Bf3 upgrade for ~ ?500

[Nickbond592]

hi all,

i've decided its time to update my rig for bf3 and at the same time switch to 64 bit aswell

heres where i've got to so far,

Intel CPU Core i5 Unlocked 2500K Sandy Bridge Quad Core Processor - BX80623I52500K - Scan.co.uk

Asus P8Z68-V PRO Intel Z68 S1155 Motherboard - Scan.co.uk

ASUS XONAR DG SOUND CARD *OEM* - 90-YAA0K0-0UBN0BZ - Scan.co.uk

Windows 7 Professional 64bit OEM Operating System, SP1 - FQC-04649 - Scan.co.uk

Corsair Memory XMS3 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 9 Dual Channel Desktop - CMX8GX3M2A1600C9 - Scan.co.uk

and i'll be re-using my case, HDD's, dvd drive and gfx card ( 280gtx / as i think its good enough to last a while longer ? )

i was just wondering if anyone could see any glaring mistakes with what i've picked, and/or offer advice a better part at the same sort of price ( give or take a bit )

this comes into roughly ?500 which i'm fairly happy to splash out on but if somthing is twice as good for only a little bit extra i'm flexible to spend a touch more.

Thanks, nick

[Pedz]

The only mistake I see here is the sound card. Not necessary at all, or even used. BF3 as with all games using DirectX 10 does not benefit greatly from external sound cards and their effects, they all use the directX sound instead of the others such as EAX which were used previously. The motherboards onboard sound card will easily be good enough. Sound cards are only useful if you want instrumental inputs, and then theyre normally external

[BloodBane611]

That looks really good to me, nice upgrade that won't cost a fortune. I'm with Pedz on the soundcard though, it's not necessary for games. If you have other uses for it I could see it making sense, but it isn't necessary for gaming with that mobo

[Beee8190]

ASUS XONAR DG SOUND CARD *OEM* - 90-YAA0K0-0UBN0BZ - Scan.co.uk

Corsair Memory XMS3 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 9 Dual Channel Desktop - CMX8GX3M2A1600C9 - Scan.co.uk

Just watch for the RAM voltage, you might wanna lower that value later in bios or get different sticks...
like these -
Corsair Memory XMS3 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 9 Dual Channel Desktop - CMX8GX3M2B1600C9 - Scan.co.uk

or

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprod ... ubcat=1517

Asus are sure nice boards but i feel that Gigabyte offers exactly same for better prices though...
Matter of personal preferences i guess but anyhow... - Also consider -


http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte ... n-board-at

Gigabyte Motherboard GA-Z68XP-UD3P - Scan.co.uk

This board has it all too but for 40? less

Sound card - While onbard audio is mostly sufficient, i always enjoy quality audio and i hear this card despite its price (~20? right ) is very decent performer.
I say go for it if you're using high fidelity headphones or speakers, than you will most likely hear the diference.

[Steeps]

Awesome, awesome, awesome processor and motherboard combo!

I have my 2500k OCed to 4.3GHz and it runs BF3 like a boss. The best thing is that at 4.3GHz on my lowest air cooling settings I idle less than 30 degrees Celsius.

I run BF3 at ultra settings with that processor and two GTX 460s in SLI. Well... I should specify that this rig can play Ultra on Metro but not on Caspian.

[Q2M100]

Everything looks spot on! I have an i5 2500k build and it gives me excellent performance.

Have you looked into a closed system water cooler for your CPU, such as a corsair H60 or H80? I have an H60 and my cpu rarely ever goes higher than 40C when under load. In my opinion it is a worthwhile investment.

Happy building!

[Nickbond592]

firstly cheers for all the advice! glad i'm along the right lines with things,

what would be the difference in the two sets of memory posted ? one has higher voltage and is 9-9-9-27 compaired to the 9-9-9-24, what does the differince in those numbers equate to ?

i'm reluctant to head down the watercooled route, not for fear of water leakage on to high value electronics, as being a plumber i should have faith in my own abylitys seeing as i do it every day but maily the cost is to expencive for the benifits it will bring, i thing fan cooled should be good enough, i've heard that the stock intel cooler is good ?

arnt parts getting lower voltages and therefore cooler as tech moves on ? and i have a big *** coolermaster case with more fans than i can count, overkill in that department i think lol

i've got some big speakers and some 5.1 headphones and do love good quality sound, but if the onboard will do the trick i'll drop that then i think the mobo comes with 7.1 connections anyway ??

ta, nick

[Beee8190]

what would be the difference in the two sets of memory posted ? one has higher voltage and is 9-9-9-27 compaired to the 9-9-9-24, what does the differince in those numbers equate to ?

It's called latency but they're same actually on both sticks - 9-9-9-24, just voltage is different.
No need to worry about which ram has tighter latency though.Even if you had 9-9-9-24 at 1886mhz or 7-7-7-21 at 1600Mhz, you won't notice any real difference in performance IIRL / games.

(IMO its not even worth it if you hunting the highest benchmark numbers as the real difference would be like 3-5% with sticks 8-8-8-24 at 1886Mhz or even 2133MHz...) but would cost you way more though...
I'd just grab those with lowest voltages on them...


Intel stock coolers are pieces of shit, the barely cool and are too noisy...(but the job required from em is done though )
I guess any aftermarket cooler will do much better than intel stock one, you might check out the H80 water cooling solution from corsair, which performs very well in tests and also supposed be quiete ( I fancy thatone myself )

Sound card, yeah as i mentioned, if you play mostly games and dont have real fancy headphones or speakers, I'd let it pass than

[Ramjali]

hi all,

i've decided its time to update my rig for bf3 and at the same time switch to 64 bit aswell

heres where i've got to so far,

Intel CPU Core i5 Unlocked 2500K Sandy Bridge Quad Core Processor - BX80623I52500K - Scan.co.uk

Asus P8Z68-V PRO Intel Z68 S1155 Motherboard - Scan.co.uk

ASUS XONAR DG SOUND CARD *OEM* - 90-YAA0K0-0UBN0BZ - Scan.co.uk

Windows 7 Professional 64bit OEM Operating System, SP1 - FQC-04649 - Scan.co.uk

Corsair Memory XMS3 8GB DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 9 Dual Channel Desktop - CMX8GX3M2A1600C9 - Scan.co.uk

and i'll be re-using my case, HDD's, dvd drive and gfx card ( 280gtx / as i think its good enough to last a while longer ? )

i was just wondering if anyone could see any glaring mistakes with what i've picked, and/or offer advice a better part at the same sort of price ( give or take a bit )

this comes into roughly ?500 which i'm fairly happy to splash out on but if somthing is twice as good for only a little bit extra i'm flexible to spend a touch more.

Thanks, nick

You sure about that????
For about the same price you could get something along my specs and extras (6950) and at the same time make your computer much more futureproof

AM3+ board - M5A97 PRO (ready for upcoming 8 core bulldozer core & Crossfire or Nvdia X2 GPU) ?81 GBP 90-MIBFX0-G0EAY00Z ASUS M5A97 PRO - motherboard - ATX - Socket AM3+

Phenom x4 965 - 3.4Ghz (4 cores & great OC'er ) also can be replaced to 8 core bulldozer ?96 GBP
HDZ965FBGMBOX AMD Black Edition AMD Phenom II X4 965 / 3.4 GHz processor

Windows 7 64 bit ?72 GBP
GFC-02050 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium w/SP1 - licence and media

8gb (2x4gb) kingston 1600mhz DDR3 ?36 GBP
(cant be bother to find link)

TOTAL : ?285 +(?10+ first class delivery)
NET TOTAL: ?295 AND YOU HAVE LEFT OVER FOR ANY GPU (6950 2GB = ~ ?170-200) OR THE FUTURE 8 CORE BULLDOZER

TRUST ME, THE AMD CPU's ARE ALOT FUTUREPROOF AND HAVE VALUE FOR MONEY

CPU review: Benchmark Results: Left 4 Dead And HAWX : AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Review
Benchmark Results: Metro 2033 (DX11) : Intel?s Second-Gen Core CPUs: The Sandy Bridge Review
As shown in benchamark, it is only a fraction behind but for almost half the price

Also, even though Cresent electonics is said to have bad reputation, i got my products VERY Cheap and fast without any problem. So it's only the little minorities and the probability is very low of having a problem.

I have the same specs as shown
AMD x4 965
HD 5770
8gb 1600mhz
m5a97

and at battlefield Beta i can run it Ultra at 1280x1024 with AA at x4 and shadows at medium/high with 37 FPS ingame (this is mainly due to GPU, so as you have money left over buy 6950 and play the BF3 at maxed out 1080p

Edit: Revision 1. 6950 GPU's can be flashed to 6970 and the x4 965 is the Black Edition which means it is easily overclocked while you are in your windows account instead of messing with bios (but you also need a good mobo which the m5a97 is)

[Q2M100]

Time for some fact checks!

You sure about that????
For about the same price you could get something along my specs and extras (6950) and at the same time make your computer much more futureproof
Agreed. AM3+ has room for a FIRST GEN Bulldozer upgrade (around $200-300 USD based on speculation). Be aware however that the Phenom X4 965 BE is a whole lot worse in performance when compared to the i5 2500K. Also, note that anything more than four cores (like the Bulldozer series) is not ideal for gaming. In fact, I have yet to see a game that can use more than four threads.

TRUST ME, THE AMD CPU's ARE ALOT FUTUREPROOF AND HAVE VALUE FOR MONEY
Watch this video on The Concept of Futureproof: Futureproofing Your PC - Dispelling Some of the Myths NCIX Tech Tips - YouTube

CPU review: Benchmark Results: Left 4 Dead And HAWX : AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Review
This does not compare the X4 965 to the i5 2500k.
Benchmark Results: Metro 2033 (DX11) : Intel?s Second-Gen Core CPUs: The Sandy Bridge Review
As shown in benchamark, it is only a fraction behind but for almost half the price
Does not show the X4 965. Nevertheless based on the similar X4 970 (3.5GHz) there is a 10 FPS DIFFERENCE with the i5 2500K. That is a lot when considering that over time games will become more advanced and demand more CPU power.

and at battlefield Beta i can run it Ultra at 1280x1024 with AA at x4 and shadows at medium/high with 37 FPS ingame (this is mainly due to GPU, so as you have money left over buy 6950 and play the BF3 at maxed out 1080p
On my i5 2500K (Stock Clock) with a Sapphire 6870 I average 45 FPS with completely maxed out settings on a 1680x1050 screen.

Edit: Revision 1. 6950 GPU's can be flashed to 6970
WARNING!!!!! This is a false misconception. Only the FIRST GEN REFERENCE 6950s could be flashed to the 6970s. AMD is not stupid; they now either physically disable the cores or deactivate bad cores. Do not buy a 6950 with the intention to unlock it.

Sorry if I come off cynical, but it is necessary for false information to be stomped out, especially when dealing with hard earned cash.

[Nickbond592]

Time for some fact checks!


Sorry if I come off cynical, but it is necessary for false information to be stomped out, especially when dealing with hard earned cash.

ta lol, I've always been a bit partial to Nvida, Corsair and Intel and try to stick to those ( tired and trusted in my case ) Brands, so am a bit sceptical towards AMD/ATI anyway

/fanboy

[BloodBane611]

I don't think AMD really has anything particularly competitive with Intel in terms of power/$ right now. When I bought my computer a year ago they were barely holding onto the bottom of the enthusiast market, which has now been crushed by the i3 2100.

So yeah, don't buy an AMD processor right now.

[Steeps]

Yeah but can you overclock an AMD X4 to 4.5GHz on air cooling while staying under 50 C on load? Didn't think so.

[LieutenantNessie]

You might also want to try GTX560 Ti TOP, I've got one, it's around 200 euros. OC it and it's the same as stock 570>HD6970.

I can play with my GTX560Ti TOP unOC'd all on high/some ultra 2xMSAA no lag at all. Around 50 fps I guess

[Beee8190]

I don't think AMD really has anything particularly competitive with Intel in terms of power/$ right now. When I bought my computer a year ago they were barely holding onto the bottom of the enthusiast market, which has now been crushed by the i3 2100.

So yeah, don't buy an AMD processor right now.

Well yeah, Sandy bridge is mostly superior to any desktop AMD chip right now but considering the current AMD architecture is like 8 (?) years old, they still keep up great though, so if you're building a real budget rig, its hard to ignore the AMD chips for its current price and its not like they are totally incappable chips.

I agree however that there's hardly any task that these 2.5k 2600 cpu@s cannot handle so bulldozer better be really kick *** or who knows waht will happen to AMd than...

[Q2M100]

I agree however that there's hardly any task that these 2500k and 2600k CPUs cannot handle so Bulldozer better be really kick *** or who knows waht will happen to AMD then...

Bulldozer only seems reasonable if you have a server that needs multiple threads. For the gamers, four cores is the max limit on all games.

If you are a gamer waiting for Bulldozer to come out, spend a month or two more and wait for Ivy Bridge to come out. Ivy Bridge has a projected 30% performance boost over current generation Sandy Bridge CPUs.

[Anazuke]

It could save some money for you to get mobo with P67 chipset, only difference to Z68 is that it's missing the support for Sandy Bridge built in GPU and some chip which enables you to run SSD drives like a cache in softwares.

Example : http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-p8p ... x16%29-atx

[Beee8190]

Bulldozer only seems reasonable if you have a server that needs multiple threads. For the gamers, four cores is the max limit on all games.

If you are a gamer waiting for Bulldozer to come out, spend a month or two more and wait for Ivy Bridge to come out. Ivy Bridge has a projected 30% performance boost over current generation Sandy Bridge CPUs.

Nah i'm most happy with my i5 but i'll most likely upgrade to Ivy bridge when it comes, as you're about right, it will wipe the floor even with current sandy bridge.

Bulldozer is not really for servers, Zambezi is CPU for desktops and people will most likely use all 6-8 cores, If not for gaming, (well, BF3 can use them) than for editing or any other task you may throw at it.

[declan54321]

I also have a GTX280, plus an i7920 @3.6GHz. I can run the BF3 beta on Metro fairly well, I would estimate around 30-35 FPS.

My Graphics card is actually getting kind of old now, even though it was top-end in it's day, it's beaten by many mid-range cards now.

The i5-2500k, for your information, has been shown to perform better than an i7-965 Gulftown (3.4GHz 6-core), without an overclock.

[Nickbond592]

well i'm all back up and running again, parts came yesterday and the install/re-format when smoothly with the only hic-up being that i had to go out after work today to buy a sata disk drive as the motherboard didnt support my old (2005) plextor IDE one... gutted lol

just downloading the bf3 beta now!

thanks for all the advice and although i've not run any benchmarks or anything, it does feel pretty slick and smooth.

@declan, what gfx settings are you running, looks like were both in the same boat with the GPU now being the 'weakest link' haha

expect a ''what gfx card is the bestest thread in the near future