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Spare the video spoil the PC? or Spare the CPU spoil the PC?

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Spare the video spoil the PC? or Spare the CPU spoil the PC?

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I have to make a call here..that I'm not sure about.
I'm building a new PC. And I have to make a choice.
Slower CPU (E6300) and 8800GTS 640
or
a faster CPU and a less expensive video card?

I do have a 22" wide screen and I really love to run at max resolution
1680x1050. I don't know if the video card memory will come in to play in the near future while running at resolution.

any insight would help. I'm not sure how cpu bound we are these days in games with the dual cores.

Thanks

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How about get some good RAM and OC that E6300 to around 3 GHz? Then you can have your cake and eat it too.

Reply to kbrasee

Slower CPU and better video card. However, you have to make sure with the 8800's that you don't bottleneck them with too slow of a CPU. You won't have any problems with the e6300 though. Use that and get the best video card you can afford.

Reply to pongrules

thanks. however I did make an error in my posting

I ment an E6300 and a GTX
or a faster CPU/ram and a GTS320

For the GTX I'll have to go cheap on the ram but either solution will be OCd to max safe limits.

I have speculated I would be better with a GTX. However I really don't have much to base it on other than rough speculation from information I've taken in.

Reply to Gigaah

Games are much more GPU dependent, plus the e6300 is relatively fast, especially if you OC it. An e6300 plus a GTX will rock for games. A faster CPU and a slower GPU will suck for games. Your GPU will be the bottleneck in that case and that's baaaaad for games.

However, if all you want to do is encode video and use applications that are CPU intensive, the GPU you have alternatively selected will be fine. Depends on what you want to do with your puter.

Reply to pongrules

Nah, I'm a gamer. I do encode video and audio at times..but I can always watch TV while I'm encoding, or I can stand to wait a few seconds extra while doing AutoCAD. However dropping frames in frag fest is UNEXCEPTABLE. Running other than max resolution while fragging is UNEXCEPTABLE. Seeing jagged edges on the person fragging me is UNEXCEPTABLE.

However my pockets are only so deep....Thanks

LOL

Reply to Gigaah

Well then the e6300 plus the GTX rocks the house for you, my man.

Reply to pongrules

Well not necessarily, if you go cheap on the RAM you will have problems overclocking (if you are overclocking)

Could you post the specs of both systems (the one with the lesser CPU/RAM and the one with the lesser video card) and tell us if you plan to overclock or not?

Reply to just2good4u3434

e6300 533 DDR2(cheapy name brand Mobo/ram) / GTX
E6600 800 DDR2(OCZ ram/Oc'able MOBO) / GTS 320
e6300 800 DDR2(OCZ ram/Oc'able Mobo)/ GTS 640 (ram/mobo spec'd in toms article)

2GB ram on both. I just threw in the 3rd one. Not sure how it compares.

Reply to Gigaah

No contest for a gamer.

An e6300/8800 GTX combo will best an e6800/8800 GTS 320 combo in every possible gaming scenario I can think of.

Well, maybe supreme commander would be the one game where the faster CPU would win. But not by much, and I'm still not sure it would.

Reply to Cleeve

I'm in a similar situation, and this is my plan:

- wait till april 22 when intel's prices drop dramatically
- buy an e6700 for $312
- buy an EVGA 8800 GTS 320
- trade in to a 8900 GTX when they come out

Why? Several reasons:
- the 8800 series is so far ahead of the game that the CPU is the main bottleneck on any card
- buying a better CPU now means I'll have longer before I have to upgrade
- by the time the 8900 comes out, I'll have more money, so I can spend again; because of the EVGA step up plan, it's going to be a lot less of a pain on my pocket.
- when the 8900 comes out, I predict the 640 and 320 GTS will be so close in price that you'll get the most return on your money from buying the 320 and stepping up vs buying the 640.

With this plan, I'll end up BETTER than either of the two plans you mentioned.

Reply to Phrozt

If you like gaming, then definately get the slower CPU and faster video card. You could even save some money on the GPU by getting the 320MB version of the 8800GTS.

Reply to angry_ducky

I think your third option might be the best although you might want to consider E6600 and GTS 640 with only 1gb overclockable ram and upgrade to more when your budget allows.

Reply to ausch30

Quote :

trade in to a 8900 GTX when they come out

The only problem with this is that I believe Evga's stepup program is only good for 30 days after the cards purchase.

Reply to ausch30

I think they actually allow 90 days because of the 8900 release

Reply to Phrozt

Quote :

Well, maybe supreme commander would be the one game where the faster CPU would win. But not by much, and I'm still not sure it would.

I don't know why people keep saying this about SupCom....

I have an E6400 and an 8800 GTS and I've never gotten any lag whatsoever. I play large maps with 1000 unit max. I check my temps in-game and my proc is always chilly (Orthos has it at ~50C). I haven't played an 8-person game yet, though.

Personally, I wouldn't get the GTX either way. It's twice the price of the 320MB 8800 GTS, and it's like 5% faster. Unless you're really itching to spend the cash, you're probably better off banking it for your next upgrade, where $300 will go a lot further. With nVidia, AMD, and Intel so cut-throat right now, it's generally un-wise to invest in the bleeding-edge hardware, unless you can flinch at the money spent.

To address the OP indirectly, I built a PD840 with a 1950XT, and the computer runs like a champ. [Most] games simply can't stress the CPU. A $100 CPU can be paired with a $300 video card for great gaming performance.

Reply to Whizzard9992

Quote :

I don't know why people keep saying this about SupCom....

Because it's the only game I've ever seen that seems to hog the CPU more than the videocard. I don't even consider it playable on my secondary box, and Athlon64 3400+. The game is a joke even on a fast single core.

On a dual core, you're probably right - the videocard will make more of a difference.

Reply to Cleeve

I already have 1GB on this PC. And while playing World of warcraft my memory usage shoots up to 80%-90% depending on if I have say..my web browser open with several pages loaded I like I usually do. ventrillo running(always), trillian loaded and running (always)..and a few other nicknacks.

At least thats what my G15 keyboard tells me my mem usage is, I'm sure its accurate. I think 1GB ram is out of the question.

Reply to Gigaah

1 GB is crap for any new PC.

It's pretty much equal to putting 256 in a PC 5 years ago.

Reply to Phrozt

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