GA-P35-DS3L, E2160, HD3870, Corsair XMS2 800

[redzoneos]

does anyone have a system similar to the one listed?? I'm trying to build a system for a friend... He wants to spend as little as possible on the cpu and upgrade later when the Quad core 45nm processors are little bit more reasonable in price. I'm thinking he should just buy the cheapest stuff now (that performs well), and then re-upgrade everything in a year or so when DDR3 is a bit more cost effective, and the nehalem processors come out.

Anyway, the system will be built primarily as a gamer but as cheap as possible. ***If someone has this system or a very comparable system, I would appreciate some feedback in terms of performance in more recent games such as Crysis, Bioshock, COD4, etc. Please provide your settings and framerates! Note that I intend to overclock the cpu as much as possible on stock cooling (i guess around 3Ghz)

GA-P35-DS3L: 80.00
E2160: 70.00
HD3870: 190.00
Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800: 35.00
***Everything else he's recycling from a previous system...

Also, assuming the cpu is overclocked to 3.0Ghz, will more expensive processors make THAT much of a difference?
More expensive parts will not be overclocked so I want to compare the performance of a 3.0Ghz E2160 and the gigabyte motherboard to a "stock" E6750/E8400 or other comparable processors.

Lastly, should he buy this low priced mobo and upgrade the whole system after a year, or buy a really good (x38) motherboard now, and only upgrade the CPU in the future... What do you think will be better for the coming months/years?

 

[amd_fanboi]

i have a system similar to that one... let me see how much of an essay i can give ya .

beware, though, the mobos aren't going to be compatible with Nehalem, so he's safer dropping in as q6600 once nehalem is out and the prices drop... that's what i plan to do...

ok... good for you i've run Crysis, Bioshock, and CoD4 on her, and the results are all playable...

basically, CoD4 hits 20/30fps consistently with 2xAA and all settings at max @ 1680 by 1050

Crysis... the motherlode... usually around 20FPS... in the benchmark, it came out at min 7? FPS and max like 24 or something??? can't remember... it lags a bit but it was nothing problematic... and so i decided to run it at high on DX10... tbh i'm very happy about that...

as for bioshock... easily playable... 30/40 IIRC, on DX10 with all settings maxed

all those are DX10, except CoD4...

3dmark06 is 7615

and no, there's not much of a difference between an E8400 at stock and a E2160 @ 3.2...

pity; i JUST oced her to 2.4 and so i can't give you her benches at stock...

but she should give you pretty good performance... don't bother buying an X38 board though... rather invest the money towards a better card...

 

[andrei3333]

here is my new system:

e8400
ga-p5-ds3l
cosrair xms2 6400c4 ddr2-800 4-4-4-12
barracuda 7200.11 32mb cache 500GB
xfx 7800gt oc to 464core/1200mem
ocz stealthxtream 600w

you did not say what hard drive will be used and what resolution the games will be played at cause that will make the difference

cannot go wrong with the e8400 and its 6mb cache, it is very very powerful... on my system wit h17" lcd on 1280x1024 resolution i can play:
gears of was: max settings smooth
UT3 max swettings smooth
cod4 have to turn shaddows off and soft smoke edges off but aa is at x2 and it plays smooth most of the time except for insane battles like the level after the helicopter battle
quake 4 to the max ultra settings, aax8

 

[roadrunner197069]

The e2180 has 10x multi and overclocks without streesing the FSB as much, and it costs like $7.00 more one newegg. I run one in mine and it is smokin fast. Overclocked to 3.33 with stock cooler. Asus P5K SE Mobo. Call of duty 4 is fantastic and I only have a 8500gt. My card wont run Crysis higher then medium so I dont play it.

 

[redzoneos]

hmm posted reply earlier today but guess it didn't go through...

@ andrei:
sorry, I should have posted the resolution and stuff.. his lcd monitor supports native res of 1440 x 900 so that'll be the max game resolution he'll be playing at. I'm not sure what kind of HDD, its a samsung 500Gb, but not sure what model... but its a 7200 rpm... As far as the E8400, I think he would rather spend minimum dollars on the cpu right now, and then upgrade straight to 45nm Quads, so I don't think the E8400 is worth it right now.

@ amd fanboi:
what kind of mobo do you have? same as the Gigabyte I listed? also I'm assuming you have the E2160 now? what gpu? can you tell me exactly what you have, so maybe I can go that route... Also, if not an X38 board, do you think its worth it to buy a more expensive P35 board? if so, recommendations on sub 150 P35 boards?

@ roadrunner:
well I chose the E2160 not really because its cheaper (the difference in cost is insignificant as u said). I chose this processor because from what I heard, it is a much better overclocker and since they're both practically identical processors, even if the cost is negligible, if i intend to OC above 3Ghz anyway, there's no sense in paying that extra money... Anyway, correct me if I'm wrong about the E2160 being a better OC'er. As far as the P5K, I'm not so sure... I've read some negative reviews, especially about the vdroop (not quite sure what that is though)... Reviews from users is always subjective so I don't know if there is any importance to them, but if you have that board, can you explain the pros/cons?? Thanks!

 

[antas]

From my point of view, your choice will be enough. AMD_fanboi post tells all. He's playing at 1680x1050 resolutions, and your system will on 1440x900 (the same as mine). And I can confirm that for CoD4, Crysis, CoH, NFS Prostreet I can play with max reso without any problem

My system is a little bit different though, but if you will overclock it as you said then it will really close.

Mine:
E6750
ABiT iX38 QuadGT
ATi HD3870 (Gigabyte) 512MB DDR4
DDR2 Corsair XMS2 PC6400 2x1GB 4-4-4-12 (running at default BIOS setting 5-5-5-12)
Viewsonic 19" (1440x900)
HDD Seagate Barracuda 160GB SATA II
PSU 550W Enlight

All running at stock speed, I don't bother to overclock (yet) since everything running well on her right now.

If you're planning to buy the system this month, I don't think it would be necessary to get X38. I bought it like 4 months ago planning to last for around 2 years with some little upgrade on the way.

Since you're saying that you're planning to get Nehalem then it won't be necesary to buy higher mobo/chipset. None of current mobo will capable of Nehalem. So your choice is more than enough to wait Nehalem (around less than one year should be).

And you mention of swapping DDR2 with DDR3 later. Note that this two has different slots. Some mobo like gigabyte (darn, forgot the series) has both slots (DDR2 and DDR3) but mostly they don't have both.

GA-P35-DS3L is good, it has good price/performance ratio IMO. Try to get the rev 2.0 board, so you don't have to update BIOS in case you will put 8xxx intel series later on (although you might not it seems)

cheers ^^

 

[night_wolf_in]

Also, assuming the cpu is overclocked to 3.0Ghz, will more expensive processors make THAT much of a difference?
More expensive parts will not be overclocked so I want to compare the performance of a 3.0Ghz E2160 and the gigabyte motherboard to a "stock" E6750/E8400 or other comparable processors.

first, ull need after market cooler. to overclock till 3Ghz. they will make difference because of the cache size. how much, im not sure.

Lastly, should he buy this low priced mobo and upgrade the whole system after a year, or buy a really good (x38) motherboard now, and only upgrade the CPU in the future... What do you think will be better for the coming months/years?

the x38 is not yet the official upgrade. they r coming with x48. so ill say, get the p35.

n last thing make sure u have good power supply, many pple to give much weight to it. tho it is very important.

 

[amd_fanboi]

ok... i have the MSI-Neo2 FR. and am NOT running dual channel because of an uncertified problem that i can't be arsed to fix. btw, i don't think it's really worth X38, considering the spectre of Nehalem and it's obsoleting all intel CPUs... that said, the main boards seem to be mine (crossfire capable alas with a 4x slot), the DS3L, (IMO that is the best choice), the ABit IP35 PRO, and the Asus P5K-E

i DO have an E2160, atm OCed to 2.4GHZ (paired to Giel Black Dragon ram)... stock the CPU hits 4.8 on the Windows Experience Index, and now it's at 5.3.

GPU, i have a Gecube HD3870 X-Turbo III (http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=3&id=2450)

and running through CopD4 again, it appears i get up to 53FPS in indoor scenes... never checked the fraps counter at indoor, so you should have NO isssues whatsoever with lag, even in intense firefights

hey, if you need any more info, screens, or benchmark runs, anything, feel free to post or message me and i can pump you full of it ...

system spec... E2160 @ 2.4ghz 4+ Hours ORTHOS stable - 2x1gb GEIL Black Dragon ram (same product number as in the article below) - MSI Neo2-FR - ATI Radeon HD3870 as mentioned above - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro - WD 320gb HDD (AAKS w/ 16MB Cache)- Hiper HPU4M580 580W (if i were you, i'd get the 630W version instead... not much more expensive, but it's a LOT more powerful... better, a Corsair HX520 for single card use...) - CoolerMaster Elite 330 monitor - Yuraku 22"

dude, trust me, this system is NO joke... i thought it might be, but it isn't... obv, saving for an 8800GT may be an alternative, and also trying to put together a 5000+ BE may be easier OC wise... but still those are only alternatives i've thought of... this system owns...

built somehwat similarly to this build... http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Intel-Pentium-Dual-Core-E2140-overclocking,review-29816.html

 

[redzoneos]

wow thanks everyone for your input! after thinking about it, I have ditched my friends plan to buy a "completely" cost effective system in order to wait for the nehalem processors, instead I am keeping the same components listed above with a slightly upgraded motherboard so he is a bit more future ready.

I am replacing the PS3L motherboard for the GA-EP35-DS3R which is about 140 dollars (and enables compatibility with DDR3 ram in the future)

One final question about this new motherboard though... this one is the "Energy saver" version, they have another model which is identical but under the name "ultra cooling"... That model is GA-P35C-DS3R is there a significant difference in these 2 features? The ultra cooling version is 10 dollars more so I don't mind getting that if you think it will help with overclocking.

Thanks.