Good Gaming Computer Specs?

Question

Good Gaming Computer Specs?

Answer 1

Dual GTX 550 Ti's isn't what I'd recommend.



The GTX 550 Ti is a poor value to begin with. It's considerably slower than the GTX 560 SE and Radeon HD 7770 which only cost about $5 more. And the Radeon HD 6850 is even better for about $10 more.



Also, dual cards is a questionable approach to building a new rig. It's almost always better from a stability standpoint (along with power consumption, heat, noise etc) to go with a single higher-end card instead of an SLI or Crossfire pair. Performance in SLI/CF varies from game to game, and those setups encounter more driver bugs- occasional freezes, crashes, issues with sleep mode, etc. And dual-card setups are also subject to micro-stuttering. If you find the bang/buck of SLI irresistable, get a pair of GTX 560 SE cards instead (although you'd need a PSU with 4 connectors for that). But I recommend keeping that 2nd slot open to give yourself a cheap upgrade path later down the road.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,review-32256.html



I'd take a single Radeon HD 7850 or GeForce GTX 570 for $250 over dual GTX 550 Ti's. Or Powercolor's Radeon HD 7870 for $280.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/03/05/amd-radeon-hd-7850-2gb/3



Also, that Thermaltake TR2 is a PSU to avoid. Corsair's CX500 and Antec's Neo Eco 520 are much better units for the same price. And I recommend spending a little more for a 600-620W PSU, you never want to be right on the minimum necessary to support your build. I'd go with something like these:



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256071



The Silverstone even has enough connectors to support a pair of GTX 560 SE cards.



But even without any of the suggested changes, your build would easily cruise through Minecraft and MW3 on ultra. For BF3 or Metro 2033 on ultra at 1080p, you'll want a 2GB graphics card (SLI and CF don't double your VRAM)

Answer 2

Why SLI GTX 550ti's? There really low end cards. Besides the following:

1. SLI with 2 cards still only gives you one lot of VRAM. So that setup would still have 1GB VRAM.

2. SLI can produce issues such as driver faults and stuttering.

3. 550ti is now a low end cards.



Get something like a 570 if you can.

Answer 3

That is good for a gaming computer. I wager you like mine. Processors - 2x Overclocked Intel® Core&alternate;i7 975 3.86GHz (8MB Cache) severe version Quad Core Video Card - twin 2GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon&exchange; HD 5970 CrossfireX&alternate; Enabled reminiscence - 12GB DDR3 1333MHz (3x 4GB) Tri Channel memory tough drive - 2TB RAID 0 (2x 1TB SATA-II, 7,200 RPM, 32MB Cache HDDs) CD ROM/DVD ROM - 6X Blu-ray Disc (BD) Burner and 24x CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) running system - precise home windows® 7 superb, 64bit, English and i admire intel more than amd.

Answer 4

i have almost the same config, its i7 & motherboard p67 b3

it can run all the games at around 60fps except crysis2(25-30fps)

Ur config will also work fine...

Answer 5

The only thing i would change is the psu and graphic card a 750 watt psu and get a gtx 580 , minecraft would be blown away at ultra settings with higher fps and good fps on the other games if not on a budget

Answer 6

dont worry about MC, basically any computer can run that game. As for bf3 and mw3 on the highest settings? You're computer will most likely handle it.

Answer 7

I happened to be one of the few people out there that would actually waste the money on a 550 Ti SLI setup. I had 2x EVGA 1GB FPB models and it could play BF3 on Ultra settings but the issue was the VRAM limitation of the cards, still having only 1 GB of VRAM in the SLI setup. The game would keep throttling back the VRAM usage and it incurred stuttering and severe FPS drops. So the experience was around 55-60 FPS with severe interruptions of 20-35 FPS. Cranking it down to the next lowest setting worked great and even with some of the graphics settings on Ultra, excluding the texture setting. So it is possible but it just sucks because of the lack of VRAM. This will occur in other large texture games such as Crysis 2. Skyrim doesn't seem to have an issue with the 550 Ti SLI setup, even with the high resolution textures DLC. In Skyrim, the typical GPU loads were around 90 percent, at about 62C each, and around only 700-900 MB VRAM usage.



In my case, and according to the benchmarks I did, including overclocked benchmarks, the 550 Ti SLI setup was very similar in performance to a 560 Ti if not a little better in most cases and very close to the performance of the GTX 570. But when you compare power usage and noise, 550 Ti SLI loses against any single card.



Just get the GTX 570. It's about the same price after rebate ($239).



Also, you're going need a better PSU. GTX 570 requires a min of 550W, so I'd go with something quality around 650-850W.



Make sure you buy fans to put in the case slots and get an aftermarket heatsink cooler if you plan on overclocking.