Please suggest a game development build. (Edit: Is the upgrade worth it?)

[Milt]

Hey everyone. I've been thinking that it's time to check out a new build now that dx11 is here.

I've been looking around the past few weeks reading up on what parts people have been talking about. Offhand I'm thinking of a build using an i7 920, x58 board, HD5850 (two if it comes under budget), and about 8-12 gigs of ram but would welcome some suggestions.

I'm ok with spending a little more on the motherboard and psu as I plan to add/upgrade the system over time. It should support crossfire. Needs to have a b-ray rom/dvd-rw combo drive and a copy of windows 7 Home 64bit.


1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Game art creation and gaming. Making high end gaming art usually needs a few more horses than playing the games.


2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
Approx. $1500, taxes in. I have an extra +$200 for wiggle room.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
Canada

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
While not a fanboy I do have a preference for Intel chips. Also, I really don't want nvidia's 470/480 cards because of their heat and power consumption. I'm open to the rest.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Replacing the whole tower except for my HDDs. Keeping my two lcd monitors, kb, mouse, tablet, speakers.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
I have read similar threads and read reviews on different parts.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Depends on the ease of the OC and how much i can get with stock cooling.

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
July.

9. What resolution do you use?
Currently 2048 x 1152 + 1680 x 1050.


EDIT from below:
I didn't realize how expensive it would be to build an i7 920 system. I've reworked my budget and it turns out I actually have a limit of $1700 but I'm not sure if the performance increase with the new system is worth it. I can't save parts in the tower (aside from the hdd) because I would be selling it complete to someone to help pay for the new one.

If the system's performance increase is marginal then adding an ATI card to my current system would give me the dx11 capabilities that I need and be much cheaper.

It's a shame the gtx470 runs so damn hot or I could have kept an sli setup (70c idle with two monitors?!).

So is the performance increase worth $1500? what do you guys think?

New build:
i7 920 D0 (OC to 4gig)
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
Mushkin Enhanced Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Model 998805 6-8-6-24 1.65v
GIGABYTE GV-R585OC-1GD Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16

VS

Current build with new video card:
Intel q6600
MSI p7n Platinum 750i
6Gig Muskin Ram DDR2 800 6400
ATI HD5870 factory OC (Maybe keep an 8800gt for physx?)
CorsairTX 750w


Thanks!

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

[_dangtx_]

Just fyi, the system I'm upgrading from:
Intel q6600
MSI Platinum 750
6Gig OCZ Ram (forgot which)
XFX 8800gt Alpha Dog 512 x2
CorsairTX 750w




^^


perhaps xeon 3440? or amd hexa 1055. keep the psu. keep the ram if you go amd.unless its ddr3 then ported to xeon as well.
video card wise...hmmm..id say 5870 but if you get the 470/480 to do work for you, then go for that one.


you can probably sell the plat and 6600 as a bundle for 200 bucks give 20 or so :)

[Milt]

Thanks for the reply dangtx. There was a bit of info i forgot to include with my original post (added now). I'm selling the old tower to help fund my new one. The ram is ddr2 6500 i think and I reaallly want to keep the psu but can't.

Thanks for the chip suggestions! I'll be looking those up later today.

Cheers!

[steers]

Just thought I'd throw an i7 build together real quick to give you an idea of what you're looking at.

i7 930 - $310
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R - $224
3x2GB G.Skill Pi-series DDR3-1600 - $215
XFX Radeon 5850 - $330
Silverstone Strider 850 Plus - $145

(Unpricematched from NCIX)

So without a case or hard disks, an average i7 build already maxes your budget before taxes. I think you might want to think about going i5 or AMD instead (try a 6-core Thuban!)

[Milt]

I didn't realize how expensive it would be to build an i7 920 system. I've reworked my budget and it turns out I actually have a limit of $1700 but I'm not sure if the performance increase with the new system is worth it. I can't save parts in the tower (aside from the hdd) because I would be selling it complete to someone to help pay for the new one.

If the system's performance increase is marginal then adding an ATI card to my current system would give me the dx11 capabilities that I need and be much cheaper.

It's a shame the gtx470 runs so damn hot or I could have kept an sli setup (70c idle with two monitors?!).

So is the performance increase worth $1500? what do you guys think?

New build:
i7 920 D0 (OC to 4gig)
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
Mushkin Enhanced Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Model 998805 6-8-6-24 1.65v
GIGABYTE GV-R585OC-1GD Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16

VS

Current build with new video card:
Intel q6600
MSI p7n Platinum 750i
6Gig Muskin Ram DDR2 800 6400
ATI HD5870 factory OC (Maybe keep an 8800gt for physx?)
CorsairTX 750w


Thanks!

[Rison]

People need to get past the over-hyping of power consumption and heat from the 470/480. And that's all i'm going to say about that.

Moving forward... Don't get the 920 D0, get a 930. It's cheaper and faster. Unless you got a smokin deal on a 920 :)
There is another option other than six core AMD or x58 setup, which is going 1156.
An 1156 motherboard is cheaper, and the dual channel ram is about $115 for 4 gig, rather than $180 for 6 gig. (able to upgrade to 8 gig later if budget isn't there)
The i5 750 is a solid performer in games (as most games only use 4 core anyways) and highly overclockable.

[phoenixrage]

the higher temps of the 400 series is only on full 100% load, i would like to see some figures on how much heat is actually generated while playing games. Either way though, they idle 30 C lower than my current 8800GTX's.. LOL.

I have been looking at a new setup for the past couple months.. so here's what I would do. (almost what i'm actually doing).

i7 930 w/ Megahalems
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R (first board i was going with, but then went with Asus R3E cause i like more options and better chipset cooling - originally planning on going up from UD3R to UD5.. or 7.. but then at that point I decided to go crazy a bit with the mobo)
G skill Pi 1600 as listed previously
EVGA GTX470 superclocked with the updated rear bracket and back heatspreader. if budget premits.. go 2 in SLI.
Enermax Revolution 950W is my power supply choice, you can pick anything you prefer.
and I'm switching to an FT-02 case, hoping the rotated orientation will help keep some temps down.