Hi guys, I have previously posted a similar thread but now I almost made up my mind on what I would like to change. The bottom line is that I would like to be able to play all the latest titles at max/ultra settings (e.g. Skyrim, Witcher 2, Sleeping Dogs, etc), as well as watching films online and word-processing. This is all to be done on a 22" monitor at 1920 x 1080 resolution. + I would like it to be reasonably future-proof. This is what I have now -> Changing to: Case: (Low-profile) Asus Desktop Pundit Series 3 -> Antec One PSU: No Name 220W -> Be Quiet! Pure Power L8 530W Motherboard: Asus P3 – P5G31 -> Keeping it Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2400Mhz) -> Keeping it Heatsink: Stock with processor -> Gelid Tranquillo Rev.2 Memory: No Name (as far as I can tell) 8192 MB DDR2 - SD RAM (4x2048) -> keeping it Sound Card: (Motherboard Integrated) AMD High Definition Audio Device -> Asus Xonar DG Monitor: 22” LG (Flatron W2243S) (1920x1080) -> keeping it and most importantly GPU: ATI Radeon HD 5570 -> Radeon HD 7870 (Sapphire or MSI) OR GeForce GTX 660Ti (Zotac or EVGA, may be other) This list is almost fully based on CPC and Bit-tech reviews. Unfortunately this is my first ever build and I only recently got into PCs (can't believe how much fun I've been missing!):-( All of the above changes almost fully drain my budget (around 30 pounds spare) :-/ Any and all advise, suggestions, criticisms, etc will be awesome and I'll love you guys forever and ever (even more than I do atm!)!!!
So... basically you're doing a GPU upgrade I would take the 7870 over the 660 Ti I think... (may change if I find somewhere saying AMD's gonna release 8th gen soon...) You probably don't need a sound card. Why not ditch that and make your GPU into a 7950? If you do go up to right below flagship card though, you may need a beefier power supply (650W or so) to make it run. Are you going to overclock your CPU (more?)? If so, you might also want a beefier cooler ^^.
You will not be able to play The Witcher 2 at max settings, I can tell you that. You don't have the CPU power for uberSampling mode to be enables. Heck even if I over my CPU to the max, I still don't have enough power. Better wait for Intel next generation CPU, and over clock that to the max. Here are some fps of the game. http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2012/10/09/nvidia-geforce-gtx-650-ti-review/8 As you can see the GTX 660 Ti is 10fps faster than the 7870 As for the sound card: Linus from NCIX, outside of work, does these live stream videos. Anyway he express what exactly what I think. To put in context, I set the time to the start of the question http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWR07ZxxblY#t=45m00s In sum. A sound card is extremal important. Sound is part of the experience of your gaming, and enjoying music. On board should only be used if you plan to casually use the computer and watch a few youTube here and there. On board sound is disgusting. A dedicated sound card (of course, the more you pay, the better your sound, but you need to balance that with better speakers or headphones), will get you a rich sound, meds are more pronounced and lively, base is improved, the sound is clear and clean from static and interference. If you use your computer as any use for entertainment, whether it listening to music while you work, or playing game or watching movies, a dedicated sound card is a MUST. I cannot emphasis this enough. I got a sound card for my laptop, paid 30$, the Xonar U3, amazing.. not as good as my desktop, but close (I mean come one it's 30$, not 100$) I hear the difference, its HUGE! and I am using 19$ Sony crummy earphone. I get cheap ones as they tend to always break on me. On my desktop I have a sound card, a better one (used to cost 130$), the Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music (don't buy Creative like I did, big mistake). I have 130$ 2.1 Logitech speaker (Z4, no longer available), and the difference is huge between my on board sound card. there is not a single computer, where I said "Hey it's not bad!" No! It's all crap. You are buying 1000$+ computer.. what am I saying, you guys are buying 1500$ computers, and being too cheap for a 70-100$ sound card, which last you for 2-3 computers, as performance isn't an issue. I mean come on!
I agree with GoodBytes, sound card is very important, especially since my integrated sound is really not good :-/ Apart from Witcher 2, will my CPU be enough for everything else? (withing reasonable limits ofc)
what's the fundamental difference between AMD's Radeon and nVidias's GeForce? I find it really hard to choose between HD 7950 and GTX 660Ti...
One of the main differences is the fact that typically AMD has better multi monitor support and nvidia has better 3d support. Other than that some games play better on the different manufacturers. i think nvidia marks its games with 'the way its meant to played', so it can also depend on what games you play.
Correct, a bit more in details: Nvidia - PhysX - CUDA - TXAA anti-aliasing technology - Some would argue that Nvidia provides better driver support, but there are no facts on that. I would tend to agree on that, Nvidia has already official Windows 8 drivers out, AMD is still in Beta and some people are reporting issues with Modern UI Apps in Windows 8, as it's all GPU rendered. Then again, Windows 8 is not official out, so AMD might be ready on time. AMD - Used to be power efficiency, now the GeForce 600 series makes it too competitive to consider. At a architectural design point of view, Nvidia is more power efficient on the 600 series than AMD latest offering. - Eyefinity for up to 6 displays gaming experience. - Better OpenGL debugger (if you are a developer) - Usually lower price Now its up to you, to see if these are worthwhile.
Ti stands for Ti... Marketing believes it sounds better, and see it as a sale factor, so they put it.
Ti is the chemical symbol for titanium which is generally perceived to be a strong metal. As GB said, it's mostly marketing. In general, if you find a card (lets say 660) and a Ti version of that card (660 Ti) that means that the Ti version will perform a little better out of the box and cost more. I'm not actually sure if there's major architecture changes between the two versions or if it's just a difference in clocks, but I usually just treat it like a half step up.
The only one to stay away from is "SE". It means "Special Edition", but in all cases for GeForce it is really the "Sucky Edition", hence the lower price of the non-SE version. The 600 series doesn't have SE edition, but I am saying in the case later on it comes back, unless Nvidia changes, and makes SE mean a better model.
