Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hi forum,

I defeintly want to get eyefinity I have 3 widescreen Samsung 2494HM monitors sitting right infront of me and I want to do some serious widescreen gaming. I have been doing researched I don't know if I should go with an Alienware with a 5970 or a custom built PC.

My monitors support a max resolution of 1920x1080P of course they only have 3 DVI so a Active DP adapter is necessary. I want solid frame rates around 60 fps plus running eyefinity running on high settings. I am considering going all out buying a 5970 or should I go with 5870 instead. My worry is that a 5870 might slow down for some games running eyefinity games such as Crysis and COD4.

I also don't know what CPU I should go for an Intel i7 or go with the AMD Phenom route. I have a budget of 2100$ to build this machine. I am really considering getting a 5970 since that card will probably last me for a couple of years I can also Crossfire it later on.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

The machine I just built sounds like it fits right into your budget.

I currently have it clocked @ 4Ghz and it gets to 71c max on full load :)
Case
Mother Board
Video Card
PSU
CPU i7 950 (you could save money and go with the i7 920, plenty of overclocking guides online. I wanted a challenge and potential to go higher then the 920. The 950 came with RE5 for free)
Memory
HDD
CD Rom (you may have an extra one around and won't need this.)

You could probably save some money on some things buy going with lower end. also, factor in the $100 for the DP adapter.

The total cost of my system was 2200 about. On the account that I also got an after market cooler. Cooler Master V8


A similar build from Dell or Alienware will cost you $4,000

With CoD4 I run insane frame rates with everything maxed out. Crysis is a different story, the game engine doesn't use all of the hardware in my machine, and for that fact, I see stuttering with everything at the max, so I lower the AA to about 2x - 4x and I'm at a solid 35 - 40 fps in Eyefinity ;)




-Tanshin



P.S. Most home built systems will be better and cheaper then complete systems, that and you will know more about your system if something goes wrong. I've been building systems for 13 years or so now. If you aren't used to building your own system, I would take your time building it, and have fun! I almost enjoy building more then playing with them.

It's my opinion that you're always better off building your own over going with a prebuilt. You get to hand pick each component and you save substantially.

5970 vs 5870 - When the 5870 was 420-440$ and the 5970 was 600 it made sense from a price perspective. Now you can find 5870s for 380$ and the 5970s are 640$ and still impossible to find. That being said the 5970 can only address 1gb of its memory and many have reported stuttering issues trying to push higher resolutions in eyefinity due to that. I'm running a 5870 @ 3150x1680 and haven't experienced slowdown in Borderlands, Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Fallout 3. All are being played at the highest settings.

AMD vs Intel - If current gen gaming is your only concern then AMD is the way to go. Any processor out there that can hit 3.6 will be fine for today's gaming. If you want to do anything other than gaming then the Intel's flex their muscle and leave AMD pretty far behind.

If you do decide to go with Intel then you'll have to make one of the more difficult decisions pc buyers have today. 1156 vs 1366. There are pros and cons to both sockets. I'd suggest researching as much as you can. I personally landed with the 1156 and the i7-860. It overclocks easier than the 920 at stock volts, it runs cooler, it has more aggressive turbo, and the overall build cost was about 150$ less. The downside is that I'll take a tiny hit in crossfire (3-4pct) and tri/quad gpus are out entirely. There are workarounds for the multiple gpu issue, but they're introduced at a price level that leads you right back to the 1366 so . 1366 will support the new 6 core Gulftowns, 1156 is rumored to support the 32nm quad Sandybridge.

I think for gaming you can't go wrong with a Phenom II for the price :D See my sig for my system setup. Works wonderfully with all of the newest games :)

5870 now, then get the 2GB model when that is released and crossfire them.

also, i5/750. I do not see a reason for the i7 premium price for gaming.

5870 crossfired? You gotta be kidding me, get the 5970 it's a lot cheaper and you can get a second 5970 later = quad crossfire.

5870 crossfired? You gotta be kidding me, get the 5970 it's a lot cheaper and you can get a second 5970 later = quad crossfire.

and when you do that, you'll be limited to the 1GB. also, there quickly becomes a cost/performance issue. that i7 + 5970, today, is not going to perform as good as an i5 + 2x5870's, but will cost just as much, if not more.

either way, get a 1000w+ power supply. nothing sucks more than upgrading a perfectly functional power supply.

I would suggest you get this:

This is a fantastic build and comes way under your budget. 2x5870, I7 860 (Can OC on stock cooler to at least 3.3ghz EASILY), AMAZING case, and awesome combo deal discounts! I will send links to the combo deals if needed.
EDIT: Eww just took a closer look at the PSU i selected. Get this one instead:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011 With that the total cost becomes ~$1850
AND you can save even more if you switch to this case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119216&Tpk=cm%20692 It provides better cable management and has an extremely nice black matte finish on the inside.

If you can swing it and actually find one, I would get a 5970. I run one and have not run into any stuttering nor slowdowns in any games/graphical programs. And this is all game settings HIGH in Eyefinity @ 5760x1200. Yes you are limited to 1Gb per core, but you are limited to 1Gb per core with 2 5870s as well, so that is a mute argument. And then if/when the 2gb 5870 comes out you can throw that in with your 5970 in CrossfireX and have three cores, on 2 cards.

I would also run a PhenomII X4, I run one and have yet to feel limited by anything. Sure i7 is faster, but is it that much faster to warrant the price tag? I think not.