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natholas

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Jun 19, 2012
Hi Everyone. I am going to be ordering the parts for my new pc soon and I would like your opinions on what would be better.

Something to keep in mind is that this pc needs to be "good" at allot of things.. I need it for my 3D application (blender) Video editing (premiere) and also for gaming.

My budget is under £600 and here is what I have so far:

Option 1:

Mobo: ASUS AM3+ SABERTOOTH 990FX S/L
CPU: FX-8120
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD7770 (will upgrade to a second 7770 in a few months)
RAM: 6gb DDR3 1600mhz Corsair Vengeance
PSU: corsair 600w
Storage: 500gb HDD
Case: Zalman Z11 Plus


Option 2

Mobo: ASUS L8Z77-v LX
CPU: i5-3570k
GPU: GTX-560
RAM: 6gb DDR3 1600mhz Corsair Vengeance
PSU: corsair 600w
Storage: 500gb HDD
Case: Zalman Z11 Plus


I will add an ssd when they become a bit cheaper as well as an aftermarket cooler (probably the noctua nh-d14) so that I can overclock the cpu when I get some more money (both options).

So please give me some advice as to which is better and why. I am also open to other alternatives!

Thanks
 
I would think option 2...especially if the apps you use (blender/premier) can use gpu acceleration. Not to mention it has a better GPU.

I wouldnt crossfireX 7770's. They are two low end cards and that slams the door shut on upgrades outside of scraping them. at least with a 560ti that will play most games full tilt now (MUCH faster than 7770).
 
Ye but also 50% more expensive.. (£140 instead of £100)
Another thing is that I have heard so many good things about the sabertooth motherboard.. How does the L8Z77-v LX compare?
 
Motherboards for this(Intel) generation do not matter much at all. Any overclocking would be done with the multiplier and not the bclk. Just make sure it has the features you need and you will be fine with any midrange priced board.
 
Ok.. does this one look good?
Asus P8Z68-V LX

BTW what does the "LX" stand for?
 
Best bang/buck gaming card is actually the 7850, to give you an idea of price. But you'd want to stick to NVIDIA, as their CUDA acceleration is the most widely used for non-gaming applications.

LX is just ASUS's low end designation.

Are you planning to ever run dual cards? You might want a bit more PSU for dual cards, but if you want to stick to single you can go less.

If you want a slightly cheaper cooler that still has very good performance, you could look at the TRUE Spirit 140.
 
If I end up going with the 560 then I will stick with 1 card.. Yes The 3D program that I use can take advantage of cuda cores for GPU rendering. Ok I had a better look on the asus website and it looks like the Asus P8Z68-V LX has all of the features that I need.. My amazon cart is now at £599.. You said that I could go with a weaker psu? like 500w or 550?
 
Ok Is the overclocked asus version worth buying? or should I go with this one?

EDIT: I just read a review that said that the Cheaper Zotac one has a cheap fan and squeels :/ Noise is quite important for me as I will be rendering stuff (on the GPU) over night and over weekends and stuff..
 
Last edited:
You could get an LX 5.0 back in the day... but more or less, yes.


natholas said:
Ok Is the overclocked asus version worth buying? or should I go with this one?

EDIT: I just read a review that said that the Cheaper Zotac one has a cheap fan and squeels :/ Noise is quite important for me as I will be rendering stuff (on the GPU) over night and over weekends and stuff..
Click to expand...
As far as this, instead of spending more on a factory overclocked card (which you can do yourself in seconds) get the 560ti.
 
Ok So I have decided that the 560 is final..

Now I just think that the i5 3570k is a little expensive.. Is there anything that I could downgrade to? either amd or intel that would not be too much worse but would be less money?
 
EarthDog said:
You could get an LX 5.0 back in the day... but more or less, yes.


As far as this, instead of spending more on a factory overclocked card (which you can do yourself in seconds) get the 560ti.
Click to expand...

I saw one today, lol. But I wasn't sure if it was one that had a parts swap.
 
The 560ti is £160 though.. is it really allot better?

EDIT: The 560 is £140

Also I still need to know.. should I get a 500, 550 or 600w psu? (80+ ofcourse)
 
You see significant gains in video cards all the way up to the GTX670.

80+ is also not an indicator of quality. ;)

Capture.JPG
 
Last edited:
natholas said:
No it is an indicator of efficiency right? which shows quality..
Click to expand...

Nope. Correlation, not causation. There are non 80+ PSUs that are very solid, and 80+ PSUs that are utter crap. All efficiency does is reduce your power bill (say your computer is drawing 400W, with an 80% efficient PSU, you're drawing 500W from the wall).

PSU quality is usually determined by, in general, how stable the voltages are. This is measured in a number of ways, the ripple on the line, the overshoot if you start a PSU loaded, etc, etc. If you go read a review over at Jonnyguru.com, that'll give you a good idea of what to look for in a quality PSU.
 
Ok fair enough.. but anyway I am pretty sold worth corsair.. so the main question is if I should go with their 500w or their 600w..
 
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