Help me build a new rig

[airmalik]

UPDATE - Here's what I ended up building (Sep 2012):

Intel Core i5 3570K $234.00
For gaming i7 doesn't make a big enough difference to justify cost difference.

Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H-WB $189.00
Has most features I was interested in. Bonus - you can run Hackintosh on it.

ASUS GTX 660 Ti $309
Currently sweet spot for price/performance IMO.

G Skill 16G(4x4G) DDR3 1600Mhz $95.00
Don't need more than 8GB but it didn't cost much so I got it. Will probably never use it (plan on upgrading in two years)

SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB SATA 6.0 $80
Got a good deal on Amazon. SSDs will reduce your game load times significantly.

Western Digital 1TB SATA3 HDD 64M Caviar Blue WD10EZEX $88.00
LGE CH12LS28 Black Blue Ray $55.00
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler $36.00
Thermaltake V3 Black Edition Mid Tower Case With 500W PSU $69.00

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:

Now that CoD appears to be running well for most people, I'd like to build a new rig to play this game that I bought on release.

I switched to Macs six years ago and haven't built a PC since then so a bit out of touch with the current state of PC hardware. I don't have a specific budget but would like to build a decent rig without going overboard ie. not interested in spending an extra 50% to get a 10% boost in performance. Bonus if I can run Hackintosh on it

I'm not married to any particular vendor so don't care about Intel, AMD, NVidia, ATI etc. as long as it doesn't have compatibility issues with CoD.

Of course I've started my research on Google but hoping to get your advice from a CoD perspective. For the first cut, I've simply looked at prices of the major components. I'll be refining this as I learn more about them.

CPU
i7 2700K @ $335 vs AMD FX 8150 @ $220
Is the performance difference enough to justify an extra $100 for the Intel? Is it more reliable? runs cooler? Will going the AMD route limit Mobo options?

Motherboard
Main features I'm looking for:
- reliability
- gigabit ethernet. Seems pretty standard.
- WiFi? Is this even available on mobos or do I need another card/dongle? Hoping to avoid adding any additional cards.
- USB3 (standard?)
- bluetooth
- on-board audio (seems standard)

Graphics Card
I used to own ATI cards in the past but NVidia seems to have fewer issues in CoD. Looking for whatever will cause fewer headaches/has better drivers (compatible with Hackintosh?)

Are the GTX670/7970 the minimum required for smooth gameplay in CoD? Am I going to regret going with anything less than them?

Other parts
RAM, SSD etc. will focus on these once I've decided on the above.

Thanks for any input.

cheers!

[Marmusman]

Welcome airmalik!!

I am no computer expert.....I got very lucky in purchasing a machine that runs CloD very well. I cannot help you on the Intel vs AMD debate, I have always had Intel.

I run all the highest Graphics Settings with no big issues.

My Machine Specs:
OS: Windows 7 Home Edition x64-bit
CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz
RAM: 16GB
VIDEO: Nvidia Geforce GTX 560 2GB <---This and CPU GHz "seem" to be the keys to good performance, IMHO.

As noted in bold above, a CPU MHz over 3.0 MHz and a graphics card with 2GB appear to be key factors in a smooth game at full graphics settings.

There is a recent thread here somewhere, I cannot seem to locate it right now.....it discusses the performance of 1 GB, 1.5 GB and 2 GB video cards running CloD....it included graphs and all kinds of crap....seemed like the 1 GB and 1.5 GB cards were reaching the end of their memory during certain peak periods of gameplay.

.

[kendo65]

In the last few years Intel have established a performance lead over AMD, so that's the route I'd go.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...lock,3106.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ck,3106-5.html

These links should be useful for you. The second link ranks every processor currently available - and the i7-2700K is ranked a few levels above the AMD FX8150.

Having said that so are a host of other cheaper Intel chips (including my Sandy Bridge i5-2500k, which is still up there despite being a year old)

One factor as to which Intel chip you go for will be whether you would benefit from the hyper-threading used in the i7 chips [i7-2700K has it]. It can provide a performance boost in some applications (eg video editing) but it is of little or no benefit for gaming. Generally unless you have a specific need for it it doesn't really justify the extra expense over the non-hyperthreaded i5 chips.

Also, if you may consider overclocking at some point then get a 'K' suffixed CPU as they have unlocked multipliers.

If you're really "not interested in spending an extra 50% to get a 10% boost in performance." then I'd advise you to save yourself about $100 and get one of the K-suffix Core i5 Ivy Bridge chips (Tom's Hardware recommend the i5-3570K at ~$230). Put the money saved towards a better video card instead.

On graphics the gtx670 is the current sweetspot from nvidia, offering most of the performance of the gtx680 for considerably less. Not too familiar with the AMD offerings currently but I believe after recent driver improvements they are now pretty much neck and neck with nvidia.

[airmalik]

Originally Posted by Marmusman

As noted in bold above, a CPU MHz over 3.0 MHz and a graphics card with 2GB appear to be key

Thanks Marmus. Good info.

cheers!

[WP_saipan]

it comes down to money. how much do u want to spend. MB, Vcard and CPU are the top 3 expenses. i prefer asus boards, intel cpu and evga cards. i run clod with no issues.

[ScoutBoy888]

Hey, I have a pretty good PC that can run CloD on the highest settings with about 50-80 FPS and sometimes even above that. I dont really know about the prices and stuff since I dont live nor bought my PC in the US. but who knows maybe you will find it useful.
So my PC specs are:

CPU: i7 3770k 3.5 GHz
Video Card : Asus GTX 670 2GB TOP edition (Its a Nvidia card)
RAM: GSKILL 16GB

Im running it on Windows 7 64bit, and 2.5TB of storage.
I hope this helps you get a nice PC to run everything on Max, again I dont know about the prices for this parts.

[airmalik]

Thanks to everyone that helped. I thought I'd post an update on what I ended up building (prices in AUD):

Intel Core i5 3570K $234.00
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H-WB $189.00
ASUS GTX 660 Ti $309
G Skill 16G(4x4G) DDR3 1600Mhz $95.00
SanDisk Extreme SSD 120 GB SATA 6.0 $80
Western Digital 1TB SATA3 HDD 64M Caviar Blue WD10EZEX $88.00
LGE CH12LS28 Black Blue Ray $55.00
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler $36.00
Thermaltake V3 Black Edition Mid Tower Case With 500W PSU $69.00

+

Track IR 5
Saitek Pedals
Thrustmaster TFlight HotasX

So far pretty happy with this setup. CLOD runs smoothly. I haven't tried to record framerates because I'd like to get a feel of how the game performs first without getting caught up in numbers.

Bonus - this setup with the exception of bluetooth and bluray works great as a Hackintosh too. I've got Windows 7 installed on the SSD and OSX on the HD.

[kendo65]

Glad that you got it up and running and are happy with it.

Nice spec - should be good for a few years!

[DoolittleRaider]

Hope you all don't mind. Now that Airmalik has completed his new Rig, rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd just jump in here and post my "Draft" Rig plan....This is based upon a selection of options for a CyberPower Rig.

I'm 99% disposed this time to simply order a pre-packaged Rig rather than my researching and mixing and matching separately purchased (cheaper) components and have it lashed together by a local Computer-"builder' for a fee. I've done that twice before.

First...Does anyone have an opinion on CyberPower as a company? reliability? customer service?

Second...below, are my current selected components, on which I would welcome any comments/suggestions. I'm a little foggy on the liquid cooling versus Case fans set up, as I have never had water liquid cooling before. I want to be sure my Case and Liquid Cooling elements are compatible.

I intend to do NO overclocking (so no concern with OC increases in heat, etc). I am not interested in anything related to 3D graphics/monitors, etc.

I am primarily interested in flight sim and other military-related gaming, and I want this Rig to last five years.Currently at 69 yrs old, I don't plan much further out than that.

Proposed CyberPower Rig:

• CASE: Azza Fusion 4000 Super Full-Tower 2-in-1 Gaming Case w/ Dual System Support, Dual PSU Support, 1x 140mm & 2x 120mm Fans, Front USB 3.0, HDD Easy Swap, 480MM Liquid Cooling Ready Drive


• FAN: CyberPower Xtreme Hydro Liquid Cooling Kit 240MM w/ Dual Fan (CPU & GPU Liquid Cool Capable, Extreme Overclocking Performance + Extreme Silent at 18dBA)
• CASE FAN: Maximum Enermax 120MM Case Cooling Fans (1,000 RPM)

• POWERSUPPLY: 1,200 Watts - Cooler Master Silent Pro 80 Plus Gold Power Supply ( 80 Plus Gold)

• MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H Intel Z77 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ IRST, Lucid Virtu MVP, Ultra Durable4, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, Display Port, 3x Gen3 PCIe X16, 3x PCIe x1 & 1 PCI (All Venom OC Certified)

• CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3770K 3.50 GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 (Factory 20% OC)

• MEMORY: 16GB (4GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Vengeance)

• VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 4GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card

• HDD: 120GB Corsair Force GT Series SATA-III 6.0 Gb/s SSD - 555MB/s Read & 515MB/s Write (Single Drive)

• HDD2: Two SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD’s in Raid 1 configuration

• CD: LG 12X Internal Blu-ray Drive & DVDRW, 3D Playback Combo

• MONITOR: 24" Widescreen 1920x1080 ASUS VS247H-P LCD

• MOUSE: AZZA Optical 1600dpi Gaming Mouse

• SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO

• SPEAKERS: Logitech Z-506 5.1 Surround Speakers + Subwoofer System