Interesting Conversation With Magazine editor

mihir

mihir

VIP Member
In India a PC magazine named chip is very famous and i am a regular reader of it and one of their regular sections in their magazin is PC config section.

The High End Config they listed this month was

i7 860
Asus P7P55D
Gskill 4Gb 1066Mhz
GTX 295 in first issue and GTX 480 in the second one
Asus Xonar 7.1
Coolermaster Gladiator 600
Tagan 700W in first issue and Coolermaster 700W
+HDD+Monitor+MS Office+Win7+Keyboard+Mouse+Speakers+ODD
And the total cost of their Config was Rs1,41,900
I commented on his first issue config.

and I did not find the config very good and wrote them a letter here it is


Flaw Computer Config Section


I am a regular reader of your magazine and I find it very interesting, all your latest updates on the devices and also special tests for eg the GPUs below 10 Grande and all the hard drive tests etc etc..

But I do find a flaw in your magazine.The computer config section is a huge disappointment.The budgets you list, way better computers can be made in a similar or lower budget.I would only speak about the High end config in this article due to sterical hinderance and also because I am an owner of one of them.

Firstly the computer in the high end gaming is not a future proof computer at all.An i7 920 would be way better than an 860 in gaming as the 920s work on x58(Socket 1366) motherboards and the same motherboards support better sli and crossfire(x16 ,x16) in comparison with the P55's(x8,x8) and the 920 has a tripple channel memory controller in contrast to the dual channel memory controller in the 860 eventhough the turbo boost of the 860 is better than the 920's still the 920 outperperforms it in all the games according to the benchmark results by Tomshardware and also in the adobe photoshop CS4 video rendering applications.The i7 920 is also cheaper better bus speed and also uses socket 1366 which all the 6 core CPUs (intel)will use.

Now about the RAM The G Skill 1066MHz 4Gb............. compared to the rest of the config it will be a hinderance and would seriously need upgrading pretty soon.8Gb RAM is a must or if using an x58 mobo 6Gb RAM with atleast 1333MHz Clock speed.

Then the GTX 295 is a complete waste with the 4GB RAM the game which uses the full potential of the GTX 295 would need a RAM with much greater memory.And also the PSU you have selected leaves no scope of sli or the crossfire.I mean 700W is very low with a GTX 295 .

A GTX 285/HD 5858/HD5870 would be better and the amout left can be invested in a better PSU as that would make the Computer futureproof and the user/gamer can go sli or crossfire later according to the requirement of the future games.An ATI HD 5850/5870 would be my preference as of now as it supports DX11 and outperforms the GTX 275 which is capable to play every game in full HD(1920x1080).

The mouse and keyboard would depend on the user but I would rather a G15 or G19(Good for benchmarking) or a Razer tarantula.

The soundcard is a complete waste of money. Nowadays motherboards come equipped with amazing sound cards(onboard) , most of the x58 motherboards come equipped with atleast 8.1 channel sound and upto 10 channel sound .So untill and unless you are a sound freak you wouldnt need that card and even if you are you will be the only one like that in the world.

Then the monitor is pretty good I myself would go with it but also please list an optional monitor with a 120Hz refresh rate since the GPU you have used is GTX295 which supports 3d.

Thats about all of it.
Click to expand...

His reply to the above was


HI Mihir

Thanks for writing in. Here are the answers to all your concerns.

You're right - a Core i 7 920 is more powerful than an 860. But then a good X58 motherboard with SLI support and triple channel DDR3 memory kit are expensive. Also there are more socket 1156 CPUs to choose from than socket 1366 CPUs and you don't need an extremely high-end CPU for a gaming PC. Yes, demanding applications will run better but it won't make a significant difference in games — you'll just get a few fps more, that's it. With regards to memory support the P55 chipset supports up to 16 GB of DDR3 RAM. So upgrading memory won't be a problem.
Currently the GTX 480 is the most powerful single-GPU graphics card and that's what we have recommended in the high-end PCconfig this time. The choice of keyboard and mouse is completely up to the user. We have suggested models that we think are good.
A good discrete soundcard such as the Asus Xonar DX 7.1-channel will any day outperform an on-board soundchip. And to do justice to a good set of audiophile-class speakers that we've mentioned, a good soundcard is a must. You'll need to hear the difference to find it out for yourself.
3D capable monitor and 3D vision glasses coming up soon.

Regards,
Anand Tuliani
Click to expand...

And my reply to his letter was

Hello Anand
Thanks for replying and a very good reply it is.Ok Firstly the 1156 offers more choice of processors that is the current situation but anyways the 860 is at the top of performance with respect to its cost so no-one will be willing to upgrade since the difference in the price between the 860 and the 870 is extremely high so the choice of processors available are a downgrade to the 860.And the x58 motherboard has a future and the 1156 is only for mainstream use.And if you think then i7 is an overkill for gaming so is an 860 an i5 750 would suffice for gaming.
And GTX 480 is not the best card on the market the best card is ATI 5970 by a long margin.A GTX 480 Sli beats a single ATI 5970 by a 10% margin at most and costs Rs30,000 more .The GTX 480 is performs only 10% better than the ATI 5870 and also the GTX 480 is a fail card since it takes 50% more power and produces 20% more heat.The GTX 480 Temperature are also a major issue and the PSU needed for an SLI of a GTX 480 is close to a 1000W but for Crossfiring an ATI 5870 It is just 750W with an i7 930 which clearly makes ATI 5870 a better choice and more value for money and cheaper than the GTX 480.
True that a good discrete sound card will outperform an onboard any day but a good set of RAM will outperform a Gskill 1066MHz 4Gb Ram anyday so the budget is poorly divided,well thats my opinion.
And about the 16 Gb Upgradibility when a person spends around a Lac and a half on his PC he/she shouldnt be worried whether his PC would run a game or not ,the 4GB RAM acts as a bottleneck.
The config you listed the user will have to keep upgrading again and again but the one I listed he would just need to go Crossfire later and even that in extreme circumstances.
Click to expand...


please comment
 
Last edited:
i think if people had a ton of money to spend on computers. then your suggested build would reign supreme over the magazines proposed build. but since we don't have tons of money, the cost effective build wins the war.
 
mojo42 said:
i think if people had a ton of money to spend on computers. then your suggested build would reign supreme over the magazines proposed build. but since we don't have tons of money, the cost effective build wins the war.
Click to expand...

well the build i suggested is also in the same budget and more futureproof
and has a lot of space for ugradability

but the config he suggested the buyer would have to upgrade to run a few games specially the 4Gb RAM
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top