I need a system capable of playing Crysis,COD4, Assassins Creed, UT3 smoothly at 1024x768 or 1280x1024, It's time for my upgrade anyway so I can spend around a grand (GBP). I would like to get into the habbit of moving with the times, so it only has to last up to a year, with upgrades such as GPU/CPU/MOBO possible in the year, doesnt have to be futureproof, just work now really well.
I already have SATA hard drives to migrate to this system, but the raptor seems fast (10k rpm, 4.6ms seek time) so I was gonna get one for the system drive. I have an PATA optical drive/floppy/card readers already I can re-use or choose myself, have perhiperals etc, just need the new core system.
-Note: I currently run four monitors (including a plasma for movies) so in the non-SLi system I would like to be able to have 2 PCI express slots, one for the main card, one for my old card which will run my secondary monitors, but I dont think it has to be anything fancy like 16x for my old 7800gtx, probably 4x would do, it's only for extra screen real estate.
I am shopping on http://www.overclockers.co.uk becuase I dealt with them before and they do 0% for 12 months over £333 or something!
Please let me know what you think, heres my notes so far:
System 1: E8xx based, P35 (ddr2), single GPU
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pros: cheaper than sli (two cards)
stable
good for OC
good choice of P35 motherboards available
cons:
cannot use SLi
Intel Wofldale E8500: £200
Asus P5K Premium/WiFi-AP Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2: £109
Corsair 4GB XMS2 PC2-8500C5 (2x2GB): £117
BFG 8800GTS-G92-512: £188
OR
EVGA 9800GX2 - £411
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad-SLi PCI-E 750W Power Supply: £105
Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (WD740ADFD): £91.64
Silverstone Kublai KL02B-W Midi-Tower with Window - Black: £76
Total (8800): £902
Total (9800): £1126
System 2: E8xx based, nForce (ddr2), dual GPU
------------------------------
pros:
higher end gfx performance
more future GPU options (tri-SLi) available
cons:
more expensive outlay
less stability
slightly less flexibility for overclocking
need a new NB fan for the mobo?
Intel Wofldale E8500: £200
EVGA nForce 780i SLI nForce 780i: £168
Corsair 4GB PC2-8500C5 (2x2GB): £117
2 X 8800GTS-G92-512: £376
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad-SLi PCI-E 750W Power Supply: £105
Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (WD740ADFD): £91.64
Silverstone Kublai KL02B-W Midi-Tower with Window - Black: £76
If you're playing at 1280x1024, I don't think SLI will help you too much. Personally I would save the money and go with your non-SLI setup and the 8800GTS.
One thing though. The board you picked only has one IDE port so you might not be able to fit all your old stuff in.
Ok thanks oushi, I agree after reading a bit more, the non-SLi will be better at lower resoloutions, I just hope I have chosen a good motherboard, I also like the IP35-Pro and now the Asus is not on offer, I will probably get the IP35-Pro instead, thanks for your Input!
