Computer build help

[Shini]

The 7950 is actually MUCH better than the 660, hence the price difference. It is on par with the 670. Most of the reviews and benchmarks you see are from when the 7950 first launched and had poorly optimized drivers. There was a big update since then and now the 7950 is the best "high end on a budget" card for most games, especially at higher resolutions. If I were buying a new card today I'd buy the 7950 over my 670.

Summary: 660 is adequate for decent settings, 7950 will run max settings. It is worth the extra money IF you want to spring for a better card.

660 is adequate for ultra settings on a lot of games, high settings on some of the crazy ones...Granted this is at 1920x1080, assuming that's what OP's reso will be.

If he needs the extra oomph he can do an OC on the 660 easy.

I have 660m (mobile version) and I think we all know mobile versions are way less powerful than their desktop counterparts...I haven't had any problems cranking up the settings on any of the games I play except for shadows in WoW I do have to turn those down in certain area's.

 

[nouse4aname]

Yeah one running at 50fps and the other at 60fps in a game isn't going to be noticeable anyway. The 7950 will probably buy you an extra couple years of 'future proofing' though since the hardware is there.

 

[AlfaMikeF0xtr0t]

Eh, I'm sick of waiting, so I just pulled the trigger and placed the order. I did swap the H80i for the Hyper 212. If I do try to understand overclocking in the future and need more cooling I'll get a water cooler.

Four of the items I got had promo codes I realized, got $54 off for nothing.

I highly doubt anything will start to arrive by the end of the week, so I guess this should give me something to do one day next week. Now I just have to clean up my desk area and reorganize some stuff and make room for everything.

 

[Elchinophil]

Just order it now and pull the trigger!.

Corsair H50 is also an option if you still want to do water cooled. I like the video card selection . Do it ! WOOT WOOT.

 

[socal87]

I don't know why people try to go for max FPS. If you're running at a minimum of 60FPS, it'll be smooth enough. I remember when 40FPS was good enough for me (because I couldn't afford better hardware). The average human eye can't distinguish any difference above 60; it varies slightly for some people, I like at least 75.

THAT being said, if your hardware can comfortably run current games at 1080p at max settings at a ridiculous framerate, you're more or less future proofed for a good while up to the point where your hardware can't maintain 60 FPS.

 

[Shini]

Eh, I'm sick of waiting, so I just pulled the trigger and placed the order. I did swap the H80i for the Hyper 212. If I do try to understand overclocking in the future and need more cooling I'll get a water cooler.

Four of the items I got had promo codes I realized, got $54 off for nothing.

I highly doubt anything will start to arrive by the end of the week, so I guess this should give me something to do one day next week. Now I just have to clean up my desk area and reorganize some stuff and make room for everything.

Hyper 212 is cool. I got one of those for the wifes computer. That's what I was suggesting you get I just could remember if your case would permit such a large unit in it

OC'ing a Graphics card is the easiest thing in the world to do. google MSI Afterburner, download, install, done. Just becareful if your card doesn't have a cap in the vBIOS it'll let you move the sliding bar to places your card can't handle, good news is there's preventative measures at work so if you DO put it at too high a clock for the card to do it'll just BSOD and restart your computer. But yeah, if you ever venture to that we'll all be here to give you our collective .02 cents lol

a CPU is a little more involved, usually requires a trip to your Bios and it's not a simple +___ Clock like a video card is, it's percentage based...or atleast it was way back when I was into desktops and OC'd my Quad core lol...every laptop I've had since has had a locked bios

I don't know why people try to go for max FPS. If you're running at a minimum of 60FPS, it'll be smooth enough. I remember when 40FPS was good enough for me (because I couldn't afford better hardware). The average human eye can't distinguish any difference above 60; it varies slightly for some people, I like at least 75.

THAT being said, if your hardware can comfortably run current games at 1080p at max settings at a ridiculous framerate, you're more or less future proofed for a good while up to the point where your hardware can't maintain 60 FPS.

I think 75 is good. You always want to overshoot your FPS a little because in games there's always that one area or scene that's more demanding than the rest, that way when you hit it, it still plays at a the FPS you want. I don't like any less than 30, but really any less than 40 is what I look for, I always try to keep mine at about 60 though. Kind of just depends on the game.

 

[socal87]

Alpha, there's one incredibly important item missing from your list....

 

[AlfaMikeF0xtr0t]

Just order it now and pull the trigger!.

I did. But my bank apparently didn't like seeing such a large purchase and declined the charge, had to call them to square it all away.

OC'ing a Graphics card is the easiest thing in the world to do. google MSI Afterburner, download, install, done. Just becareful if your card doesn't have a cap in the vBIOS it'll let you move the sliding bar to places your card can't handle, good news is there's preventative measures at work so if you DO put it at too high a clock for the card to do it'll just BSOD and restart your computer. But yeah, if you ever venture to that we'll all be here to give you our collective .02 cents lol

I'll do that. I figure I have some more digging to do anyways. Hoping to find some good software to be able to monitor temps/performance on everything to see where cooling improvements need to be made.

 

[nouse4aname]

There are some push button cpu overclock motherboards out there too like my MSI-Z77A. Doesn't get much easier than that.

 

[Shini]

Alpha, there's one incredibly important item missing from your list....

^ this

There are some push button cpu overclock motherboards out there too like my MSI-Z77A. Doesn't get much easier than that.

Back in my day we had to walk up in hill in the snow to OC..

 

[socal87]

Back in my day we had to walk up in hill in the snow to OC...

I remember when we had to manually select jumpers on the boards, WHILE walking uphill, in the snow, both ways, with a boner!

 

[nouse4aname]

I remember when we had to manually select jumpers on the boards, WHILE walking uphill, in the snow, both ways, with a boner!

Don't forget while also cutting up your hands on the rough/sharp metal edges in the case in cramped spaces because who would ever want to do that back then?

 

[Do Work Son]

Grants on the build, it's always fun. You'll be glad you bought a nice case, that one is much better than anything from Rosewill.

 

[socal87]

Don't forget while also cutting up your hands on the rough/sharp metal edges in the case in cramped spaces because who would ever want to do that back then?

Wait a minute...how has THAT changed?!

 

[nouse4aname]

Don't know what cases you've been using but lately even the interior bits are finished nicely with soft rounded edges rather than the jagged metal of days gone by. Not to mention easier access.