I would get a new AMD/ATI HD5000 series graphics card, those could be really nice for this game since you can hook up to 6 monitors to a single card on those

nVidia is not what it used to be anymore and ATI is atleast as good if not better.

I'd have to agree with NDS_Camp on the vidcard, the new ATI 5870 and 5850 just debuted this week and all the details coming out about them is just incredible.

Also, I did a little digging and there are a lot of coolers that are socket 1156 compatible, a good one being the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus. Also several companies have released an adapter bracket for their existing coolers or issued a rev.2 of their existing coolers with the proper bracket included.

Well I'll tell ya....Though part of it "Powercolor's" fault (they blaming the sim for all issues with the card....and blame not the point, just what fixes had others forund the point)....I'm really put off by ATI at this point the whole reason to upgrade atm due to all the problems I've had once installing their card.

Never a problem with Nvidia, even though I thought my last card from MSI was junk, that was all clearly just lousy construction. Add to that I know little about AMD (and though grasping me thinking that part of the issue in that ATI's naturally would work best with an AMD based system and Nvidia with Intel).....It all justirks me enough it's going to take a while or some really convincing reasons to use them again.

K2

quote:

Originally posted by LEBillfish:
Well I'll tell ya....Though part of it "Powercolor's" fault (they blaming the sim for all issues with the card....and blame not the point, just what fixes had others forund the point)....I'm really put off by ATI at this point the whole reason to upgrade atm due to all the problems I've had once installing their card.

Never a problem with Nvidia, even though I thought my last card from MSI was junk, that was all clearly just lousy construction. Add to that I know little about AMD (and though grasping me thinking that part of the issue in that ATI's naturally would work best with an AMD based system and Nvidia with Intel).....It all justirks me enough it's going to take a while or some really convincing reasons to use them again.

K2

just wait till you get a new nVidia card... there even worse than any of the ATI Radeon HD models it seems.

Seen you post that wen you turn of Sound your FPS dubbles...

If the game runs perfectly fine than with out any gliches or stutters wen you have sound disabled it can only mean one thing: the CPU is not able to handle the extra load that the Soundprocesing put on it.

For this there can be a few reasons but the 2 main ones are that the CPU simply isnt powerfull enough for the graphics and soundsettings your running,
and the other possibility is that your soundcard/chip is using up to much System resourses.

Did you try to lower the soundsettings to see what it does?

quote:

Originally posted by Urufu_Shinjiro:
Intel has made this really confusing this go around, there is the socket 1366 Core I7 (I7 9xx), but there is also a socket 1156 Core I7 (I7 8xx) and I5 (7xx).

Oh, and Ba5tard5word, you need to study and learn to overclock from the BIOS (those software programs are usually bad news) and take that 920 up to 3.5-4.0ghz range, that's where the i7 belongs, then you'll be blown away .

With Asus mobos, you get a software program called TurboV which allows both multiplier overclocking and BCLK overclocking for i7 965/975 and it works perfectly. I overclocked my 965 with multi 27 in BIOS permanently to 3.6Ghz and go up further to 3.88Ghz ( multi 29 ) using the software TurboV if I want to play a game. Works perfectly!! So software overclocking is very reliable on Asus boards. So I'll have to disagree with you when you say software OC can be trouble. Depends on the mobo manufacturer and the quality of the software itself.

Mortoma how do you use TurboV? I have it on my i7 920 too but I took a look at it a while ago and it looked complicated. Like how would you set it to OC the cpu by say 5%?

I just use the EPU engine thingy to do it and it works fine so far...

quote:

Originally posted by T_O_A_D:
I'm looking forward to getting Intel again.

I've never had a more stable system before or after I had the P4 2.4 Hyperthreading System I had, till the Mobo Died.

This 3700+ runs fast, but multy tasking and stability are an issue with it.

If I ever run across an old Mobo that supports that old chip, I'll drag it out of the attic and make set it up for video editing and print serving.

Wierd, I have an 4200+ X2 AMD 64 and its super rock solid. never crashes.

I wish Intel would stop playing socket roulette and settle on just one socket for a few years. It's only getting worse lately. My i7 965 is a powerful beast but its socket is already a dinosaur! WTF?!?

quote:

Originally posted by Ba5tard5word:
Mortoma how do you use TurboV? I have it on my i7 920 too but I took a look at it a while ago and it looked complicated. Like how would you set it to OC the cpu by say 5%?

I just use the EPU engine thingy to do it and it works fine so far...

For you, since you have the 920, you'd probably start by increasing the BLCK frequency and CPU voltage. I'd stay away from DRAM bus voltage and QPI/DRAM core volt unless you do a lot of research on it. Possilbly the increase of RAM speed that BLCK will give you might require a QPI/DRAM core volt increase. Maybe?

Go to some overclockers forums as there is literally tons of advice on the 920 chip. I was on my own with the 965 since few people could afford buying them. There's sparse advice for me, I'm self-taught!!

The 'More Setting" tab has little of value for you since most of those voltages should be left alone. And the CPU Ratio tab for a 920 is not adjustable under any circumstances. I can use it with my 965 though. Kind of nice and handy.

quote:

Originally posted by Xiolablu3:

quote:

Originally posted by T_O_A_D:
I'm looking forward to getting Intel again.

I've never had a more stable system before or after I had the P4 2.4 Hyperthreading System I had, till the Mobo Died.

This 3700+ runs fast, but multy tasking and stability are an issue with it.

If I ever run across an old Mobo that supports that old chip, I'll drag it out of the attic and make set it up for video editing and print serving.

Wierd, I have an 4200+ X2 AMD 64 and its super rock solid. never crashes.

+1

For the 4 years I've had a 4200+ X2 with an Asus a8n-SLI deluxe mobo under XP, I've also had zero stability problems (other than a failed dim, 2 failed psus, 2 failed graphics cards and funky old apps that weren't up to running dual core).

That new i7 860 really has got me itching for a new build. I'm convinced that hyperthreading is worth the additional cost in the long run (considering that I'd want to get four good years out of it too) and X58 is simply overkill for the level of performance (and price) I need.

I hear you mortoma about the dizzying array of new intel sockets; 1366 still has a future (but the real question is: will your mobo have one) and the new sockets coming out are for servers or CPUs with integrated graphics. Lets just hope that such 'integrated' CPUs are not the way of the not too distant future.

quote:

Originally posted by mortoma:
I wish Intel would stop playing socket roulette and settle on just one socket for a few years. It's only getting worse lately. My i7 965 is a powerful beast but its socket is already a dinosaur! WTF?!?

Yeah, the LGA 775 lasted far longer than most CPU sockets, but they kinds messed up with this series. LGA1366 has i7 (9xx series) and i9 on the X58 chipset, LGA1156 has i3, i5, and i7 (8xx series) on the P55 chipset. Kind of a pain if you ask me, you all know I'm pretty hardcore about keeping up with this stuff but this confused me for a bit, I'm starting to get a handle on the differences but there's lots of little subtle ones, lol.

Well what bothers me about the route Intel is going (though will not dissuade me from using them) is that it leaves you wondering which technology route is really going to be left out in the cold.

Now I'm a FIRM believer in never, ever, buying the biggest and baddest as far as PC hardware goes in that you're often paying 4x more for something that in a couple months will be the step down version. More so, in most cases that step down version for most of us makes little difference in performance (at least that most of us would practically recognize).....So it serves me best to buy right off the one notch down version saving me 75% of the cost allowing me to buy more, and will have a system that for all intensive purposes will perform as well and last as long as the biggest and baddest due to my uses of it.

Then along comes this new twist......Yet, the differences are significant enough it makes you wonder where it is all going.

For a long time it was simple, what was the speed of the CPU. Then CPU+FSB. Yes I get the multiple core thing, and yes I get the hyperthreading thing (though don't know how to practically use it if I even can with what I use a PC for).......Yet now we have suddenly the latest and greatest (1156 socket) is "the" step down version, yet if it is the newest technology then why does it seem to be a dead end? IOW, get your 1156 today, and you have no where to upgrade tomorrow......Or go with the old, and have what will be the technology of tomorrow?

Now I get the fact it's about end cost, though am at a little bit of a loss as to how the North Bridge costs so much to add, already 1366 and 1156 MB's comperable in cost (their excuse) yet in reality it's the CPU's that are the big hit.

My ONLY big concern is the aspect of CPU load....We've seen how it hurts us in the sim, well with the new 1156 the CPU takes up the work of the North bridge and more, also at the expense of GPU/Ram/etc. capability...........I'm also concerned that though they "say" the I9 will be a 1366 socket CPU, that by the time it is out it will not be (and I don't expect the I7 extremes to come down in price, like the Xeon they'll just fade them out).

Now point of it all is.........Whatever I build today I EXPECT to last me roughly 5 years. That does not mean replacing MB's, CPU's and so on, yet at the most upgrading ram, or swapping out GPU's (or in the case of PCIexpress adding).........The trouble is however, will the 1156 set up without the N. Bridge be overwhelmed by software in a couple years, and due to its release, is the 1366 "really" on the way out (like the Core2 stuff).

So I'm at a point where neither of them are a good bet.....Hence I'm leaning toward the 1156 to be able to cut losses (though that CPU load aspect really bugs me).

K2

There is a slight misconception there about the northbridge on the 1156 CPUs. The northbridge is integrated onto the CPU, the CPU itself is not taking up processing cycles doing northbridge tasks, the northbridge circuits are just on the same silicon chip as the cpu core. So the northbridge activity slowing down CPU tasks is a non issue.

As for the future of the two sockets, according to intels roadmaps 1336 will only have what is available now until the 6 core/12 thread 32nm Gulftown chip is released, and believe me, that thing won't be cheap. 1156 on the other hand has the current batch of 45nm i3/i5/i7 (8xx series), and also will have a new batch of 32nm i5/i7's. If the 45nm-32nm process change is as successful as the 65nm-45nm was, we're in for some really nice chips on 1156.

At this point, I think the only reason to go with an X58 i7 9xx series setup is if you know you will be running two or three very high end (read 5870 and up) graphics cards in crossfire/SLI.

That special offer my online hardware supplier currently has; MSI P55-GD65 +i5-750 for 299 euro is beginning to become close to irresistible to replace my gaming rig's dismal Asus M2A-VM uXT board and it's AMD64 X2 4000+

Thanks for your evaluation Urufu - I found it extremely interesting.