PC Builds

[bloodhound9]

I'm looking to build a PC and have two builds in mind.
-1
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-870
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P7P55 LX Intel P55 Chipset DDR3 LGA1156 ATX
MEMORY: 4GB DDR3/1600MHz
VIDEO: x2 ATI Radeon HD 5570 1GB DDR3 16X PCIe Video Card
-2
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955
MOTHERBOARD:ASUS M4A79XTD EVO
MEMORY: 4GB DDR3/1333MHz
VIDEO: x2 ATI Radeon HD 5570 1GB DDR3 16X PCIe Video Card

Both Windows 7 64bit w/ 1TB HDD

My question I guess would be which CPU would be better to get, Intel or AMD.
Thanks.

[wonderwrench]

The Intel i7 870 cost twice as much as the Phenom II X4 955.
Which one is faster depends on what you want to use your new PC for.
Overall the Intel i7 870 is faster but is it worth twice as much?
Bench comparison.

[David (PassMark)]

Depending on what you use the PC for, take the cheaper CPU and get a SSD instead to use as a boot drive. You'll notice the speed from the SSD more than the extra speed from the Intel CPU.

Or get a 2nd monitor. It makes a PC much more productive than a slightly faster CPU.

[bloodhound9]

I'm looking for a gaming PC...sorry i should have posted that before
I've been reading/hearing that ssd's are not as good for gaming.

[wonderwrench]

I'm looking for a gaming PC...sorry i should have posted that before
I've been reading/hearing that ssd's are not as good for gaming.

SSD's are great but because of the way most games are made installing games on a SSD does not yield a big boost in game performance. If all you care about is gaming use the money saved on 4 more gigs of RAM. If you want almost instant loading of most programs, windows GUI screens etc. get an SSD for the OS and smaller programs and one or more magnetic drives for games and data files.

Can you give the reasoning behind using two HD 5770's in crossfire.
I'm not saying it a bad setup for gaming but a single card with equal performance costs about the same.

BTW the ASUS M4A79XTD EVO is using the older AMD 790x chipset that does not support SATA3. Not a deal breaker but something to think about.

Here is some info on AMD chipsets. keep in mind that 7xx is older than 8xx.

760G - Budget, majority if not all are µATX, have integrated Radeon HD 3000 graphics, one PCI-e 16x lane.

770 - Budget, majority ATX IIRC, should have only have one PCI-e lane. Some come with two PCI-e lanes but the second one operates at 4x bandwidth, possibly resulting in bottlenecking in CrossFireX for some cards. More modern boards support SATA III and USB 3.0.

785G - Relatively budget, welll - suited for HTPC thus majority are µATX IIRC, comes with Radeon HD 4200 graphics, one PCI-e 16x lane, some has an extra PCI-e 16x lane which works at 4x like the 770 chipset.

790X - Higher end, ATX form factor supports 8x/8x CrossFireX. More modern boards support SATA III and USB 3.0.

790GX - Higher end, ATX form factor, supports 8x/8x CrossFireX, has integrated Radeon HD 3300 graphics.

790FX - Very high end, supports 16x/16x, 16x/8x/8x, 8x/8x/8x/8x CrossFireX, ATX motherboards.

870 - Budget, majority ATX IIRC, one 16x PCI-e lane, native SATA III support, some with USB 3.0.

880G - Relatively budget, mainly µATX, one 16x PCI-e lane, some come with a second at 4x, same situation with 770 chipset, native SATA III support, some with USB 3.0, has integrated Radeon HD 4250 graphics.

890GX - Higher end, ATX form factor, supports 8x/8x CrossFireX, comes with integrated Radeon HD 4290 graphics, native SATA III support, some with USB 3.0.

890FX - Highest end for AMD at the moment, all ATX form factor, supports 16x/16x, 16x/8x/8x, 8x/8x/8x/8x CrossFireX. Native SATA III support, some with USB 3.0.

[wonderwrench]

I just realized that the ASUS M4A79XTD EVO is a 790X chipset board and it only supports Crossfire in 8x + 8x mode not 16x + 16x as the 790FX or better yet the 890FX does. The Asus P7P55 LX is even worse as it really only has one true 16x PCIE slot. The other one is only 4x. I would guess you are looking at these boards because of the lower cost? If so you need to forget about crossfire and get a single card. If you can afford it get a Intel X58 chipset board or a AMD 890FX chipset board.

I do not know where you live but if you live in the US and have a Microcenter close by you can get a i7 930 for $200 saving about $100. The money saved could be used to get a nice X58 motherboard. The only down side is triple channel RAM cost more per gig than dual channel does. Cost for CPU, motherboard and six gigs of RAM from Microcenter.
CPU $199.99
RAM $159.99
Motherboard 219.99
total 579.97 less $50 in rebates

I Know four people running the same CPU and motherboard and they are loving it. The last build I did was for my best friend. His system is using the same RAM listed above. My boss built a monster system (he has money unlike most of us) specs can be seen here.

One thing you need to keep in mind. You do not need to have a top of the line system to play the latest games. It all depends on what resolution you want to game at. If your monitors resolution is 1600x1200 or less or you are willing to game at a lower resolution all you will need is one of the two systems you were looking at with a single HD 5850 or GTX 460/465 GPU. If you want to game at higher resolution say 1920x1080 or higher you will need all the power you can get your hands on. A single HD 5870 or higher or a GTX 470/480. Crossfire and SLI sure would not hurt.

Bill