oven. This is what I have. It's cheap now and it is the lazy mans water cooling solution. No maintenance required besides the occasional dusting. Also lol at guns' new signature. I am flattered to know that killing me ingame is such a huge accomplishment for you.
my i7 doesnt get that hot, the gfxcard on the other hand ... still everything within bounds even in summer, point being, why only watercool you cpu while the gfx card at least gets equally hot ... also air is sufficient cooling.
Yes it is. I just personally like this solution for a few reasons. First off, it looks really slick in my case. It matches the rest of my parts (got a black case, mobo, video card, and psu + cables). Also I like having all the heat from the cpu going to the radiator which is located at the back of the case. Having a fat ass fan pushing hot air toward the video card is not ideal. Also not having a giant heatsink in the centre of the case makes for better air flow. And the reason I only did the water cooling for the cpu is cause its much easier to install the H70 than a full loop. I also knew I was going to upgrade the gpu at some point and that would have be a massive hassle with a full water cooling loop. Did I mention I am a lazy fuck?
No not aware of anything in this arena unless you guys tell me I'm being lazy and not researching the differences between each CPU. I'm picking a above average video board. Prices may drop - we'll see. I doubt faster than 3.5 Ghz will impact my game play much. Hell 1.8 Ghz is fine now. Not sure I want to wait 2 months just to save a couple bucks. Also those dates are loose and new features are not normally taken advantage of right away. JustGoNow
The clock speeds are rumored to not change at all (at equivalent price points). For certain CPU-heavy workloads, performance is expected to go up a fair amount. Then again, almost all gaming isn't CPU-heavy, so it's really not a big deal. Like I said in previous posts, the real killer of Haswell is rumored to be the integrated graphics. And because this isn't Intel's first rodeo, you won't see prices of old Ivy Bridge CPUs (& accompanying motherboards) go down either.
