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[Antiochus]

About 5-6 months ago, from anecdotal gathering its seems for the reference 7970 cards, almost 90+% of them can manually be clocked to 1000 mhz and beyond in terms of core frequency. Around 60-70% can actually go above 1075 mhz. But only about half or 40-50% are capable of meeting/passing the crucial 1125mhz threshold, where the 7970 only then emerges as a "true" next gen upgrade. An even lesser number, ~15-20%, are capable of meeting/passing 1200 mhz.

From the users more knowledgeable on such matters, do those statistics hold up?

 

[antitrop]

Are you hitting 65 degrees idle? I have a GTX 590 which are notorious for having terrible heat management and mine only gets that high when I'm in the middle of a game. It idles in the mid 30s. I feel like you may have pushed it too far.

 

[Alo81]

Are you hitting 65 degrees idle? I have a GTX 590 which are notorious for having terrible heat management and mine only gets that high when I'm in the middle of a game. It idles in the mid 30s. I feel like you may have pushed it too far.

No no it idles at about mid to high 30's. It was running hot because I had to run the benchmark so I could show the GPU clock fluctuating.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

 

[Enlil]

when I get my case back i think i am going to add another fan for air intake on the front. Does this make a difference?

I have two 120mm fan option on top, but i think i wont mount a air fan there. If the case has many air intake fan's does the heat escape easily through the top of the case if it does not have any exhaust fan there?

 

[haikira]

What are the best brands for GTX 680? Thinking most specifically about what keeps a keep a cool temperature.

Cheers in advance.

 

[Hazaro]

when I get my case back i think i am going to add another fan for air intake on the front. Does this make a difference?

I have two 120mm fan option on top, but i think i wont mount a air fan there. If the case has many air intake fan's does the heat escape easily through the top of the case if it does not have any exhaust fan there?

There's an article in the news of the OP about fan positioning.
Put on a side fan if you can.

What are the best brands for GTX 680? Thinking most specifically about what keeps a keep a cool temperature.

Cheers in advance.

ASUS, Gigabyte (3 fan), MSI

 

[big_z]

when I get my case back i think i am going to add another fan for air intake on the front. Does this make a difference?

I have two 120mm fan option on top, but i think i wont mount a air fan there. If the case has many air intake fan's does the heat escape easily through the top of the case if it does not have any exhaust fan there?

if theres more air being pushed in by fans than being moved out the air will find other ways to exit the case including the top.

intake fans dont make a huge difference. for the most part they lower hard drive temps a bit but thats about it. with your exhaust fans going if you can feel air being pulled through where the intake fan would go you dont really need one.

 

[kharma45]

Okay then, how about this Sapphire 7850 for $190?

1024 Stream Processors
2GB 256-bit GDDR5
PCI Express 3.0 x16

I went from a 5770 to a 7850 and was very pleased, those ones with custom coolers usually get great overclocks too!

Unlock the voltage and it absolutely flies.

 

[Cindres]

Getting closer to being able to order. Hopefully in two weeks

Intel Core i5 3570k, 3.4ghz
Coolermaster Hyper212
MSI Z77A-G43 Motherboard
Corsair Vengenace, Low profile. 8GB
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB HDD
MSI HD7850 2GB Twin Frozr
Bitfenix Shinobi Windowed Case
Corsair TX650, 650W Non-Modular PSU
Sony 24x Optical DVD Drive

Keeping as close to the £700 mark as I can get, currently adds up to £702 pre-postage.

So just final touches and queries, this build was in part thanks to GAFfer about a month ago after I posted my initial build.
1. Noise, I'm wanting a faairly quiet PC so how will this do for noise?
2. Was thinking about upping to a modular PSU but does that really matter when the cable will be hidden in the back of the case anyway?
3. How much breathing room does the 650W PSU Give me? Not for an extra GPU but for upgrading the GPU and adding more hard drives (or an SSD) in the future.
4. The Cooler comes with the thermal paste and everything, right?
5. Overclocking, I do plan to overclock the CPU, and the GPU a little also, just checking this is fine. I know the CPU and Memory are good for it I was just wondering about the Mobo more than anything.

 

[Leckan]

Can you SLI a GB GF 670 with a "Be Quiet Pure Power L8 CM 730W Modular"?

 

[abunai]

Getting closer to being able to order. Hopefully in two weeks

Intel Core i5 3570k, 3.4ghz
Coolermaster Hyper212
MSI Z77A-G43 Motherboard
Corsair Vengenace, Low profile. 8GB
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB HDD
MSI HD7850 2GB Twin Frozr
Bitfenix Shinobi Windowed Case
Corsair TX650, 650W Non-Modular PSU
Sony 24x Optical DVD Drive

Keeping as close to the £700 mark as I can get, currently adds up to £702 pre-postage.

So just final touches and queries, this build was in part thanks to GAFfer about a month ago after I posted my initial build.
1. Noise, I'm wanting a faairly quiet PC so how will this do for noise?
2. Was thinking about upping to a modular PSU but does that really matter when the cable will be hidden in the back of the case anyway?
3. How much breathing room does the 650W PSU Give me? Not for an extra GPU but for upgrading the GPU and adding more hard drives (or an SSD) in the future.
4. The Cooler comes with the thermal paste and everything, right?
5. Overclocking, I do plan to overclock the CPU, and the GPU a little also, just checking this is fine. I know the CPU and Memory are good for it I was just wondering about the Mobo more than anything.

1. It'll be really quiet. Twin Frozr coolers are basically silent. CPU/case won't make a ton of noise either.
2. I wouldn't bother with modular. Your case that you've picked is good for cable management so a non-modular would be fine with some cable ties.
3. 650W is plenty for pretty much any single card set-up, so you should be good. Same for hard drives.
4. Yup, IIRC it comes with a little syringe of paste to apply.
5. You'll be good, but I've had a little experience with the MSI Z77A-G43 and it isn't a /superb/ board when it comes to performance or overclocking. You should be able to reach 4.1~ GHz for sure though, if you want to squeeze up to 4.5 GHz (the max before 3570k hits a voltage/thermal wall, really) you might want to look at slightly beefier boards, like the ASUS P8Z77-V LX or something. Whether that's worth the cost is up to you (if you're tight on a budget, I'd say don't bother). You may even get lucky and get a good chip/board that goes beyond what I've seen it do anyway. I wouldn't count on it though, as it generally under performs other boards and is generally rather "budget" in terms of features too. Read a bit about it here.

 

[Xdrive05]

Friendly neighborhood PC-Gaf,

Looking for some pointers on drive management. Finally bought an ssd (Samsung 830 128gb) for a long overdue fresh Win7 install. Hoping to keep 80-90gb free for games after core programs, so I'll use the info the OP for that (thanks OP!).

My question is about safely backing up the ssd regularly. My other drive is a 1TB WD C.B. Should I partition that 1TB into, say, 150gb and 850gb so that I can use the smaller partition to keep a backup of my ssd image? Is that a good approach? And if so, what software will I need? Does Win7 support that already?

Thanks much in advance.

 

[kharma45]

Getting closer to being able to order. Hopefully in two weeks

Intel Core i5 3570k, 3.4ghz
Coolermaster Hyper212
MSI Z77A-G43 Motherboard
Corsair Vengenace, Low profile. 8GB
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB HDD
MSI HD7850 2GB Twin Frozr
Bitfenix Shinobi Windowed Case
Corsair TX650, 650W Non-Modular PSU
Sony 24x Optical DVD Drive

Keeping as close to the £700 mark as I can get, currently adds up to £702 pre-postage.

So just final touches and queries, this build was in part thanks to GAFfer about a month ago after I posted my initial build.
1. Noise, I'm wanting a faairly quiet PC so how will this do for noise?
2. Was thinking about upping to a modular PSU but does that really matter when the cable will be hidden in the back of the case anyway?
3. How much breathing room does the 650W PSU Give me? Not for an extra GPU but for upgrading the GPU and adding more hard drives (or an SSD) in the future.
4. The Cooler comes with the thermal paste and everything, right?
5. Overclocking, I do plan to overclock the CPU, and the GPU a little also, just checking this is fine. I know the CPU and Memory are good for it I was just wondering about the Mobo more than anything.

If you want to take it below £700 pre-postage the 3570K is cheaper with Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007RUZKK6/

 

[Cindres]

1. It'll be really quiet. Twin Frozr coolers are basically silent. CPU/case won't make a ton of noise either.
2. I wouldn't bother with modular. Your case that you've picked is good for cable management so a non-modular would be fine with some cable ties.
3. 650W is plenty for pretty much any single card set-up, so you should be good. Same for hard drives.
4. Yup, IIRC it comes with a little syringe of paste to apply.
5. You'll be good, but I've had a little experience with the MSI Z77A-G43 and it isn't a /superb/ board when it comes to performance or overclocking. You should be able to reach 4.1~ GHz for sure though, if you want to squeeze up to 4.5 GHz (the max before 3570k hits a voltage/thermal wall, really) you might want to look at slightly beefier boards, like the ASUS P8Z77-V LX or something. Whether that's worth the cost is up to you (if you're tight on a budget, I'd say don't bother). You may even get lucky and get a good chip/board that goes beyond what I've seen it do anyway. I wouldn't count on it though, as it generally under performs other boards and is generally rather "budget" in terms of features too. Read a bit about it here.

How would this one fare?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus...ta-raid-pcie-30-(x16)-dvi-d-hdmi-d-sub-(vga)-

I mean I wasn't really planning on taking it higher than 4.1 but I guess a better mobo provides a little breathing room.

EDIT: In the last hour something on my list has dropped by like £12, the original build sits at £690 and with the new motherboard it sits at £703, just an extra quid on what I had before. Can't tell what's dropped in price though, think it -may- be the HDD.
Either way, sitting on this now:
http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/fkc2

If you want to take it below £700 pre-postage the 3570K is cheaper with Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007RUZKK6/

Oo thanks. I'll consider it if I have to bring the price down a little more.

 

[abunai]

How would this one fare?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus...ta-raid-pcie-30-(x16)-dvi-d-hdmi-d-sub-(vga)-

I mean I wasn't really planning on taking it higher than 4.1 but I guess a better mobo provides a little breathing room.

EDIT: In the last hour something on my list has dropped by like £12, the original build sits at £690 and with the new motherboard it sits at £703, just an extra quid on what I had before. Can't tell what's dropped in price though, think it -may- be the HDD.
Either way, sitting on this now:
http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/fkc2

I have built a PC for a friend with the ASUS P8Z77-V LX in it, and it reaches 4.6GHz easily. It's a great board for 80£, yeah.

Friendly neighborhood PC-Gaf,

Looking for some pointers on drive management. Finally bought an ssd (Samsung 830 128gb) for a long overdue fresh Win7 install. Hoping to keep 80-90gb free for games after core programs, so I'll use the info the OP for that (thanks OP!).

My question is about safely backing up the ssd regularly. My other drive is a 1TB WD C.B. Should I partition that 1TB into, say, 150gb and 850gb so that I can use the smaller partition to keep a backup of my ssd image? Is that a good approach? And if so, what software will I need? Does Win7 support that already?

Thanks much in advance.

This is a nice guide for SSD's.

Um, with a reliable SSD (samsung is reliable, so good choice) it shouldn't really fail or crash or anything. The way I have my windows set up is have programs installed to C:\, but move all the windows 7 libraries off to my 2TB storage drive, it's detailed somewhere in that SSD guide above. That way I don't lose any data if I do need to reformat, because all my save directories for the programs are usually on another HDD. It's a nice "modular" approach so there's nothing hinging on the operating system being perfect. If you want to be safe, however, a small partition would suffice for backups.

You wouldn't need any special software, you can go to Control Panel > System and security > Backup, then press Create system image on the left and follow instructions. It'll ask where you want to save it etc.

 

[Cindres]

I have built a PC for a friend with the ASUS P8Z77-V LX in it, and it reaches 4.6GHz easily. It's a great board for 80£, yeah.

Sorted then, thanks for the answers!

 

[abunai]

Sorted then, thanks for the answers!

No worries! If you end up needing a hand putting it together PM me and we can skype or something. I'm the UK too so times will be cool.

 

[thabiz]

Picked up one of these bad boys yesterday. I had a Xai previous, so the feel isnt that much different. A little heavier and slightly longer.

Best mouse i've ever owned. Super smooth, the Exactlift is a stroke of genius. LED's are all fully customizable. Havent had much time with it, but so far i'm extremely happy.

Really recommended to anyone interested in a new mouse.

PS. pick up a 9hd or 4hd pad to go with. glides like buttah!

 

[Matll]

Hey guys. I just bought parts for a new PC but I started wondering if the power supply is actually enough.

Intel Core i5-3570K, 4 x 3.40GHz, 77W
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 OC 2GB DDR5 2xDVI HDMI DisplayPort PCIe
Super Flower Golden Green Pro 500W

So is the 500W power supply enough or should I cancel the order and get more power?

 

[kharma45]

Hey guys. I just bought parts for a new PC but I started wondering if the power supply is actually enough.

Intel Core i5-3570K, 4 x 3.40GHz, 77W
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 OC 2GB DDR5 2xDVI HDMI DisplayPort PCIe
Super Flower Golden Green Pro 500W

So is the 500W power supply enough or should I cancel the order and get more power?

500w is enough yeah.

Can't say it's a PSU brand I've ever heard of though.

 

[Matll]

500w is enough yeah.

Can't say it's a PSU brand I've ever heard of though.

Ok, thanks. Don't worry it's a high quality power supply.

 

[Xdrive05]

This is a nice guide for SSD's.

Um, with a reliable SSD (samsung is reliable, so good choice) it shouldn't really fail or crash or anything. The way I have my windows set up is have programs installed to C:, but move all the windows 7 libraries off to my 2TB storage drive, it's detailed somewhere in that SSD guide above. That way I don't lose any data if I do need to reformat, because all my save directories for the programs are usually on another HDD. It's a nice "modular" approach so there's nothing hinging on the operating system being perfect. If you want to be safe, however, a small partition would suffice for backups.

You wouldn't need any special software, you can go to Control Panel > System and security > Backup, then press Create system image on the left and follow instructions. It'll ask where you want to save it etc.

Big kudos.. thanks man.

 

[kharma45]

Ok, thanks. Don't worry it's a high quality power supply.

Grand job then.

Although I probably wouldn't do it in theory you could have two 670s on your PSU according to Guru3D

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-670-2-and-3way-sli-review/4

 

[Tattooth]

Looking to upgrade my graphics card from a GTX 460 1GB. I was originally going to get a GTX 660ti, but equivalent AMD cards have now dropped in price.
The 7950 3GB is now £10 cheaper than the 660ti. I'm guessing that the AMD card is better performance wise, but the only thing that makes me hesitant are the AMD drivers, I have heard nothing but horror stories about them.

The 660ti comes with Borderlands 2 which lowers the price a little, but if the performance is worth me buying the game separate, I will get the AMD card.

 

[Neckbeard]

Sorry for the re-post, but I just want to confirm this configuration will work before I go through with a trade.

Wanting to cross-fire the following cards:

XFX HD6950 1GB
-&-
Powercolor HD6950 2GB

I don't have the exact clocks handy, but as someone mentioned previously the clocks will sync to the lowest card's specs. The XFX is certainly lower. I assume this is true with the RAM as well? Will I just be throttling the Powercolor too much to justify the purchase?

Secondly, is this a wise decision, or should I hold off for a single 7950 or 660Ti?

Long-term, I'm looking to get a three-monitor eye-finity setup running. Is 1GB enough RAM to run an eye-finity setup?

Any suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

Woot! My components have arrived and my housemate has assembled the HSF/CPU combo.
Just taking my time putting the rest together and hopefully, fingers crossed, i'll be up and running on the new rig soon.

The Fractal Design Arctic White case is gorgeous after years and years of black & beige. Now i just need to find a nice welsh name for the new gal.

Thanks all for the hints, tips, write-ups and direct answers.

 

[Alo81]

Hey posted this in the Screenshots thread but was directed here. Hoping to get some help.

I'm trying to overclock my GPU. It's a GTX 570. Whenever I up the voltage, the GPU clock starts to fluctuate during the benchmark. Okay whatever. Then I keep the stock voltage and start upping the memory clock a bit until it seems reliable. Then I bump up the GPU clock a bit and everything seems okay. Then when I bump any of the three up, the GPU clock starts fluctuating again during the benchmark, starting at around 825, then cutting in half, then back up, back down, and at some points down to 1/4th of the set GPU clock.

Does that mean I'm pushing it too hard, or is something just messing up with it? I'm attaching a picture of Precision X so you can see what I mean. Look in the lower left and you can see the graph keeps flopping up down up down up.

Bumping this to the new page to hopefully get some help.

 

[mkenyon]

About 5-6 months ago, from anecdotal gathering its seems for the reference 7970 cards, almost 90+% of them can manually be clocked to 1000 mhz and beyond in terms of core frequency. Around 60-70% can actually go above 1075 mhz. But only about half or 40-50% are capable of meeting/passing the crucial 1125mhz threshold, where the 7970 only then emerges as a "true" next gen upgrade. An even lesser number, ~15-20%, are capable of meeting/passing 1200 mhz.

From the users more knowledgeable on such matters, do those statistics hold up?

This seems really off. I think almost all of the cards can hit 1125 with stock volts, but increased power.

if theres more air being pushed in by fans than being moved out the air will find other ways to exit the case including the top.

intake fans dont make a huge difference. for the most part they lower hard drive temps a bit but thats about it. with your exhaust fans going if you can feel air being pulled through where the intake fan would go you dont really need one.

Actually, positive pressure (more intake than exhaust) always has better temps than negative pressure. There are a number of other benefits as well.

Choosing where the intake is coming from can drastically alter things like GPU temps as having fresh air provided is important.

Getting closer to being able to order. Hopefully in two weeks

Keeping as close to the £700 mark as I can get, currently adds up to £702 pre-postage.

So just final touches and queries, this build was in part thanks to GAFfer about a month ago after I posted my initial build.
1. Noise, I'm wanting a faairly quiet PC so how will this do for noise?
2. Was thinking about upping to a modular PSU but does that really matter when the cable will be hidden in the back of the case anyway?
3. How much breathing room does the 650W PSU Give me? Not for an extra GPU but for upgrading the GPU and adding more hard drives (or an SSD) in the future.
4. The Cooler comes with the thermal paste and everything, right?
5. Overclocking, I do plan to overclock the CPU, and the GPU a little also, just checking this is fine. I know the CPU and Memory are good for it I was just wondering about the Mobo more than anything.

Abunai has those covered, but I wanted to add that you'll want to add an extra fan or two to the shinobi to get a bit better airflow. IIRC it only comes with a single fan. I'd go for three, two intake in the front/bottom, one exhaust out of the top. CM212 pointing towards the rear top as well. Going with the Spectre fans for the additional one or two is a good bet as they operate silently.

Picked up one of these bad boys yesterday. I had a Xai previous, so the feel isnt that much different. A little heavier and slightly longer.

Best mouse i've ever owned. Super smooth, the Exactlift is a stroke of genius. LED's are all fully customizable. Havent had much time with it, but so far i'm extremely happy.

Really recommended to anyone interested in a new mouse.

PS. pick up a 9hd or 4hd pad to go with. glides like buttah!

This man knows what's up. I understand that mouse choice has a lot of subjectivity, but the Sensei is the mouse that is objectively better than anything out there. You can also get the RAW variant that is lighter and a bit leas expensive.

Long-term, I'm looking to get a three-monitor eye-finity setup running. Is 1GB enough RAM to run an eye-finity setup?

Any suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Nope. For eyefinity you would want 3GB or 4GB cards. But, yes, they will work together.

There are already a handful of games that use more than 1GB at 1080p. You'll be getting all sorts of Judders and slowdowns at eyefinity resolutions.

 

[thabiz]

I understand that mouse choice has a lot of subjectivity, but the Sensei is the mouse that is objectively better than anything out there. You can also get the RAW variant that is lighter and a bit leas expensive.

For me, it is the perfect mouse. This will go down as one of the legendary mice. Loved the Xai, but this tops it in every way possible. Just looking at it makes me smile.

It has a bloody Pentium in it!

 

[vg260]

Is there any discernible difference between 1600 Cas9 ram and 1333 Cas7?

Running the latter and wondering if it's worth switching.

 

[Neckbeard]

Nope. For eyefinity you would want 3GB or 4GB cards. But, yes, they will work together.

There are already a handful of games that use more than 1GB at 1080p. You'll be getting all sorts of Judders and slowdowns at eyefinity resolutions.

Damn, I was afraid of that response. Thanks for your honesty though.

 

[ACE 1991]

So I've got a problem, PC-GAF. I received a beatiful new IPS monitor from newegg yesterday, and I plugged it in via DVI and everything worked perfectly. I went to turn on my PC this afternoon (note that it worked prior to powering off my desktop) and the monitor displays "no signal" when set to DVI. I plugged in the new monitor using an hdmi cable, and still no signal. I lastly tried plugging my desktop into my 32 inch HDTV over hdmi which, just like my new monitor, displayed "no signal". I can hear all the startup sounds and the desktop login noise, so the PC itself is definitely working. Why is it not recognizing ANY displays? Thanks guys!

Edit: useD air duster to clean the PC and disconnected and reconnected the PCIe plugs connected to the GPU, and now it works. Weird.

 

[UraMallas]

I am looking for a new laptop/ultrabook in the price range of $800-$1200. I like ultrabooks but it doesn't seem like they have much HDD space. I am thinking about waiting until Windows 8 releases because I thought there might be new ultrabooks/laptops that come out around the same time. Should I wait for the new ultrabooks/laptops and Windows 8 or will there even be any notable new laptops/ultrabooks when W8 comes out?

 

[Pandaman]

Picked up one of these bad boys yesterday. I had a Xai previous, so the feel isnt that much different. A little heavier and slightly longer.

Best mouse i've ever owned. Super smooth, the Exactlift is a stroke of genius. LED's are all fully customizable. Havent had much time with it, but so far i'm extremely happy.

Really recommended to anyone interested in a new mouse.

PS. pick up a 9hd or 4hd pad to go with. glides like buttah!

such a great mouse.

threw me off initially because of how light it is and not having weights; but i've come to love it.

 

[ss_lemonade]

Is there any discernible difference between 1600 Cas9 ram and 1333 Cas7?

Running the latter and wondering if it's worth switching.

I'm not someone who's really knowledgeable when it comes to RAM but I think you'll only see a difference when running benchmarks. In real world usage, I don't think so

 

[cametall]

So with the price drops coming is the HD 7950 now a better buy than the 660 ti? I game at 1080p.

Is there a preferred brand/model when it comes to the 7950?

Also, does the 3GB Galaxy 660 ti provide a big advantage over the 2GB variations or does this extra memory only come into play at higher than 1080p resolutions?

I see MSI, Gigabyte and Asus being recommended but is Galaxy considered unreliable?

 

[dynamitejim]

Ugh. The price drop on the 78XX AMD series is really tempting me to upgrade my 5770. This Gigabyte OC'ed 7870 is $240 after rebate right now. Looking around online I've seen a lot of people having problems with 7870s crashing to black screens though. Anyone have experience with this?

 

[RibbedHero]

So with the price drops coming is the HD 7950 now a better buy than the 660 ti? I game at 1080p.

Is there a preferred brand/model when it comes to the 7950?

Also, does the 3GB Galaxy 660 ti provide a big advantage over the 2GB variations or does this extra memory only come into play at higher than 1080p resolutions?

I see MSI, Gigabyte and Asus being recommended but is Galaxy considered unreliable?

No point getting 3GB. It would be useful on a card that had the memory width and the power to drive higher resolutions, but 660Ti doesn't really have either. Stick with 2GB and save yourself the money.

 

[cametall]

No point getting 3GB. It would be useful on a card that had the memory width and the power to drive higher resolutions, but 660Ti doesn't really have either. Stick with 2GB and save yourself the money.

660Ti over HD 7950? I keep reading the AMD drivers are very hit or miss.

I would also consider OCing the 660's memory clock, since the memory width is its Achilles Heel.

 

[RibbedHero]

660Ti over HD 7950? I keep reading the AMD drivers are very hit or miss.

I would also consider OCing the 660's memory clock, since the memory width is its Achilles Heel.

OCing the memory would make a small difference, but the width is still going to prove a bottleneck at higher resolutions.

AMD drivers being hit or miss is an outdated sentiment.

AMD have been close to, if not on par with, Nvidia on the driver front for a good few years now. Some people, especially those not very familiar with computers or just hear bits and bobs from others, perpetuate the belief that AMD drivers are crap, but in reality drivers should not be a factor when purchasing (non CF/SLI) graphics cards.

 

[Aesius]

CPU: AMD Phenom X4 955
GPU: XFX GeForce 460
Mem: G. Skillz 8 GB

I game at 1080p so would I be doing well by just upgrading the GPU to a 660/670 or should I be looking at upgrading my CPU first?

I'm in a similar boat. I just upgraded to a 7850, but I'm stuck on AM3 with a Phenom II 550.

I wanted to go the i5 route, but damn--it's expensive (like almost $500 for a full cpu+mobo+ram swap). After much research, I settled on the Phenom II 965 (which is clocked just a bit higher than yours). Ordered a nice cooler with it and will try to OC it to 4 ghz.

We'll be slightly bottlenecked by the CPU, but on most games it's more of a difference of 80-90 FPS vs 60-70 FPS. In other words, it will be tough to even tell the difference.

 

[bodyboarder]

6950 and a 2500k sufficient for most 1080p games for a while?

 

[RibbedHero]

6950 and a 2500k sufficient for most 1080p games for a while?

Barring one or two demanding games (Crysis 3 par example) you should be fine.

 

[CatPee]

6950 and a 2500k sufficient for most 1080p games for a while?

Yep. For performance hogs, just turn down the settings a little and you're still in great shape.

 

[drexplora]

If anyone wants this drive, I'll sell it to you for $70 shipped.

http://tech.woot.com/offers/force-120gb-ssd-1

wassup with the drive?

 

[disappeared]

Ready to purchase my build on NCIX, but at the last minute the checkout feature says they've discontinued their GTX460. So I took the Radeon 6870 instead. However, the details of the 6870 says it requires at least a 550W PSU. The Antec Basiq 450W model I chose from the OP's chart doesn't seem to be enough. Am I going to run into trouble if I don't take a bigger PSU?

 

[cametall]

Is there a preferred brand for the HD 7950s? I've read Sapphire for overclocking.

A review on Hardware Canucks says the MSI and Gigabyte are neck and neck in performance and overclock potential.

 

[Syphon Filter]

Is the best type of monitor for pc gaming ips panels?

 

[Hypron]

Is the best type of monitor for pc gaming ips panels?

IPS screens are great for their large viewing angles and (generally) good colours. However, in terms of pure performance, you'd be better off getting a 120Hz TN screen. It won't look as good, but it'll be more reactive and closer to the experience you'd get with a CRT screen.