Thread: Gaming Computer
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Old January 2nd 18, 10:48 PM posted to alt.windows7.general
Paul[_32_]
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Default Gaming Computer

Ed Cryer wrote:
I want a box that can handle all the latest games; the ones that demand
everything of the best.
I've been looking around now for a few weeks, but the market is so
confusing.
Money is not much of an object; well, let's say 5k GBP max.

Should I get one purpose-built? Or a new year bargain?

My gut feeling says 16GB RAM (DDR7); 500GB SSD with 2TB spinner; good
video card; i7 quad-core CPU.

Who knows better?

Ed


You can start by looking at benchmarks.

Not only is there i7 now, there are a few i9 models.

This is a list I made for somebody a few days ago. LGA2066.

RAMCH PCIE AVX512
i9-7980XE (24.75M cache, 18 Cores, 36 Threads, 2.60 GHz) $1,979 4 44
i9-7960X (22M cache, 16 Cores, 32 Threads, 2.80 GHz) $1,684 4 44
i9-7940X (19.25M cache, 14 Cores, 28 Threads, 3.10 GHz) $1,387 4 44
i9-7920X (16.5M cache, 12 Cores, 24 Threads, 2.90 GHz) $1,189 4 44
i9-7900X (13.75M cache, 10 Cores, 20 Threads, 3.30 GHz) $ 989 4 44
i7-7820X (11M cache, 8 Cores, 16 Threads, 3.60 GHz) $ 589 4 28
i7-7800X (8.25M cache, 6 Cores, 12 Threads, 3.50 GHz) $ 383 4 28 Yes
i7-7740X (8M cache, 4 Cores, 8 Threads, 4.30 GHz) $ 339 2 16 No
i5-7640X (6M cache, 4 Cores, 4 Threads, 4.00 GHz) $ 242 2 16

The bottom two processors, seem to be LGA1151 CPUs placed into an
LGA2066 package. Weird. (Intel price list follows...)

https://s21.q4cdn.com/600692695/file...Price_List.pdf

If you're content with one video card in the box, then the PCI Express
lane issue isn't too much of a deal. You can buy the 7820X, which
has "enough" cores by any gaming stretch of the imagination, enough
lanes to get by with, and is $589.

A sample motherboard of no particular pedigree ($263) is here.

http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList...x299-ud4_e.pdf

Page 10 of that manual, shows you what happens to RAM when you
run a 7740X and only half the DIMM slots work.

Page 11 of that manual, shows which PCI Express slots are disabled
when you use a 28 lane CPU. The slot next to the CPU is
fully functional. The second slot is functional, but half-wired.
The third slot is no-connect when a 28 lane CPU is installed.
This makes the 28 lane processor definitely and for sure
good enough for a single video card system, even if one
or two slots may be disabled by that choice.

If you run a more expensive CPU, with all 44 lanes, the clock speed
starts to drop, and any game with a "boss thread", the boss thread
runs a bit slower. That's why you look at the following two links, to
find the best combination of benches.

*******

Multi-threaded benchmark. Gives an idea how fast 7ZIP will compress files.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

Single-threaded benchmark. More indicative of "desktop speed feeling".

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

*******

You also have to factor in OS support. Microsoft wants your new
purchase to only run Windows 10. Microsoft will disable Windows
Update for earlier OSes, if you use Kaby Lake or Coffee Lake and
so on. And I don't know if Microsoft includes Skylake-X in the
Coffee Lake club, or in the older Skylake club.

*******

For an LGA1151 system (still usable for gaming but not over
the top like the above stuff), you have things like this.

Coffee Lake - needs the newest LGA1151 with 300 series chipset.
Won't work in your older LGA1151 motherboard.
Dual channel memory, four memory slots.

https://ark.intel.com/products/12668...up-to-4_70-GHz

The price on these is a little jacked up at the moment in the store.
Turbo goes to 4.7GHz on one or two cores perhaps. (There are
turbo-tables kicking around with the details.)

i7-8700K (12M cache, 6 Cores, 12 Threads, 3.70 GHz) $359

The kicker is, the PCI Express lanes is roughly 16, plus the
lanes off the DMI bus and Southbridge. So this is
strictly a one-video-card system. The LGA2066 gives
a bit more room for a couple cards. But really, the
LGA2066 only satisfies every wish when a 44 lane processor
is being used, and then you take a hit on clock speed.

I would think in practical situations, the 8700K would be
a good match for the 7820X. It won't 7ZIP a bunch of
files quite as quickly, but it's likely to game OK.
It's hard to imagine a game with 12 threads where the
additional threads offer that much more speed. Would
a game run faster if it could fork 16 threads ? Hmmm.

For a high end video card, they only begin to drag a bit,
when driving a 4K monitor. If that's your intention,
then you'll "need to do a bit more research" :-)
As that will really challenge your research skills
(to buy something and not have regrets later).

I budget around one month of reading assignments,
when I haven't done a build in a while, to prepare
for stuff like this. Because the Intel marketing weenies
are involved, it's easy to get burned.

You might not know, but I'm not a big fan of SLI or Crossfire.
It might sell a lot of extra video cards. It might
make the power company happy, to hit you with a higher
bill. It makes the room warm in winter. But only the
most outrageous screen needs a box full (44 lane) system
to drive it. Competition gamers might use a
1920x1080 144Hz screen for example, with 2ms TN panel.
And then the one video card is plenty for the screen
dimension at least.

Paul
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