New rig and gaming performance

[Deleted]

Hello there i'm willing to buy in the near future a new rig to replace my old faithful Barton 2500+ Mobile version and 6800 GT graphics (better not to mention ram 1,5 GB).

Interested in getting:
i5 2500k
2 x 4 GB RAM (Kingmax or Kingston, maybe Mushkin Radioactive version @ 1600 Mhz)
650 or 750W PSU
Asus P8Z68-V PRo or that cheaper one of ASUS without Z68 support
and finaly i'm doubting what to get regarding GPU.
Mentioning that i'll play on 1440 x 900 resolution, not planing to buy new monitor but considering it as an option.

Thinking of MSI 560 Ti Twin Frozr III Hawk (in the future upgrade it on SLI mode) or Radeon MSI 6870 Hawk in Crossfire.

I know i will get the major boost with just one of this cards i know the differences between nvidia and ATI but ATI's cards are better regarding the price and power consumption so overall i'll pass through cheaper.

I'm seriously thinking 'bout going SLI or Crossfire and i'm willing to hear some thoughts 'bout that and possibility of microstuttering is this true or false, truth or lie?

What kind of performance will i get in WoW on single card and/or SLI, what 'bout other games?

Also i'm willing to spend 'bout 1200$ on this new rig.

Is this the right time to buy it or wait for newer cards/processors?

[Saithes]

SLI and Crossfire won't benefit entirely in WoW, but most modern games will benefit quite a bit from it. The only downside with SLI is Nvidia is very slow with releasing new SLI profiles since they abolished their individual SLI updates and have consolidated them to driver releases. Crossfire is quite nice though since the team who sets up the Catalyst Application Profiles (or CAP) is ontop of things the second a game is released and provides profiles asap. Honestly with an i5 2500K you should be able to run WoW with most everything if not everything on Ultra even at stock clocks. Overall that rig should be quite powerful and prove to surprise you in comparison to your old Barton and 6800GT haha.


The 560 Ti HAWK is a very viable card and I definitely recommend it after owning a GTX 460 HAWK.

[Doomfingers]

New monitor before SLI or CF.

[Deleted]

What about microstuttering is this something that is seriously occuring and possibly a threat to my future decisions or is it just a rumor?

I am aware that resolution on which i play is myabe not a best option for implementing an SLI, but i will only gain more FPS if considering newer DX11 games that will be released in future.

[Saithes]

What about microstuttering is this something that is seriously occuring and possibly a threat to my future decisions or is it just a rumor?

I am aware that resolution on which i play is myabe not a best option for implementing an SLI, but i will only gain more FPS if considering newer DX11 games that will be released in future.

Microstuttering has been almost abolished. From what it seems any microstuttering seems to occur only in certain games. I would definitely skip on SLI or Crossfire right now and opt for a new monitor instead. Then in the future grab a second GPU if you feel you need one.

[Deleted]

If you go that far for a rig, then might aswell go for i7 and perhaps 4 x 4gig (memory is cheap to come by). Also, keep in mind that 700W for a real gaming rig might be a bit low. I'd say, increase it to 850-900, so you are sure it will meet the requirements.

Do remember to get the extra beneficial parts if you really go for a good gaming rig like an extra case fan (perhaps 2).

[haxartus]

Also, keep in mind that 700W for a real gaming rig might be a bit low.

Most "real gaming rigs" with a single GPU don't use more than 400W on full load.

[Auralian]

I was running a 450 SLI for 6 months and as of last night I am on a EVGA 560 TI SLI. I have never saw the microstutter thing but occasionally you would get a spike that would drop down to like 2 fps for a split seconds and then normalize out. Profiles haven't been coming out slow unless you consider 1 week after a launch. The Rift profile was out before the launch as are most games that have a open beta for people to test.

If you go that far for a rig, then might aswell go for i7 and perhaps 4 x 4gig (memory is cheap to come by). Also, keep in mind that 700W for a real gaming rig might be a bit low. I'd say, increase it to 850-900, so you are sure it will meet the requirements.

Do remember to get the extra beneficial parts if you really go for a good gaming rig like an extra case fan (perhaps 2).

I7-960 OC to 3.8ghz
6 case fans
Hyper 212+ with 2 120mm fans
560 TI SLI

On a 750 watt PS on mine with no issues at all. I rarely hear the PS fan kick into high gear, which is a good thing because its load as hell.

[Deleted]

If you go that far for a rig, then might aswell go for i7 and perhaps 4 x 4gig (memory is cheap to come by). Also, keep in mind that 700W for a real gaming rig might be a bit low. I'd say, increase it to 850-900, so you are sure it will meet the requirements.

A 900W power supply is basically intended for two or tri GPU systems, and the difference between the 2500k and 2600k is virtually nonexistant in games. In fact, the i7 is even known to lose to the i5 in many game comparisons.

Why on earth would you get 16gb of RAM - when any machine will struggle to use 30% of that unless you extensively multibox. Waste of money, and a loss of performance because of the increased strain on the memory controller.

[Deleted]

A 900W power supply is basically intended for two or tri GPU systems, and the difference between the 2500k and 2600k is virtually nonexistant in games. In fact, the i7 is even known to lose to the i5 in many game comparisons.

Why on earth would you get 16gb of RAM - when any machine will struggle to use 30% of that unless you extensively multibox. Waste of money, and a loss of performance because of the increased strain on the memory controller.

that memory part was pretty dumb from me to say. The power supply is more if you want to upgrade to more cards, which is not unthinkable in the future.

it depends. if you overclock the i7, then it wins. But then you have to take the second generation of the i7, not the first one.

[haxartus]

The only reason that someone would need 900W or higher is something like Crossfire HD6990s or triple SLI GTX 580s... 750W is enough for any dual GPU setup on the market.

[Saithes]

that memory part was pretty dumb from me to say. The power supply is more if you want to upgrade to more cards, which is not unthinkable in the future.

it depends. if you overclock the i7, then it wins. But then you have to take the second generation of the i7, not the first one.

The downside with this argument is that its been shown that the 2600K has a hindrance in overclocking because of Hyperthreading.

[Fuzzykins]

that memory part was pretty dumb from me to say. The power supply is more if you want to upgrade to more cards, which is not unthinkable in the future.

it depends. if you overclock the i7, then it wins. But then you have to take the second generation of the i7, not the first one.

Err terrible advice. Power supply was off, you wouldn't want a first generation CPU, not that much RAM. *I.E. nothing you said.*

[mercutiouk]

If you go that far for a rig, then might aswell go for i7 and perhaps 4 x 4gig (memory is cheap to come by). Also, keep in mind that 700W for a real gaming rig might be a bit low. I'd say, increase it to 850-900, so you are sure it will meet the requirements.

Do remember to get the extra beneficial parts if you really go for a good gaming rig like an extra case fan (perhaps 2).

700w for a real gaming rig might be low? Based on what? The only single thing eating more than 100w is the graphics card. Unless he's pushing a seriously big card with a high overclock 700w is more than plenty for a single card rig.

Not to be offensive or flamey at all but most of your suggestions so far have been rather wide of the mark. You might want to read a bit more and suggest a bit less.