Topic: Computer stuff and the upcoming Intel Sandy Bridge processor.

[Pugnate]

Recently I got a GTX 460 1GB, and while I've seen a general improvement in most games, I've hardly felt anything in the game I seem to be playing the most these days, i.e. Civilization 5. The thing is that Civ 5 is a very CPU dependent game. In fact, in many ways, it runs better on my laptop's core i5 mobile, than my desktop's C2D. That would seem obvious, but most games being GPU dependent, wouldn't do that, especially on a laptop's crappy nvidia mobile gpu.

So my little cousin's dad had tasked me to build a computer for him. They built a really nice system, and I brought it home last night:

Core i5 760 -- which is a quadcore 2.8 and ridiculously fast
Radeon 4890
600 watts coolermaster PSU
6 GB DDR3 RAM

This is a really really fast machine. It was running games like Crysis, Civ5 so smoothly, I could hardly believe it. With so many games taking advantage of 4 cores now, it really makes sense to go for a four core processor. It made a massive difference to the minimum framerates from what I saw last night.

If anyone is interested, here is a graph of how CPU dependent Civ5 is: (none of the GPUs are making much difference)



Anyway, I am definitely going to go for a new CPU/Mobo really soon.

If anyone is interested, Intel's next big processor is coming on the 5th of Jan or so. Codenamed Sandy Bridge, this thing is the next step, with Intel not having anything new on the roadmap for the next two years after. It is apparently 30% faster than the current core i series, with a lot more potential for overclocking.

Asus have already announced the P67 mobos for this beast. USB 3.0 is standard.

I like the look:




The Sabertooth P67 looks so sweet.

[gpw11]

Shit, if games are really all starting to run poorly on dual core it looks like my PC gaming days may be over.  It's hard to justify $300 + on a new mobo, ram, and CPU.  For some reason a PS3 just seems like a better "investment" (and I've still been sitting on that for roughly two years now).

[Pugnate]

Yea dude, I was in the same boat as you. Have to say, while playing a PS3 game on a full HD plasma is really nice... there really is nothing like PC gaming. It took me a few hours of Civilization 5 to realize that.

It isn't that bad though. Civ5 is a very CPU dependent game, and is probably one of the few triple A titles that is coded like that.

[Pugnate]

So apparently the upcoming Sandy Bridge processor should have a GPU capabilities as good as low end discrete cards:

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers/first-intel-sandy-bridge-quad-core-benchmarks-nearly-as-fast-as-core-i7-980x-could-make-low-end-graphics-cards-obsolete/3733

In other words, it can offer playable frame rates at low settings (and low resolutions) for games like Batman: Arkham Asylum, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, and Dawn of War II. It won’t satisfy most gamers, but it means you can smoothly play World of Warcraft on a mainstream laptop without a lot of hiccups (though not with many graphical flourishes).

[beo]

i'm toying with the idea of getting into pc hardware again...

if i did take the plunge, i'd want to start out with a setup that is dead cheap but has upgrade potential. price is a major factor, since i'm having a hard time justifying this to myself. at the moment, my pc takes the role of my media centre, but can not do 1080p video (it struggles with 720p) - this needs to be rectified. gaming is not a big priority, but if i can play starcraft 2, and also have some room to upgrade in time for deus ex 3 - all the better.

my shopping list is as follows:

4gb's of ram.
onboard video capable of smooth 1080p video playback (or a super cheap graphics card).
motherboard that is capable of taking a decent processor, but that i can also sling a dirt cheap one in for the time being.
the afore mentioned dirt cheap processor.

any suggestions?

ooh, also a SSD for the OS, if there's anything with a good enough price / performance .

[beo]

well i went for it. i want a quad core rig, but can't really afford it, so went for the dual core Phenom II x2 555 BE, which apparently has a very good chance of unlocking to 4 cores. i'm not counting on the unlock working, but it certainly would be very nice!

I also got 4gigs of corsair xm3 and the gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H motherboard - due to cheapness, on-board graphics and the ability to unlock cores on the Phenom.

this should tide me over for the time being, but i've already planned stage 2. looking at the radeon 5770, an intel ssd and a blu ray drive.

damnit, i thought i was done with this expensive hobby... 

[Pugnate]

Congrats Beo!

Yea... you always think you are done... but PCs just keep drawing you back.

[scottws]

The world of PCs has changed quite a bit though.  I built my current desktop just before Vista was even released and it still feels new, well other than the fact that I had the original motherboard croak on me in the last six months.  It still seems to run everything I play fast and Windows 7 fully supports all of my devices.

[Cobra951]

Diminishing returns.  Computer tech is good enough to do what we need and want.  Storage, memory, I/O, networking, audio and video are covered.  Same goes for consoles.  I'm not saying thing can't be improved, because obviously they can.  But those would be incremental, not revolutionary as with generations past.

[beo]

suhweeeet! just got it all up and running - all four cores unlocked, and i've now got a decent quad core for a ridiculously low price. now to overclock this bitch and fuck about with ram timings. oh pc hardware, how i've missed you.

[Xessive]

ASUS-Automobili Lamborghini VX7

For a 15.6" performance gaming notebook that is sexy. Needless to say I nearly climaxed in mis pantalones.