• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Official 2008 "I Need A New PC" Thread

K

Kadey

Mrs. Harvey
radjago said:
Is there any particular reason that I've seen 8800 GT cards for down around $100 lately?
Click to expand...

There are three new versions of it out. I dunno why Nvidia is still clinging to this card. It's pretty much a low budget card now. And enthusiasts have moved onto better things....like the 4850.
 
J

Jirotrom

Member
hey guys I just wanted to know if Its better to go with onboard audio or not. I have a Soundblaster XFi but my on board has optical out and is 8.1. Should I just sell the XFi?
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
Jirotrom said:
hey guys I just wanted to know if Its better to go with onboard audio or not. I have a Soundblaster XFi but my on board has optical out and is 8.1. Should I just sell the XFi?
Click to expand...

Try them both out and see which one you like more. Me, personally, I love my X-Fi too much, and there was a noticeable difference when I tried out the onboard audio.
 
J

Jirotrom

Member
Chiggs said:
Try them both out and see which one you like more. Me, personally, I love my X-Fi too much, and there was a noticeable difference when I tried out the onboard audio.
Click to expand...
well, im wondering if using onboard will hog too many resources, but i'll try them both.
 
B

Blackface

Banned
Kadey said:
There are three new versions of it out. I dunno why Nvidia is still clinging to this card. It's pretty much a low budget card now. And enthusiasts have moved onto better things....like the 4850.
Click to expand...

because the 8800GT can play every game on the market, and good FPS, and it's cheap to make.

The 8800GT won't become useless for at least another year.
 
G

Guled

Member
how is this laptop for gaming?

Gateway M-6864 FX
Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 2.0 GHz
4 GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM
200 GB 7200 RPM HDD
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 512 MB GDDR3

I see that people with the same laptop can run crysis on low-med with 20-40 fps, so what do you think the proformence would be for spore, fallout 3, SC2, and D3? I know its just guess work, but could you give me a rough idea?
 
J

JdFoX187

Banned
Trax416 said:
What type of motherboard do you have, how much RAm did you put in the computer, and did you ground yourself before you started touching things.
Click to expand...

This is the motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188026

I put in two sticks of 2GB RAM, so I have four gigs. I was grounded. I looked at the power supply cables and I notice on the 24-pin connector, one of the holes doesn't have the metal lining like the others, if that makes any sense. It's just a hole. And the wire that should be going to that hole is going to the one next to it. I didn't know if that was the cause or not.
 
F

fatigues_gasolini

Member
Heres my setup, I know its not top of the line but it will do what I need it to.

Thermaltake 500-Watt Purepower ATX Power Supply
Masscool 5F9001B1H3 AMD - AM2/K8 CPU Cooling Fan
XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512MB PCIe w/Dual Link DVI
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ AM2 CPU Black Edition
Asus M2N-MX SE Plus GeForce 6100 Socket AM2 Mother
Crucial 2048MB PC5400 DDR2 667Mhz
CRUCIAL 1024MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHZ
WD Caviar 160GB Serial ATA HD 7200/8MB/SATA 3G
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
Branskins said:
What about the HD 4870 vs the GX2? I have been reading some interesting results there!

Is the GX2 still a better deal?
Click to expand...


I think so. That said, the 260 and 4870 are no slouches. I own a 260 and love it.
 
B

Blackface

Banned
The 4870 will be better then the GX2. It is barely worse then the GX2 now, and pulls ahead when AA is turned on in some casses.

The point is, ATI has not released mature drivers for the new 4800 series. That means when the drivers become available, the 4850, 4870, and 4870X2 will be even faster. Very similar to what happened with Nvidia and the 8800's.

THe 260 is another good card, but good drivers are already out for it, and you will not be getting any that make a gigantic difference. However, the card is basically an underclocked 280, so if you can overclock you can make it damn good.

If I had to pick between the 4870 and GX2, I would pick the 4870.

1. It will be faster.
2. It takes up less power
3. It's a brand new card, which will be supported longer.

Personally I am going to be getting a GTX280 OC, or a 4870X2. I won't know until a month or so when Newegg Canada launches, sales happen and prices drop. I am getting mine because I have a 32 inch 1080p monitor. For someone who runs games at 1680X1050 for example, a 260 or 4870 will eat up anything you toss at them.

Even an 8800GT will be good for another year or so, because outside of Crysis, not games give it problems.
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
Trax416 said:
The 4870 will be better then the GX2. It is barely worse then the GX2 now, and pulls ahead when AA is turned on in some casses.
Click to expand...

Most of the reviews I'm looking at show the GX2 decimating both the 4870 and 260.

The point is, ATI has not released mature drivers for the new 4800 series. That means when the drivers become available, the 4850, 4870, and 4870X2 will be even faster. Very similar to what happened with Nvidia and the 8800's.
Click to expand...

We heard the driver thing from ATI before. Especially with the 2900. Yes, it was true with the 3870X2, but I personally would just look at the current performance and make a decision on that.

The 260 is another good card, but good drivers are already out for it, and you will not be getting any that make a gigantic difference. However, the card is basically an underclocked 280, so if you can overclock you can make it damn good.
Click to expand...

This is true. Just keep in mind that the 260, when initially reviewed, didn't have the luxury of the 177.41 drivers. Like you said, you can basically take a 260 and OC it to a 280.

If I had to pick between the 4870 and GX2, I would pick the 4870.

1. It will be faster.
2. It takes up less power
3. It's a brand new card, which will be supported longer.
Click to expand...

Gotta disagree here (except for the power part). The GX2 seems to overpower the 4870 in most situations. Am I missing a certain review?
 
O

otake

Doesn't know that "You" is used in both the singular and plural
I wonder if it would be possible to take a 4870x2 and crossfire it with a 4870 x1....
 
B

Blackface

Banned
Chiggs said:
Here's Anandtech's review of the 4870 from way back in June (one of the more pro-ATI reviews):

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3341&p=1

The GX2's performance speaks for itself. At $259.99, I don't see how anyone could pass it up, unless they were really concerned about power consumption. To say that a single 4870 is better is jut not true.
Click to expand...

Aandtech has horrible card reviews, especially considering they rarely test more then two resoltuions. Often times testing only a single resolution.

The difference between the 4870 and the 9800Gx2, at the resolutions most gamers play it(which is not 1900X1200). Is not a huge. They are very comparable cards. The difference is, ATI is using essentially modded drivers for the 4800 series right now. There mature drivers are not released. When they do release, the performance of the 4870 will go up, and likley pass the GX2 for everything under 1080p+ gaming.

The reason people know the performance will go up, outside of ATI promising it, is the fact they are using a slightly modded version of the last generation drivers. Once 4800 has there own, unique drivers, it will solve many of the issues the cards are now having.

That and the fact the 9800GX2 is going to be losing support soon, which is why it, along with the 8800GT256mb are dropping in price.

Nvidia has price drops lined up, that will drop the 260 to be perfectly in line with the 4870, and sometimes cheaper. These are the comparable cards. If you read reviews, the 260 and 4870 both win in certain games, but the 4870 pulls ahead when AA is enabled.

Making the 9800GX2, and supporting it with new code in each driver is not cost effective. So expect NVIDIA partners to be dropping the 9800 line ASAP to promote the 260's which are fantastic cards, nobody is paying attention to for some reason.

http://xtreview.com/addcomment-id-5083-view-HD-4870-vs-9800-GX2-benchmark.html
 
C

Chris R

Member
shit shit shit

so newegg now lists the Q9400 for sale... and its 55$ cheaper than the 9550, only difference is that the 9550 has 12mb l2 cache and the 9400 has only 6. Clock speed doesn't matter since I'm going to overclock, but is the 6mb extra cache worth the 55$? Also the 9400 comes with free UT3 :( Going to order in like an hour, trying to research to see how much difference the cache makes
 
T

Tom Penny

Member
How long do you think I can ride out an 8800 GT with an SLI mobo (will eventually dual card it) with an amd 5000+ black processor. I assume my CPU is going to hold me back in the near future.
 
S

SRG01

Member
Trax416 said:
www.newegg.ca

NCIX is good now though. Hopefully Newegg ships via anything except UPS, and offers cheaper prices.
Click to expand...

I would go to Newegg if:

a) cheaper prices than NCIX (shouldn't be hard to do :lol)
b) Purolator express (these guys are fast)

Tom Penny said:
How long do you think I can ride out an 8800 GT with an SLI mobo (will eventually dual card it) with an amd 5000+ black processor. I assume my CPU is going to hold me back in the near future.
Click to expand...

You should have no problem with it. The only game that wouldn't run (very) well is Crysis at high resolutions.

If you're a 1280x800 gamer like myself, then it should be more than sufficient.
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
Trax416 said:
The difference between the 4870 and the 9800Gx2, at the resolutions most gamers play it(which is not 1900X1200). Is not a huge. They are very comparable cards. The difference is, ATI is using essentially modded drivers for the 4800 series right now. There mature drivers are not released. When they do release, the performance of the 4870 will go up, and likley pass the GX2 for everything under 1080p+ gaming.
Click to expand...

I see what you're getting at. Still, the GX2's have a ton of raw power.

Making the 9800GX2, and supporting it with new code in each driver is not cost effective. So expect NVIDIA partners to be dropping the 9800 line ASAP to promote the 260's which are fantastic cards, nobody is paying attention to for some reason.
Click to expand...

The card came out back in March. Do you really think they'll drop it that fast?

So expect NVIDIA partners to be dropping the 9800 line ASAP to promote the 260's which are fantastic cards, nobody is paying attention to for some reason.
Click to expand...

260 are damn good cards. They OC like no tomorrow, too. It's just that their initial prices turned people off.

Branskins said:
I thought these benchmarks were fake.
Click to expand...

Same here.
 
K

Kabouter

Member
Chiggs said:
I see what you're getting at. Still, the GX2's have a ton of raw power.
Click to expand...
Sadly they use a ton of it too :p
Tbh, the 9800GX2 seems like a great value if you're just looking for purchasing price/performance. Even at sub-1080p resolutions.
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
B

Branskins

Member
Chiggs said:
Good deal. Nice card. The 512mb could be an issue in future titles, though.



Yes, but you can't do SLI on a Crossfire board and visa versa.
Click to expand...

This is such a hard game to play! My mind is going in all different directions at the moment!

EDIT: Would the 550w PSU be could enough for this card?
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
Branskins said:
This is such a hard game to play! My mind is going in all different directions at the moment!

EDIT: Would the 550w PSU be could enough for this card?
Click to expand...


Sure, if it's a decent PSU, you should be fine. I still think the 9800GX2 is the way to go, but it's not going to be sack cloth and ash if you decide to get a 4870 or 260.
 
T

Tom Penny

Member
SRG01 said:
You should have no problem with it. The only game that wouldn't run (very) well is Crysis at high resolutions.If you're a 1280x800 gamer like myself, then it should be more than sufficient.
Click to expand...

Am I better off waiting a while to get one 4850 / 4870 or SLI'ing 2 8800gt ?
 
B

Branskins

Member
Chiggs said:
Sure, if it's a decent PSU, you should be fine. I still think the 9800GX2 is the way to go, but it's not going to be sack cloth and ash if you decide to get a 4870 or 260.
Click to expand...

It has been a very tough decision, but I keep seeing that the GX2 is EOL. I guess if I could save a little bit of cash and have a very reliable card, then I would do that. The problem is, I do not know what games I will be playing that would need the GX2 (GW, WAR3, SPORE, GW2, DIII, SC2, COD4, and maybe Bioshock). How would the 4870 do in all of these?
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
Branskins said:
It has been a very tough decision, but I keep seeing that the GX2 is EOL. I guess if I could save a little bit of cash and have a very reliable card, then I would do that. The problem is, I do not know what games I will be playing that would need the GX2 (GW, WAR3, SPORE, GW2, DIII, SC2, COD4, and maybe Bioshock). How would the 4870 do in all of these?
Click to expand...

The 4870 would do excellent in all of those games; it's just that the GX2 has a ton of horsepower, will also do well, and might be the better purchase in the long run. Trax disagrees with this, but I think the majority of reviews out there show the GX2 dominating the 4870 and 260, and even beating the 280 in some cases.

Your call. There are plenty of people that have 4870's that love them. They perform well and they're cheap. Thing is, the GX2 performs really, really well and is cheap. Personally, I'm thinking about selling my 260 and jumping on that $259.99 GX2 deal.

You wanna buy a 1 month old 260?
 
R

Riddler

Member
Hello everyone, its been 5yrs since I built a PC and i'm finally getting back into PC gaming and "I Need A New PC" :)

After some reading around the net whats your thoughts with this build:

Windows Vista 64bit home premium
NVIDIA Geforce 9800 GX2
PSU 800W
DDR3 4GB (1800Mhz or 1333 I guess? )
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9300 yorkfield 2.5ghz
Motherboard NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI
Blueray player(does it matter what I get?)
CD/DVD burner(again is there a specific brand to look for?)
Segate Barracuda 7200RPM 320GB SATA
 
Z

Zzoram

Member
The 9800GX2 uses more power, and more importantly, is really an SLI-solution, meaning it won't scale as well in some games, and has micro-stuttering in cases where it isn't running at really high framerates.
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
Zzoram said:
The 9800GX2 uses more power, and more importantly, is really an SLI-solution, meaning it won't scale as well in some games, and has micro-stuttering in cases where it isn't running at really high framerates.
Click to expand...

Well, it's really that it won't scale well in older games. If you look at the benches of modern games, the card is a powerhouse. And micro-stuttering is so blown out of proportion, IMO.
 
V

VictimOfGrief

Banned
Riddler said:
Hello everyone, its been 5yrs since I built a PC and i'm finally getting back into PC gaming and "I Need A New PC" :)

After some reading around the net whats your thoughts with this build:

Windows Vista 64bit home premium
NVIDIA Geforce 9800 GX2
PSU 800W
DDR3 4GB (1800Mhz or 1333 I guess? )
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9300 yorkfield 2.5ghz
Motherboard NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI
Blueray player(does it matter what I get?)
CD/DVD burner(again is there a specific brand to look for?)
Segate Barracuda 7200RPM 320GB SATA
Click to expand...

Get Vista Ultimate x64 skip home prem.
Good card depending on your wants. IE OC'ing or not OC'ing. I'd personally go 2 x 880GT's or 1 x 8800GT + 1 GTX260.
PSU--- A little overkill unless you're planning on SLi soon.
Core 2 Quad--- Good choice but if you can, go up to the 9550 for a faster clock + 6MB more cache.
Motherboard is good.
Blu-Ray on the computer.... unless you're hooking it up to a 32" TV or larger, skip.
Lite-On or Samsung make the best DVD Burners right now. I have a Samsung that is great.
Get at least a 750GB 7200.10 drive SATA II. They're going for like $99 bucks @ The Egg. I just ordered one on Sunday and should be getting it tomorrow. Really no reason not to get a bigger drive.
 
M

MisterAnderson

Member
I made a thread about this since I apparently missed this thread, so I decided to just post in here. Hopefully I can get some of my questions answered; I have been out of the PC loop for quite a while and am looking to build a new rig in the near future in the 500-1000 dollar range (or cheaper if possible) I basically need a new motherboard, CPU, video card, memory, and tower - MAYBE a new sound card if I get some good deals on the rest. I've been browsing a bit over at newegg to see what is up and am a bit confused/torn in some areas since I have not been keeping up to date with my computer tech as of late.

Some questions I have:

- PCI express vs. PCI, and SLI. Now...I'm aware that SLI is taking two identical video cards (that support the feature - speaking of which - are both Nvidia and ATI able to do this?) and connecting them together for each to render each half of the screen simultaneously for a rather large graphical boost. I read somewhere that this is only supported by AMD? Or was that old news and Intel now supports this feature? (I don't plan on buying two video cards at the moment, but I'd like to have the option to buy the same video card sometime down the road if it gets cheap for a nice upgrade).

Also is PCI express the way to go? Would this be a good card that would last me a while? (It seems like a good deal especially with the 30 dollar mail-in-rebate) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814145157

- CPU's: AMD or Intel? Like I just said, I would like to have SLI support so that my card won't go to waste when it comes time to upgrade the graphics, so if Intel doesn't support the feature I think I might want to go AMD. The only issue I have with that is that I thought I heard that Intel is up on top again, but this is only the case for the very top of the line CPU's or something (which I am not planning on buying).

I was thinking that this CPU/MOBO combo looked like a reasonable bargain (but then again what do I know?): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128337

Would that processor and MOBO have good bang for the buck?

I was assuming this would be decent RAM to purchase (this is all based on me reading a few of the reviews, not direct experience with these products): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145184

As for the tower, I want something that is quiet yet keeps things as cool as possible...for as cheap as possible. As tempting as it is to buy this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129043 (I LOVE how it looks...all those blue fan vents look sexy) I was thinking something along the lines of this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811146041 since it is SO much cheaper. It even has a mail-in-rebate to bring down the price even further, so it would be difficult for me to convince myself to buy the Antec, as much as I love the design.

Any recommendations on sound cards would also be great. I currently use a Sound Blaster Audigy (the first one) and it works great with my 5.1 surround setup, but Creative no longer supports it so that has me worried a bit.
 
B

Blackface

Banned
Riddler said:
Hello everyone, its been 5yrs since I built a PC and i'm finally getting back into PC gaming and "I Need A New PC" :)

After some reading around the net whats your thoughts with this build:

Windows Vista 64bit home premium
NVIDIA Geforce 9800 GX2
PSU 800W
DDR3 4GB (1800Mhz or 1333 I guess? )
Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q9300 yorkfield 2.5ghz
Motherboard NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI
Blueray player(does it matter what I get?)
CD/DVD burner(again is there a specific brand to look for?)
Segate Barracuda 7200RPM 320GB SATA
Click to expand...

1. You don't need DDR3 memory.
2. What PSU is 800W? Makes a huge difference.
3. If I were you I would save money on the 790I motherboard(you don't need it, especially with a single gx2)
4. With the saved money buy an E8400 or a Q9450. Both better then the Q9300 for gaming
5. Get a 4870.
6. Where is the case? Current GFX cards are gigantic, and many cases do not have the space for them or proper ventilation.
7. Buy a 750I, X38 or P34 board. If you have a bit of extra money, then get a X48 or P45.

If you give me your price range, I could make a build for you.
 
Chiggs

Chiggs

Gold Member
Branskins said:
I have never been so stuck in my life! GX2 vs 4870! =/
Click to expand...


Performance: 9800GX2, easily.
Power Consumption: 4870...still not that great, though.
Thermals: :lol Both are hot.

Go for the 9800GX2, or buy my 260!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 on PC requires 64GB of RAM and RTX 4080 for Ideal Specs
Hardware Platform 2
94
3K
nemiroff replied
Once and for all, is it OK to buy AMD for a mid-high range gaming PC?
2
83
3K
killatopak replied
Couch PC Gamers - How do you do it?
2 3
108
9K
Buggy Loop replied
Xbox officially launches Game Pass Standard
2
88
4K
Nydius replied
PC gaming vs Console gaming: the case of PSVR2 PC adapter
VR Platform 2
64
2K
poppabk replied
Top Bottom