Gaming Rig - Review and Feedback

[obiwannknowlton]

I am looking to purchase a new gaming computer (budget $2000US) that I expect to play many many many hours of SWTOR on. Can you'all take a look at the following Alienware system specs, and tell me if I will be getting decent video, sound, gameplay (i.e. fps at top game settings, etc) with it?

Quick note: I am not that knowledgable about building computers. I prefer someone like Alienware because I can put checks in boxes, they build it, they test it, and I just have to unbox, and plug it in...

Thanks in advance.





Processors:
Intel® Core™ i5-2400 (6MB Cache) Overclocked Turbo Boost to 3.6GHz

Operating System:
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English

Cooling Option:
Alienware™ High-Performance Liquid Cooling

Memory:
12GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz

Video Card:
2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 6950

Hard Drive:
1TB SATA 3Gb/s (7,200RPM) 32MB Cache

Sound Card:
Creative Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium

Optical Drive:
Single Drive: Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BD-ROM, DVD±RW, CD-RW)

Adobe Reader Software:
Adobe® Acrobat® Reader

Hardware Support Services:
1 Year Basic Service Plan

Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed):
Microsoft® Office Home and Student 2010

[Mulloar]

I find 1333 Mhz memory quite slow as Alienware has 1866 to offer as well.
that being said, you'd still get a good PC either way.

To be honest, at one point I was completely against alienware but it seems like since they joined DELL, their prices have fallen down immensely and are actually not that bad anymore.
Granted, a true gaming Geek who would rather do everything themselves (speccing, building, overclocking etc etc) is better of not buying alienware.

However. if you would rather not go through this hassle and still have a badass PC, Alienware does it all for you. OC programs, heat management etc, not to mention warranty on the whole thing.

[Arslay]

Check out CyberpowerPC or iBuyPower.

It will be cheaper and more customizable. Else ^^^ See above post

[Deleted]

You dont need 12 gigs of ram, probably not the bluray reader either. If you plan on playing MMOs I'd get rid of some ram and the bluray and opt in for an SSD drive instead.

[Deleted]

That system is not worth $2000, closer to half that (~$1200, maybe). I would suggest something like what Synthaxx wrote. You would get a much better system that way.

[obiwannknowlton]

Thanks for the feedback so far. Quick question,

What is better:

- a single card like 3GB GDDR5 NVIDIA®GeForce® GTX 590

or

- dual cards like Dual 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 6950

[Deleted]

The GTX 590 is a dual GPU card. This means that the card contains two cores (in the case of the GTX 590, the cores are essentially downclocked GTX 580s). I don't know the exact performance, but it does go something like this:

590 = 1.5x 580
SLI 570 = 590
SLI 560 Ti = 580
580 = 0.85x 570
570 = 0.85x 560 Ti
560 Ti = 0.85x 460

Detailed information regarding performance can be found (for example) here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4239/n...ngle-card-king

[obiwannknowlton]

The GTX 590 is a dual GPU card. This means that the card contains two cores (in the case of the GTX 590, the cores are essentially downclocked GTX 580s). I don't know the exact performance, but it does go something like this:

590 = 1.6x 580
SLI 570 = 0.9x 590
SLI 560 Ti = 1.2x 580
580 = 0.85x 570
570 = 0.85x 560 Ti
560 Ti = 0.85x 460

Wow, that's a whole different language O.o

So, what is the benefit of one or dual cards? Is it better to have one at 3GB or two at 4GB? Obviously, 4>3, but I have a feeling it's not that simple...

[Itakas]

Sry, didnt rly have the time to look at you spec, but all i cant say atm is if you pick alienware you pay 20-30% more on you components just because you get the little alien on your casing. Make a non branded pc and you will get way better machine for same money...

[Deleted]

So, what is the benefit of one or dual cards? Is it better to have one at 3GB or two at 4GB? Obviously, 4>3, but I have a feeling it's not that simple...

I'd say that the current dual GPU cards (GTX 590 and Radeon 6990) are only for enthusiasts who have money to spend. You get the same (or better) performance by going SLI GTX 570 or CF Radeon 6970 for the same or reduced price. The moot argument is that both the dual GPU cards pull less heat and take up less space (at least width).

As for 4GB vRAM and 3GB vRAM: It is only worth having if you are running a higher resolution than 1080p, and even then a 1.5GB or a 2GB would most likely be enough. The only game currently that can essentially use more than 1GB of vRAM at 1080p is Battlefield 3 at full ultra, but that almost requires a higher end card (like the GTX 580 or the Radeon 6970; both of which have a higher vRAM than 1GB).

[taubut]

I really suggest using http://us.ncix.com/ for buying your PC. They will build it for you, bench test your entire system, and OC everything for you if requested. Also recommend checking out their youtube channel as they have tons of information that might be helpful to you when picking out the parts for your PC. Their site lets you 100% customize your PC. You get to pick every single part, and have them put it together, and ship it right to you.

Good luck!

Mod Warning: This is borderline advertising. Stay constructive.

[Cantii]

I went to CyberPowerPC and built up this system, which is significantly superior to the one you priced from Alienware, with the same warranty, etc. The only thing it doesn't have is a discrete sound card, but that's offset by dual MSI HD6950 TwinFrozr III in CrossfireX. Plus for gaming, a discrete sound card won't really make that much of a difference.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1DM3CR

Of signifcant note outside of the video cards: Better CPU and motherboard, better power supply, 8GB of RAM instead of 12GB (wtf? 4x3GB modules?), 120GB SSD on top of the 1TB HDD, better case.