Building a new computer for FFXIV - need some help

[Uzor]

My computer's like 3years old, so I expect I'll be able to play it at low settings. However, I want to be able to play it at better settings.

I have around $1k or so to build a new computer for, but I'm not exactly tech savvy when it comes to computer parts. So could anyone help me pick out some good pieces that would run FFXIV good as possible?

Edit: I suppose I failed at converting SEK to $ too, I counted it at a 1:10 ratio while its nowadays closer to a 1:7 ratio, so I have closer to $1420 to spend

 

[Takumifujiwara]

Here are some links with reviews for the typical gamer. These computer setups go pretty far into the overkill to run this game. I listed them from cheapest to most expensive. I listed one over $1000 for kicks. You wont need it simply because at that point I don't see much reason considering you will run FF14 at highest settings anyway with most of the 5 rigs before it. Also note that on the cheaper ones if you wanted to overkill the video card and spend a little more out of pocket you can since they are open architecture. I like that some of them come with windows 7 64bit.

None of these computers to me are epeen except the last one, but as a beta tester you gotta remember that I currently run beta with a 2.1 ghz windows xp machine with 2gigs of ram and a 8600 nvidia card. If I can run beta, then final launch will run smoother without doubt especially after a few updates. I think the realm of 2.8ghz+ will run this game at highest settings with 64bit dual or quad processor. The biggest deal is the the video card since this game likes to whore resources at times in Beta. 4 gigs or higher in DDR3 Ram will work just fine. I'm sure you want to multi-task and run your own music and whatnot in the background so these should work.

Feel free to throw in your 2 cents folks, I don't mind criticism.

1) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229194

2) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229193

3) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229173

4) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229181

5) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227243

6) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227246


Number 6 is absurd overkill just for fun. No one needs number 6 lol. Hope this helps. I could have listed individual parts but then you go through the headache of compatibility if your not overly tech savvy. Most of these packages price better then buying the same parts individual. If you want something you can pull out of the box and just run without doing anything really, these should do the trick. Cheers.


Edit: Personally I really like number 4. That machine I think just has all the right things we need and the reviews on it have been very descriptive and positive. I think as far as user satisfaction and bang for your buck it overall wins.

 

[Uzor]

Well, Newegg don't deliver to Sweden, so I'd have to purchase the parts individually either way :3 But from the looks of it I should be able to get a rather good computer from the money I've got, though, looking at the ones you recommend.

Which one of these would be best then, they're all within my price range:

1) http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/112884-webhallen_gamer_core_i5_750-dator_i_delar
2) http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/112900-webhallen_gamer_core_i7_930-dator_i_delar
3) http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/1...0ht-core_i3-330m-4gb-500gb-dvdrw-remote-svart
4) http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/1...4gb-500gb-ati_hd5670-dvdrw-windows_7_hp_64bit
5) http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/1...core_i5_750-6gb-750gb-dvdrw-gf_gt230-win_7_hp
6) http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/1...n_ii_x2_215-4gb-500gb-dvdrw-win_7_hp_hp_2210i
7) http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/1..._quad_q9400s-4gb-1tb-23.6-dvdrw-win_7_hp_64bi

I'm guessing 1 and 2 are best as they're i5 and i7 (HAH, I know what that is!), but I dunno about the rest of the specifics on them.

Edit: I suppose I failed at converting SEK to $ too, I counted it at a 1:10 ratio while its nowadays closer to a 1:7 ratio, so I have closer to $1420 to spend.

btw; what's the difference between Windows 7 64-bit and 32-bit? Which one is best for gaming?

 

[Takumifujiwara]

The second one if you can afford it will have you set for years. The setup is pretty great. 64bit on Windows 7 is more what you want when you have 4 gigs of ram or more. Its a multitasking operating system so for us on this game it would be ideal with 4 gigs of ram with what were doing.

 

[Uzor]

Ok, next question, I've taken a few considerations in to account (from here and BG), and I've come up with a new set. What about this one?

Ace Ecco 400 Black (Excluding PSU) - (http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/107615-ace_ecco_400-svart)
Intel Core i7 930 2,8GHz / 8MB / 4,8GT/s Socket 1366 - (http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/107696-intel_core_i7_930_2.8ghz-8mb-4.8gt-s_socket_1366)
Asus - Socket 1366 - ATX Intel X58 (P6X58D-E) - PCI-E / DDR3 / SATA / USB 3.0 - (http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/109512-asus-socket_1366-atx_intel_x58-pci-e-ddr3-sata-usb_3.0)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5870 - (http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/107125-sapphire_ati_radeon_hd_5870_1gb_vapor-x-pci-e-2xdvi-hdmi)
Corsair Dominator GT 4096MB DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz (7-7-7-20) (2X2048MB) - (http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/105632-corsair_dominator_gt_4096mb_ddr3_pc3-12800_1600mhz)
Corsair PowerSupply (PSU) 650W TX ATX - (http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/82258-corsair_powersupply_650w_tx_atx)
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB (7200RPM / 32MB Cache / SATA II) - (http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/103534-samsung_spinpoint_f3_1tb)
Samsung Intern SATA DVD±RW 22x Black (Dual-Layer) - (http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/103534-samsung_spinpoint_f3_1tb)

Now, another question; Would a 650W PSU suffice, or would it be better to push for a 850W one? Reason I'm asking is because the 850W one costs almost twice as much as the 650W one.

This set is about $200 more expensive then the one I had in mind before.

 

[Bajaratt]

650 would be fine for now, but the 850 would probably be better in the future, in case you add more hard drives or try to cross-fire and it should last more upgrades. It shouldn't be double the price though, unless the 650w is on sale.

You will need different RAM. Your motherboard is a tri-channel, so you'll need 3 sticks.

 

[Uzor]

650 would be fine for now, but the 850 would probably be better in the future, in case you add more hard drives or other peripherals and it should last more upgrades. It shouldn't be double the price though, unless the 650w is on sale.

You will need different RAM. Your motherboard is a tri-channel, so you'll need 3 sticks.

So you NEED 3 sticks? I thought you didn't need to fill all 3 of the slots.

See how clueless I am? Good thing I ask xD Is any type of RAM fine, or do I need to look for a specific type? for example, would this one work;

Corsair 6144MB DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz (9-9-9-24) (3x2048MB) - http://www.webhallen.com/hardvara/93116-corsair_6144mb_ddr3_pc3-12800_1600mhz

That one is also for some reason $30 cheaper; is there a huge difference between them?

 

[Bajaratt]

That'd be fine, but since the numbers (9-9-9-24 vs 7-7-7-20) are higher, it might be slightly slower or something, I don't know how those numbers work but I've been told lower is supposed to be better somehow. I don't think there will be much, if any, of a performance decrease or anything, so that should be fine.

I'd never heard of tri-channel memory until I built my i7 computer and had to get the extra RAM for the motherboard, so I wouldn't feel too bad about not knowing about it beforehand. You basically just need 1 stick per channel but you have 2 slots per channel. Your motherboard has 6 slots, and but it only needs to have 3 of them full. I think you have to use a multiple of 3, so if you wanted even more RAM later on, you'd have to buy another 3 sticks, not just add a fourth.

 

[Uzor]

Oh, ok, so its either 6GB or 12GB then. Thanks a lot for the help, if you hadn't told me I'd probably sit confused asking myself why it wouldn't work >.<

Would a game actually benefit that much from an extra 12GB of RAM though? Isn't that mostly if you do a lot of video editing or 3D-modeling?

 

[Bajaratt]

12Gb is useless for gaming. I rarely ever hit over 75% usage back when I had 2GB of RAM, and I did not notice a difference at all going to 6GB. I'd save the money unless you want to start doing computer modeling.

 

[Uzor]

1 last question as my parts will be here tomorrow - is it worth spending almost twice as much and upgrade from a Vapor-x 1gb version of a 5870 to a 5970?

 

[Zethren]

NO, I don't think it is. If you need more power later on down the year(s) you can always add another 5870 in SLI and it will be a lot cheaper to do that as the prices will have come down.
Maybe I missed it, but what size monitor do you have?

Your 650Watt PSU is fine, even if you go for 5870SLI.
Hard drives, CD roms and stuff don't really use too much power, its mainly the GPU and the CPU that will draw the most power.

If you want to save more money can also drop down to a 5850, if its worth it on a price point

Don't stress the memory latency, there is a premium for the lower timing RAM, but its pretty much useless unless you are trying to go for the epeen bench mark numbers, which I doubt you are. Save your money.

 

[Uzor]

I was thinking of throwing in another 5870 later, but only if FFXIV supports Crossfire. Which, at the moment, it isn't, that's why I asked if 5970 was worth it :3

ok, I won't spend the money on a 5970 then :3 As for my monitor, I was either thinking of hooking it up to my 32" TV sitting right next to my computer for HNM downtimes, or my current one which I'm not quite sure how large it is, but its not exactly a small model.

 

[Zethren]

So at the most you are gaming at 1080p resolution, which is more than enough for a single 5870. You can bet your swiss cheese that crossfire will be supported down the line.
The 5970 is pretty much crossfire on a single card.

Good luck

 

[Uzor]

Ok, thanks a lot. I'll post benchmark results when I get my computer up and running sometime this weekend :3

 

[Shady]

Is DDR3 Ram really that important to you? I mean.. it's not really *necessary* if you're not multitasking when you're playing FF14. I've got 3 sticks of DDR2 running on my system and it flies. Just my 2 cents

 

[Uzor]

From what I'm told it won't even start up unless I use 3 DDR3 sticks since the motherboard I bought is 3-channel DDR3. It doesn't matter that much though - the 2x2GB sticks I were originally planning on buying costs more expensive anyway.