Help needed on my first ever pc

Darkwolf441 · 22 Apr 2010 at 20:48

Hey i was wondering if you kind people could help me get some components sorted out for a pc build.
For my birthday my dads just bought me two ATI HD5870.
But as far as that, i really not sure on the other components that would go with that.
am in need of everything.

DarkWhisper · 22 Apr 2010 at 20:52

Welcome Dark.
Am guessing your after a gaming set up?
Which cpu are you wanting to run with AMD/INTEL?

Philtor · 22 Apr 2010 at 20:54

**** ! Need a system board that supports Cross Fire for a start! Then a decent chip such as the i3 or i5 and 4GB RAM. You would be better with one 5870 and using the extra money to fund a system bundle from OCuK.

Darkwolf441 · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:00

why with just one. Is running two ATI hd5870 a bad deal? Whats with the (****)
Was looking at intels I7

Philtor · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:08

Not at all - I would give my right arm to have two of them cards mate. It's just you normally start with a system board that can handle two cards (Cross Fire) and go from there but it's no big deal. Wish my Dad bought me them sort of things

An i3 system Overclocked would be money better spent. Im still using old Tech by today's standards so I will let someone using that socket type spec you a machine.

DarkWhisper · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:11

Am the same as philtorrens. am using a Q9650 and Ive no problems. Why did you pick the i7 for? and which model would it be.

Frisby · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:26

What is the budget for the rest of the components?

And do you have a keyboard, mouse or monitor already?

Do you have any other needs for the PC apart from gaming?

I will try to spec you something if you can answer me these.

Ksanti · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:29

Strange, why did your dad buy you pc components when you don't have a pc?

cmndr_andi · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:29

+1 to frisby's questions

Also, will you be needing an operating system or any peripherals included in the budget?

Thekwango · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:32

For my birthday my dads just bought me two ATI HD5870.

Oh not one, had to be 2!! Lucky sod!!

The most mine ever bought me was Commodore 64 (many many years ago) lol :cool:

Darkwolf441 · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:33

Ive been looking after my dad for some years now as his disabled. ive no mum so am all his got. i think it was his way of saying thank you for looking after me and giving up so much of you time for your old man. Am in need of everything but got a old logitech g15 blue. my dad said i could still use the down stairs tv till i sort out a monitor it's a plasma don't know the specs. Budgets about 1000-1500. but if needs be i could go to 2grand. am a mad gamer have a ps3 and 360 but looking for a gaming monster that will eat games for breakfast. would it be silly got go for three 5870???
Just got this old laptop with windows vista 64 on it. so might use that disk.

scrlk · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:37

Darkwolf441 said:
Ive been looking after my dad for some years now as his disabled. ive no mum so am all his got. i think it was his way of saying thank you for looking after me and giving up so much of you time for your old man. Am in need of everything but got a old logitech g15 blue. my dad said i could still use the down stairs tv till i sort out a monitor it's a plasma don't know the specs. Budgets about 1000-1500. but if needs be i could go to 2grand. am a mad gamer have a ps3 and 360 but looking for a gaming monster that will eat games for breakfast. would it be silly got go for three 5870???

For 1.5k I would go for a i7 930 OC'ed to 4 GHZ; but for 2k I'd go for a 780x.

cmndr_andi · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:38

Do you know what the brand/model name/number of the TV is? If its an HD ready one, then you may as well use some of your budget to buy a nice gaming monitor - but if its 1080p then is probably sticking with it.

Philtor · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:42

Darkwolf441 said:
Ive been looking after my dad for some years now as his disabled. ive no mum so am all his got. i think it was his way of saying thank you for looking after me and giving up so much of you time for your old man. Am in need of everything but got a old logitech g15 blue. my dad said i could still use the down stairs tv till i sort out a monitor it's a plasma don't know the specs. Budgets about 1000-1500. but if needs be i could go to 2grand. am a mad gamer have a ps3 and 360 but looking for a gaming monster that will eat games for breakfast. would it be silly got go for three 5870???

I have a lot of respect for you looking after your Dad and I hope you get a great gaming PC (which you will when the rest of the board comes online).
You have the basis of a cracking machine regardless

Muel · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:47

i7 930 or one of the new AMD 6 cores would probably be best. I wouldn't think about anything slower as with CF 5870s you'll be wanting to future proof as much as possible?

Also I'd definately get an SSD, I hear it makes massive differences to higher end systems, even mine is HDD limited and it's a pretty decent one.

Ryan111 · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:57

How about this?

Thekwango · 22 Apr 2010 at 21:58

Originally Posted by Darkwolf441
Ive been looking after my dad for some years now as his disabled. ive no mum so am all his got. i think it was his way of saying thank you for looking after me and giving up so much of you time for your old man. Am in need of everything but got a old logitech g15 blue. my dad said i could still use the down stairs tv till i sort out a monitor it's a plasma don't know the specs. Budgets about 1000-1500. but if needs be i could go to 2grand. am a mad gamer have a ps3 and 360 but looking for a gaming monster that will eat games for breakfast. would it be silly got go for three 5870???

much repsect mate. you'll have no problems getting exactly what you need here

Cycrow · 22 Apr 2010 at 22:55

+1 for Ryan's spec.

with the 2 5870's, would make a pretty power gaming pc that should last a long time

very simlar spec to what i have, except the gpu's

Ksanti · 22 Apr 2010 at 23:27

Yeah it would be silly to go with three, right now there is no game that two 5870's won't be able to devour, even in 3d (with appropriate monitors obv.). The only one that could potentially push them would be Crysis 2, and if that is as poorly optimised as the original crysis, adding another 5870 won't do you any good. Especially on a 1-2k budget.

I'll put something together, it'll pretty much be my spec, but obviously without the graphics card, monitor, speakers and keyboard etc. as you already have those.

Marine-RX179 · 22 Apr 2010 at 23:29

Can look at the following topic for some reference:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18137663

And no...don't go for the Asus P6X58D Premium. Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R is better choice and at around £100 cheaper. And it is also 3-way Crossfire/SLI certified.

Marine-RX179 said:
Yea. With the i7-980X Extreme Edition at 4.4GHz:
Asus P6X58D Premium media benchmark: 2,578
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R media benchmark: 2,624

HD5870, Win7 64-bit, Crysis DX10 1680x1050, high detail settings:
Asus P6X58D Premium minimum frame rate: 37fps
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R minimum frame rate: 42fps

And then there's the issue of the extra controllers on the Asus P6X58D Premium causing longer boot time, and SATA ports being not particularly fast.

Source: Custom PC Issue 081 June 2010

Ryan111's build seem fine, but need to add a decent CPU cooler and get some MX-3 thermal paste. Also, I'm not too sure about the Geil memory...think there has been quite a few people having issues with this brand's memory...