[Arwin]

What should I buy now as a base model? It doesn't necssarily have to have a top of the line GPU right now as I will likely buy one separately (and have a r6670 lying around currently that I may put in there). And I will probably add an SSD myself (base models including one are currently typically way too expensive).

So, any tips? What is worth it at the CPU front? It seems that the 2nd gen quad core i7s seem reasonably priced. I've seen strange memory constrictions though for PCs that apparently come with 6GB and have that also as their maximum capacity, which seems strange. For the heck of it I'm tempted to build something from the ground up again myself, if the combination of components is worth it over something I can buy pre-built (for 60 euro difference for the same components, I'm not building myself)

[HMBR]

if you want to keep the 6670 and have higher gaming performance, you could try the AMD A8 3870k and use in dual graphics (crossfire), I would rather have a faster single VGA but...
also the A8 is not particularly fast, at best as fast as an old PII X4 (like the 940)... but I've seen some great deals for llano lately (since it's going to be replaced by Trinity later this year)...

but it would be good to know what is the intended use (gaming?)...
the i7 sounds excessive to me for someone using a 6670...

[ToTTenTranz]

First, you need to decide your ceiling. The difference between 400 and 600€ is huge.

Assuming you already have an ATX/mATX with at least a decent mid/low end power supply and you'll also need to spend ~120€ on a SSD, I think the best option right now is to go with a LGA1155 system.

[Arwin]

Ceiling is basically 600, without the graphics card or SSD at the moment. Just want to know what I can get. Needs to last 5 years in some form or other, but I'm considering something I can use for gaming to cross-over the period from now until next-gen hits. You're probably right that i7 is overkill, but I don't want just dual core either, as I have a feeling that will be the first bottleneck for some of the stuff we'd want to do with it (gaming, video editing), whereas plugging in a better video card will remain fairly easy for the next three years I presume.

[Dr Evil]

Might be a little bit cumbersome, but getting a second hand X58 platform (1st gen i7) would be cheap and powerful enough for your purposes imo. You could either buy the components from different sources or a whole machine from someone who has or is upgrading. You should be able to save a pretty penny and put that into your pocket and/or purchase a more powerful GPU.

Of course Haswell is coming next year

[green.pixel]

Originally Posted by Arwin

What is worth it at the CPU front? It seems that the 2nd gen quad core i7s seem reasonably priced.

Perhaps 3rd gen. i5 models are a better choice? For example, i5-3570K. If you don't need boost from the additional cache and Hyper-Threading support for workloads which benefit from them, buying an i7, either 2nd or 3rd gen, isn't worth spending more money.

[Albuquerque]

Yeah, the i5-2500k was THE value leader for price vs performance on the Intel front; the i5-3570k has basically replaced it. For nearly all workloads outside of a few niches, the quad core 3.4+Ghz Ivy Bridge on a Z77 platform is going to knock it straight out of the park. Later when you need more "oomph", crank up the multiplier for some more when you need it.

On the AMD front, the only answer would be the FX 8150 black edition IMO.

[Squilliam]

Just check the specifications for the power supply as well. If you get a good one you may be able to upgrade to a more powerful and higher tier GPU at a later date, especially if you go for a 3rd gen Intel platform.

[Arwin]

How's this one? Currently 399,- and I could upgrade it with SSD and GPU fairly easy later (for instance when I upgrade to Windows 8, which I'm likely to do as I need to stay current as a Windows platform dev)

AMD Zambezi FX-8120

TVDL MATX Tower 420WATT LOW Noise
Asus® M5A78L-M AMD 760 Chipset
AMD® Zambezi® FX-8120 8x3.10GHZ
AMD® Radeon® HD3000 Graphics VGA, DVI. HDMI
640GB Sata-II 7200RPM Harddisk
8GB (8192MB) DDR3 PC10666 1333MHz
DVD-RW Dual Layer DVD Brander
All in one Cardreader
Realtek 7.1 HD Audio
Realtek 1GB Ethernet kaart
7 x USB 2.0
2 x USB 3.0!
2 x PS2

[Squilliam]

That looks pretty good. You could possibly stretch up to mid range graphics in that system if you wanted, x7xx series. It isn't Piledriver FYI.

[Arwin]

Originally Posted by Squilliam

That looks pretty good. You could possibly stretch up to mid range graphics in that system if you wanted, x7xx series. It isn't Piledriver FYI.

Yeah, I know. Incidentally, there are almost no systems with a quad-core i5 out there by the way. They're all dual core.

Anyway, I did find somewhat of a catch for this system - price is without Windows, so have to add 95,- ... on the bright side, I don't like the trend where most shops don't really offer any options there, I always like to be able to see what Windows adds to the price, and buy a Linux only system if I wanted to (or use another licence, for instance one from work or an MSDN one for testing purposes).

Still, very tempted to get this one.

[HMBR]

Originally Posted by Arwin

How's this one? Currently 399,- and I could upgrade it with SSD and GPU fairly easy later (for instance when I upgrade to Windows 8, which I'm likely to do as I need to stay current as a Windows platform dev)

AMD Zambezi FX-8120

TVDL MATX Tower 420WATT LOW Noise
Asus® M5A78L-M AMD 760 Chipset
AMD® Zambezi® FX-8120 8x3.10GHZ
AMD® Radeon® HD3000 Graphics VGA, DVI. HDMI
640GB Sata-II 7200RPM Harddisk
8GB (8192MB) DDR3 PC10666 1333MHz
DVD-RW Dual Layer DVD Brander
All in one Cardreader
Realtek 7.1 HD Audio
Realtek 1GB Ethernet kaart
7 x USB 2.0
2 x USB 3.0!
2 x PS2

I'm not sure but I think this MB "M5A78L-M" is designed for 95w TDP CPUs while the 8120 is a 125w TDP CPU, also it would be good to have more information on the PSU,

and I think the 8120 is a bit to slow in some cases mostly because of the low clock speed (for a Bulldozer CPU), but it should be enough...


apart from some low power models and mobile all current i5s (2300 and higher) are quad cores

[Arwin]

Originally Posted by HMBR

I'm not sure but I think this MB "M5A78L-M" is designed for 95w TDP CPUs while the 8120 is a 125w TDP CPU, also it would be good to have more information on the PSU,

and I think the 8120 is a bit to slow in some cases mostly because of the low clock speed (for a Bulldozer CPU), but it should be enough...


apart from some low power models and mobile all current i5s (2300 and higher) are quad cores

Surprisingly many sites and stores seem to either sell the low power stuff, or incorrectly list the CPU as dual core ... strange.

From the same reseller, I found this i5 based system for 479. Apart from the CPU difference, for 80 euro more you also get 2GB less of RAM, and a different graphics card:

Specificaties
TVDL Matx Tower 420Watt Low Noise
Asus P8H61-M LE Intel® H61 Chipset
Intel® Core® i5 3450 4x3.50GHZ TB Quad
Nvidia® Geforce GT520 2GB VGA,DVI,HDMI
6GB (6144MB) DDR3 PC10666 1333MHZ
750GB Sata-II 7200RPM
DVD RW +/- DL DVD Brander
Cardreader All in One
Realtek® ALC6625.1 7.1 HD Onboard
Realtek® 8111D 1Gbit Lan
USB 2.0 7 x
USB 3.0 2 x
PS2 1 x
Overige poorten VGA, DVI, HDMI, 1GB Lan

[ToTTenTranz]

Silly question: why not just buy the components you want and build your own custom PC?

If a discrete card is overdue, then the Ivybridge build is definitely better for games and most other stuff.

[Arwin]

Originally Posted by ToTTenTranz

Silly question: why not just buy the components you want and build your own custom PC?

If a discrete card is overdue, then the Ivybridge build is definitely better for games and most other stuff.

As I've said before, I'm not against building it myself, but it is only worth my time if it saves a significant amount of money or gets me a configuration I need and can't otherwise get. With a family and a job, my time is not free.

[RudeCurve]

Originally Posted by HMBR

and I think the 8120 is a bit to slow in some cases mostly because of the low clock speed (for a Bulldozer CPU), but it should be enough...

The FX8120 Black Edition easily clocks to 4GHz stock cooling stock voltage. I've had mine doing Blu-ray decode/encode for a couple months now and it's very stable, hasn't locked up yet.

[green.pixel]

If you're regularly transcoding movies, you'll have great use of an Ivy Bridge-based PC because of the Quick Sync.

[HMBR]

Originally Posted by RudeCurve

The FX8120 Black Edition easily clocks to 4GHz stock cooling stock voltage. I've had mine doing Blu-ray decode/encode for a couple months now and it's very stable, hasn't locked up yet.

it's true, but not everyone will overclock their CPUs, and in that case the 3.1GHz base clock will certainly not help,
also the motheboard from that PC, I don't know but I think that 4GHz for the "8 core" bulldozer can be a bit to much in terms of power usage....



about quick sync, it's not useful for everyone, the software support still looks limited, I normally use "handbrake" for video encoding, and it will support OpenCL soon, which will make good discrete graphics card more interesting.