Finally sold the Jeep, time to buy PC parts.

As the title implies I am after new rig parts this weekend and I was curious if any of you could answer a GPU question for me.

I know that the lowest VRAM card set the limit for the system for all Nvidia cards but is this the case for say having an HD6870 or even an onboard chipset driving your monitors?

I’d also like an opinion on set up.

I have about $800 at the top end but would like to keep is around $600 seeing as I would also like to get in over at Arch Academy. shakes fist at nothing in particular “DAMN YOU COST OF PUTTING KIDS THROUGH COLLEGE!”

Anyway, I am currently running a 1090t on an aging mobo, with a two week old 750 ti.

I was considering moving to an Intel base for $850ish

i7 4770 @ $260
ASRock z87 Ext 4 @ $105
16GB RAM @ $160
Toshiba hybrid drive @ $70
Case @ $50ish
GTX 750ti @ $145

but I can keep the 1090t for $580ish

ASRock 990FX mobo @ $135
Toshiba hybrid drive @ $70
Case @ $50ish
2x GTX 750ti @ 290

I like the cpu rendering I get from the i7, having one in my Mac mini would allow me to move files I can not render on my cards over for CPU processing. That alone has me leaning away from the i7 build. Another knock against it IMO is that I have no scaleability. Any further upgrades will require another mono/CPU swap. Whereas with the mobo swap on the 1090t I can go all the way up to 9590 should I decide to.

All thoughts, opinions and alternate options welcome.

Bonus question: Looking at a MSI R9 270x (2GB) to drive my UI and replace my aging HD6870 for casual gaming.

Any luck out there running ATI and Nvidia drivers together?

OK, some thoughts on the selected components (talking about the new PC setup):

  • You don’t need i7 4770, unless you need the integrated Intel HD graphics. Instead you can get Xeon E3-1231v3 which is the same as the i7, but without the Intel HD, it’s a little cheaper and won’t have as high temperatures as the 4770.
  • You don’t need a Z-series motherboard, unless you are going to overclock the CPU. A decent B85 board will do the job. You can choose a H97 or Z97 board if you think you will ditch the xeon/i7 at some point and get a Broadwell CPU.
  • I don’t see many positive reviews on the SSHD drives in general, my suggestion is get a normal HDD for storage and SSD for a system drive.
  • I don’t see a PSU. You should add one.

Thanks for the feedback but the money was to hot in my pocket and already spent. :wink:
Finally decided to keep my 1090t for future scalability and am happy with the outcome.
I ditched the hybrid idea and went with a solid state for my apps and games.
I added a second 750 ti and after seeing the gains from the second am considering a third.
As for your PSU concern I am already running a modular 700watt unit that I’m keeping.

My only remaining question is whether to add a third 750 ti rendering or the R9 270x for UI and gaming.