PCFormat Forum Archive

Howsit people,

I'm planning on getting a new rig built up eventually.
Keen to get a Z87 board; not sure which one though.
I'm not planning on ever going SLI; maybe only a sound card with the GPU.
I am thinking of getting the i7-4770.

I've looked at these two:
http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?ma ... s_id=10119
http://www.rebeltech.co.za/index.php?ma ... s_id=10543

What you think?
Budget about R1600 +-

I prefer MSI so would recommend it over ASRock.

Thanks man.

But what about that specific MSI board? Will it handle the i7-4770 well?
What you think? Or should I wait?
Any other recommendations?

Any socket 1150 will handle a socket 1150 cpu. I don't think you will get a much better price. But do you have the money for the cpu?

Yeah I do.

I just don't want to buy a mobo with 2 million PCI-E slots that I'm not going to use
So if there are any other recommendations, let me know.

Howsit guys,

Ended up only recently getting an MSI Z97 Gaming 3 motherboard with an Intel Core i7 4790

I've recently had an issue with my pc. So now I am sporting a MSI Z97 Gaming 7 and i7 4790k.

Very Nice!

Which GPU would you recommend for 4-5k?

Have a look at the AMD R9 290.

Here's a guide that you might find useful:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gam ... 107-5.html
General rule for dollar to rand conversions, times the USD price by 12 if the exchange rate is R10/USD.

AMD gpus has better numbers and a lower pricing. But I am an nvidia fan. The geforce 8 series is releasing in september so we should see it mid/end sep or start of oct.

I have the 780ti on my main rig and the 750ti on my "low end" rig. The tech that went into the 750ti is amazing if you consider it doesn't need a 6 pin. It runs off the pci-e slot meaning the next range of geforce gpus might require even less power. so wait and see. The geforce 870 should match the 780 and the 860 should match the 770 or 680 in terms of performance but at a much lower power consumption.

If you can't wait, I recommend a MSI geforc 770 although I dont know the price off hand. Else AMD offers are better performance for price.

I'm with SB about the price/performance of AMD GPUs. I got myself an AMD 6670 (low end of the spectrum) two years ago because it offered me better price/performance than an Nvidia card at that stage.

However, if you can wait, wait until Nvidia releases their next range of cards (I think it will be the "800" series.) I think that both AMD and Nvidia might lower the prices of their existing cards. Let's hope that local retailers will drop the prices of the existing stock as well. (Of course, if Nvidia only launches a top end 800 card or only launches a low end 800 card then I don't think that the prices will shift that much.)

GDI_Lord wrote:Have a look at the AMD R9 290.

Here's a guide that you might find useful:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gam ... 107-5.html
General rule for dollar to rand conversions, times the USD price by 12 if the exchange rate is R10/USD.

I have a MSI one and it is really awesome,
best to buy on a budget,
9290X are to expensive still.
GTX770 can't touch it

Are there any benefits of having a Nvidia as apposed to a AMD?
Any sort of visual differences in picture quality etc..?
If not, then I may as well look at AMD..... Again..
I'm not going to be using a 3D screen. Just normal full HD (1920x1080p).
SB, why do you prefer Nvidia?

Unique NV features:
-Physix
Physics processing, e.g. a flag flapping in the wind. Only in a few games.

-G-Sync
G-Sync aims to eliminate screen tearing and stuttering ( http://www.anandtech.com/show/7582/nvidia-gsync-review ). This requires a compatible monitor ( http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/rog ... ,3897.html )though, not just a GFX card. This is proprietary tech, so G-Sync monitors will be more expensive due to licencing fees.

Unique AMD Features:
-TressFX
Hair effects. Only in Tomb Raider games (that I know of. @Everyone: are there any other games that support TressFX?) TressFX isn't an AMD exclusive, it just runs better on AMD cards.

-Mantle
Helps get more frames per second in low- and mid-range CPUs. IMHO your i7-4790 isn't low- or mid-range)
Available on 8xxx, 7xxx, R7 and R9 GPUs.

-True Audio
Offloads some audio work from the CPU onto the GPU. I can't give you my opinion on this because a) I haven't heard it myself yet. the two reviews that I've read about it on two different games (Thief and... uh, something,) the author wasn't impressed, but he did say that audio is a very subjective thing. IIRC the author did get a few extra FPS though.

-FreeSync
FreeSync is comparable to G-Sync. However, the components in FreeSync are part of the VESA standards organisation, so it won't be an AMD exclusive, Nvidia can support it too. Monitor manufacturers don't need to pay a licencing fee ( http://support.amd.com/en-us/search/faq/220 )either.

Concerning PhysX, TressFX and TrueAudio:
Both Nvidia and AMD fans say that, while being graphically "nice," if they're not there it doesn't significantly harm your immersion in a game. I

Power Usage:
Nvidia cards are, on the whole, more power efficient than AMD cards right now. IMHO this really doesn't matter as far as paying Eskom is concerned as the difference over time, assuming that you're not running your cards at 100% 24/7, is negligible.

Heat and Noise:
As far as heat output goes, as long as you're not buying an R9 290/R9 290X with a stock cooler from AMD (black cover with a red circular fan,) you're fine.

Picture Quality and Frames per Second:
At 1080 resolution, use that list that I posted as a point of reference. There are some differences in terms of Anti-Aliasing. However, like PhysX, TressFX and TrueAudio, IMHO you're not going to notice the differences while you're busy flying down the highway at ten squillion miles an hour blasting bad guys. Here's a two-part deep technical article from three years ago:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ant ... ,2868.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ant ... ,3065.html
I honestly don't know if a few new AA methods have been added by Nvidia and/or AMD since then. On my system at home I can run all the games that I play at full res using 8xAA and still get decent frame rates. (1280 x 1024 using a 6670 1GB, all older games. Shut up, I enjoy them!!! :- )

Games Bundles:
Both Nvidia and AMD have games bundles with their cards. If getting a/some games free matters to you, check them out. For me and the titles that I'd like to play (e.g. Star Citizen,) AMD's Never Settle bundles are more attractive. However, I'm not you

Multimonitor gaming:
Apparently AMD's Eyefinity setup is much better, much more compatible and performs better than Nvidia's multimonitor solution. What am I talking about with multimonitor gaming? This *drool*:


Edit:
Thanks for the TressFX info and the reminder about G-Sync StarBound!

Thanks GDI

This will definitely help me make my decision.
Between the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 2GB and the Sapphire Radeon R9 280X Toxic Edition 3GB..
Which one would you go for?
I've checked Tomshardware, and most of the time the AMD card has more FPS.
It is also slightly cheaper than the Nvidia card

Great post GDI


For me when buying a GPU it's about playing games at best FPS my budget can afford.
I was a NVIDIA fanboy, but the 9290 just beat the competition in my budget range.

So I would say go for FPS, for me that's what a GPU is measured on

Mike_J.M wrote:SB, why do you prefer Nvidia?

Nvidia drivers are more stable than AMDs and I've grown use to physx in the games that has them. Nvidia drivers are also more compatible.

@GDI
TressFX isn't AMD exclusive. The tech is as ancient as tesselation back when it was called trueform.
This generation nvidia had the lead when it came to power consumption. AMD kicked off strong with the radeon 7000 series but the 600 series from geforce was much better on its power consumption, the 700 series not so much (except for the 750ti).

I don't consider heat and noise as a nvidia or amd factor. That is more of a 3rd party manufacturer thing but chip temp is still on the big 2.

Nvidia has more advanced AA tech in place. Also g-sync... I have a RoG swift but it had issues so I needed to send it back. Will be able to say more once I have it back.

Thanks everyone for the feedback!
This is why I like using this forum!

Anyway, I purchased a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 2GB today!!
Should run most the things I play with now at 60fps... Hopefully!

Cool man! Enjoy it!!!

Mike you might want to get another 4GB ram. I sense a lot of disc swapping if you only have 4GB.

StarBound wrote:I sense a lot of disc swapping if you...

Which games/programs come on multiple discs that require swapping the discs nowadays?

Thanks for the correction SB, post updated!

I would also say 4gig more on the memory,
just get that bottleneck idea when I see your specs Mike,
Awesome CPU, Wild PSU, Hot Mobo and then 4gig memory

Trust me guys...

The next thing on my list is: http://www.rebeltech.co.za/1082-corsair ... 0-165.html

Will it be ok to use my current 4GB RAM for maybe a month or 2?

It's not a necessity but for 2 months games won't run at their full potential. It's not a system breaking thing but games might run uncomfortable.

I honestly cannot remember the last time I had less than 8GB in my system. I just think world of warcraft or starcraft 2 might have had a problem with it.