[Panpiper]

I've been dirt poor for several years now, unable to afford any computer upgrades. My existing computer is so long in the tooth that I have to set my graphics settings to minimum to run games that came out in 2008. I need a new system rather desperately. Waiting much longer is not really an option.

 

I am about to come into a decent amount of cash (in about a month), enough to get my life readjusted enough to hopefully get a real job again (I've been living off very meager residuals for far too long), get my teeth fixed and buy a few toys, such as a modern TV (to replace my ancient CRT), and most importantly, a new computer.

 

I do not know when or even if I will be able to upgrade again after this computer purchase. I need to be sure that this computer has enough legs to render it reasonably future proof, that even ten years from now, it will be able to run games that come out then (on minimum settings would be fine, ten years from now). Especially, it is extremely important that it be able to handle the upcoming consumer edition of the Oculus Rift with very good results.

 

I am not a newbie when it comes to computers, but I am far from an expert and hope to solicit opinions. My intent right now is to get a large SSD (probably 480 GIG, more if I can find a good deal) with harddrive backup, a good eight core processor, at least 16 GIG RAM (probably 32), and two Geforce 970s. I am dabbling with the idea of bumping that to two 980s. A silent system is more important for me than a super fast system, so I am not intending to overclock. I will be getting a 4K monitor (plus a few peripherals like Trackir), so the system has to handle that.

 

Any comments are welcome. The major questions in my mind however is the graphics cards and whether I am making the wrong choice by going for SLI now. Would a smarter move be to pick up a much more prosaic card just to tide me over till the consumer Oculus Rift comes out, and spring then for the latest cards? (I can run games at 1080P in the interim.) Would that make much of a difference, would the next generation cards be that much better than current? Would two Geforce 970s be adequate right now, two 980s?

 

Getting the maximum VR experience while playing Star Citizen is my focus for this machine. Of course I will do much more with it, but that is the performance benchmark I am aiming at. While I am willing (and fully intend) to spend a decent amount of money on this new system, I do not want to spend thousands just to eek out a performance increase that six months of hardware improvement will eat.

Edited by Panpiper, 27 February 2015 - 04:28 PM.

[Advertisements]

  Panpiper.

Looking at your wish list, I think you should read this article first, > http://www.digitaltr...ion-on-your-pc/

With regard to multi GPUs.   I think OK if you aready have a goodish card and ccan get a cheapish second one for a quick upgrade, providing ou PSU can handle it.   For a new build, best to buy the most powerful card you can afford rather than 2 lesser cards.  You would need a more powerful PSU, you will generate a lot more heat so need a case with super cooling, (usually more noise) a lot more trouble to get stability, most pro reviewers take the same stand.  

At $550, the GeForce GTX 980 delivers such compelling frame rates that we find it hard to recommend multi-card configurations able to serve up better performance per dollar, since they sometimes suffer from inconsistent results in comparison to a graphics card with a single GPU.   two Radeon R9 290 cards for $540, two Radeon R9 290Xs in Xfire or  GeForce GTX 970s in SLI for $660, 

two GeForce GTX 980 cards for $1100. or, AMD's flagship, the dual-GPU Radeon R9 295X2. with a closed-loop liquid cooler, is the fastest board you can buy right now.   source , > http://www.tomshardw...iew,3107-6.html

 

I don't think the Oculus Rift has a significant bearing as, from what I have read, providing the GPU can sustain a persistent 93 fps, it will be OK, example seen quoted GTX 770, remembering here the output is to 2 very small screens, think some more research needed,

 

Come back.

 

 

[iammykyl]

  Panpiper.

Looking at your wish list, I think you should read this article first, > http://www.digitaltr...ion-on-your-pc/

With regard to multi GPUs.   I think OK if you aready have a goodish card and ccan get a cheapish second one for a quick upgrade, providing ou PSU can handle it.   For a new build, best to buy the most powerful card you can afford rather than 2 lesser cards.  You would need a more powerful PSU, you will generate a lot more heat so need a case with super cooling, (usually more noise) a lot more trouble to get stability, most pro reviewers take the same stand.  

At $550, the GeForce GTX 980 delivers such compelling frame rates that we find it hard to recommend multi-card configurations able to serve up better performance per dollar, since they sometimes suffer from inconsistent results in comparison to a graphics card with a single GPU.   two Radeon R9 290 cards for $540, two Radeon R9 290Xs in Xfire or  GeForce GTX 970s in SLI for $660, 

two GeForce GTX 980 cards for $1100. or, AMD's flagship, the dual-GPU Radeon R9 295X2. with a closed-loop liquid cooler, is the fastest board you can buy right now.   source , > http://www.tomshardw...iew,3107-6.html

 

I don't think the Oculus Rift has a significant bearing as, from what I have read, providing the GPU can sustain a persistent 93 fps, it will be OK, example seen quoted GTX 770, remembering here the output is to 2 very small screens, think some more research needed,

 

Come back.

 

 

[terry1966]

10 years is a very very long time in the computer world, things progress at a very quick rate, there is a law called moores law that states transistor density doubles every 2 years, and the more transistors on a cpu, gpu the more work/faster it is.

 

my current pc was built in 2008 so is about 7 years old but it was the new out and top of the range intel socket 1366 with triple ram, paired with a very good gpu gtx 275, ok now it is nowhere near the fastest cpu and the gpu is laughable compared to todays current gpu's but if i replaced just the gpu then it still would be good enough to play any game at reasonable settings.

 

so today if i were you i'd only be looking at intel socket 2011 systems with quad ddr4 ram if i expected my system to stand any chance of still being good enough performance wise in 10 years and i'd go with the fastest single card now probably gtx 980 and then i'd be looking at upgrading only the gpu in say 5 years or so.

 

if your in no hurry then it may be worth waiting till later in the year to build a new pc because intel are bringing out a new architecture called skylake which will be a boost over current cpu / chipsets and i believe will have a new socket 2017 for it's top of the range desktop systems.

 

some links about skylake :-

http://news.softpedi...ut-458610.shtml

http://www.extremete...sets-processors

http://wccftech.com/...s-chip-desktop/

http://en.wikipedia....roarchitecture)

Edited by terry1966, 28 February 2015 - 12:20 PM.