Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > Other Components > Building a cheap but a powerful rig

Building a cheap but a powerful rig

Forum CPU & Components : Other Components - Building a cheap but a powerful rig

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!
Ask the community Add a reply
Word :    Username :           
 
Nightmare106   08-31-2008 at 06:55:40 PM

I have been really lost on past 3 weeks on what components for my rig to buy... here's what i come up with for now:

GECUBE HD3870 X-TURBO, PCI-Ex16, 512MB DDR4 256-bit, HDTV-out
Procesor Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 , 4x2.4GHz, socket 775, 8Mb G0
Not sure what motherboard but definetly an ASUS one with Crossfire 16x 16x (x38 or x48 chipset (they 're the only chipsets i know that support 16x 16x crossfire))


Could ya help me out by making some changes and adding some powerful but cheap =) hardware. I need it to be as cheap as it can aswell. Ty ahead!

Add a reply
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
kazuya-kun   08-31-2008 at 07:35:05 PM
- 0 +

CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115037 169.99$
Mobo - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131335 104.99$
GFX - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] tek%204850 164.99 MIR
Memory - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146789 - 139.99$

I would get some decent cooling, but it's up to you. Try to get an E0 revision for the E8400 and you can OC it to a nice 4.3 ghz :D

This is fairly cheap and chances are you'll see a much bigger improvement over the Q6600. I wouldn't recommend dual cards, I'm currently using 2 3870 and I regret it. Try sticking with the 4850 till the RV870 comes out, I heard it's going to be a "true" dual-gpu card :) not like the R700

Reply to kazuya-kun
BIZWIZ   08-31-2008 at 08:15:27 PM
- 0 +

you haven't really mentioned what your rig will be used for.... Any good X48 mobo will do for both graphics processing/gaming. But they cost more than the p45s, which don't support 2x 16X crossfired cards, but 8x8x instead. THE HD3870 X-TURBO gddr4 will be a GOOD mid range choice...you could also look at the 4850 1gb oc series as a cost option. Alternately, look at the 3870x2 options, if u r hellbent on crossfire.
The q6600 is likely to be phased out; the e8500 is a good fast cheap option for gaming as it has excellent oc potential.
A quality psu is paramount for crossfire; crossfiring ain't exactly cheap!

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to BIZWIZ
dagger   08-31-2008 at 08:32:23 PM
- 0 +

BIZWIZ wrote :

you haven't really mentioned what your rig will be used for.... Any good X48 mobo will do for both graphics processing/gaming. But they cost more than the p45s, which don't support 2x 16X crossfired cards, but 8x8x instead. THE HD3870 X-TURBO gddr4 will be a GOOD mid range choice...you could also look at the 4850 1gb oc series as a cost option. Alternately, look at the 3870x2 options, if u r hellbent on crossfire.
The q6600 is likely to be phased out; the e8500 is a good fast cheap option for gaming as it has excellent oc potential.
A quality psu is paramount for crossfire; crossfiring ain't exactly cheap!



That's right, p45's 2 8xpcie2.0 in cf will bottleneck.
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/ [...] index.html
X38/48 won't but will cost around $200 or more.

Your best choice for high performance on the cheap will probably be a cheap p43/45 motherboard, price starts at $75, and performs on par with x38/48 other than the cf bottleneck.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] rder=PRICE

Plus a $275 9800gx2 ($245 after mir).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814133217

As the second fastest card on market, after 4870x2($550), it outperforms 4870($280) and gtx280($420), and will certainly blow away 2 3870s($120 each).
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=13
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=14
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=15
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=16
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=17
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=18
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] =3341&p=19

As for quad vs dual, a lower clocked quad will outperform higher clocked dual even in old non-quad optimized games, as long as the gap in clock rate isn't too big.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/c [...] 600_8.html

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
 Reply to dagger
venkat karthik   08-31-2008 at 08:54:17 PM
- -1 +

i prefer not to take q6600 because it is not future proof
it does not support SSE4 which are going to be used in future games and provide more performance

take any yorkfield quad core
please ensure whether the cpu supports SSE4

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to venkat karthik
dagger   08-31-2008 at 08:59:48 PM
- 0 +

venkat karthik wrote :

i prefer not to take q6600 because it is not future proof
it does not support SSE4 which are going to be used in future games and provide more performance

take any yorkfield quad core
please ensure whether the cpu supports SSE4



SSE4 is only used for newer encoding softwares. Larger more complex applications like games do not take advantage of it (or sse3 for that matter).

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
 Reply to dagger
spuddyt   08-31-2008 at 11:58:00 PM
- 0 +

what is this machine for? gaming? video editing? what?

Reply to spuddyt
Bronze CPUs badge cjl   09-01-2008 at 12:05:02 AM
- 0 +

If you want cheap but powerful, an X48 is not the place to be looking. Also, note that the bottleneck testing was on the newer HD4000 series cards - a 3870 will not come even close to bottlenecking 8x PCIE2.0. Get a P45 instead.

Reply to cjl
brendano257   09-01-2008 at 01:51:29 AM
- -1 +

The combination your asking for isn't really possible, and @dagger, you cannot get a CF board and a 9800GX2, you need an SLI board for that.

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to brendano257
Shadow of Dawn   09-01-2008 at 01:56:30 AM
- 1 +

brendano257 wrote :

The combination your asking for isn't really possible, and @dagger, you cannot get a CF board and a 9800GX2, you need an SLI board for that.



You don't need an sli board for the 9800gx2

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to Shadow of Dawn
dagger   09-01-2008 at 02:51:55 AM
- 0 +

Shadow of Dawn wrote :

You don't need an sli board for the 9800gx2



Yep, single card does not require sli/cf capable board. Same is true for 3870x2 and 4870x2.

------------------------------ Q6600@3.6ghz, GA-EX38-DS4 motherboard, 8gb 800mhz ddr2 4-3-3-12, 8800GTS(g92)@780mhz, 1TB + 1.5TB hdds, 850watt psu
 Reply to dagger
Grimmy   09-01-2008 at 02:55:29 AM
- 0 +

Pretty much the sheer beauty of them x2 GPU cards, especially on a non-sli/cf platform.

Although I don't think I'd wanna put up with a Quad GPU setup from all the heat pouring out of them. :sweat:

Reply to Grimmy
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > Other Components > Building a cheap but a powerful rig
Go to:

There are 1172 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.478 seconds
Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel
Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
Related Topics
See all relatives topics
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them