Gaming Computer Guide - 2nd Quarter 2010 - Printable Version

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Gaming Computer Guide - 2nd Quarter 2010 - Fireskull - 18.05.2010

Gaming Computer Guide - 2nd Quarter 2010

ATI and NVIDIA examples are given of systems which run high demand games very well.

Here are suggestions and information for everyone to enjoy. Buyers can become better informed consumers of computers, hardware, and software in the future. This topic is a guide for desktop computers, however, I plan to create a separate topic soon for gaming laptop computers.

Please feel free to suggest this useful guide to people that you know. Remember that additions and improvements will come in the future so you can get new, recent insight by returning here.

All information is provided in unique format created by me. The sources of the information are provided and credit is given to them. All views are opinions and should be considered as such. Where data is given, specifications and price are subject to change by the manufacturers in the future. When hardware is clearly expressed in data as having superior performance, this should be in no way taken as bias. Various equipment serves the interests and technical demands of the user. While a certain hardware may be superior in performance, there are other considerations, such as price, software, compatibility, and optimization of the owner's games and simulations. A lesser hardware could be the best value to a particular user.

Those who want to build their own computer rig can get some general information to point you in the right direction.

DirectX 11 compliance is the focus in preparation for "Storm of War" and presenting hardware which will run IL-2 very well.

Table of Contents:

1) Graphics Card Reviews
2) Motherboard Information and Reviews
3) CPU Considerations
4) Data Drives Comparison
5) Miscellaneous Hardware
6) Computer Software for Game and Simulation Owners
7) Information Resources

This topic is under construction.


1) Graphics Card Reviews





Maximum PC Magazine - June 2010 provided the above information. I created tables and added text to the information in my own format. Data is official, the tables are mine. Notice how a couple times, cards tied for first or second place in Frames Per Second for particular game.

The GTX 480 wins easily among the best performing stock single-GPU graphics cards, also giving over-clocked cards quite the competition.

Both the RADEON HD 5870 and the GTX 480 are DirectX 11 ready for "Storm of War: Battle of Britain"



GTX 480 (Stock) Reviewed in "Maximum PC" magazine for June 2010, in my own words:

At about 3 Billion transistors and architecture that is more complex than ever, the GTX 480 is the new alpha bull elephant among graphics cards. This card downsizes to about 10.5 inches, better than many previous cards. Performance increases as the size shrinks.

The GTX 480 wins in performance tests, in general, against all other single-GPU card systems (stock) at this time. With completely new architecture, NVIDIA brings the card war to the next level with the GTX 480. This is no "rebranded" version of any previous card. The GTX is all new.

Among the features of this new graphics card architecture: Modular system of ALU grouping (CUDA cores) in blocks of 32, separate texture cache, dedicated graphics memory, a large file registry, warp scheduler, and the Polymorph Engine. The Warp Scheduler assigns threads to the compute cores. A CUDA core inside the SM processes only one data stream at a time, but there are many of these cores. The SMs are in blocks of four graphics processing clusters (GPCs) in connection with raster output engines. The L2 cache is 768 MB shared among the GPCs. Six memory controllers co-ordinate access to the GDDR5 memory pool. The new architecture greatly reduces lag in the threads, resulting in less or no stuttering, given a certain Frames Per Second. More efficient internal structure results in more graphics texture processing per frame.

The GTX 480 is DirectX 11 compliant and fully ready for the latest generation, newest PhysX technology and GeForce 3D Vision. Among the stock, single GPU graphic cards, could this one be the best in the world? Notice in the above two graphic tables, the stock GTX 480 even gives the overclocked single GPU cards quite the "run for their money".



RADEON HD 5870 (Stock)

The stock version of the HD 5870 can be a great value because of the price. DirectX 11 compliant, this card should give the owner satisfaction for years to come. Different retailers offer various prices, so it pays to shop around the stores, both online and offline. IL-2 can have an issue with the latest ATI graphics card drivers, requiring the fixes of anomalies in the image.

RADEON HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition - Reviewed in "CPU Computer Power User" magazine - May 2010, in my own words:

This graphics card is almost the same as the above standard, stock HD 5870. The additional features are double the GDDR5 memory (2GB) and 6 mini Display Port outputs for SLS - Single Large Surface - resolution upto 7,680 x 3,200. This one can use Windows Vista or Windows 7 PCs. AMD is developing Linux support for future release. Multiple smaller displays are compatible for this card. Note that the configuration of 3 displays with one assigned to the game or simulation can be handled quite well with the stock HD RADEON 5870.


Fireskull Commentary

Both the RADEON HD 5870 and the GTX 480 are great cards and I would enjoy either of them.

Notice in the above tables that the GTX 480 manages higher FPS than the HD 5870 while the GTX 480 has fewer internal components in some sections and clocks are slower. How could this be? NVIDIA has created a new graphics card with completely new internal architecture.

Remember: Though size and speed are important, the structure is vital, too. How well a card processes each image frame can give it an advantage over other cards in Frames Per Second. The GTX 480 has obvious better efficiency at processing each frame, despite having slower clocks. Therefore, there is less lag between frames, resulting in higher image quality and faster frame rates at the same time.

I've seen the images online and in magazines of what the GTX 480 does. The water, metal, and glass shine are realistic. All objects which are supposed to appear as round, well, they look 3 dimension round. Oh, my... wait till you see the shadows and changing textures.

NVIDIA focuses on tessellation: Video Comparison of ATI and NVIDIA...
GTX 480 processes faster than HD 5870 when DirectX 11 tessellation is activated in the GTX 480:








2) Motherboard Information

The motherboard is one of the most, if not the most, important considerations for your computer system. Motherboard is referred as mainboard, mobo, or printed circuit board.

Your choice of motherboard will determine what CPU, GPU, and type of RAM advantage you will have. Whether you can overclock your system, the features available to help you do it, and the ease of the overclocking are all effected by your choice of motherboard.

Every part of your system is connected to the motherboard or through the motherboard to each other. It directs traffic and organizes tasks.

Choosing a mediocre motherboard can severely limit future choices, while aquiring a very capable one will allow a bunch of options, both now and in the future. The buyer may save money on the cheap now but pay much more later for a replacement motherboard when major upgrades in components are desired.

Chipset

This is a top consideration among the motherboard parts. Chipset determines the components that your motherboard will support. It directs the flow of traffic in your system and manages the communication among your CPU, memory, and local bus. Here is the thing that makes upgrading possible more than all else. Whether or not your system will be able to take SLI or Crossfire is here. A great chipset is efficient in the transfer of data among other major computer components and uses power in an efficient way.


Processor Support, also known as "socket type"

This gives you the kind of CPU that will work in your motherboard.


CPU socket

The CPU is seated here. (For builders: Notice that the arrow on the chip case must be aligned with the arrow of the CPU bracket.)


RAM Support

The RAM for your motherboard is determined here. Your motherboard's specifications will give you the information about the RAM which is compatible with your motherboard.


DIMM socket

Your RAM sticks go here.




Motherboard Reviews

> Asus Maximus Formula lll Motherboard, NVIDIA GTX 480, Intel i5-750 O.C. 3.7 GHz, Win-7 64-bit
Running "Battlefield Bad Company 2" - Eye popping!

Stunning game play with this system:


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From the "PC Builder's Bible 2010 - PC GAMER magazine:

Asus Maximus Formula lll - about $250.00 USA dollars

Chipset: Intel P55, which can support NVIDIA SLI and ATI Crossfire

Processor Support: Compatible with the LGA 1556 Socket and can use the Intel Core i7-860 CPU

RAM Support: DDR3 RAM, 240-pin slots, upto 16 GB RAM.




This Asus Motherboard is a truely great one. Asus continues to generally lead the competition in motherboards and this computer dominator clearly is one example of it. It is loaded with features which make things as easy as possible for the builder and will give great service well into the future.

Compatibilities - some of the long list:

Asus Maximus Formula lll Motherboard - $250
Silverstone Fortress FT02-B Computer Case - $ 240
Intel Core i7-860 CPU - $ 280
Asus EAH Radeon 5970 Graphics Card - $ 650 (other cards, too, so see official specifications), DirectX 11 and "Storm of War" ready.
Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM - $ 93
Asus BD Combo BC-088 Optical Drive - $ 110
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB Hard Drive - $ 300
Corsair H50 Water Cooling Unit CPU Cooler - $ 78
Corsair 850TX Power Supply - $ 140
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Operating System $105

Total Hardware Cost: $ 2,246 USA Dollars ( not including miscellaneous supplies and tools )

Remember that other fine and possibly superior components are compatible with the Asus Maximus Formula lll Motherboard.

There are a bunch of great motherboards on the market. I recommend looking toward the future and getting a DirectX 11 compliant system and consider getting one with DDR5 compatibility instead of DDR3. There are many things to pounder. Take it step by step and you will succeed.
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> Gigabyte MA790 FXT UD5 Motherboard, ATI HD 5970 Sapphire, AMD Phenom ll X4 965BE 3.7 GHz
Win-7 64-bit
Running "Crysis" - Amazing!

System creates awesome results for this gamer:




> MSI P55-GD65 Motherboard, ATI XFX RADEON HD 5870, INTEL i5-750 3.8 GHz
Win 7 64-bit
Running "Crysis" - Wonderful!





> MSI P55-GD85 Motherboard Review

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Future section - Fireskull - 18.05.2010

added info in the future

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Future section - Fireskull - 18.05.2010

Added info later

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- Guest - 18.05.2010

This is really useful. Cheers m8.

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- socorrista22198 - 18.05.2010

man really thanks!

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- GeneralPsycho - 18.05.2010

5970 is such a better value than any of nvidia offerings. You overclock it to 5870 levels and you get 50% more performance than GTX480 at 20% increase in price. I do like nvidia, but fermi is a disappointment.

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- COBRA19 - 18.05.2010

Very Useful information!!! Thanks :wink: :cheers:

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- Paulo Hirth - 18.05.2010

Thank you! Is incredible how some people buy wrong hardwares, the best way still being build part by part!
There is a BIG improvement play in a good computes!

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- KG64_Cnopicilin - 18.05.2010

Thank you again, fireskull. Appreciated.

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- Guest - 19.05.2010

Cool, Thanks.

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