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[brain_stew]

My only question is if the included power supply would be able to run the 4890 or if you would need to upgrade that as well.

Very nice thread though.

Two 18a 12V rails and a reliable brand says it will be fine. My older PSU has two 15a rails and runs a 3.52ghz E5200, a heavily OCed GTX 260 (215), two HDDs, one BD drive, a sound card, a wireless card and three LED fans just fine.

 

[brain_stew]

Is there any potential for a decent price of relatively non-DRM'd Crysis? I already own Steam Warhead (which technically uses the lowest SecuROM level anyway, meh), so I don't want to get the pack. $30 isn't bad, so I could just go for the full Steam retail. I'd like to get some framerates on these and other games so I can see whether all the claims people put up are true or not. I still don't want people thinking they'll get ultimate 8xAA 60fps performance on some of the newer titles.

There was no online activation or limited installs in the original Crysis as far as I'm aware. EA's DRM tool only logs Warhead when I run it, not the original Crysis.

 

[Blizzard]

Thanks for my responses. Also if you or anyone else knows about the memory chip heatsink question from the last page, I'll bump it again for advice-whoring. :lol

 

[myDingling]

Nice. This thread will need an update the month before SC2 launches.

 

[Ikuu]

Overclockers.co.uk have a very dodgy reputation and shipping is very expensive if you're not an active forum member. Ebuyer offer everyone free delivery if you spend £50 or more and their service is excellent, hard to argue with really, though I'm a big fan of Novatech these days.

Really? I've ordered about 3 grands worth of kit from them and never had a single problem with them.

 

[kodt]

The 4850 does get very hot, so it is best to set the fan speed manually in ATI overdrive. 40-45% kept mine cool for almost all games in a small case. In a good case like the antec three hundred it would be better.

 

[TheExodu5]

Just wanted to suggest an NVidia alternative to the HD 4890, in case someone wanted to stick with NVidia, or wanted PhysX support:

PNY GTX 275
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133268
$199

Performance is pretty much on par with HD 4890. It varies from game to game.

 

[nextgeneration]

Awesome thread. Thank you so much!

 

[Rapping Granny]

Now do one with Canadian prices using NCIX.

Spoiler

please

 

[Blizzard]

The 4850 does get very hot, so it is best to set the fan speed manually in ATI overdrive. 40-45% kept mine cool for almost all games in a small case. In a good case like the antec three hundred it would be better.

In my Antec 300 case (I just used a can of air yesterday to clean things out) the 4850 idles at around 50-54C if you're not doing anything, maybe 60C if you're doing really CPU-intensive stuff. I think that might have been at 35% fan, which is about as high as I can get while still remaining quiet. If I run something like left 4 dead, I have to put it up to like 60% or more to keep it at or below 70C. If I forget to turn the fan to 50% or more, I've had it jump up to 97C-101C. DO NOT WANT.

This is with the crappy stock cooler, though, and I only have the top and top back case fans. I think I should at least get a fan to fit in the front bottom as well...I could do one on the side in front of the video card, but I'm guessing that the big copper heatsink people mentioned earlier wouldn't fit if I had a fan on the outside edge of the card.

The 4890 looks cool, but I've heard it's louder (and hotter?) than the 4850...

 

[Haunted]

You are not kosma.

Great job with the OP, although I've been soo satisfied with my last nvidia card(s) that I'd replace the ATI GPUs with their nvidia equivalents.

Or is there a consensus that the ATI cards provide more bang for the buck that I missed with the newest generation of cards?


edit: ah, exodus5's got me covered. Awesome.

Goddamn.

PC Gaming is so awesome.

well said.

 

[brain_stew]

Updated OP with benchmarks of chosen components and links to Adrian Werner's excellent PC games recommendation lists so you can put this hardware to good use.

 

[Broseybrose]

brain_stew is the fucking man for this thread and his advice on the boards... thread deserves a tag i think.

 

[TrAcEr_x90]

My very first rig I built myself lasted me a good 7 years with minor upgrades here and there. This time I just didnt want to go through all the trouble so I bought a new HP. Pretty good computer but after seeing this thread I think ill take on making this neogaf specific rig after saving up a bit. This thread is awesome.

 

[Daante]

Great thread brain_stew !
(Although i live in Sweden)

 

[brain_stew]

Thanks for all the kind words.

Any feedback is much appreciated, I'm not the ultimate authority on PC hardware or anything but I like to keep myself educated and pass on that knowledge, so please everyone else do the same. It'll be a big task to keep this post updated but with help from other posters it'll be a hell of a lot easier and the advice will be all the better for it.

If anyone is up to creating a "500 Euro" version or know of any excellent EU wide retailers that would be a good pick then hit me up. I'll try my best and/or add your config to the op. Really aslong as you stick along the same sort of lines as these two configs you should be fine, there's a lot of overlap, and the core components are very similar.

 

[Broseybrose]

Thanks for all the kind words.

Any feedback is much appreciated, I'm not the ultimate authority on PC hardware or anything but I like to keep myself educated and pass on that knowledge, so please everyone else do the same. It'll be a big task to keep this post updated but with help from other posters it'll be a hell of a lot easier and the advice will be all the better for it.

Yeah but youre ALWAYS on top of the current hardware situation and cost benefit analysis it should be a breeze.

I was actually surprised to see the Phenom 2 in there... had no idea they were that competent.

Im still on an Athlon X2 5000+ and an 8800GTX... i game at 1920 and like my supersampling :lol And I havent really seen a need to upgrade yet. But i know who to go to when its time!

 

[CTLance]

Nice setups.

One single point of advice with the ATi drivers though: Download the drivers only, not the CCC bundle, and then get Powerstrip or whatever to tweak app-specific driver settings. The Ati CCC is just vile.

Also, I love my 4850. And my 4850e. Heh. Still funny that my CPU and Graphics card nearly share the same name.

 

[Binabik15]

So who wants to do the conversion into mainland yurop prices? It´d earn you a virtual cookie.

 

[Cheeto]

This is not gonna be able to run crysis on max or high quality.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3553&p=5

That shows it can barely get 30fps, and that's running on an i7.

34.5 is not "barely 30fps". Crysis is a very GPU-dependant game, it will do just fine on that rig.

 

[ACH1LL3US]

Get this for your 4850. Best VGA cooler on the market and it's fanless. My 4850 now runs at 50C 100% load after installing this VGA heat sink.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186016

Can I use this on a 4890??? or an Nvidia gtx 295??

 

[toneroni]

great thread...i hopped off the PC gaming bandwagon after WC3 though...will need to get back on when SC2 comes!

 

[gillty]

According to the windows 7 FAQ you will need to do a clean install:



But that might change...

no win7 RC > win7 is just like winvista to any win 7 (i run 7230)...

you copy all the files on the disk on to a flashdrive.
then you go to the sources folder and open up cversion.ini with notepad
[HostBuild]
MinClient=6000
MinServer=7100.0

change the min client to something like 6000

and start the upgrade in windows at it will all be taken care of
note: you cant upgrade vista or windows rc 32bit to a version that is x64

 

[surazal]

Newegg has 10% off video cards, no clue when it'll expire.
Enter VGASALE10 at checkout.

source:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=1416559

 

[brain_stew]

34.5 is not "barely 30fps". Crysis is a very GPU-dependant game, it will do just fine on that rig.

Just added a 1680x1050 Warhead bechmark with high/gamer settings and it comes out just over 30fps with a 4850, so yeah, high is more than doable. Crysis doesn't use more than two threads efficiently anyway, so there's not a huge CPU advantage going on here , the 550 competes with the best of the best at single/dual core apps, just look at that Episode 2 benchmark. It even outperforms a i7 940!

Use a custom config and you'll be able to manage settings that look visually beyond high just fine.

You're laughing all the way to the bank if you manage to unlock one or more cores.

 

[Dizzle24]

Is there any soldering involved when building a PC from these parts? :lol
I have no experience soldering, so if I can't just plug shit in, then I will have to miss out on this great deal.

 

[gillty]

Is there any soldering involved when building a PC from these parts? :lol
I have no experience soldering, so if I can't just plug shit in, then I will have to miss out on this great deal.

soldering lol what.. this isn't xbox360 modding.
everything is plug and play

 

[TheExodu5]

Now do one with Canadian prices using NCIX.

Spoiler

please

I agree. Go go brain_stew!

The situation is pretty dire here in terms of pricing. You're up for a real challenge.

 

[BravoSuperStar]

Is there any soldering involved when building a PC from these parts? :lol
I have no experience soldering, so if I can't just plug shit in, then I will have to miss out on this great deal.

I've been building PC's for over 10 years and the only thing i've ever had to solder was some capacitor's that broke off a video card.

 

[Septimus]

Now do one with Canadian prices using NCIX.

Spoiler

please

Echoing this statement, would appreciate if you could do so, brain_stew.

 

[tehbear]

Is there any soldering involved when building a PC from these parts? :lol
I have no experience soldering, so if I can't just plug shit in, then I will have to miss out on this great deal.

Was there ever soldering?

 

[M3d10n]

The 4850 does get very hot, so it is best to set the fan speed manually in ATI overdrive. 40-45% kept mine cool for almost all games in a small case. In a good case like the antec three hundred it would be better.

This is why I got one of these babies:

Hits 55~65 ºC during load. I wouldn't trust a single-slot 4850.

 

[brain_stew]

Is there any soldering involved when building a PC from these parts? :lol
I have no experience soldering, so if I can't just plug shit in, then I will have to miss out on this great deal.

:lol :lol

No of course not!!

Its like building things with Lego, everything is colour coded, and labeled and only tend to fit in one place anyway. The most involved you'll have to get is using a screwdriver. Just take your time, take all precautions to avoid static damage (very rare but don't take the risk) and make sure you read up plenty of guides before tackling it. Its really quite enjoyable and rewarding. I made my first build just under 18 months ago fwiw.

 

[donkey show]

LOL, the first setup is nearly identical to my own aside from the fact I have a triple core instead. Good work man!

 

[brain_stew]

This is why I got one of these babies:

Hits 55~65 ºC during load. I wouldn't trust a single-slot 4850.

Its $110 on Newegg atm (proabbly $99 actually the10% code) and comes with a double lifetime warranty, and is a great buy imo. A little too steep to fit into my budget but worth the extra $20 or so if heat/noise and or warranties are a big concern to you. XFX are very highly regarded.

I agree. Go go brain_stew!

The situation is pretty dire here in terms of pricing. You're up for a real challenge.

$600 Canadian sound the right sort of price? I think I'd have to make too many compromises to hit $500. Might give it a go.

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

Is there any soldering involved when building a PC from these parts? :lol
I have no experience soldering, so if I can't just plug shit in, then I will have to miss out on this great deal.

O_O


its like legos dude

 

[KHarvey16]

Was there ever soldering?

If you built a kit computer in the 80's, maybe. That was for super nerds though.

 

[brain_stew]

O_O


its like legos dude

Especially if you get a Gigabyte motherbaord. They have all the colours of the rainbow on them things. :lol :lol

 

[Blizzard]

Its $110 on Newegg atm (proabbly $99 actually the10% code) and comes with a double lifetime warranty, and is a great buy imo. A little too steep to fit into my budget but worth the extra $20 or so if heat/noise and or warranties are a big concern to you. XFX are very highly regarded.




$600 Canadian sound the right sort of price? I think I'd have to make too many compromises to hit $500. Might give it a go.

Did you happen to see my question about whether extra little square heatsinks are needed for that 4850 cooler?

Because if I'm going to spend $40-50 for a cooler and heatsinks and/or a fan, I could just get that card for $100 instead. :lol

 

[Septimus]

$600 Canadian sound the right sort of price? I think I'd have to make too many compromises to hit $500. Might give it a go.

Yeah, 600 is fine. Let's see what you can do! NCIX has online price matching as well.

 

[fatigues_gasolini]

For those leary about putting together your own computer, dont be. Its easy nowadays, with instructions and guides included with just about everything. The hardest thing I had to deal with was installing the I/O shield in my case.

 

[Blizzard]

For those leary about putting together your own computer, dont be. Its easy nowadays, with instructions and guides included with just about everything. The hardest thing I had to deal with was installing the I/O shield in my case.

I/O shield to reduce headphone hum or something? Maybe THAT'S what I'm missing. O_O

 

[SnakeswithLasers]

Ugh. I wish I wasn't saving for a motorcycle. You bastards and your awesome threads. =(

 

[brain_stew]

Did you happen to see my question about whether extra little square heatsinks are needed for that 4850 cooler?

Because if I'm going to spend $40-50 for a cooler and heatsinks and/or a fan, I could just get that card for $100 instead. :lol

It should come with them, if there's not enough, use these:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15361

Bought a pack myself in the past, work great and handy to have, especially given the price.

Yeah, 600 is fine. Let's see what you can do! NCIX has online price matching as well.

I'm finding the site a clusterfuck to navigate, $650 might be the sweet spot, I'm thinking.

 

[KHarvey16]

I/O shield to reduce headphone hum or something? Maybe THAT'S what I'm missing. O_O

I think he's talking about the thin plate that goes in the case. Has all the holes and whatnot customized to work with the specific motherboard you have.

 

[M3d10n]

Its $110 on Newegg atm (proabbly $99 actually the10% code) and comes with a double lifetime warranty, and is a great buy imo. A little too steep to fit into my budget but worth the extra $20 or so if heat/noise and or warranties are a big concern to you. XFX are very highly regarded.

I actually got it to replace a dead Powercolor 4850, which I couldn't get a RMA of and just gave up (and would easily hit 85+ ºC during load and ran at 70ºC on idle). The build quality is pretty impressive, and its uses the same layout as the NVidia XFX cards: side to side you can barely distinguish them outside the color markings. I was also surprised on how silent it is.

 

[flintstryker]

Especially if you get a Gigabyte motherbaord. They have all the colours of the rainbow on them things. :lol :lol

I can vouch for this.

 

[professor_t]

Important question:

What are my options for connecting to my 67" tv? Am I looking at VGA only? Is HDMI a possibility? I'm completely out of the loop.

 

[brain_stew]

I think he's talking about the thin plate that goes in the case. Has all the holes and whatnot customized to work with the specific motherboard you have.

When I built my first rig I had that thing in place right at the start, little did I know the damn thing dropped out as I was screwing and snapping everything into place. Had to take the whole damn thing apart and put it back again!! :lol :lol

 

[brain_stew]

I actually got it to replace a dead Powercolor 4850, which I couldn't get a RMA of and just gave up (and would easily hit 85+ ºC during load and ran at 70ºC on idle). The build quality is pretty impressive, and its uses the same layout as the NVidia XFX cards: side to side you can barely distinguish them outside the color markings. I was also surprised on how silent it is.

XFX have always made some great cards, nabbing them from Nvidia was a massive win for ATI, they've already pumped out some very interesting cards in a short space of time.

Important question:

What are my options for connecting to my 67" tv? Am I looking at VGA only? Is HDMI a possibility? I'm completely out of the loop.

HDMI is the way to go. 1:1 mapped 1080p bliss.

The cards should come with a DVI-HDMI adapter, if they don't the cable can be had for like $5 anyway.