Yeh that was the first thing i noticed on the website lol, Nice to know that he's giving away some of the large profits that Aria must make him And to bede, would those games really be affected that heavily by the difference between a SB CPU and the 955 i intend to buy? I know games such as Arma 2, which can have huge amounts of NPC's would benefit, but thats the only one i know off the top of my head that could (Although my experience in PC games these days is pretty old seeing as the last time any of my PC's could run a new game on high settings was Battlefield 2 )
The question isn't really 'will my cpu be a bottleneck?' though is it? It's 'what gives me most performance for my budget?' and afaik there's nothing where the 955 will beat an i5. Whether or not you can squeeze an i5 under £550 is a different matter. Btw don't think anyone's asked resolution, normally the first question lol.
Well resolution atm likely isnt going any higher then 1280 * (Whatever non-widescreen moniters use) as mines from an old e-machines that i kept cause i cant afford a new one, either that or full HD through a HDMI on a smallish tv i have, although hooking the tv up to my laptop gave some pretty horrible image which hurts your eyes. And yeh budget is the highest factor in picking this Rig atm, I've pulled the GPU down to a 6850 just to be able to afford it this month (Also the fact the 6950 requires two 6 Pin's to power which would mean a hella expensive PSU to crossfire it, whereas i can use a normal 700w for the 6850's)
For 1280* you should be fine with a 955 afaik. There is rarely a single limiting factor on a PC - a faster CPU will give a few extra FPS, likewise so will a faster graphics card, motherboard etc (as the bit-tech reviews commonly show). The way I see the build I'm planning, I can't afford a really high end card but by getting core components like CPU to a high standard I can then upgrade the card in a year (when I have more money and need a new card) without having to upgrade CPU and motherboard. But each to their own, and I have a 1920*1080 screen (no decently priced *1200 screens any more) so I need the extra grunt.
Does Resolution actually affect the strain on the CPU then? :S Was under the impression that the CPU just calculated the mathematics such as Physics, Movement, AI and Models Wireframe?
Generally speaking a lower resolution will put less of a strain on the GPU and thus highlight any shortcomings the CPU has. Of course in real world gaming terms it isn't that simple. Different games will stress your system in different ways; Metro 2033 will crucify your GPU whilst BFBC2 will eat your CPU for breakfast and have your GPU as afters, getting the right balance is key. The 955BE is not exactly a slow processor. It may look slow when compared to SB in "on paper" benchmarks but in real world gaming terms there won't be much of a difference unless your system is unbalanced. EG: Couple a 955BE with a HD6850 or GTX560 level GPU and you probably won't notice any difference if you "upgraded" to a SB setup (in current games). Couple the same 955BE with a HD6950 Crossfire setup on the other hand and the differences (to a SB setup) might be more noticable. Of course once you add in upgrade potential the 955BE setup may become a hinderance long(er) term. TBH that said it would definately be worth saving a little longer and spending an extra £80 or so on a i5 2500k / P67 setup as the extra outright performance will probably mean you keep the setup for longer potentially saving you money in the long run.
I cant stress this enough if you cant afford Xfire then dont cater for it at all. get the most out of your system NOW instead of thinking about possible future upgrades. SLI/Xfire while they can/do provide benefits they cost more even initially before you even buy your 2nd GPU later on (which is daft IMO). You need a bigger PSU and decent Xfire mobo ( PCI-e 2.0 x8 bandwidth minimum). Since these features cost more your sacrificing performance now for possible performance down the line !!!!! 955 is really not worth considering since even the i3 2100 outperforms it in all but the most multi-threaded of benchmarks. An i5 2500 just wipes the floor with it. While it might not effect games massively now as xaser says it will give a bit more longevity to the system for not much extra cost. http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=289 http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/88?vs=288 downgrade the PSU to 500-600W and add a single decent GPU with a basic but capable mobo and your laughing. When games start to struggle in a year or 2 or maybe longer depending which res you stick to. pop in your new GPU and off you go again
When i think of going the intel route, i think this would be how i would do it, Starting off with a average i3 CPU to keep the costs down (Assuming this would be fine for gaming atm?) and then maybe in 2/3 months i'd sell it and get the i5 2500k if it goes down in price a little with the release of BD and IvyBridge, once i've got off work i'll have a go at putting together an i3 system to check the pricing
Sorry for Douple Post but: Hows that setup? Basically the same as the X4 but different Mobo and obviousli the i3
Personally I wouldn't bother with any SB under the 2500k. Whilst I know it is more expensive (£70 or so) it is certainly worth it. The rest of the spec looks ok, although recent offers have seen the HD6870 for under £130. Assuming you don't need a case, OS or DVD drive I would build something like: (All prices are estimates) CPU - Core i5 2500k - £150 - 160 MB - MSI P67 G53 - £110 RAM - 4GB DDR3 PC12800 - £35 GPU - HD6870 - £135* HD - Spinpoint F1 1TB - £40 PSU - BeQuiet L7 530w - £40 CPU cooler - Gelid Tranquillo - £25 Total - £545 HD6870's have been seen for under £130 very recently so there should be some offers still out there. HD6850's were also available under £120 so again it is best to check what offers are out there. A GTX460 1GB @ £120 or less would also be a great GPU for this system. If you want to save a bit of money you could drop the MB to a lower model (saving £20 or so), drop the CPU cooler completely for now (saving £25) and reduce the HD to a 500GB model (saving £5-10). This could bring the cost down to around the £500 level as long as you search for bargins.
not bad but id drop the seagate for something faster and more reliable like a WD 1TB black or the samsung 1TB F3 dont need the aftermarket cooler with that i3 as you cant overclock and SB stays pretty cool even with the stock cooler. That would free up more money for the GPU which could be upgraded to a 560Ti which is a fair bit faster http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/291?vs=330 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-...gpu-900mhz-shader-1800mhz-384-cores-dvi-mhdmi
I used ebuyer almost exclusively until two years ago when I discovered other places like Scan, Aria, PremierOne, dabs, etc. These days I choose whichever is cheapest, so long as they are reputable. It's a lot of work to find the cheapest price for each component, but worth it in the long run if you don't want to be ripped off (which does happen, believe me).
I tend to start with Ebuyer and then compare prices on Scan & Aria (especially the Super Specials on Aria). I have bought and RMA's with all 3 and had no problems whatsoever. I went with the i5 2500k + Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 B3 after soley using AMDs for my builds purely because Sandybridge was out and no sign of Bulldozer (back in Feb/Mar). Got both CPU & MB on Super Special from Aria saving approx £50!
Based on the prices you've quoted, there's very little to choose between Aria and Scan, except that Scan offers its Scansure insurance and Aria doesn't. There have been quite a few threads on these forums about bent pins from the latest range of CPUs so I'd be inclined to take insurance on that, at the very least. Beyond that, you might as well toss a coin... if it weren't for Scan offering free next day delivery for forum users.
Placed an order with Aria last October for 400 pounds worth of components, order came without a hitch. However I ordered some really expensive thermal paste (8 pounds) and they sent me thermal pads made by the same company, which are NOT the same and preformed like crap. I emailed Aria twice and sent them a screenshot of the product, and they never responded. Though I did notice about a week after my complaint they had removed the thermal paste in question from their website, figures. So much for customer service. Also placed an order with Scan for 600 pounds worth of components during the same period, customer support was excellent, ordered something I decided I didn't need phoned them up cancelled that one item, refund arrived a few days later. The box carrying all the stuff i bought, must have weight 60-70 pounds. Nearly broke my shoulder carrying all that stuff up the stairs and through the narrow corridors to my room. PS. Scan was the reason for me joining bt, free delivery, yes please. PPS. Also currently undergoing RMA with Scan for some RAM, fingers crossed.
I've always prefered Scan's customer support, although I've never had to deal with Aria's, but I've only ordered from them once. I'd still order most of my parts from Scan though.
I've got a quick question before i order (I've gone for the i3 system i showed above, minus the cooler and plus a DVD Drive, thanks to whoever pointed out that i didnt have that :$) I've heard about RAM Voltage issues for i-Series CPU's, is 1.65v Safe or should i change to a different set? Need a quick answer so i can order quickly
You will probably be able to run that RAM at 1.5v anyway. But if you are worried about it, get this RAM instead: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-...00-(1600)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-9-9-24-15v.
Ended up buying: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-...600)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-9-9-24-xmp-150v Better or worse then the one that you posted? Im not too clued up about RAM tbh Also a little bit of criticism to scan was that i couldnt buy the items off of a card not in the Scan Account holders name (Mine) as i was using a family members card, so ended up having to change the name in account settings, also that you cant have seperate delivery/invoice address's. Anyone know what the actual "Next day delivery" cut off time is? As mine is coming on friday as apposed to tomorrow
The next day delivery cutoff is usually sometime in the afternoon as the payment is processed by a human before sending to the warehouse guys to pick. Usually if the payment is processed by 5pm, it can be sent the next day as teh warehouse works until 8pm. The Vengeance RAM is fine although I am not sure if it fits under the Gelid cooler - you may have to raise the fan a bit. If it is your first purchase @ Scan then it is not unusual for the cardholder name needing to be in the account name.
