Is This a Good Computer?

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by Zexograph, Sep 26, 2010.

  1. Zexograph

    Zexograph MDL Novice

    Sep 26, 2010
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    #1 Zexograph, Sep 26, 2010
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2010
    I was looking to buy a new computer, and I customized one on Dell.com. Please tell me if this is any good!

    Here are some of the games I was hoping to be able to run:

    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
    DiRT 2
    Far Cry
    Crysis
    All the Valve Games (Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead, Portal, Alien Swarm, Garry's Mod)
    Grand Theft Auto IV
    Mirror's Edge

    Please tell me if you think it will be possible to play those games at decent settings on the following computer:

    --
    Alienware Aurora

    PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™ i7 920 2.66GHz (8MB Cache) Quad Core Processor
    OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
    VIDEO CARD: Dual 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon™ HD 5670 CrossfireX™ Enabled
    MEMORY: 6GB Triple Channel 1333Mhz DDR3
    HARD DRIVE: 500GB - SATA-II, 3Gb/s, 7,200RPM, 16MB Cache HDD
    OPTICAL DRIVE: Single Drive: 24X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
    SOUND CARD: Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    --

    About the video card - I read online that the ATI Radeon HD 5670 wasn't a great video card for gaming - but they weren't using it with Crossfire X, or dual video cards.

    (Would it be better to get the dual ATI Radeon HD 5670 or a "Single 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon™ HD 5870"?)

    Thanks - I just want to make sure I customized it well enough before buying it :)
     
  2. burfadel

    burfadel MDL EXE>MSP/CAB

    Aug 19, 2009
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    A single 5870 will be better, crossfire can be a little funny at times. The 5670 certainly isn't a gaming card anyway, in terms of crossfire its really much more beneficial to have dual 5770's, which perform very well when crossfire works properly! Keeping all this in mind, the 6xxx series ATI's will be coming out soon, and the performance should make it a worthy upgrade if you decide to have a single 5770 at the moment. A single 5770 can play all those games. Keep in mind though Crysis can be a demanding engine when every setting is maxed out, and visually you may not even really notice the differences. GTA IV uses a pig of an engine, and despite what some people will argue it performs much worse than it should. It also can be dicey between different setups, and is heavily CPU dependent.

    The i7 920 is also an old processor, it has been replaced by the faster i7 930 which costs the same or even less. If you get an i7 920 now it is definitely old stock. Also note the new Intel CPU's will be out very soon, and they are not compatible with the current motherboards. It would be beneficial to wait for these if you can!

    So, here's some pointers:
    - CPU (and hence motherboard) very, very soon to be completely obsolete.
    - Video card choice very soon to be superceded

    If you can, go for DDR3-1600, its
     
  3. msmmpts

    msmmpts MDL Member

    Sep 25, 2010
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    Will intel launch new cpu`s this year?
     
  4. Zexograph

    Zexograph MDL Novice

    Sep 26, 2010
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    Hey burfadel! Thanks for replying. The suggestions you made don't seem to be work out with Dell's limited options. But.. has anyone heard of or used Cyber Power PC? They seem to offer a "STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT" built in to the price.. Anyway, for cheaper than what I would have gotten for Dell, this is what I was able to customize at Cyber Power PC (again, has anyone had any experiences, good or bad, with this company?) Cyber Power PC had a lot of listed options, below you will find the ones I chose that I thought were the most important for you to know.

    CASE: Apevia X-Dreamer 3 Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ Side-Panel Window & Temperature Display (Black Color with Blue Ring & Blue LED Fan)
    # FAN: NZXT Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA)
    # POWERSUPPLY: * 850 Watts - CoolerMaster Silent Pro Gaming 80 Plus Power Supply [+75]
    * CPU: [Special] Intel® Core™ i7-950 3.06 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1366
    * HDD: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Hard Drive)
    * MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module [+18] (Corsair or Major Brand)
    * MOTHERBOARD: * (3-Way SLI Support) GigaByte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Ultra Durable™3 Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 Dolby Audio, eSATA, GbLAN, USB3.0, 2 x SATA-III RAID, IEEE1394a, 4 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1 & 1 PCI
    * SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
    * VIDEO: ATI Radeon HD 5830 1GB GDDR5 16X PCIe Video Card [-15] (Major Brand Powered by ATI)

    The things that were confusing to me were the Case, Fan, Motherboard, and PSU. I don't think the case is that important seeing as how they're building it for me. The fan looks OK - is 120 MM good? The PSU also looks good (Cyber Power PC recommends 700 W for the system, so 850 W should be plenty)

    As for the motherboard, I have absolutely no idea what any of it means. How do I pick a good motherboard, and is the one listed there good enough? I tried Googling some information on it.. but it's very confusing.

    So, to recap:

    - Has anyone heard of or used Cyber Power PC?
    - Are those specs (and the fan) any good?
    - How do I pick a good motherboard?
     
  5. .Matt.

    .Matt. MDL Novice

    Jan 10, 2010
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    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  6. Zexograph

    Zexograph MDL Novice

    Sep 26, 2010
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    Yeah, I might switch out the case, and the system IS looking good for the price..

    So, does anyone have any experiences with Cyber Power PC? It seems a bit too good to be true... I mean, if you look online there are a lot of bad reviews. But at the same time, there are people who have had horrible experiences with companies such as Dell and HP, too.

    In fact, on "Reseller Ratings" Cyber Power PC has a higher rating than Dell and HP.

    And yet I've ordered working computers from Dell in the past, and know people who have ordered them from HP. So I'm not really sure what to do, as I don't know anyone personally who has ordered from Cyber Power. They're supposed to have horrible tech support, but Dell had bad tech support too when I called in the past. When the Vista that came with the laptop I got became flagged as non-genuine, they're only suggestion was to reformat the computer from the Recovery Drive.

    Sorry for ranting, but I'm at a loss as to what I should do now o_O
     
  7. ExpL0

    ExpL0 MDL Novice

    Sep 11, 2010
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    You should not buy a OEM PC, buy all parts singulary and then build the PC yourself, thats much cheaper!

    To have a good PC which can run the games you want to play look for this (You can´t run them all on highest settings, but you will able to run them without any laggs when you make settings lower):

    i7 930
    Nvidia GTS 450
    4-6 GB DDR3 Ram
    Take a MotherBoard with Socket 1366 and atleast 1 PCI-E 16* Slot (2 when you want to SLI with a 2nd GTS 450)
    Then take a normal HDD, depends on how much space you need, but 1TB aren´t that expensive
    Look for a case with good cooling possibilities, with atleast 1 Case Cooler, but I´d advice to use 3 or more Case Fans for a good System cooling!

    Well, it´s always more cheap to build and buy the System yourself, but If you aren´t experienced with PC´s it´s better if you just buy an OEM, but an Alienware isn´t needed. They are simply too expensive, there are also PC´s from other BRands which are strong enough to run these Games!
     
  8. Zexograph

    Zexograph MDL Novice

    Sep 26, 2010
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    This is a computer I customized at the Digital Storm Online website. Please tell me if this a good build! As you can see I'm looking at a bit cheaper price point than my previous builds on this thread.

    --
    Case: Cooler Master Elite 430
    Processor: Intel Core i5 760 2.8GHz (Quad Core)
    Motherboard: Motherboard: EVGA P55M SLI
    Memory: 4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz (Digital Storm Certified)
    Power Supply: 750W Corsair TX
    Hard Drive: 1TB Hitachi/Seagate (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache)
    Optical Drive: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x/CD-Writer 48x)
    Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB
    Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
    OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
    --

    How's the processor now? Will it still be able to run Crysis/GTA IV (at medium settings) with at least 30 minimum FPS?
     
  9. rongh

    rongh MDL Novice

    Oct 13, 2010
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    In response to the Cyberpower questions, I can tell you that I recently purchased such a system and the NZXT Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) is extremely noisy. The fan noise is unbearable. I have been unable to get Cyberpower to respond to this issue. I am not sure as to what to do, but overall I am very unhappy with my configuration, and with Cyberpower.
     
  10. Hazar

    Hazar MDL Guru

    Jul 29, 2009
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    Build your own PC and you'll get exactly what you want.