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[Agent Ghost]

little confused here. so from the looks of that ATI will be doing a 58x series of cards in Q1/Q2 of 09? then an entire new card again in Q4(6870?)

and it looks like NVIDIA is waiting until Q4 to release the 380 series?(if so what is the GT212? just a refresh of the current 280's?)

The 5** series if it exists at all will be a refresh of the 48**. no one seems to know what it is. If it does exist it might have the architectual changes the future gen of ATI cards will have only the cards will be a 55nm proccess as opposed to a 40nm proccess as the 68** cards will have. All of this is just me speculating...

The GT216 is more of a rehash than a refresh. No changes in architecture, one less shader cluster than a GTX280 and has the same memory structure as the GTX 260. It was made as a response to ATIs 48** series. It had to do with getting a better price/performance.

The GTX 280 and GTX 295 will be at 55nm as opposed to 65nm. So it's a true refresh. The GTX 295 being the more interesting of the two as it fills a segment of the market that Nvidia was not serving for a while.

In other words the next gen is Nvidia's GT300 series as ATI's HD68** series.

 

[Tain]

Stupid question: I'm gonna need a 64 bit OS to use my 4 gigs of ram, right?

XP 64 or Vista 64, guys?

 

[Polk]

Vista64 >>> XP64

 

[UltimaPooh]

Reposting because I was at the bottom of the las page:

I was told to wait... to see the new prices of old hardware this Q1... But I just want to see what options I have ahead of time.

Just a reminder...

I will use the computer mostly for video editing, stuff like avid, after effects, some photoshop, etc. and I'll be using it to play source based games mostly (I love Valve.) They don't need to look hot, I just want them to be functional without an hiccups.

I care more about the video editing side of things than the gaming side of things. So if I have sto sacrifice gaming for video... I choose video.

What do you guys recommend?

 

[CiSTM]

Stupid question: I'm gonna need a 64 bit OS to use my 4 gigs of ram, right?

XP 64 or Vista 64, guys?

Sooner or later there will be more Vista only games, so go with Vista.

 

[Zhuk]

Great thread, I am one of the many who is finally looking to upgrade in 2009. My last upgrade was in 2005 where I got a S939 Athlon 64 3000+ with 1gb of RAM and a 6600gt, and thanks to the Overclockers Australia community i've been able to get more life out of her by upgrading to 2gb of Ram and a 7900gt for around $40.

Being an avid AMD enthusiast, I have been disappointed with the performance of the Phenom processor and that Intel has regained the performance crown with such a gap after nearly a decade of mediocrity on their part. There is however light at the end of the tunnel with the release of the new Phenom II's.

The 45nm Phenom II's look set to fix a lot of the problems that the original Phenom's have and finally scale past 3ghz at stock speeds. With a reported 15% increase on a clock-per-clock basis and promising reports of overclocking capability, I am hopeful that the Phenom II will compete with Intel's Core 2 series favourably which will allow me to upgrade to an AMD system.

My upgrade plan right now is this:

Processor: Phenom II 920 or 940
RAM: 4gb of 1066mhz ram g.skill or OCZ
Mobo: Asus M3879-t deluxe (FX790+SB750 chipsets)
plus a decent heatpipe/heatsink combo
Video Card: Radeon HD 4870

Right now I am leaning towards just getting an AM2+ chip and not wait to build an AM3 system due the prohibitive price and negligible real world performance increase that DDR3 will bring (at least in the earlier stages) but I might end up holding off if I want a stronger upgrade path in the future.

 

[the_prime_mover]

Excellent thread. Thanks for all the effort OP.

I am looking to build an entirely new rig in '09, primarily for gaming. I am looking to build something that will be able to output at 1080p with good-high settings, on most games, for at least the next two years and should be functional for a few years after that if possible. Ideally any upgrades in the (near)future should only be RAM and a GPU.

I do most of my gaming on PS3, and use the PC for strategy games. I am not really interested in being able to play Crysis on max with 60+fps or any game like that released in the future (meaning those games that are so far ahead of the current curve). However, playing most new games at a level that looks at least as good as the PS3 is of course preferable. I want to hook the new PC up to a 52' XBR3, unfortunately my TV has a pretty bad scalar , so a 720p image gets a bit pixelated (I am only sitting about 12 feet away). Thus, being able to output at 1080p would be ideal. I will also be using a 7.1 (non-HDMI) receiver for sound so my sound card will need optical-out. Of course, this all means that I will be gaming from the couch, so keyboard and mouse control issues are causing me a bit of concern (anyone have good solutions for this issue?).

I haven't been following PC tech over the past few years (my last build was only a mid-range PC and that was about 3 years ago), but think it is a good time to get back into it. With so many XBOX 360 games being released on PC, and my expectations of a much more "casual" console market next gen, now seems like as good a time as any to start setting up a solid gaming PC. My old PC is perfect for HD streaming and more "general-purpose" computing, and I have a newer laptop that can handle other needs - so this new PC is really just for gaming.

Given my current state of ignorance, and an expected build window of April-June, should I be waiting longer for the release of new CPUs, GPUs and RAM, or is that window a good build time, given the tech and prices? What is to be expected of DDR3 over DDR2? Should I be waiting for DirectX 11? Will developers head more towards quad+ core processing or is dual core sufficient? I want to build a fair priced PC that satisfies the outputs I currently possess, and will be able to provide me high quality visuals and audio for the near future. Price is of course an issue, and I don't want to spend $1,300 or more if it can be avoided.

Though there are a lot of links in the OP, it is all very overwhelming (especially given that there is so much competition in the manufacture of each PC component), so help is much appreciated.

 

[Sanjay]

A friend has asked me to build him a PC as his current one is very old now, I would like some recommendations please with which hardware are regarded highly nowdays. He has given me a budget of £450.

All prices from http://www.aria.co.uk/

Motherboard: ?
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 £126.44
Heatsink: ?
Memory: OCZ 4GB PC2-8000 Platinum XTC (2x2GB) £45.94
Video Card: ?
Power Supply: Corsair 650W TX Series PSU £70.21

So I have about £210 left to spend on a GPU, Mobo and a Heatsink. Any good recommendations?

 

[Tenks]

Ok so here is the situation. I used to be a nothing but PC gamer. Recently I've moved on to my PS3. However I recently won this computer on an online contest (shout out - Thank you BigDownload):

http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=356

So I need some PC gaming recommendations. I was thinking Left4Dead and Crysis for right now. If I knew I was going to get this computer I would have gotten Fallout3 for it but I already picked that up for PS3. Naturally I'll be getting SC2/Diablo3 whenever the hell those actually release. Am I missing any PC games that I simply *must* play? I was thinking maybe Witcher.

 

[Labombadog]

Excellent thread. Thanks for all the effort OP.

I am looking to build an entirely new rig in '09, primarily for gaming. I am looking to build something that will be able to output at 1080p with good-high settings, on most games, for at least the next two years and should be functional for a few years after that if possible. Ideally any upgrades in the (near)future should only be RAM and a GPU.

I do most of my gaming on PS3, and use the PC for strategy games. I am not really interested in being able to play Crysis on max with 60+fps or any game like that released in the future (meaning those games that are so far ahead of the current curve). However, playing most new games at a level that looks at least as good as the PS3 is of course preferable. I want to hook the new PC up to a 52' XBR3, unfortunately my TV has a pretty bad scalar , so a 720p image gets a bit pixelated (I am only sitting about 12 feet away). Thus, being able to output at 1080p would be ideal. I will also be using a 7.1 (non-HDMI) receiver for sound so my sound card will need optical-out. Of course, this all means that I will be gaming from the couch, so keyboard and mouse control issues are causing me a bit of concern (anyone have good solutions for this issue?).

I haven't been following PC tech over the past few years (my last build was only a mid-range PC and that was about 3 years ago), but think it is a good time to get back into it. With so many XBOX 360 games being released on PC, and my expectations of a much more "casual" console market next gen, now seems like as good a time as any to start setting up a solid gaming PC. My old PC is perfect for HD streaming and more "general-purpose" computing, and I have a newer laptop that can handle other needs - so this new PC is really just for gaming.

Given my current state of ignorance, and an expected build window of April-June, should I be waiting longer for the release of new CPUs, GPUs and RAM, or is that window a good build time, given the tech and prices? What is to be expected of DDR3 over DDR2? Should I be waiting for DirectX 11? Will developers head more towards quad+ core processing or is dual core sufficient? I want to build a fair priced PC that satisfies the outputs I currently possess, and will be able to provide me high quality visuals and audio for the near future. Price is of course an issue, and I don't want to spend $1,300 or more if it can be avoided.

Though there are a lot of links in the OP, it is all very overwhelming (especially given that there is so much competition in the manufacture of each PC component), so help is much appreciated.

If you need/want a pc right now I would go with this route. I went with a quad, because most games in the future will fully utilize q quad, and your beloved RTS games are CPU dependent. That motherboard have amazing overclocking features. That ram I heard overclocks well too. And I went with a 1gb version of 4870, because you stated that you 'need' 1080p and that will help a bunch. That case have a bunch of air flow, especially if you add fans to it.
Ep45
Q9550
antec 300
Tuniq Tower 120
4Gb OCZ Reapers
750w Corsair
Samsung DVD/cd burner SATA
4870 1gb Saphire
Came up to $980 - $80mir = $900 without shipping.
Here is the wishlist, make sure your singed on to newegg to view it.

 

[Labombadog]

Ok so here is the situation. I used to be a nothing but PC gamer. Recently I've moved on to my PS3. However I recently won this computer on an online contest (shout out - Thank you BigDownload):

http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=356

So I need some PC gaming recommendations. I was thinking Left4Dead and Crysis for right now. If I knew I was going to get this computer I would have gotten Fallout3 for it but I already picked that up for PS3. Naturally I'll be getting SC2/Diablo3 whenever the hell those actually release. Am I missing any PC games that I simply *must* play? I was thinking maybe Witcher.

Great PC you got there, lucky bastard!
Anyways, into gaming. You need to play STALKER:SOC its only $5 at STEAM, The Witcher, NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer, Titan Quest Gold (Diablo 2 clone), Company OF Heroes, and if you havent got it yet The Orange Box.

 

[Minsc]

Ok so here is the situation. I used to be a nothing but PC gamer. Recently I've moved on to my PS3. However I recently won this computer on an online contest (shout out - Thank you BigDownload):

http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=356

So I need some PC gaming recommendations. I was thinking Left4Dead and Crysis for right now. If I knew I was going to get this computer I would have gotten Fallout3 for it but I already picked that up for PS3. Naturally I'll be getting SC2/Diablo3 whenever the hell those actually release. Am I missing any PC games that I simply *must* play? I was thinking maybe Witcher.

Not really the thread for it, but I'll bite, when did you stop gaming? I'm sure there's a few dozen games you've missed unless it was last year, or you have no interest in playing slightly older games.

Fallout 3 in a few more months time will have some amazing mods, and the DLC which isn't coming to the PS3 sounds absolutely amazing, probably worth the trade-in cost alone. You may want to pawn the PS3 copy while it will fetch you a good price and pick it up on the PC anyway, likely you'll only come out around $20 behind, but well worth it imo.

Sooner or later there will be more Windows 7 only games, so go with Windows 7.

Fixed? I don't know how many Vista only games there will be in the remaining 12 months of its life.

 

[Tenks]

Not really the thread for it, but I'll bite, when did you stop gaming? I'm sure there's a few dozen games you've missed unless it was last year, or you have no interest in playing slightly older games.

Fallout 3 in a few more months time will have some amazing mods, and the DLC which isn't coming to the PS3 sounds absolutely amazing, probably worth the trade-in cost alone. You may want to pawn the PS3 copy while it will fetch you a good price and pick it up on the PC anyway, likely you'll only come out around $20 behind, but well worth it imo.

I pretty much stopped using my computer after WoW:TBC came out. I'll still sometimes boot up my computer (I still have a fairly decent desktop) and play war3 or SC@ICCup but really not too much. I used to be a Cal-I CS player back in high school then moved on to DAoC then WoW so I've logged quite a few hours on my PC.

The last 'new' PC game I played was Oblivion. I've already played most of the classics -- BG1 & BG2, NWN, Diablo1/2, SC, WoW. Pretty much the only highly regarded PC game I've missed so far is The Witcher. I may take you up on that Fallout recommendation.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

So I was able to put together my new rig and I'm surprised at how little of a boost I got over my 2001 computer which had some asus p5 something, x850 pro, p4, and 2gigs of ram. This upgraded rig has a gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3, 4850, 8400 dual core cpu, and 4gb of ram on vista. Crysis at 1280x720 was running at around 20fps with everything on high(that's what the game chooses when I select optimal performance). Stalker ran at 25-30fps at some weird 4:3 resolution on high as well, for some reason I couldn't select a widescreen resolution. Most disappointing of all is that Wrath of the Lich King still runs at sub 30 in a lot of areas, the game runs at 15fps in Dalaran, joined a raid and it was 15-20fps. I was seriously thinking that this machine would eat up wow, but sadly it doesn't and it was the main reason that I upgraded. Any tips or is that exactly how my machine should run those games?

I have the same motherboard, an 8500 dual core, 4gb of RAM and a 4870 and I get 60+ fps in WoW in most areas with everything maxxed out at 1900x1200 resolution. Even in crowded areas I have never seen it drop below 45fps. I realize the 4850 isn't quite as good, but WoW shouldn't be giving you any trouble. I get really good performance on Crysis Warhead as well at 1600x1050 with most settings on "GAMER" and some on "ENTHUSIAST".

 

[Minsc]

The last 'new' PC game I played was Oblivion. I've already played most of the classics -- BG1 & BG2, NWN, Diablo1/2, SC, WoW. Pretty much the only highly regarded PC game I've missed so far is The Witcher. I may take you up on that Fallout recommendation.

Well here are a few more recommendations that haven't been mentioned if you missed them. Oblivion/Shivering Isles was 2006/07, but I'll do some 2005 anyway (and because DoW 2 is due out soon and the first kicked so much ass). In no real order:

Titan Quest - Immortal Throne, NWN 2 (MotB if nothing else), Sam & Max Seasons 1 & 2, Painkiller (Triple Dose), W40K - Dawn of War (you will probably like this a lot if you like Starcraft), HoMM V, 1701 AD, C&C 3 / RA 3, Kings Bounty.

 

[Baloonatic]

So, I'm thinking of buying this computer:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/range.html?t=pc&c=home&r=RIC

(The Pro version)

Is it a good buy? Could I get 30fps out of Crysis with it?

Edit: Nevermind, I hear the 8200 isn't so hot

 

[Minsc]

So, I'm thinking of buying this computer:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/range.html?t=pc&c=home&r=RIC

(The Pro version)

Is it a good buy? Could I get 30fps out of Crysis with it?

Edit: Nevermind, I hear the 8200 isn't so hot

Maybe try the Crysis box for Crysis?

 

[Baloonatic]

Maybe try the Crysis box for Crysis?

I'm in the UK D: Does anyone know of any UK websites where you can choose the parts you want and they'll build it for you?

 

[iam220]

Edit: Nevermind, I hear the 8200 isn't so hot

Really? From the benchmarks I've seen it's equiv to a Q6600 but some say it's not as good of an over clocker? In any case, a q8200 paired with a 4850 should will give you 30fps+ in crysis with a mix of high/very high settings.

edit: why not build it yourself?

 

[ithorien]

So I was trying to figure out a monitor situation for my wife, and after talking to Hazaro I was thinking of getting her the 24" Asus that does full 1080...

However, something just struck me here. My wife currently plays on a crappy old Dell laptop, 1280x800 res, so her WoW runs at 1280x720. If I get her a 1080 monitor, yes it will be awesome because it's big, but I'll have to run her WoW at a pretty high res. Would that 9600 GT 512MB really do the trick? I want her to finally enjoy WoW with all effects max.

I don't want her to run into FPS issues other than the normal main town lagfest. What do you guys think?

 

[Minsc]

So I was trying to figure out a monitor situation for my wife, and after talking to Hazaro I was thinking of getting her the 24" Asus that does full 1080...

However, something just struck me here. My wife currently plays on a crappy old Dell laptop, 1280x800 res, so her WoW runs at 1280x720. If I get her a 1080 monitor, yes it will be awesome because it's big, but I'll have to run her WoW at a pretty high res. Would that 9600 GT 512MB really do the trick? I want her to finally enjoy WoW with all effects max.

I don't want her to run into FPS issues other than the normal main town lagfest. What do you guys think?

You don't HAVE to run at higher resolutions. I can run my 24" LCD at as low as like 840x480 fullscreen.

Maybe look in to 720p TV LCDs to get larger sizes with lower native resolutions? I'm sure they can be had for some amazing prices, as they're trying to get rid of them with 1080p ones.

 

[ithorien]

You don't HAVE to run at higher resolutions. I can run my 24" LCD at as low as like 840x480 fullscreen.

Maybe look in to 720p TV LCDs to get larger sizes with lower native resolutions? I'm sure they can be had for some amazing prices, as they're trying to get rid of them with 1080p ones.

Well, I just mean I try to stick to native resolutions on LCDs. Besides, she's gonna run it in windowed mode so she can browse etc. "Worst" case scenario, I just get her a 22" 1680 monitor, because I know that'll be just fine.

 

[Minsc]

Well, I just mean I try to stick to native resolutions on LCDs. Besides, she's gonna run it in windowed mode so she can browse etc. "Worst" case scenario, I just get her a 22" 1680 monitor, because I know that'll be just fine.

If she's going to run it windowed at 1280x720 I wouldn't get anything less than 1920x1200. You'll barely have room to see anything with a 1280x720 window on the desktop on a 1680x1050 monitor, that's what my 17" laptop runs at.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

+ Added Monitor info + SSD reference and C2D/C2Q overclocking to the main post.

 

[zoku88]

If she's going to run it windowed at 1280x720 I wouldn't get anything less than 1920x1200. You'll barely have room to see anything with a 1280x720 window on the desktop on a 1680x1050 monitor, that's what my 17" laptop runs at.

I agree. When I run windowed on my 1920x1200 monitor, it's usually at 1024x768. Anything else just seems to take up too much room.

 

[godhandiscen]

Great thread, I am one of the many who is finally looking to upgrade in 2009. My last upgrade was in 2005 where I got a S939 Athlon 64 3000+ with 1gb of RAM and a 6600gt, and thanks to the Overclockers Australia community i've been able to get more life out of her by upgrading to 2gb of Ram and a 7900gt for around $40.

Being an avid AMD enthusiast, I have been disappointed with the performance of the Phenom processor and that Intel has regained the performance crown with such a gap after nearly a decade of mediocrity on their part. There is however light at the end of the tunnel with the release of the new Phenom II's.

The 45nm Phenom II's look set to fix a lot of the problems that the original Phenom's have and finally scale past 3ghz at stock speeds. With a reported 15% increase on a clock-per-clock basis and promising reports of overclocking capability, I am hopeful that the Phenom II will compete with Intel's Core 2 series favourably which will allow me to upgrade to an AMD system.

My upgrade plan right now is this:

Processor: Phenom II 920 or 940
RAM: 4gb of 1066mhz ram g.skill or OCZ
Mobo: Asus M3879-t deluxe (FX790+SB750 chipsets)
plus a decent heatpipe/heatsink combo
Video Card: Radeon HD 4870

Right now I am leaning towards just getting an AM2+ chip and not wait to build an AM3 system due the prohibitive price and negligible real world performance increase that DDR3 will bring (at least in the earlier stages) but I might end up holding off if I want a stronger upgrade path in the future.

Ohhh shit, thats a beautiful build right there. I am picking the exact same motherboard and and the Phenom II 3.0GHz processor when it arrives. I also heard that it can support AM3 processors with an upgrade though I don't know how that will be possible.

 

[Nemo]

So I was able to put together my new rig and I'm surprised at how little of a boost I got over my 2001 computer which had some asus p5 something, x850 pro, p4, and 2gigs of ram. This upgraded rig has a gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3, 4850, 8400 dual core cpu, and 4gb of ram on vista. Crysis at 1280x720 was running at around 20fps with everything on high(that's what the game chooses when I select optimal performance). Stalker ran at 25-30fps at some weird 4:3 resolution on high as well, for some reason I couldn't select a widescreen resolution. Most disappointing of all is that Wrath of the Lich King still runs at sub 30 in a lot of areas, the game runs at 15fps in Dalaran, joined a raid and it was 15-20fps. I was seriously thinking that this machine would eat up wow, but sadly it doesn't and it was the main reason that I upgraded. Any tips or is that exactly how my machine should run those games?

Your videocard might be too high in temps. I have the same config (4850 dual slot cooler) and performance is waaaay better. At least in Crysis you should be getting 40-50 fps.

 

[Baloonatic]

Really? From the benchmarks I've seen it's equiv to a Q6600 but some say it's not as good of an over clocker? In any case, a q8200 paired with a 4850 should will give you 30fps+ in crysis with a mix of high/very high settings.

edit: why not build it yourself?

Hmm, maybe it's worth considering then. Does anyone else have an opinion on the Q8200?

I was originally going to build one myself, but I'm kinda scared Fitting the components in isn't really a problem, but getting it to run I'm not so sure on.

My whole computer actually died today. No lights, nothing. Tried another power supply and still nothing. Definitely time for a new one.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

Hmm, maybe it's worth considering then. Does anyone else have an opinion on the Q8200?

I was originally going to build one myself, but I'm kinda scared Fitting the components in isn't really a problem, but getting it to run I'm not so sure on.

My whole computer actually died today. No lights, nothing. Tried another power supply and still nothing. Definitely time for a new one.

The Q8200 isn't a bad chip but from my experience on what I've seen, you might want a higher chip as the low cache is gimped @ 4MB of L2 if you're planning on OC'ing.

Anyhoo, I've got my G0 Q6600 OC'ed to 3.2GHz w/ 8MB of L2 and it's plenty fast and one of the best values for the buck. Not to mention the fact that most of the P35/P45 boards all support 45nm, so buying a 65nm Kentsfield and then upgrading later is always a way to go.

For reference, I plan on upgrading to the Q9550 sometime next year and also upgrade my RAM as well for better OC'ing.

 

[JSnake]

For reference, I plan on upgrading to the Q9550 sometime next year and also upgrade my RAM as well for better OC'ing.

This is my plan too. I'll also purchase ATI's next *850.

 

[Baloonatic]

Hmm ok, what are people's opinions on this one:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/range.html?t=pc&c=home&r=ISX

Has a E8400 Core 2 Duo and a 9600GT 512MB. Is it even worth considering?

 

[Gremmie4]

Looking for some upgrade advice for my PC since I am wanting to start gaming on the PC more than my PS3. My current system is an XP pro machine running an Athlon 64 x2 4200+ (socket 939), 2GB DDR400 RAM, and an XFX 7900GT. I was thinking of buying this card or this card to upgrade my 7900GT, and hopefully it would boost my system enough to play games at 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 with decent settings. Then sometime later next year, build a core i7 machine or a phenom II machine and use whatever video card I buy now. Would this work or would my slow CPU and RAM bottleneck one of these cards so bad I would have to upgrade everything?

 

[iam220]

Hmm ok, what are people's opinions on this one:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/range.html?t=pc&c=home&r=ISX

Has a E8400 Core 2 Duo and a 9600GT 512MB. Is it even worth considering?

I'd go with the other one. I'd say that if you're buying a new pc a 9800gtx+ or a 4850 should be the bare minimum if you want to game on it.

Also, building a pc is easy. The hardest part for me is plugging in the reset, power and LED's from the case to the mobo. Soo akward ...

Have you built one before? There's nothing to it. Just snap in all the components, plug the power and case controls into the mobo and you're good to go. Power it up, put in your os cd and install. Have a second computer available so you can post here or elsewhere if you have any issues ...

Looking for some upgrade advice for my PC since I am wanting to start gaming on the PC more than my PS3. My current system is an XP pro machine running an Athlon 64 x2 4200+ (socket 939), 2GB DDR400 RAM, and an XFX 7900GT. I was thinking of buying this card or this card to upgrade my 7900GT, and hopefully it would boost my system enough to play games at 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 with decent settings. Then sometime later next year, build a core i7 machine or a phenom II machine and use whatever video card I buy now. Would this work or would my slow CPU and RAM bottleneck one of these cards so bad I would have to upgrade everything?

While you would see an improvement with a new card and be able to crank out 1680x1050, I would put off the purchase until you can replace your mobo+cpu+ram. As chances are, by that time you will be able to buy a better card for the same amount you would spend today.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

This is my plan too. I'll also purchase ATI's next *850.

Yeah i'm waiting to see what the shakedown of the next Nvidia card is (GT300) and also the HD5xxx series before jumping from my 8800GT. It is starting to show it's age though and but a 24" LCD is on my short list first.

 

[ithorien]

Alright lads, last final check before I press the button for my wife's WoW PC-

-Sony NEC Optiarc 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model AD-7220S - OEM
-COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid
-SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM
-Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
-ASUS VW246H Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail
-EVGA 512-P3-N861-TR GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
-CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
-IOGEAR GKM551R Black USB 2.4GHz Wireless Slim Long Range Media Center Desktop - Retail
-G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Retail
-GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
-Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail

I've been debating the monitor for a bit now, but I've decided that in the worst case scenario, I'll give her my 22" Gateway and keep the 24" as a present to myself

 

[Baloonatic]

Thanks for being so helpful so far guys.
I was just browsing ebay and came across this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/M9-CASE-Q6600...photoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713.m153.l1262

Could someone tell me if it's as good as it sounds? For that price, I'm pretty impressed. I don't think it comes with an OS installed, though.

Edit: Fixed the link

 

[Labombadog]

Thanks for being so helpful so far guys.

I was just browsing ebay and came across this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SOPRANO-Q6600-9-6GHZ-4GB-DDR2-500GB-HDD-ATI-4850-512MB_W0QQitemZ120353287876QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_DesktopPCs?hash=item120353287876&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1300|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

Could someone tell me if it's as good as it sounds? For that price, I'm pretty impressed. I don't think it comes with an OS installed, though.

9.6Ghz. I call bull. The most ive seen on a Q6600 was close to 4Ghz. Dont get fooled by this.

 

[SRG01]

9.6Ghz. I call bull. The most ive seen on a Q6600 was close to 4Ghz. Dont get fooled by this.

Physically impossible to break the 9GHz limit, as you'll reach the physical (ie. speed of light) limit at speeds much less than that.

 

[Baloonatic]

9.6Ghz. I call bull. The most ive seen on a Q6600 was close to 4Ghz. Dont get fooled by this.

Well, I think what they've done is take the actual speed and multiply it by the number of cores. Which is kind of silly, but I get where they're coming from. They seem to get good feedback though...

 

[ithorien]

Well, I think what they've done is take the actual speed and multiply it by the number of cores. Which is kind of silly, but I get where they're coming from. They seem to get good feedback though...

2.4*4 is indeed 9.6

 

[Baloonatic]

2.4*4 is indeed 9.6

So, that's a pretty good rig, right? I can't really see any catches...

 

[arstal]

question: I'm looking at a laptop.

Reason for laptop: I can play games at work if I bring a laptop. My job has a lot of free time some nights.

Should a 2.4Ghz dual-core, 512MB graphics card, and 4GB ram be sufficient (running Vista) for mid-end games such as Elemental or Team Fortress 2 to run like butter?

Or will the 512MB graphics card overheat too much?

 

[Mindlog]

I hardly see mention of OS cost -_-

 

[ithorien]

I hardly see mention of OS cost -_-

Because it's an unfortunate ripoff that we just can't do anything about, unless you mean "what do they cost", in which case XP 32/64 Pro and Vista Business 32/64 should run you about $140.

 

[Baloonatic]

Could you explain to me why it's a rip-off please? I thought it seemed kind of good for the price, even counting the extra money for an OS.

 

[zoku88]

I wouldn't really call them a ripoff since they're fairly important :lol :lol

 

[ithorien]

Could you explain to me why it's a rip-off please? I thought it seemed kind of good for the price, even counting the extra money for an OS.

I consider it a ripoff because of the monopoly of it all, and I deeply hate Microsoft. If you're a regular/somewhat power user, you don't have a choice in the matter.

 

[Vaporak]

question: I'm looking at a laptop.

Reason for laptop: I can play games at work if I bring a laptop. My job has a lot of free time some nights.

Should a 2.4Ghz dual-core, 512MB graphics card, and 4GB ram be sufficient (running Vista) for mid-end games such as Elemental or Team Fortress 2 to run like butter?

Or will the 512MB graphics card overheat too much?

Amount of video memory is not indicative of performance in any way so no one will really be able to answer. Do you have a link to what you're thinking of buying?

 

[Baloonatic]

I consider it a ripoff because of the monopoly of it all, and I deeply hate Microsoft. If you're a regular/somewhat power user, you don't have a choice in the matter.

Oh right, so you think that Windows is a rip-off not the computer I posted? Do you have any opinions on the computer, I still haven't really found out whether people think it's good or not... D:

 

[Tain]

I hardly see mention of OS cost -_-

CS majors get 'em legally free. =D