crossfire or no crossfire? Need advice choosing some parts 4 new build

[ahslan]

Hey guys,

So I'm finally thinking about building a new rig (main reason due to the phenom 9600be and the hd4850 being on sale). I'm set out to get the hd4850 but I really cant decide what motherboard to get...main reason due to not knowing if I am going to want crossfire in the future...I currently play all my games on a 19" lcd monitor so my max resolution is 1280x1024...I'm not sure if having crossfire in the future would just be overkill for anything at that resolution...

So far I'm planning on getting:

AMD Phenom 9600 BE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103244

ATI HD4850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102747

HEC Raptor500 500watt Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817339021

Western Digital 500gb hard drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136230

Obviously I still haven't decided on what case or motherboard to buy...I am on a tight budget (unfortunately, don't think imma be getting much for my current rig ) so I would like to keep the price down as much as possible...

Thx in advance

 

[njalterio]

I would wait until Nehalem comes out. Price seems to be an issue here and you can be current stuff will be a lot cheaper when Nehalem comes around.

If you wait for prices to drop or not, I think you should get a q6600 and OC it.

This motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128345

This case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068


Total comes to roughly $675 if I add my parts to your parts (and subtract the Phenom). Throw in a Xigamatek aftermarket cooler and you are running sweet at about $700

 

[njalterio]

Oh and don't forget RAM!

4 GB is $100 these days if you can afford the extra cost.

 

[aevm]

MA-770-DS3 works with Phenom and is very good.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128081

RC-690 case

WD6400AAKS instead of that 500GB - faster

Save $1 after rebate and shipping and get the OCZ StealthXstream 600W instead of that HEC 500W. It's got better reviews and more power.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010


Edit: forget Crossfire. Tight budget, remember? For Crossfire you'd need a $200+ motherboard, a second $200+ video card, a more expensive PSU too, and it would not make sense on a 19" monitor anyway.

 

[ahslan]

THX AEVM!!! I just wanted to know if crossfire would make sense on a 19" monitor

forgot to mention that im planning on getting G.Skill for ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231166

 

[cah027]

Even if you are using a lower res, wouldn't it help on the really demanding games (crysis) ?

 

[aevm]

I've seen benchmarks for Crysis showing 33 fps with one HD 4850 and 46 fps with two in CF, at 1280x1024. Forgot which settings, medium or high, sorry. Anyway, Crysis does benefit from Crossfire, but much less than other games like CoD4.

 

[kilorth]

Don't go with that memory... too expensive for nothing... go for a kit of 4gb ddr2-800, 1066 mhz are just OC'ed version of the 800 most of the time... get good 800 mhz and OC it.
G.Skill, Patriot extreme, Crucial ballistix are very good memory, make sure you get the 4-4-4-12 timing version.

Like that memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220269

 

[aevm]

Good idea. This set is only $65+7 instead of $105

mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146731

It works at 5-4-4-12 @ 1.8V or 4-4-4-12 @ 2.1V.

 

[kilorth]

I have the exact set of memory that you showed there aevm ( the mushkin one ) and I am not recommending them.

This is not possible to make them run at 4-4-4-12 even with an high voltage and even if i drop the mhz to around 700 i wasn't able with 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 or even 2.3 volt to make them run at 4-4-4-12.

I am stuck at using them at ddr- 900 mhz ( 450mhz FSB ) with latency of 5-4-4-12.

Mushkin is great memory, but pay a little more and get Patriot memory or anything else that are able to run 1050+ mhz on 4-4-4-12 latency.

 

[sarwar_r87]

it dosent make sense to get a crossfire for 19 inch monitor. a 4850 will be able to handle crysis at 1280x1024 wit max details. and thats the most demandin game out there and it will be that way 4 some time

 

[ahslan]

thx everyone...guess imma have to revamp my wishlist...I'll drop the 1066 ram to get the 800

Was looking at this ram set...it has a great mail in rebate...but the latency is 4-4-4-15...dont know if thats good or bad...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227267

 

[smalltime0]

I think those timings have been lowed (good thing)
DDR2-800 is usually 5-5-5-16?

As for mobo I personally like the gigabyte DS5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128074&Tpk=Gigabyte%2bGA-MA790FX%2bDS5
Especially since it has a heat pipe and 790 FX chipset

 

[stoner133]

Stick with the Mushkin memory. I'm using two of those 4GB kits for a total of 8GB and they worked great. Not one problem getting the four sticks working in dual channel mode. Even Vista 64 Ultimate installed on four of these without a single problem.

 

[stoner133]

The Gigabyte DS5 is the board I'm using as well. Not one problem with it.

 

[ahslan]

I think imma go with the DS3....mainly because I cant afford the DS5

 

[smalltime0]

Understandable, just that the DS3 is not crossfire compatible AFAIK (i.e. only one PCIe x16 slot).

Whatsever you get will be a substational amount faster than what you currently have.

 

[ahslan]

Alright...so I'm probably gonna disappoint a lot of you guys, but I ended up getting the following items (due to a combination of combo offers and promo discounts, I spent only $470...and thats not including the $60-70 imma be getting back from mail in rebates...btw, I got $380 for my old desktop so I ended up not spending very much at all for the build)

Mobo:
I ordered this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138106

but got this one is the mail...newegg must have ran out of version I ordered GO NEWEGG!!!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138102

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133048

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231121 (got it cuz ppl said I could set it to 4-4-4-12...and cuz i couldnt afford 4gb)

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152028

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103773

Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125224

Hard drive: using old WD 200gb IDE HDD...I've got a 500gb external and another 250gb external...

I've received everything except the processor and the video card...which are shipping from California for some reason...w/e...hopefully you guys approve this build and everything works perfectly...

 

[ahslan]

I also wanted to ask you guys if you think I should install Vista? I don't think I should but thats just me...any thoughts?

 

[aevm]

Well, you have to install something.

If you have XP already use it, it will be fine. It's just that some games will look better in Vista because of DirectX 10.

If you don't have any kind of Windows yet I recommend Vista Home Premium 64-bit.

 

[ahslan]

I have both XP pro and Vista Ultimate...both 32 bit editions...but here at work I have Vista Enterprise 64 bit and XP Pro 64 bit...

 

[aevm]

You've only got 2 GB of RAM, so the 32-bit systems are fine. I'd install Vista Ultimate 32-bit, just for DX10. Mind you, in some games like BioShock DX10 makes no visible difference. But, in others, like Crysis, DX10 does improve the graphics.

XP Pro 64 bit is the last one I'd use for gaming. I use it at work and I had some issues on it with applications that used to work fine on the 32-bit XP.

 

[ahslan]

well because I have only 2 gigs of ram, I was inclined to use XP...I know for a fact that Vista uses almost 1 gig of ram just idling, and I don't wanna waste that valuable space...

 

[aevm]

Well, if you do want Vista you can always add another 2GB for $40 or whatever.

In Microsoft's defense - apparently Vista will load all sorts of things in RAM in the hope that you will need them. The idea is if you do need them they will be available faster that way. If you don't need them, and the RAM is needed for something else, that RAM is freed and made accessible to whatever app needs it. That is, Vista only looks like a memory hog, but in fact it's not. It just tries to find an intelligent use for RAM that would sit idle under XP.

No idea if this is actually working or how well. I just read about it somewhere on a Microsoft page long ago.

 

[smalltime0]

aevm I think you are right, but I remember something about Vista not unloading the stuff it loaded extra properly (when it first came out). However I am using Vista 64 Bit ATM, and have loaded it up with *only* 2 GB of RAM. It was a bit sluggish at the start, but after that it was fine. But 8 GB makes it so much smoother
And my machine vista uses 1.7 GB idling lol... but thats because I have too much stuff on startup.

Everything looks pretty good on your build, other than that PSU. I dont know anything about it, but looking at its summary and a few posts on newegg it looks like it is grossly inefficient. I recommend you try to replace it ASAP.