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[Fredescu]

Doesn't look like $300 gets you much. I'd say:

$98.05 CPU: Intel E5200
$65.87 MBD: Gigabyte GA-EG31M-ES2L
$39.99 RAM: Corsair XMS2 2GB 2x1GB DDR2-800 modules
$116.93 CASE\PSU: Antec Nsk 4480B II w/380w PSU
---------
$320.84

That motherboard only has two RAM slots in it though, so if you want to upgrade down the track you'll have to throw that RAM out and get new ones. You'd be better off getting 4GB for an extra $40 or so, but if your budget is tight I guess that's all you can do.

There are cheaper case/psu options as well but ones I've never heard of. Cheaping out on a case is never worth it, especially if you're building it yourself. You might want to check here http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp to see if the PSU is enough for you too, depending on what else you're going to put into it.

 

[Ryoma-Echizen]

I think that for his budget it's better deal an AMD.

X2 7750 (~E5200) $59
Foxconn A7GM-S 2.0 $70
Corsair XMS2 DHX DDR2 800 2x2GB $69
Antec NSK 4480B II Black $99
$297

Haeleos
1280x1024/1440x900 --> Sapphire HD4670 GDDR4 $75
1440x900/1680x1050 --> Sapphire HD4850 Vapor-X $130
You can use the igp and wait for the HD4770 ($99 at release April 29th) very close to the 4850 in performance with less consumption, 80w vs 110w.



Phenom II 955 3.2Ghz in stock:

$245, not bad considering it performs similar to the QX9770.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103674

 

[Fredescu]

I think that for his budget it's better deal an AMD.

X2 7750 (~E5200) $59
Foxconn A7GM-S 2.0 $70
Corsair XMS2 DHX DDR2 800 2x2GB $69
Antec NSK 4480B II Black $99
$297

Those aren't prices from the retailer he specified. Are they Canadian?

 

[Haeleos]

If I went up to $400, how does this look?

http://pc.ncix.com/pcbuilder/pcbuilderpreview.cfm?id=3016388&skus=29246-1-0|34020-1-0|18580-1-0|37118-1-0|7842-25

These are Canadian prices, btw. I'm looking at ordering from newegg or ncix.com or a combination of both.

 

[Ryoma-Echizen]

If you want it for games go for a dual core.

This mobo looks better:
Gigabyte MA78GM US2H (its a newer one with features like the ultradurable 3, a thin layer of copper)

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=36026&vpn=GA-MA78GM-US2H&manufacture=Gigabyte

 

[Haeleos]

If you want it for games go for a dual core.

Not a triple core?

 

[Ryoma-Echizen]

Few games support multi-core and when you're not in that situation a dual core with 2-7Ghz will perform better that a tricore with 2.3.

It's different if we were talking about the 720BE wich has the sweet spot between cores and frecuency, a future proof in case more games demand more then 2 cores. The only con is that the 720BE is not as cheap as the 7750.

 

[Haeleos]

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200022 1070947010&name=AM3/AM2+/AM2

I'm looking at choosing one of these. Do you recommend the Gigabyte over the Asus? (under $140)

 

[Haeleos]

Almost finished picking everything out. I'm deciding between these two cards.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161260
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102820

I'm leaning towards the 4670. If I do go with it, here's what I have.

------------------------------------------------------
AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core black edition Processor Model AD775ZWCGHBOX $72.00
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103300

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard $139.99
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387

SAPPHIRE 100255HDMI Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card $84.99
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102820
------------------------------------------------------

How big of a power supply would I need for this?

 

[Diablohead]

Since ordering my new PC I can't wait to get my hands on it and try out my (now old) pc collection on it, HL2 ran ok on this machine at 800x600 but always bogged down in action, playing it again among other games like Doom 3 will be amazing , Unreal 2 too.

Can't wait for trying out Crysis too, it's a game everyone needs to experience before it becomes old hat.

 

[Toby]

Almost finished picking everything out. I'm deciding between these two cards.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161260
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102820

I'm leaning towards the 4670. If I do go with it, here's what I have.

------------------------------------------------------
AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core black edition Processor Model AD775ZWCGHBOX $72.00
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103300

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard $139.99
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387

SAPPHIRE 100255HDMI Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card $84.99
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102820
------------------------------------------------------

How big of a power supply would I need for this?

Are you going to be overclocking? And is it for playing games?

If you are overclocking, I think the e5200 is the better value. And if you are not overclocking, you may be able to save some money by going with a less expensive motherboard.

Have you picked the RAM yet?

 

[ghst]

Almost finished picking everything out. I'm deciding between these two cards.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161260
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102820

I'm leaning towards the 4670. If I do go with it, here's what I have.

------------------------------------------------------
AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core black edition Processor Model AD775ZWCGHBOX $72.00
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103300

GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard $139.99
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387

SAPPHIRE 100255HDMI Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card $84.99
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102820
------------------------------------------------------

How big of a power supply would I need for this?

seems like your paying alot for that motherboard. way too much really. especially considering you can get an open box 4850 for under $100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770R.

 

[MadOdorMachine]

It looks like my PC decided to bite the dust today for no good reason. I figure either my motherboard or BIOS is the problem, but either way, the computer won't boot to Windows anymore. It looks like I'm pretty much forced to upgrade which I wasn't planning on doing until Windows 7 came out at the earliest. Most of the parts from my old PC I can re-use, but I would appreciate it if someone can point me in the right direction with the CPU & motherboard since this will be the first time I've built a computer. I plan on building a bad-ass PC one day but right now I'm not really looking for anything bleeding edge - most of my gaming is done on consoles. The main thing I plan on using this computer for are music and photo production (Pro-Tools & Photoshop) so the area I could use the most is room for lots of harddrives. I don't really have a budget, but I would like to keep the cost as low as possible. I guess I'm looking for the most bang for my buck. Anyway, below is my current PC and after that I will post what I'm looking for so I can get some recommendations:

Currently:
CPU: Pentium D (2 cores) @ 2.66GHz
Ram: 2 GB @ 533MHz
GPU: 8800GT w/512MB Ram -forgot the clock speed but it came overclocked
Power Supply: Corsair 620 Watt
DVD drives: I plan on re-using these
Hard Drives: I've got a 80GB, 500GB and 320GB I have to put in the new PC.

What I need:
Case: I need room for lots of hard drives - at least 3 and USB ports. I would like front and rear ports.
CPU: Mid range I suppose, I'll be running Windows Vista 32 bit. I definitely don't want another Pentium D.
Ram: DDR2 probably 4GB
Motherboard: I have no idea how to pick this out. I need one with a decent on-board sound card and lots of USB ports.
GPU: I plan on re-using the 8800GT
Power Supply: I plan on re-using the Corsair
DVD Drive: Got em covered.
Hard Drives: Got those too.

 

[Haeleos]

Are you going to be overclocking? And is it for playing games?

If you are overclocking, I think the e5200 is the better value. And if you are not overclocking, you may be able to save some money by going with a less expensive motherboard.

Have you picked the RAM yet?

When you say E5200, is this what you mean? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072

Do you have any recommendations for a CPU/mobo combo?

Yes it's for playing games, but I have a 360, so most multiplatform games are going to be played on that. I'm just looking for something for Diablo 3 in the future, and right now, I need something that can play Warhammer Online, Left4Dead and Dawn of War 2. I also need it because the computer I use now can't even run the new versions of Photoshop.

 

[TheHeretic]

I'm building a PC for my mate in Australia, i'm a pretty veteran builder but even the best of us make mistakes. Heres the build here:

Powercolor has a 2 year equal value warranty. Not the best you could find but its hard with ATi retailers. The 260 is more expensive than it over here for some reason so I went with the 4870. The motherboard has crossfire support and the case comes with an Antec Earthwatts 500 PSU.

Prices are in Australian from a pretty cheap retailer.

Edit: His budget was strictly 1500, couldn't go a dollar over. I can get him a 21.5" Samsung 1080 monitor for 20 bucks more, not sure if the hit on performance would be noticeable though.

 

[Haeleos]

seems like your paying alot for that motherboard. way too much really. especially considering you can get an open box 4850 for under $100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770R.

I'm Canadian so I have to use the Canadian site unfortunately. There are a lot of cool combo deals on the .com one I wish I could take advantage of. I might email them.

I changed up the MB to this one: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128379

Have you picked the RAM yet?

I'm thinking...
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134218

 

[MWS Natural]

Radeon HD 4770 benchmarked again, pictures

AMD's ATI Radeon HD 4770 will be the first graphics card to be made with 40nm technology and we recently saw what the performance is like, as leaked slides from AMD's presentation surfaced. The presentation revealed both detailed specifications and some comparisons to NVIDIA's GeForce 9800GT (GTS 240). Benchmarks done by AMD is of course always to be taken with a pinch of salt, which is why things get a lot more interesting now that benchmarks from a third party has ended up on the web, where they compare to the popular Radeon HD 4850.

The benchmarks published at Chinese website it168 reveal no absolute numbers, but use some rather confusing diagrams to show that HD 4770, despite half the memory bus width, can keep up with Radeon HD 4850 in most games.

Thanks to the fast GDDR5 memory and high GPU clock frequency the card is breathing down the neck of Radeon HD 4850. Worst case scenario Radeon HD 4770 offers only 87% of the performance of Radeon HD 4850, but most results are closer to 100% than 90%.


In other words, Radeon HD 4770 looks like a real killer costing less than $100. More information on the highly interesting 40nm card should surface soon.

Until then we offer you these pictures of HIS Radeon HD 4770 published over at Chiphell and itocp.com.

Interesting...

 

[Haeleos]

Interesting...

hmm... Maybe I will hold off until that card is out.

 

[duk]

Radeon HD 4770 benchmarked again, pictures

Interesting...

less than 100? wow i wonder if this baby will run on my 2 yr old dell rig

 

[Haeleos]

Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3 ATX AM2+/AM3 AMD770 PCI-E16 2PCI SATA2 RAID 1394 HD Sound GBLAN Motherboard $94.99 CAD (Price Matched)
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=35762
or...
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H AMD780G mATX AM2+/AM3 PCI-E DDR2 SATA2 Video Sound GBLAN HDMI Motherboard $89.99 CAD
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=36026&promoid=1001

RAM
Kingston HyperX 2GB 2X1GB PC2-8500 DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory $38.18 CAD
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=24749

CPU
AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition Dual Core Processor Socket AM2+ 2.7GHZ 3MB 65NM 95W Retail Box $70.00 CAD
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=35688&promoid=1001

I'm going to check out the HD 4770 when it's released next month, which will probably bring the package up to $350ish. Then it's just a matter of getting a cheap case/PSU to put it all into.

 

[rass]

Thought I'd throw this up for future questions. Too bad Victim is banned :lol

1. # What is this PC going to be built for?
mostly gaming but also:
occasional movies, record keeping for small business, design work (magazine and brochure layouts) image retouching, personal video editing, music.

2. # What is YOUR budget?
very very very VERY very strict AU$2000, less would be better

3. # Have YOU performed any research yet?
Yep, and already got some advice in here

4. # Do YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts?
I have no current parts

5. # Do YOU plan on overclocking?
If i'm unhappy with the stock performance I'll give it a shot, Im a noob with PCs though

6. # When do you plan to build it? Can you wait?
I would like to order in the next day or so

What I've come up with based on the suggestions so far and a little research:

$156 Motherboard: Asus M4N78 Pro
$339 CPU: X4 Phenom II 940
$67 RAM 4GB DDR2 800 PC6400
$315 Video Card: Gigabyte GTX260
$102 Hard Drive: 640GB WD HDD
$31 DVD-RW: Pioneer 216
$162 Case/PSU: Coolermaster RC690 w/ 460w PSU
$183 OS: OEM MS 64 bit Vista Home Premium
$95 Microsoft Sidewinder X6 keyboard (worth it? looks good...)
$238 21.5 2ms HD WS Benq E2200HD Full HD (any good? it has HDMI in which I want)
$70 MSY Build and test

AU$1,758

my questions:
•what mouse is good?
•Are there any horrible red flags amongst that, things that aren't compatible?
•Anything i could improve for minimal cost?
•How much ram can that motherboard support?
•And how much would it cost to get 8GB ram? (am I in denial if i think it will be $67 x 2?) photoshop will use as much ram as you let it.

thanks so very much people

 

[M.Bluth]

I just oc'd my i7 to 3.4GHz, was really disappointed by the lack of drama :lol

I simply set the BCLK to 170 and CPU voltage to 1.2v (was 1.265v when it set to auto) and left everything else to auto, though I guess I should try playing with them and tune the oc

Temps only rose ~3°C

 

[rohlfinator]

•How much ram can that motherboard support?
•And how much would it cost to get 8GB ram? (am I in denial if i think it will be $67 x 2?) photoshop will use as much ram as you let it.

It has 4 memory slots, and Newegg lists it with a max of 16GB, so 8GB should be fine. I'm assuming the 4GB you have listed is 2 sticks of 2GB? If so, you can just buy another pair of those and it shouldn't give you any problems.

 

[Diablohead]

I think the microsoft mice have always been great, I have never owned one myself because I was never willing to spend £30+ on one but using them all over the place they have always been smooth and accurate. In fact the latest sidewinder series does indeed look rather hot and i'm tempted, I use a £5 mouse right now.

This is the kind of MS mouse I have used.

 

[rohlfinator]

RV870 may be launching in late July?

RV870
1.9 TFlops
40nm
DX11
July 2009
4 TFlops for the X2

Huh, if that's the case, I'll probably hold out until then. More powerful + better idle power consumption + DX11 support sounds pretty appealing.

 

[Haeleos]

Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-US2H AMD780G mATX AM2+/AM3 PCI-E DDR2 SATA2 Video Sound GBLAN HDMI Motherboard $89.99 CAD
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=36026&promoid=1001

RAM
Kingston HyperX 2GB 2X1GB PC2-8500 DDR2-1066 CL5-5-5-15 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory $38.18 CAD
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=24749

CPU
AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition Dual Core Processor Socket AM2+ 2.7GHZ 3MB 65NM 95W Retail Box $70.00 CAD
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=35688&promoid=1001

CASE
Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower Gaming Case 300 ATX 3X5.25 6X3.5INT $65.98
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=29812&promoid=1001

PSU
Coolermaster Extreme Power Plus 460W ATX Power Supply 12V V2.3 20/24PIN 80MM Fan $42.49 (Price Matched)
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=29136

Total /w Shipping and Assembly = $387.44

Ok so I settled on a Case and Power Supply. I'll be ordering this in the next couple days. If anyone could tell me what they think for the price and if there's any problems or anything I could swap out with something else that would be worth the money or that I could save money on. Thanks!

 

[Bebpo]

Are you not supposed to use your dvd-burner as your dvd reader?

My LG dvd burner seems to be really struggling on installing certain dvd games. It winds down and clicks and clicks and then eventually spins back up and gets going.

I'd always used my dvd burner as my dvd reader on my old computer with an NEC drive, but I'm wondering if I should get a 2nd drive here to read discs. The LG seems fine when it comes to burning.

 

[larvi]

Woke up this morning and my Vista PC that I use mainly for a print/file server had a blinking dvdrom drive light. That looked odd so I tried to wake it up from hibernation and got no video on the screen, powered it down, rebooted still no video and just a blinking drive light. Figuring the DVD was fried I opened the case and disconnected it but still no video. Pulled the video card and replaced it with a spare PCI card I had laying around and video finally comes on. Took a closer look at the video card I pulled out and here's what I see:

5 blown caps, I've never seen that before on a video card. This was a stock system with no video or cpu overclocking. Doing some internet searches this appears to be a pretty common problem with EVGA 7600 and 8600 cards. At least it explains the mysterious popping sounds I'd been hearing :lol. Trying to figure out what I want to replace it with now, it may be a good excuse to upgrade my 8800GTS and move that to my daughters PC to replace her 8600GT and put the 8600 in this server or maybe just pick up a cheap $30-$40 card for now.

 

[Haeleos]

5 blown caps, I've never seen that before on a video card. This was a stock system with no video or cpu overclocking. Doing some internet searches this appears to be a pretty common problem with EVGA 7600 and 8600 cards. At least it explains the mysterious popping sounds I'd been hearing :lol. Trying to figure out what I want to replace it with now, it may be a good excuse to upgrade my 8800GTS and move that to my daughters PC to replace her 8600GT and put the 8600 in this server or maybe just pick up a cheap $30-$40 card for now.

That happened to me last year with that exact same card.

 

[brain_stew]

When you say E5200, is this what you mean? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072

Do you have any recommendations for a CPU/mobo combo?

Yes it's for playing games, but I have a 360, so most multiplatform games are going to be played on that. I'm just looking for something for Diablo 3 in the future, and right now, I need something that can play Warhammer Online, Left4Dead and Dawn of War 2. I also need it because the computer I use now can't even run the new versions of Photoshop.

If its for games then the E5200 is definitely the route to go, it'll perform much better in game than anything based on the original Phenom architecture. They clock like crazy as well, run mine at 3.52ghz and GTA is the only game where its a CPU bottleneck, in everything else the bottleneck lies with the GPU, even though its a GTX 260.

Are you not supposed to use your dvd-burner as your dvd reader?

My LG dvd burner seems to be really struggling on installing certain dvd games. It winds down and clicks and clicks and then eventually spins back up and gets going.

I'd always used my dvd burner as my dvd reader on my old computer with an NEC drive, but I'm wondering if I should get a 2nd drive here to read discs. The LG seems fine when it comes to burning.

Ofcoruse you can, just sounds like a faulty drive to me.

What I've come up with based on the suggestions so far and a little research

Could you link to the retailer, you're using, I'll see if I can do any better.

 

[Diablohead]

Are you not supposed to use your dvd-burner as your dvd reader?

My LG dvd burner seems to be really struggling on installing certain dvd games. It winds down and clicks and clicks and then eventually spins back up and gets going.

I'd always used my dvd burner as my dvd reader on my old computer with an NEC drive, but I'm wondering if I should get a 2nd drive here to read discs. The LG seems fine when it comes to burning.

I have a sony branded dvd recording drive and been using it as primary drive for years, it reads dvd fine but fails on regular cd's of any type now, music or games. It's the first time I have experianced my drive not reading one of the two out of the few pc's I and my family have owned.

 

[bigmit3737]

Are you not supposed to use your dvd-burner as your dvd reader?

My LG dvd burner seems to be really struggling on installing certain dvd games. It winds down and clicks and clicks and then eventually spins back up and gets going.

I'd always used my dvd burner as my dvd reader on my old computer with an NEC drive, but I'm wondering if I should get a 2nd drive here to read discs. The LG seems fine when it comes to burning.

I hear that LG makes terrible DVD drives.

Samsung is supposed to be the best.

I think this comp has a NEC drive and I never really had any problems burning or reading dvds.

 

[Bebpo]

Yeah, it seems like the drive is just broken. It got stuck midway through the Red Alert 3 install and couldn't proceed any further. Just kept trying to spin up then it clicks and spins down, repeat over and over and the progress bar doesn't move.

I e-mailed the 3rd party that Amazon used to ship it about exchanging it. I had originally ordered a Samsung drive, but they didn't have it so they offered to ship an LG instead and that LG seems bust

 

[larvi]

That happened to me last year with that exact same card.

I've taken EVGA off my short list for future purchases. Right now the PC is running using a Matrox Millenium card from 1995 :lol . I was amazed Vista Ultimate 64 even works with it, I had to do the initial boot in VGA mode but I was able to switch to 1024x768 after it started. I wonder what my Vista experience score is with it.

 

[brain_stew]

Yeah, it seems like the drive is just broken. It got stuck midway through the Red Alert 3 install and couldn't proceed any further. Just kept trying to spin up then it clicks and spins down, repeat over and over and the progress bar doesn't move.

I e-mailed the 3rd party that Amazon used to ship it about exchanging it. I had originally ordered a Samsung drive, but they didn't have it so they offered to ship an LG instead and that LG seems bust

That's your problem, EA and their shitty DRM broke my brothers DVD drive when I installed Command and Conquer 3, seemingly Red Alert 3 did the same with you. C & C 3 wouldn't even install using the DVD drives in both a Macbook and Macbook Pro (had to use an external as the progress bar would get stuck) and then for good measure broke a brand new DVD drive on my brother's PC.

 

[MoxManiac]

My LG drive is great. Been perfect for everything for over a year now.

 

[Slavik81]

That's your problem, EA and their shitty DRM broke my brothers DVD drive when I installed Command and Conquer 3, seemingly Red Alert 3 did the same with you. C & C 3 wouldn't even install using the DVD drives in both a Macbook and Macbook Pro (had to use an external as the progress bar would get stuck) and then for good measure broke a brand new DVD drive on my brother's PC.

*shudder*

Does the Steam version have that DRM?

 

[brain_stew]

*shudder*

Does the Steam version have that DRM?

I wouldn't imagine so considering it did the damage when installing the game from the disc. No matter what drive I've used to install the thing you can hear it making all sorts of scary noises, as if the thing is about to explode. On the two Macs, it just wouldn't ever finish the install, did the same on my brother's PC but the drive would no longer read discs after that.

I made sure to install a No DVD crack once I finally had the thing installed, no way I'm trusting that disc in my drive again. Oh, and this wasn't just a case of one dodgy disc, me and my flatmate ordered a copy each at the same time, did the same thing with both discs.

 

[Haeleos]

If its for games then the E5200 is definitely the route to go, it'll perform much better in game than anything based on the original Phenom architecture. They clock like crazy as well, run mine at 3.52ghz and GTA is the only game where its a CPU bottleneck, in everything else the bottleneck lies with the GPU, even though its a GTX 260.

Ok, just to make sure because I'm learning all of this stuff as I go...

You recommend this CPU:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=33181&promoid=1001

as apposed to this:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=35688&promoid=1001

if so, what motherboard would you recommend for the E5200?

 

[brain_stew]

Ok, just to make sure because I'm learning all of this stuff as I go...

You recommend this CPU:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=33181&promoid=1001

as apposed to this:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=35688&promoid=1001

if so, what motherboard would you recommend for the E5200?

Also, is this the same CPU as the one above? JUst so I can pricematch it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072

Yes, yes,this and yes.


Add one of these and OC that baby to 3.5ghz and don't worry about having a CPU bottleneck in any of your games. Gaming performance will be miles beyond that Phenom once OCed, pretty decent even at stock.

Also, please spend the extra $10/$20 or whatever it is to upgrade to 4GB RAM, its a huge upgrade for a minuscule outlay.

I'd go with this RAM.

 

[Diseased Yak]

So I'm getting the upgrade bug, specifically video cards, so I'd like opinions:

budget: whatever
purpose: 1920x1200 gaming, stuff like Fallout 3, Crysis Warhead, L4D, etc.
current system: EVGA 8800GT SC 512mb, Q6600 @ 3.2GHz, 4GB G.Skill DDR-1066, 3 TB disc, etc etc.

After reading through reviews, I've just about decided to go with this EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked. I mean, in the guru3d and such performance reviews, it's just a few fps short of what a GTX 280 will do, only for much cheaper. I'd rather not get a GTX 295, but was at first eyeing the 280 or 285, but then I see the 260 is nearly just as good.

What would you guys recommend for 1920x1200 gaming?

 

[Bebpo]

That's your problem, EA and their shitty DRM broke my brothers DVD drive when I installed Command and Conquer 3, seemingly Red Alert 3 did the same with you. C & C 3 wouldn't even install using the DVD drives in both a Macbook and Macbook Pro (had to use an external as the progress bar would get stuck) and then for good measure broke a brand new DVD drive on my brother's PC.

Yeah, actually the first game that went crazy on my drive and caused problems was EA's Crysis Warhead. Then the next game was EA's Red Alert 3. All non-EA games have been able to finish their installs fine.

EA must be doing something crazy with their discs.

 

[Treo360]

Are there any MBs out there that support a dual i7 setup?

 

[brain_stew]

So I'm getting the upgrade bug, specifically video cards, so I'd like opinions:

budget: whatever
purpose: 1920x1200 gaming, stuff like Fallout 3, Crysis Warhead, L4D, etc.
current system: EVGA 8800GT SC 512mb, Q6600 @ 3.2GHz, 4GB G.Skill DDR-1066, 3 TB disc, etc etc.

After reading through reviews, I've just about decided to go with this EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked. I mean, in the guru3d and such performance reviews, it's just a few fps short of what a GTX 280 will do, only for much cheaper. I'd rather not get a GTX 295, but was at first eyeing the 280 or 285, but then I see the 260 is nearly just as good.

What would you guys recommend for 1920x1200 gaming?

Don't pay any extra for a factory OC, spend a few minutes doing it yourself and save your cash.

Going with a GTX 260 (216) is a smart move though, getting GTX 280 performance out of them is pretty much par for the course.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

That's the exact same card, a small amount of time spent with EVGA precision and ATI Tool/Furmark for stability testing and you'll be able to surpass the superclocked's speed no bother.

If you've got more money to spend the 4890 is worth considering.

 

[Diablohead]

Talking about OC, how easy is it now days to raise the speed of your processor and graphics card, just the official driver software? If I can get 280 speeds out of my 260 without buying a water cooling system or sticking the machine in a fridge I may as well do so, but all my fans will be stock ones since I did not pay extra for anything better.

The last time I tried to overclock was a very long time ago when it involved changing plugs and things on the motherboard itself.

 

[Diseased Yak]

Don't pay any extra for a factory OC, spend a few minutes doing it yourself and save your cash.

Going with a GTX 260 (216) is a smart move though, getting GTX 280 performance out of them is pretty much par for the course.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

That's the exact same card, a small amount of time spent with EVGA precision and ATI Tool/Furmark for stability testing and you'll be able to surpass the superclocked's speed no bother.

If you've got more money to spend the 4890 is worth considering.

Hmm, that's a good point. 4890 eh? The last ATI card I owned was the x800xt, and it was good, but I'm not too up on how good they are nowadays. I'll do some research. What does the 4890 offer over the GTX 260 (216) would you say? I know it would lack PhysX, but I'm not sure how big a deal that is...

 

[brain_stew]

Hmm, that's a good point. 4890 eh? The last ATI card I owned was the x800xt, and it was good, but I'm not too up on how good they are nowadays. I'll do some research. What does the 4890 offer over the GTX 260 (216) would you say? I know it would lack PhysX, but I'm not sure how big a deal that is...

PhysX is a non factor.

The 4890 should offer better performance in most games, given your resolution it might be worth going for it, they're also pretty damn good OCers as well. Its $250 plus a $20 rebate on Newegg with a lifetime warranty.

Its whether you can justify that small bump in performance for the $60 jump in price, really.

 

[godhandiscen]

Are there any MBs out there that support a dual i7 setup?

No, intel hasn't released a skulltrail x58. However, the last skultrail sucked ass at OC'ing, so I doubt you will want to go that route.

Phenom II X4 955: AWESOME!

At this point, it doesnt make sense to go for a socket 775 build from scratch, considering the AM3 platform will be supported until late 2010, it is as fast, it overclocks better, and newer and faster processors will be introduced.

 

[brain_stew]

Talking about OC, how easy is it now days to raise the speed of your processor and graphics card, just the official driver software? If I can get 280 speeds out of my 260 without buying a water cooling system or sticking the machine in a fridge I may as well do so, but all my fans will be stock ones since I did not pay extra for anything better.

The last time I tried to overclock was a very long time ago when it involved changing plugs and things on the motherboard itself.

Ocing of your CPU should always be done through the motherboard. With the GPU its much easier and since you won't be messing with voltage, the stock fan can cope just fine. They have built in fan profiles that will ramp the fan up once it hits certain temperature thresholds, or you can set the fan manually or even create your own (more aggressive) fan profile in Riva Tuner.

Either just downlaod EVGA Precision tool, start edging up the clocks and be sure to test them in ATI Tool and/or Furmark, once either starts showing atefacts or crashes then edge down your clocks and stability test again until you've got stable clocks.

The Nvidia forums at www.overclock.net have loads of people that have done the exact same thing, great place to get help on the subject.

 

[Treo360]

No, intel hasn't released a skulltrail x58. However, the last skultrail sucked ass at OC'ing, so I doubt you will want to go that route.

Phenom II X4 955: AWESOME!

At this point, it doesnt make sense to go for a socket 775 build from scratch, considering the AM3 platform will be supported until late 2010, it is as fast, it overclocks better, and newer and faster processors will be introduced.

Thanks for the info. I was asking because I wanted a comparable machine to my Macpro (dual xeon 2.8 sometimes oc'd to 3.2) so instead of buying a newer Mac, I wanted to go the Hackintosh route, but all the while keeping max compatibility and being able to update without issue.

Overclocking isn't really a big deal for me. It's more for my Animation work.