Good build or bad build?

[christianteen]

I am thinking of building a PC but I really don't know much about it.

I've made a draft of two different PC's and I'd like some opinions on them.

First the I5 build:

Processor: "Intel Quad Core i5-2400 Processor (6M Cache, 3.10 GHz - Max Turbo Frequency: 3.4Ghz)"

RAM / Memory: Latest 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR III 1333 MHz Premium System Memory

Operating System: Genuine Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit

Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V-LX Intel Z68, 4xDDR3, PCIe2x16, SATA3, Audio, Video, LAN, USB 3.0, RAID & Support Upto 16GB of RAM Requires Dedicated VGA Card

Hard Drive: 1000GB (1TB) Serial ATA Hard Disk Drive

Graphics Card: Dual SLI nVidia 1GB GTX 550 1GB - VGA/DVI/HDMI - 4 x Monitor Support - AWESOME Gaming Machine

Optical Drive: Dual Layer DVD Rewriter - Supports Dual Layer (8.5GB) - Bundled With Nero Essential Burning Software

Memory Card Reader: "JW 3.5"" Internal Multi Card Reader"

Case/Chassis: \"Antec 902 Ultimate Gaming Tower Case - 1 x 200MM Fan - 3 x 120MM Case Fan, all Speed Adjustable - \"

Power Supply: WideTech 750W 80+ Gaming PSU -Double +12V Rail Design -140mm FAN

Monitor/Screen: "21.5\"" LCD Widescreen Monitor - 1920 x 1080- VGA/DVI - 3 Yrs Manufacturer Warranty"

Gaming Mouse : Razer Lachesis 4000 DPI Precision Mouse with 9 independently programmable Hyperesponse buttons

Gaming Keyboard: Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard - LED Backlit - Prefect for Playing Games in the Dark

Office Applications: \"NEW - Microsoft Office Home & Student (PKC) - Word, Excel, Powerpoint & OneNote (License 1 User)\"

Antivirus & Internet Protection: Symantec Norton Internet Security 2012 (12 Months Subscriptions)

Wireless Network Card: Wireless G Internal Card - 54MBPS

And now the I7 build:


Processor: "Intel Quad Core i7-2600 Processor (8M Cache, 3.40 GHz - Max Turbo Frequency: 3.8Ghz)"

RAM / Memory: Latest 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR III 1333 MHz Premium System Memory

Operating System: Genuine Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit

Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V-LX Intel Z68, 4xDDR3, PCIe2x16, SATA3, Audio, Video, LAN, USB 3.0, RAID & Support Upto 16GB of RAM Requires Dedicated VGA Card

Hard Drive: 2000GB (2TB) Serial ATA Hard Disk Drive

Graphics Card: Dual Crossfire 1GB ATI Radeon 6870 - GDDR5 - Dual Graphics Card for the Hardcore Gamer

Optical Drive: Dual Layer DVD Rewriter - Supports Dual Layer (8.5GB) - Bundled With Nero Essential Burning Software

Memory Card Reader: "JW 3.5"" Internal Multi Card Reader"

Case/Chassis: \"Antec 902 Ultimate Gaming Tower Case - 1 x 200MM Fan - 3 x 120MM Case Fan, all Speed Adjustable - \"

Power Supply: WideTech 750W 80+ Gaming PSU -Double +12V Rail Design -140mm FAN

Monitor/Screen: "21.5\"" LCD Widescreen Monitor - 1920 x 1080- VGA/DVI - 3 Yrs Manufacturer Warranty"

Gaming Mouse : Razer Lachesis 4000 DPI Precision Mouse with 9 independently programmable Hyperesponse buttons

Gaming Keyboard: Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard - LED Backlit - Prefect for Playing Games in the Dark

Office Applications: \"NEW - Microsoft Office Home & Student (PKC) - Word, Excel, Powerpoint & OneNote (License 1 User)\"

Antivirus & Internet Protection: Symantec Norton Internet Security 2012 (12 Months Subscriptions)

TV Tuner Card: No TV Tuner Required

Wireless Network Card: Wireless G Internal Card - 54MBPS

Of course the I7 system's more powerful but I'm also budget concious as well. The I5 is $260 less than the I7.

I really don't want to be bothered with over-clocking or things like that. I just want a good computer that will run games at very high graphic settings and do practical things like word processing as well.

What do you all think?

[BFG9001]

Fuck, why haven't they banned different colored text on this site yet?

[Commander Thor]

Fuck, why haven't they banned different colored text on this site yet?

Fuck, why haven't we banned spam on this site yet?
Oh, that's right, we have.
If you don't have anything useful to say, please don't say it at all.



@ the OP;

Both machines look pretty solid actually.

I'd personally go for your top build, a Core i7 is absolute overkill for gaming. The Core i5 will be more than enough. Even more so, when you consider that when you go the Nvidia route, all physics (Physx) work is off-loaded from the CPU, to the GPU (In games that support it).
The only issue I see with it, are the GTX 550s. The Radeon 6870s will actually outperform the GTX 550s. So, if you can afford it (And I don't know the price difference in Aus.), I'd swap out the 550s, for GTX 560 Ti's (Which will out-perform the 6870s).

Also, make sure your hard drive you're picking is fast enough. Generally any drive labeled "Green" won't be that fast (They're really useful for general storage though!). Causing a longer boot time, and longer game-load times. I'd look for drives around the 10,000 RPM mark. And at the absolute minimum 7,200 RPM. Also, higher cache = faster read/write times. (On average)

[Thunduhbuhlt]

I am thinking of building a PC but I really don't know much about it.

I've made a draft of two different PC's and I'd like some opinions on them.

First the I5 build:

Processor: "Intel Quad Core i5-2400 Processor (6M Cache, 3.10 GHz - Max Turbo Frequency: 3.4Ghz)"

RAM / Memory: Latest 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR III 1333 MHz Premium System Memory

Operating System: Genuine Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit

Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V-LX Intel Z68, 4xDDR3, PCIe2x16, SATA3, Audio, Video, LAN, USB 3.0, RAID & Support Upto 16GB of RAM Requires Dedicated VGA Card

Hard Drive: 1000GB (1TB) Serial ATA Hard Disk Drive

Graphics Card: Dual SLI nVidia 1GB GTX 550 1GB - VGA/DVI/HDMI - 4 x Monitor Support - AWESOME Gaming Machine

Optical Drive: Dual Layer DVD Rewriter - Supports Dual Layer (8.5GB) - Bundled With Nero Essential Burning Software

Memory Card Reader: "JW 3.5"" Internal Multi Card Reader"

Case/Chassis: \"Antec 902 Ultimate Gaming Tower Case - 1 x 200MM Fan - 3 x 120MM Case Fan, all Speed Adjustable - \"

Power Supply: WideTech 750W 80+ Gaming PSU -Double +12V Rail Design -140mm FAN

Monitor/Screen: "21.5\"" LCD Widescreen Monitor - 1920 x 1080- VGA/DVI - 3 Yrs Manufacturer Warranty"

Gaming Mouse : Razer Lachesis 4000 DPI Precision Mouse with 9 independently programmable Hyperesponse buttons

Gaming Keyboard: Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard - LED Backlit - Prefect for Playing Games in the Dark

Office Applications: \"NEW - Microsoft Office Home & Student (PKC) - Word, Excel, Powerpoint & OneNote (License 1 User)\"

Antivirus & Internet Protection: Symantec Norton Internet Security 2012 (12 Months Subscriptions)

Wireless Network Card: Wireless G Internal Card - 54MBPS[/COLOR]

And now the I7 build:

[COLOR="Yellow"]
Processor: "Intel Quad Core i7-2600 Processor (8M Cache, 3.40 GHz - Max Turbo Frequency: 3.8Ghz)"

RAM / Memory: Latest 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR III 1333 MHz Premium System Memory

Operating System: Genuine Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64Bit

Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V-LX Intel Z68, 4xDDR3, PCIe2x16, SATA3, Audio, Video, LAN, USB 3.0, RAID & Support Upto 16GB of RAM Requires Dedicated VGA Card

Hard Drive: 2000GB (2TB) Serial ATA Hard Disk Drive

Graphics Card: Dual Crossfire 1GB ATI Radeon 6870 - GDDR5 - Dual Graphics Card for the Hardcore Gamer

Optical Drive: Dual Layer DVD Rewriter - Supports Dual Layer (8.5GB) - Bundled With Nero Essential Burning Software

Memory Card Reader: "JW 3.5"" Internal Multi Card Reader"

Case/Chassis: \"Antec 902 Ultimate Gaming Tower Case - 1 x 200MM Fan - 3 x 120MM Case Fan, all Speed Adjustable - \"

Power Supply: WideTech 750W 80+ Gaming PSU -Double +12V Rail Design -140mm FAN

Monitor/Screen: "21.5\"" LCD Widescreen Monitor - 1920 x 1080- VGA/DVI - 3 Yrs Manufacturer Warranty"

Gaming Mouse : Razer Lachesis 4000 DPI Precision Mouse with 9 independently programmable Hyperesponse buttons

Gaming Keyboard: Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard - LED Backlit - Prefect for Playing Games in the Dark

Office Applications: \"NEW - Microsoft Office Home & Student (PKC) - Word, Excel, Powerpoint & OneNote (License 1 User)\"

Antivirus & Internet Protection: Symantec Norton Internet Security 2012 (12 Months Subscriptions)

TV Tuner Card: No TV Tuner Required

Wireless Network Card: Wireless G Internal Card - 54MBPS

Of course the I7 system's more powerful but I'm also budget concious as well. The I5 is $260 less than the I7.

I really don't want to be bothered with over-clocking or things like that. I just want a good computer that will run games at very high graphic settings and do practical things like word processing as well.

What do you all think?

I removed that hideous yellow color in my quote. It is way too blinding.

Anyways...if you can afford the I7 build I would highly recommend it, but the I5 seems very good too. For $260 less, I would say the I5, you probably won't notice a change in performance unless you are doing some hard-core gaming, and even then still probably not.

I would get the I5, but it's your choice.