New gaming rig. Let me know bout these specs.

[fatslob222]

Well, what i decided was that I'm no doubt going for the quad core, and that mobo. To get an SLI equivalent, its like $230. The GFX card still has room to move, but i know now that my final budget is $810. I can live without SLI. Worst case scenario in a few years i go out and buy a more powerful GFX card. I have never even used an SLI in my life, so i dont even know what they are like.

So, about $723 - $110. That gives ummmm $613, which gives me like $200 to play with. Tell me a graphics card to get within $200. I dunno anymore. Now that Xeno said about ATI, its sorta making me not know where to go. I want the best performance i can get for $100 to $200 ( AUD ). Although.... should i spend that whole $200 on the card? Or should i use some and up to 4GM ram? Ugg. IM TOTALLY LOST!

All the card available to me are

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. And btw, i dont want a completely empty wallet.... atleast $10 change would be nice Lol. Joke.

Well, of course if you have better ideas for my $810 don't hesitate to say. I'de like to get as many opinions as possible.

 

[Xenosaga21]

Before we start Sorry for the long posts...
Ati and Nvidia Both make great cards..

If you want cheapest Price to Performance ratio... i would Go nvidia.

If You want to spend 200$ Ish on a video card....
Get the best 8800 You can.. something along the Lines of an 8800GT 512mb gddr3 Should Cost Around 160$ And you will be more that satisfied....

I can just say tho from experience that colors look less faded on most Ati cards... The difference is slight . . . but some people can be anal about things like that.

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If that is where you are getting parts from... sadly there 8800's are like 50$ overpriced...
Try going around to other computer stores in your area.... or ask for a *deal... you would be surprised how far some stores are willing to stretch on price . . . especially if the owner is Chinese... ^^
stores like that make almost no money on selling personal computers... most make money from setting up servers and networks for large/medium sized companies and build personal computers and sell parts on the side for a little extra cash.
Hell whenever I go to this chinese computer store on 8th Avenue . . . I don't pay any Tax and get like 20$ off every Item ^^...
Anyways Id advise you to shop around as that stores prices are not very competitive at all =/

^^ Never hurts to ask for a deal lol...
Just be like hey this guy I know said he would buy me an 8800 GT for 170$ can u match price..? ya know shop around/lie a little lol its like playing poker ^^ just dont break the guys balls, cause 20$ here and 50$ there ... adds up after a while

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600/ 2.40GHz/ 2x4MB Cache/ 1066FSB/ LGA775 $223.00
XFX 8800GS Alpha Dog Edition 384MB, DDR3, 192bit, PCIE, Dual DVI, TV Out, HDTV, HDCP (PV-T88S-FDF4) $110.00
Seagate Barracuda 250Gb 7200RPM 16Mb SATA 2 $63.00
LG GH-20NS10 SATA DVD Re-Writer (20x/Dual Layer Black) $37.40
Corsair DDR2 4GB PC-6400/800 (2x XMS2 2GB) TWIN2X4096-6400C5 Ram $114.40
=`640$ +tax w/e

You can add an extra 8800 Gs for a little more kick... and it will be equiv or more powerfull than most cards you can get for 250$+
XFX 8800GS Alpha Dog Edition 384MB, DDR3, 192bit, PCIE, Dual DVI, TV Out, HDTV, HDCP (PV-T88S-FDF4) $110.00
so that would be with SLI tho...
Two 8800Gs cards running as one...

What I would rec.
Gigabyte GA-N650SLI-DS4L motherboard $123.20
XFX 8800GS Alpha Dog Edition 384MB, DDR3, 192bit, PCIE, Dual DVI, TV Out, HDTV, HDCP (PV-T88S-FDF4)110$
XFX 8800GS Alpha Dog Edition 384MB, DDR3, 192bit, PCIE, Dual DVI, TV Out, HDTV, HDCP (PV-T88S-FDF4)110$
Or get an 8800 GT In a way I would prefer getting one 8800 GT over two 8800 GS just because it is an overall better version of the card...
Not to say the 8800Gs wont kick butt... just one 8800 Gt is far more powerful... and two 8800 Gs would probably only out perform one 8800Gt by a small margin...
Again i hate to push SLI into the equation... But for the price of the 8800 Gs it looks enticing.



Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600/ 2.40GHz/ 2x4MB Cache/ 1066FSB/ LGA775 $223.00
Seagate Barracuda 250Gb 7200RPM 16Mb SATA 2 $63.00
Corsair DDR2 4GB PC-6400/800 (2x XMS2 2GB) TWIN2X4096-6400C5 Ram $114.40
LG GH-20NS10 SATA DVD Re-Writer (20x/Dual Layer Black) $37.40
Total = Around 780 to 800$

so that would be
2.4Ghz Quad core
dual 8800 GS In sli
4gb DDR2 ram
250gb HDD
and a DvD Burner.

Case ? I think i read you where going to use one you had already?
Power Supply ? Make sure any you have are Strong Enough and have PCIEX power connectors and over 40 Ampers on the 12V Rail
Watage does not make much a difference =/


PS: for gaming most games will not really take advantage of all the cores... you will not really notice a differance from gaming on quad or dual core...
So if you really want you can get a cheaper higher clocked Dual core..
But the Quad core is nice to have for the Future . . . would make system last longer in a way.... it will stand the test of time better...
Its all about budget and personal preference . . . some people prefer to game on Dual Core, over Quad . . . because of the cheaper higher clock speeds....
But realistically there is little to no performance difference in most situations.

 

[Netrogor]

Ati and Nvidia Both make great cards..

If you want cheapest Price to Performance ratio... i would Go nvidia.

You meant to say ATI, right? This year, they have shown that ATI is at the top for price/performance ratios. The 4850 and 4870 are incredibly cheap compared to NVidia's GTX260 and GTX280 cards, yet are able to compete with those cards.

EDIT:
Fixed a typo.

 

[Xenosaga21]

You mean tot say ATI, right? This year, they have shown that ATI is at the top for price/performance ratios. The 4850 and 4870 are incredibly cheap compared to NVidia's GTX260 and GTX280 cards, yet are able to compete with those cards.

MMM it depends where you stand...

Ati is renowned for putting out poor performing Drivers.
=/

don't get me wrong, Ati cards are great but most games coming out right now kinda run better on Nvidia cards... and if you can pruchase from online ... an 8800 GT 512mb gddr3 Card only costs about 150$.

Now You can get a Radeon 3870 X2 for like 260$ which would smoke almost anything ... ^^ (Dual Gpu) But drivers are still a small issue . . . Ati needs time to sort that out.

At this point in time I would go the Nvidia Route . . .

But as Far as hardware to price goes (not tangible performance) yes you are right that ATI is in the lead there... they just need to get there drivers to run good a little better and they would kick butt.

I cant argue that...
Its a tough call.

Ps: have not really looked at performance benchmarks between those cards you mentioned so I would not be able to judge...fairly.


--

Looking at them now atm.

The price for the 4870 is really great . . . and the specs look outstanding... very tempting vs. the New gtx Cards which are priced at quite a premium atm...

Aether way for this users situation the New Gtx Cards are out of the question anyways because it would eat 90% of the Budget ^^
But if it came down to it yea i would chose the 4870 hands down... who cares I mean how bad can the drivers be lol? 800 stream processors? ^^ 750mghz lol?

 

[fatslob222]

If that is where you are getting parts from... sadly there 8800's are like 50$ overpriced...

Remember, these are aussie $$$
Also, that shop is like the cheapest place in geelong. But they usually discount me when they see me anyway. I buy poop there enough.

Case ? I think i read you where going to use one you had already?
Power Supply ? Make sure any you have are Strong Enough and have PCIEX power connectors and over 40 Ampers on the 12V Rail
Watage does not make much a difference =/

I might pick up a new ThermalTake Wing Rs100 with one of those supplied 430w PSUs. My case that i have now cost me $40 5 years ago, so i highly doubt theres much power in it.

So, should i go 4GB of ram? I think so.
So that's done.
Now its sorta, to SLI or not to SLI. This mobo, GA-N650SLI-DS4L, does it do 16x on both PCIe when in SLI? Because i remember someone saying earlier that the mobo that i picked only did 8x in SLI which is a loss..... :S

 

[Xenosaga21]

Remember, these are aussie $$$
Also, that shop is like the cheapest place in geelong. But they usually discount me when they see me anyway. I buy poop there enough.



I might pick up a new ThermalTake Wing Rs100 with one of those supplied 430w PSUs. My case that i have now cost me $40 5 years ago, so i highly doubt theres much power in it.

So, should i go 4GB of ram? I think so.
So that's done.
Now its sorta, to SLI or not to SLI. This mobo, GA-N650SLI-DS4L, does it do 16x on both PCIe when in SLI? Because i remember someone saying earlier that the mobo that i picked only did 8x in SLI which is a loss..... :S

Wait every Price on that site is in AUS? 0o didn't notice lol



Ok um the 430 wat Psu Im guessing that is in that case is this one...*I think

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the 12 volt rail only outputs 18A which is not enough for an 8800 GT * and the wattage is kinda pushing it with Quad Core...
Look for a power Supply around 600 Watts with a total 12 Volt rail Amperage of around 24 - 26 A
Look for a sticker on the side of a Power supply
Output +3.3V@30A,+5V@36A,+12V1@20A,+12V2@18A,-12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2.5A
This one for example you see that there is a +12V1@20A,+12V2@18A that means the combined 12v lines are = to around 38A ...
And 8800 GT 512 should need anywhere between 24A to 28A... to function optimally.
A power supply like that should cost anywhere from 60$ USD and UP.


And No, Its a 650i chipset all 650i Chipset run SLi in 8x and 8x not 16 and 16 sadly..

you can still get a small performance boost.... But you are better off getting a motherboard that has 1 fast 16x slot , and spending a little more on a single faster 8800 GT 512mb... it's a little more money but if you wana hit up some seriously graphical games... it would be worth it.

The Motherboard selection on that site is a little limited =/ its kinda hard to pick one... wish I was there at the store lol... I kinda like to see the motherboards... look at the capacitors ... what type/clustering of them/location of sata ports and stuff like that...

Anyways when your at the store look at the motherboards.... look to see if they are using high quality capacitors ( Solid ones) they look like this...

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Every capacitor on the board doesn't have to look like that... but try to get a motherboard where around the cpu socket and around the pci express socket they are using those style capacitors..

Avoid brands like PCCHIPS and FOXCON.... and you should be safe...


I know im kinda throwing too much info out there.... just trying to share some of my buying habits when it comes to looking at electronic parts.... =/

Again normal capacitors that look like this

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are ok on a board.... just i would avoid boards where they use those kinda capacitors around heated areas like the cpu/video card areas ... as if your room is hot or you put the computer in a hot location it can cause the life of those style capacitors to decrease... they can overheat burst and leak fluid all over lol... seen it happen to a friend on a PCCHips mobo b4... ever since then I never purchased a pc chips mobo lol...



i MIGHT go with this board if I was not planning to go sli ...
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L
it looks like a solid board...
You can read some reviews on it here and look at closer pics...
I like the spacing of all the components not too cramped etc...

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It should work fine....even supports upto 16gb of Ram lol if you ever needed that much ^^

PS: you can still get a 650i Board and just not ever use the sli feature . . . ^^ friend does it .. and his comp flies... the 650i boards are fast reliable and don't cost all the much .... 80 - 99$ ish..


did you decide on a Video card?

 

[fatslob222]

Sorry bout the delayed reply. School just started up and i been bogged down with programming homework. Anyway, thanks for the info on the capacitors ( although i do year 11 electronic design and i know the differences ). Ill look out to get the solid ones.... from my experience using electrolytic capacitors, they aren't the most reliable thing created. ( Lol, try have one blow up in your face while your repairing a stereo XD ).

As for the GFX card, i got no idea. I'm seriously stuck now. Lol, i need someone to tell me what to do. Spoon feed me guys. Just pretend i am 2.

Either way, this 'ere little card be looking tasty. ( But i dunno what im doing anymore :S )

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That one look ok?..... I like the look of the BOX!! HEHEHE! Nah. Ummm i had a look at the mobo you chose too, and its like the same as rishwins with a diff chipset and an SLI.... i assume it cant be too bad then :S

 

[themasher]

As for the GFX card, i got no idea. I'm seriously stuck now. Lol, i need someone to tell me what to do. Spoon feed me guys. Just pretend i am 2.

Either way, this 'ere little card be looking tasty. ( But i dunno what im doing anymore :S )

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That one look ok?..... I like the look of the BOX!! HEHEHE! Nah. Ummm i had a look at the mobo you chose too, and its like the same as rishwins with a diff chipset and an SLI.... i assume it cant be too bad then :S

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thats a lot better then the 8800

 

[Ramuthra]

first of all take a look at these benchmarks

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now tell me ati arent price/performance winners this round. and thats playable on crysis medium settings up to 1900x1200, plus their crossfire technology will work with 3xxx generation cards.

unfortunately your site only lists one 4850 and its going for $43 over your limit so unless you can save that on your mobo i dont know how your gonna do it.

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but yeah that card there would put the 8800gt to shame since in some cases it can match a 260 on performance (which is nvidias high range card along with the 280)

 

[Rishwin]

Yer

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is a good board, getting a slightly better version myself on friday, but its basically the same thing.

the whole ATI/NVIDIA thingis really up to you, just close your eyes and choose lol.

 

[Xenosaga21]

^^ Im actually starting to like Ati . . . the last few cards they put out are very nice... the ones before that where a little disappointing to me though...

At this point my next rig i build might be powered by ATI...

 

[fatslob222]

* Cries in corner from the options. *

Ok now... lemme work this out. Soooo, with the following parts -

Ram
Corsair DDR2 4GB PC-6400/800 (2x XMS2 2GB)
Price: $114.40
Manufacturer: Corsair
Vendor Code: T2X4096-64C5

CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Price: $226.00
Manufacturer: Intel
Vendor Code: BX80562Q6600

Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L motherboard
Price: $123.20
Manufacturer: Gigabyte
Vendor Code: A-EP43-DS3L

HDD
Seagate Barracuda 160Gb 7200RPM 8Mb SATA 2
Price: $55.00
Manufacturer: Seagate
Vendor Code: ST3160815AS

GFX Card
Gigabyte R485-512H-B RADEON HD4850, 512MB, DDR3
Price: $243.10
Manufacturer : Gigabyte
Vendor Code: R485-512H-B

Case
Thermaltake Wing RS-100 Black Midi (430W)
Price: $82.50
Manufacturer: Thermaltake
Vendor Code: VG1430BNS

Optical Drive
LG GH-20NS10 SATA DVD Re-Writer
Price:$37.40
Manufacturer :LG
Vendor Code :GH20NS10

Total: $881.10 AUD
Now. I REALLY WANT THAT CARD. * drools *

Well, with that said, i have two almighty options. One would be annoying the poop out of dad till he gives me a big ol $50. The other would be scab teh almighty discount. And those prices are online order prices.... so i would expect they would be cheaper in the store. Also, the PSU in the case is shhhiiiiiit by the looks of it. So, save myself like $60, i could always try the PSU in my current case (500W ). Mmmm, its not possible to damage my hardware if i boot up and there isnt enough power right?

EDIT: If i go ATI with that mobo, will i still be able to SLI?

 

[Ramuthra]

no you wont be able to sli, partly because sli is nvidias technology which usually gives a 30-40% increase in performance for 2 cards, but mostly because i only see 1 graphics card slot xD

also another question are you getting the Q6600? because youre listing it as 8200 but your using price and vendor code of the q6600

 

[thedeath]

i dont get it
you buy a gaming comp with only a single 160GB hd?
if you really want to be gaming then you should at least spend a tiny bit extra and get yourself a proper raid setup (
also why go for a silly duo core when any remotely decent comp uses a quad these days?

 

[fatslob222]

Lol sorry it was a typo ( had a few word documents open and i copied the wrong CPU ). I am getting the Q6600. Also, im only getting a 160GB, because i have a 500GB external as i stated heaps of times. And your right.... that mobo isnt SLI.... Ouch. Ohh well. Ummm. The card im looking at... it has VGA right? Like, im stuffed if it only has DVI.

 

[Ramuthra]

Lol sorry it was a typo ( had a few word documents open and i copied the wrong CPU ). I am getting the Q6600. Also, im only getting a 160GB, because i have a 500GB external as i stated heaps of times. And your right.... that mobo isnt SLI.... Ouch. Ohh well. Ummm. The card im looking at... it has VGA right? Like, im stuffed if it only has DVI.

:bash: no it does not, dont even know if it comes with a dvi>vga adapter either

 

[fatslob222]

Ohhz Noez. All good. I can buy a DVI to VGA cable at jaycar

 

[thedeath]

reason i'm telling you to get 2 * hd and put them in raid isnt cause of the size
it's cause raid (0 i think) makes the hd's perform alot faster by working together as one hd, meaning if you're installing games it'll install faster, while you're playing games the load times will be ALOT less and generaly while the games are loading data from your hd into ram it'll go faster meaning higher fps aswell in most cases

 

[Rishwin]

reason i'm telling you to get 2 * hd and put them in raid isnt cause of the size
it's cause raid (0 i think) makes the hd's perform alot faster by working together as one hd, meaning if you're installing games it'll install faster, while you're playing games the load times will be ALOT less and generaly while the games are loading data from your hd into ram it'll go faster meaning higher fps aswell in most cases

And as i mentioned ealier, RAID 0 is useless by itself.

Why? Cos you get 50% performance increase with a 200% higher chance of data loss. worth the risk? I think not

And it will make MINIMAL difference if you regularly defragment your HDD's.

RAID 0 + 1 on the other hand IS useful, it provides speed PLUS fault tolerance, yet you need at least 4 of exactly the same drives, and 2 of them are not used for data storage. Any RAID is for servers only, they have no real use in home PC's.

 

[Netrogor]

Riswhin, I have an older brother who uses a RAID-0 setup (he hasn't experienced any data loss in what is coming up to be two years now) for his gaming. It made a huge difference for him - removed the bottleneck that you usually get from hard-drives.
Of course, each harddrive is a Western Digital @ 10kRPM.