NEW PC specs and price

Specs:

CPU: Intel i5 3570k

GPU: Nvidia 660 TI 2GB

Ram:8gb 1600mhz Hyper-X (Kingston)

Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V LX

HDD: 1tb corsair black

OS: win7 / Win8 (Dual boot)

Case:Cooler Master Half 912

PSU: 80 plus certified bronze 700w (sorry cant remember the name)

Price: with tax is $1000.56 Canadian

 

What do you guys think? good build for the money? let me know if theres anything I should look at or change, Thanks. 

 


 

 

 

I'd swap the 660ti for a Powercolor 7870 Ghz Edition.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tahiti-le-7870-7930-benchmark,3401.html#xtor=RSS-182    < My reasoning behind it.

 

And maybe go with the FX-6300 or 8350, either one is equal to/better than the i5 depending on what you're doing.

I would change the 660TI out but I need the cuda cores for photoshop, video editing and such, im mainly using the pc for gaming ,Youtube Commentary, streaming and video editing for school. As far as the FX-8350 goes I really like the Cpu And I know its great for streaming so ill look into it and see if I can get a deal on it, thanks for the input.

SGuitarist: photoshop dosnt use cuda http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cs6-gpu-faq.html

[quote]Mercury Graphics Engine

The Mercury Graphics Engine (MGE) represents features that use video card processor, or GPU, acceleration. In Photoshop CS6, this new engine delivers near-instant results when editing with key tools such as Liquify, Warp, Lighting Effects, and the Oil Paint filter. The new MGE delivers unprecedented responsiveness for a fluid feel as you work.


MGE is new to Photoshop CS6 and uses both the OpenGL and OpenCL frameworks. It does not use the proprietary CUDA framework from nVidia.


 MGE requires a supported video card and updated driver. If you do not have a supported card, performance is degraded. In most cases, the acceleration is lost and the feature runs in the normal CPU mode. However, there are some features that don't work without a supported video card.[/quote]

AMD and nVidia both work to accelerate ps now. 

As for video editing it depends on the software, most are moving to or have moved to opencl/app/directcompute because cuda is very restrictive.

also most cuda based encoding is sub par compared to encoding using cpu driven encoding. 

note: if you use the latest x264 builds you get avx and from what i read FMA support, meaning that amd will be faster then a similar intel, it also means quality is better then what cuda encoders give you...despite being slower. 

(i have yet to see a cuda encoder that was up to the same quality standard of a proper x264 encode, some come close but.....always fall short) 

I would move to a 7870 XT/LE model (1536 shaders) personally, they are the bang for the buck card at the moment.

also note Physx support is kinda  a wash, very few games support hardware physx, most that use physx engine are cpu driven with ZERO ppu/gpu acceleration support, this is because developers dont tend to want to waste time on something that alot of gamers wont be able to use.....better to spend the resorces other places. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_hardware-accelerated_PhysX_support

 

please note any of them that say PPU, arent likely to work with gpu physx, even if you swap out the games dated physx lib's with the current ones.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2253643

this shows how close they are with older drivers(things have gotten better with each new driver from what I have seen, not just in games but apps as well)
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Adobe-Photoshop-CS6-GPU-Acceleration-161

so yeah, if your gonna game, I would go 7870xt(1536 shader) very close in perf to nvidia even in that older review, better in games. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LHLkS32EWs

lots of info out there saying the same thing, you dont need to go nVidia for very very fast cs6 acceleration!!!

hope this helps