Will this be a good system? Need Opinions.

Building a gaming PC. I've done a load of research and this is my shopping cart list over at newegg... Tell me what you guys think.



Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF

*DUAL* ASUS EAH3850/G/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

ASUS P5E LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard

OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI 700W ATX12V Power Supply

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

ASUS Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A3T

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

Arctic Silver ACN-60ML (2-PC-SET) Thermal material Remover & Surface Purifier

Rosewill RTK-002 Anti-Static Wrist Strap

LOGISYS Computer CLK12BL2 12" DUAL COLD CATHODE KIT - OEM

Should be a kick but gaming system but like Maziar said i would use the 4850 for the GPU instead of the 3850. even if you xfire should still be well wroth the little extra money.

Suggestion on some ram thats compatible with my motherboard?

I cant afford 2x 4850's...

Is there a benchmark or something somewhere that shows a single 4850 beating 2x 3850's? Maybe a Nvidia solution?

It is difficult to locate the exact matchup you are asking for but take a look Here and the page after it. They are the multi GPU pages from Anandtech's 48x0 review. You can compare the 4850 to the 3870 and 3870x2 to get a rough indication of performance increases from the previous generation.

There are a few things to keep in mind, though. The reviewed 3870 and 3870x2 will be faster than your 3850's bye a good amount. For additional reference, please see Tom's review on the 3850 and 3870. Also, the 4xxx series fixed several major flaws from the 3xxx series cards. Most importantly, in my mind, they fixed the lackluster AA performance found on the 3xxx series. Now, in many situations, a single 48x0 card at high resolutions with high AA can match or surpass nVidia's GTX 2x0 cards.

As I was typing this, I found another nail for the coffin. From Anandtech's 3850 CrossFire benchmarks I give you...




Not to many benchmarked here but we can see that 3850 Cf is roughly equate to a 8800GTX. From here we can use some logic to place it in line with the performance of a 4850. We will start with this. The 9800GTX generally ranks just above the 8800GTX and just below the 8800 Ultra. A single 4850 is equal to around 15% better than the 9800GTX in most benchmarks. Using these assumptions, we can make a reasonable assumption that Cf 3850's will perform roughly the same as a 9800GTX or a little under a single 4850.

If you can not afford 2x 4850's that is fine! You will still have the same amount of performance as what you are currently planning on purchasing but with insurance. A few months, and paychecks, down the road you can purchase another 4850 to upgrade your performance again.

G-Skill also makes some good cheap memory. And i have had good luck over clocking with it. I am using 2X2GB DDR2 1066 set. I got it on special at the egg for less than 90 dollars half off regular price or i would have just used DDR2 800.

Do not put 2 3850's into Crossfire. I feel its simply a very bad choice at this point in time.
Buy a 4850 now. It will do just as well, if not better than 2 3850's.

The 3850' were lackluster/disappointing in performance to start with when they first came out. Buying 2 of them just because they are cheap and throwing them into Crossfire?????......just don't do it.

GPU 101---never buy 2 cheap cards thinking they will outperform 1 higher end card. I know Toms has suggested in the "Best GPU for the Money" section lately some Crossfire and SLI combinations. These are the exception, and should not be taken as rule of thumb. Frankly, I would never, ever for any reason suggest 2 lesser cards over 1 highend card. In time, you can always add another high end card. When it comes to GPU's, I really think you should buy the best single card you can possibly afford.

Then later after the new has worn off your rig and you start looking for ways to juice it up, buy ANOTHER 4850 and go Crossfire.

Witt78 - Can you post the article where you read that about the difference between the platters? - I was getting the 500gig just because it was cheaper for my build.

Thread:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/foru [...] ming-setup

Looks excellent!
Good choices on all of your components!
Enjoy your new build, it'll be a good one.

However, I think Witt78 was referring to WD's 640Gb Hd.
It is one of their newest models (with 2x 320Gb platters) and is said to be a very nice unit.