High End
PC Buyers Guide High End
Target Resolution: 1920x1200 or 2560x1600
This guide will only cover the box. Monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers are not included. I do this for brevity's sake, as the monitor alone would require its own guide, especially if I were to cover LCD monitors. Since this site is called "Guru3D" this guide will target a system intended for gaming primarily. So what sort of criteria do I take into account when deciding what parts to recommend?
- Price and Performance: First and foremost, what gives the most bang for your buck, in terms of gaming primarily of course.
- Reliablity: Second on the list but just as important. This includes things such as compatibility (ever had RAM that worked on one motherboard but not in another?), trustworthiness of a brand overall (do they have a history of making reliable parts?) in addition to the reliablity of the part in question.
- Overclockability: Overclocking can help squeeze out that extra performance out of a system and can make a big impact on price versus performance (why should you buy a $1000 CPU if you can overclock a $200 CPU to match it?) so this factor can always swing my decision.
- Heat and Power Issues: Heat is the enemy of a computer and it can affect the stability (and reliability) of your machine. Performance per watt has become a buzz word and as power requirements for computers rise I eye this more and more closely.
For those wondering about "Target Resolution," instead of listing a particular price point (since price will vary somewhat with vender/e-tailer) I have listed here what type of resolutions you can expect to be playing most of today's games (with AA and AF on of course) on such a rig, both standard and widescreen resolutions were taken into consideration.
Processor - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650
Those of you who want to save some money could simply purchase the E8600, but then again if you're trying to save money then you aren't building a high end computer rig now are you!? For those of you with a bit of patience should simply wait for the upcoming Nehalem processors (especially since this means a change of sockets), but until then this is the quad core of choice. Much cheaper than the QX9770. the Q9650 is therefore our weapon of choice.
The latest Yorkfield core has brought even more improvements to the already excellent Intel Core 2 family. These improvements include shrinking down to the 45nm manufacturing process, additional SSE 4.1 instructions and increased cache.
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Heatsink and Fan - Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme
The stock HSF will provide ample cooling power for a Conroe, but this is a high end rig and you want to treat your CPU right don't you??? Here is a monster of a cooler for your CPU (and I do mean monster, make sure your case and motherboard will support this beast) will offer hands down some of the best air cooling for your processor. Pair this heatsink with a 120mm fan of your choosing.
Motherboard
What to look for when buying a motherboard, regardless of chipset or processor it supports:
- Good chipset cooling. Chipsets these days continue to run hotter. Better cooling means improved stability, improved longevity and better overclocking potential. Be mindful when using a passively cooled motherboard (even one with the works, including copper heatsinks and heatpipes) to ensure that you can provide the coolers with adequate airflow.
- Solid state capacitors. Offers improved longevity and heat resistance as well as avoids the dreaded "leaking" capacitor problem.
- Improved voltage regulator. Does the motherboard use a 3 phase voltage regulator or something higher? How do you determine the phase you ask? It is determined by the number of MOSFETs (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) used. As a rule the higher the number (and hence the phase) and quality of the MOSFETs, the cleaner (higher quality) the voltage delivered to the CPU, offering improved stability and overclockability of the CPU and improved thermals for the MOSFETs. Many motherboards now feature heatsinks to cool the MOSFETs as well, always nice.
- Features. What features do you need? Chispet features vary broadly as do features individual motherboards may offer. Do you need RAID? If so what type? If you chose to use onboard sound then take a close look at the audio chipset and its associated features as they differ widely. If you want a SLI setup you will need a an nForce chipset, but not if you want Crossfire. All things to consider.
Editor's Choice: NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI or Intel X48.
The choice of your board will be based on whether you want to go with an NVIDIA or AMD/ATI based video card.
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Hard Drive - Western Digital VelociRaptor
A high end computer deserves a high end drive. Western Digital has finally updated their well known 10,000 RPM Raptor hard drive and they have made quite a change. The interface has been updated to 3.0 Gb/s SATA and the capacity has been doubled. However the most dramatic change was switching to a 2.5" design normally reserved to laptops and housing the drive in a heatsink to fit the standard 3.5" design, which allows this drive to be one of the coolest, quietest and most power efficient desktop drives on the market. We want to include SSD here as well, yet the capacity is just a little too small right now.
Editor's Note: While I give my recommendation with only a single drive in mind there are many configurations available. Here's a list:
- For fastest load times: 2 smaller drives in RAID 0. Drawback: reliability, if one drive fails, the data on both is lost.
- For data reliability: 2 large drives in RAID 1. Drawback: capacity halved (all the data on one drive is mirrored on the second).
- For heavy downloader's: One small, fast primary drive (like a Western Digital Raptor) for Windows and applications/games and a secondary large capacity drive for downloads/multimedia (such as HD video). This is actually my preferred configuration.
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Memory - 4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz RAM
At last DDR3 has come down to a reasonable price! So why not 8 GB DDR2? Because in terms of the gaming there isn't a performance boost at the moment between 4 GB and 8 GB... so might as well take advantage of the faster, more power efficient RAM!
Editor's Choice: OCZ Reaper HPC 4 GB kit. Fantastic RAM at a fantastic price.
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Video Card - GeForce GTX 260 SLI or Radeon 4870 X2
To be honest personally I am not a big fan of multi-GPU setups. It means more power, much higher cost, more driver problems and not every game scales well with multiple GPU's. However if you want the highest gaming performance today that's what you'll be getting. Both of these solutions come in at around the same price and both will chew through any game you want to play.
Editor's Note: For those wondering why I did not recommend a dual Radeon 4870 X2's or a tri-SLI setup. Unfortunately multi-GPU does not scale well past two GPU's, meaning you get very little performance for a shockingly high price. And let's not mention the power such a setup will use...
Editor's Note: For those wondering about the GeForce GTX 280... you can setup three GeForce GTX 260's for less then dual GeForce GTX 280's... so price/performance they are not a good prospect, although for those of you who want a high end setup with a single GPU to avoid multi GPU problems, the GTX 280 is your card of choice.
Check out Guru3D related reviews:
- Radeon 4870 X2 and Crossfire Review
- Inno3D GeForce 8800 GT OC
- GeForce 8800 GTS 512 MB
- GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB SLI
- Inno3D GeForce 8800 GT OC
- GeForce 8800 GTS 512 MB
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Sound Card - Asus Xonar D2X 7.1
Vista has left the audio card market wide open by removing direct hardware access, thus taking away Creative's long enjoyed performance advantage thanks to EAX. Into the fray comes Asus with an excellent card for those looking for an alternative.
Our own audiophile Brann Mitchel: Speaking of fearsome, it took all of 5 seconds of listening to the Xonar D2X to know that it is our new reference sound card. This unseats the Auzentech X-Fi Prelude at the high end (not that we really keep track of these things) as our favorite all-around card to game, listen to music, and watch movies with.
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Optical Drive - Samsung Lightscribe DVD Burner SH-203N
There really is no excuse to not have DVD±R/RW drives, they are very cheap and reliable these days. This drive is capable of burning 20x DVD+R and DVD-R, 16x DL as well as 12x DVD-RAM and boasts a SATA interface. It is also a LightScribe capable drive. This will allow you to burn a label (or image or whatever you want) onto your disks, no more barely legible permanent marker labeling!
Case
Okay Im going leave this one open to your decision. Cases are a love-hate thing, what one person likes another will not. So go find a case you think suites you. I have a few suggestions when looking for a case. Aluminium is a definite plus; it will make your computer significantly lighter. 120mm fans are the way to go as well, ensuring good airflow in your case while maintaining a minimum of noise. A removable motherboard tray is particularly useful in cramped cases.
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Power Supply -1000 Watts or Higher
The power demands of the PC continue to escalate, thanks in large part to GPU's and the looming arrival of quad core CPU's. Be sure to go out and get the biggest and best power supply you can, do not skimp on the power supply! This is an often overlooked part and yet it's the source of so many computer woes. Be sure to check the amps on the 12V rail(s), you want a power supply that can handle a lot, multiple 12V rails is an additional plus. For a frame of reference: NVIDIA recommends 450 Watts with 30A on the 12V rail for the 8800 GTX. Another plus to look for is a power supply with dual fans to help with cooling. Just remember: don't try and buy a cheap generic brand to save some cash, just because it says 480 Watts (or whatever the number is) doesn't mean it can actually handle that, sadly. Quality counts big, be sure to get a quality power supply or you can face any number of problems.
Some of the few excellent 1 Kilowatt PSU's reviewed here at Guru3D to consider are:
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That's it for this seasons recommendation. We hope you have an excellent Summer, with loads of joyful hardware this year :) !
