Help me decide on a new rig ASAP!!!!

[superchris7]

I need advice. I have $1,000 budgeted for a new computer, and would like to get one before the end of the year. I mainly use my comp for internet surfing, spreadsheets, occasional gaming, and will use for home entertainment such as making CD's/DVD's, and eventually for Blu-Ray. I have an Antec 900 case with a 800 watt Giga-Byte Odin power supply. Both of which I got great deals on to where I had to already buy them. I may get into some mild overclocking as well for fun. Here are the 3 options I've been wrestling with:

My current Setup is AMD Athlon 3000+ 2.0 Ggz, 2.5 Gb DDR-400 Ram, Nvidia Geforce FX 5500 Graphics, Via K8 Chipset.

1. AMD Phenom Quad 9950BE 125 Watt, 4 Gb DDR2-1066 Ram, Radeon 4850 graphics. AMD 790GX/750SB Chipset. (<$800.00)

2. Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83 Ghz, 4 Gb DDR3-1600 Ram, Radeon 4850 graphics. Intel P45 Chipset. ($1,000.000)

3. Intel Core i7 2.66 Ghz, 4 Gb DDR3 Ram, Radeon 4850. Intel X58 Chipset. This may not fit my $1,000 budget, and from reading, I don't see that I would get much of a performance gain for the price over 1-2 for what I do.

Please help!! I'm getting desparate!! My computer is crawling!

 

[bpogdowz]

What? When did TH become a psychic reading center. Nahelem benchies aren't even out yet. Sit the **** down.

 

[Shadow of Dawn]

I would go with th 2nd setup, except I would change the DDR3-1600 to DDR2 -1066

 

[aevm]

Don't worry too much about the CPU because all three setups are massive overkill as far as the CPU is concerned. Look at this chart for example, see how the Q6600 at stock and the Q6600 overclocked to 3.6 GHz get about the same fps.
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=770&p=5

I like the first setup, but make the motherboard a 790FX so you can do HD 4850 Crossfire at full 16x+16x. With an AMD 790GX or an Intel P45 you would get bottlenecks in Crossfire (they drop to 8x+8x). A good 790FX under $150 would be K9A2 Platinum, for example.

The second setup is also very nice but you pay $200 more for little real benefit, and it would in fact be worse in Crossfire.

The third setup is not available and won't be under $1000. And again, a faster CPU may not make any difference in gaming.

 

[superchris7]

What? When did TH become a psychic reading center. Nahelem benchies aren't even out yet. Sit the **** down.

There's enough out around the web to have a general idea.

I would go with th 2nd setup, except I would change the DDR3-1600 to DDR2 -1066

What is the advantage of this?

 

[aevm]

What is the advantage of this?

DDR2 costs less, and it will give you very similar performance.

 

[Grimmy]

I think its best to wait it out.

Over all, i7 should have some kind of impact on prices to give you a chance to save some cash.

But if you have to start building say in 3 days, 2nd choice looks okay, and I agree DDR2 will be a better option for a Q9550 in price performance on the memory.

 

[geofelt]

None of the above.

I do not see any need for a lot of compute power or vga power in your intended usage.

I would suggest:
A E8400 based system.
A basic P45 based motherboard.
4gb of DDR2-800 ram.
A modest vga card like the 9600GT or 9800GT
Splurge on a velociraptor. You will notice the speed on the things you do.
Vista home premium-64 bit.
Tahe any savings and get a second monitor. The larger, the better.

 

[evilshuriken]

None of the above.

I do not see any need for a lot of compute power or vga power in your intended usage.

I would suggest:
A E8400 based system.
A basic P45 based motherboard.
4gb of DDR2-800 ram.
A modest vga card like the 9600GT or 9800GT
Splurge on a velociraptor. You will notice the speed on the things you do.
Vista home premium-64 bit.
Tahe any savings and get a second monitor. The larger, the better.

I'd like to add that, even the E8400 is overkill for his intended use, I'd recommend an E5200.

 

[Grimmy]

Heh.. so all his choices are wrong?

And if you had an E8400 on Vista 64bit, would 4gb of ram be better then 8gb of ram, or is that over kill as well?

 

[aevm]

LOL, guys, he's only doing "occasional gaming" because the FX 5500 sucks. If he gets the E8400/HD 4850 combination, I'm sure he'll play games a lot more. It will feel a lot different

 

[superchris7]

Well I want to stick with 1 of my 3 options. So from everyone's recommendations so far. It seems like #3 is out. It's between #1 and #2 now. So...I'm wanting something that'll be sufficient for 3-5 years. So far, it seems like #1 is winning.

 

[aevm]

#2 would be better if you replace DDR3 with DDR2 (to save money), replace P45 with X48 (to allow Crossfire without bottlenecks and make the system last longer), and if you add a good cooler and overclock. Mind you, the AMD overclocks too, but the Q9550 is really good at it.

 

[jj463rd]

Option 2 is a great choice however in January 2009 if you decide to go with Option 1 get a AM2+ motherboard either a 790GX or 790FX with a 750 Southbridge chip and the 3.0 Ghz Phenom X4 20550 (Deneb) should be out by then.This should be fairly comparable to the Intel 9550 in option 2.If you're going with the AMD choice the Deneb might be 30 to 40% faster than the current Phenom X4 9950 BE CPU.I would say right now the Intel Quad Core 9550 is faster right now.
If you decide to go with the AMD option wait 3 months as it will be worthwhile.
Here is a great inexpensive Radeon HD4850 right now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102770

 

[shortstuff_mt]

#2 would be better if you replace DDR3 with DDR2 (to save money), replace P45 with X48 (to allow Crossfire without bottlenecks and make the system last longer), and if you add a good cooler and overclock. Mind you, the AMD overclocks too, but the Q9550 is really good at it.

+1

 

[superchris7]

#2 would be better if you replace DDR3 with DDR2 (to save money), replace P45 with X48 (to allow Crossfire without bottlenecks and make the system last longer), and if you add a good cooler and overclock. Mind you, the AMD overclocks too, but the Q9550 is really good at it.

aevm, thank you so much for all your help!! I know I'm asking some primitive questions here, but jeez...after joining this website, there's a lot I thought I knew that I don't. Well...I don't plan on doing Crossfire. I really won't have any use to get 2 video cards. The only reason I mention the 790GX MB is that Giga-Byte only has the 750SB on this board. I am a huge fan of Giga-Byte. They haven't let me down...yet. After bad experiences with MSI, Biostar, and FIC, this board hasn't fried after 3 years. Now, the reason I'm leaning towards #1 is price, and from what I've read, the Phenom may not be as fast as Intel, but still can hold it's own. Now, no one throw anything at me as I see we have a large Intel fan population here. I'm on my 3rd AMD processor, and rather like them. I've had a 450 Ghz, 1.0 Ghz, and now the 2.0 Ghz Athlon 64. I have been interested in trying Crysis, and maybe COD 4 for my "occasional gaming" on the PC. I also have a Wii and a PS3. So....I think the question is, if I upgrade now, for what I need, would I be throwing away my money on #1 or would it be worth my wait until February for AM3 and that elusive 10% gain. I think i7 will be way too high next month, and I know there will be bugs in the first release that I don't want to deal with. Thank you all again, especially aevm! You all are so helpful!

 

[aevm]

Oh all right, that 800W PSU made me think about Crossfire. With a single video card, something like 550W is normally enough.

If Crossfire is not an issue, I'd get the 790GX/750SB because it will overclock better.

There's always new stuff just around the corner. I wouldn't wait just for 10% more CPU speed. In fact, new tech is usually overpriced at first anyway.
Besides, your computer should have been taken out and shot long ago. I suspect you can't even install some recent games, because of error messages about lacking Shader Model 3. As for performance, the HD 4850 is about 50 times faster than the FX 5500.

About the CPU now, look at these charts:
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=775&p=2

Specifically, the Phenom 9950, with a really nice video card (GTX 280), at 1680x1050, in CoH, gets 72 fps at 2.6GHz and 77 fps at 3 GHz (and a more expensive Q9650 with DDR3 running at 3.6GHz gets 83 fps). All these numbers (72,77,83) are in fact the same for practical purposes because the typical LCD monitors only show 60 fps. Your eye will not really distinguish 72 fps from 83 fps anyway, even if you have a CRT monitor or some fancy LCD with a huge refresh rate.

The point is that for a gamer it's not really that important to overclock a lot or to get the fastest CPU possible. As long as the video card is very good and the CPU is good enough to avoid being a bottleneck, things are OK.

 

[superchris7]

Oh all right, that 800W PSU made me think about Crossfire. With a single video card, something like 550W is normally enough.

800W is OVERKILL, BUT....I got a brand new Giga-Byte Odin (love the software thing) on eBay for $88. I just couldn't pass that up! It works great too.

 

[aevm]

Wow, $88... Yeah, that's a great deal

 

[Wisecracker]

ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe AMD 790FX: $198
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131339

Combo Deal: $211 ($171 AR) -- AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 3.1GHz & CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombos.aspx?Item=N82E16819103272&SubCategory=343&SortField=0&PageSize=10&Page=2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103272
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145197
(on Asus QVL list)

VisionTek 900244 Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5: $279 ($254 AR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129113
-or-
SAPPHIRE 100243-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5: $309
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102795
-or-
You could CrossFire 2 X Hd4850s for $300 (but the 1Gb HD 4870 looks sweet)

$688 ($623 AR) to $718 ($678 AR) - If you go with a single HD4850 - $525'ish

You've got bucks for a nice new PSU and/or that 45nm Phenom Deneb holiday greeting to yourself


edit: Since we can scratch that PSU, how about a ....

Acer P244Wbii Glossy Black 24" 2ms HDMI 16:9 Widescreen LCD Monitor: $330
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009154

(I love spending other people's money - LOL)

 

[superchris7]

OK......I have to admit..........I was hoping ThunderMan would crash my thread to tell us all that Intel killed Kennedy and Bambi's mom!!! Where are you ThunderMan???

 

[evilshuriken]

I still think the E5200 would be a nice choice, why pay more when you can get more than enough performance from a lower end processor with a decent overclock?

But I guess my opinion is irrelevant if op would rather go with an amd system.
Good luck with that, and stop encouraging thunderman... don't you know the guy lives for comments like yours?

 

[superchris7]

I still think the E5200 would be a nice choice, why pay more when you can get more than enough performance from a lower end processor with a decent overclock?

But I guess my opinion is irrelevant if op would rather go with an amd system.
Good luck with that, and stop encouraging thunderman... don't you know the guy lives for comments like yours?

Actually, the processor brand doesn't really matter. I'm just going by past experiences I've had. Things do change though. I'm still researching so I may take your advice which I do appreciate by the way.

I doubt Thunderman is reading this. I was kidding. I would rather get unbiased advice like yours.

 

[UltimaSlayerVII]

What? When did TH become a psychic reading center. Nahelem benchies aren't even out yet. Sit the **** down.

Uh, no. I7 is insanely overhyped, especially by gamers. Why do you wait for it so badly, CPUs almost never matter in games, with RTS being the obvious exception, but I get by perfectly with a Q9550.

Worry more about your GPU.

 

[UltimaSlayerVII]

I need advice. I have $1,000 budgeted for a new computer, and would like to get one before the end of the year. I mainly use my comp for internet surfing, spreadsheets, occasional gaming, and will use for home entertainment such as making CD's/DVD's, and eventually for Blu-Ray. I have an Antec 900 case with a 800 watt Giga-Byte Odin power supply. Both of which I got great deals on to where I had to already buy them. I may get into some mild overclocking as well for fun. Here are the 3 options I've been wrestling with:

My current Setup is AMD Athlon 3000+ 2.0 Ggz, 2.5 Gb DDR-400 Ram, Nvidia Geforce FX 5500 Graphics, Via K8 Chipset.

1. AMD Phenom Quad 9950BE 125 Watt, 4 Gb DDR2-1066 Ram, Radeon 4850 graphics. AMD 790GX/750SB Chipset. (<$800.00)

2. Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83 Ghz, 4 Gb DDR3-1600 Ram, Radeon 4850 graphics. Intel P45 Chipset. ($1,000.000)

3. Intel Core i7 2.66 Ghz, 4 Gb DDR3 Ram, Radeon 4850. Intel X58 Chipset. This may not fit my $1,000 budget, and from reading, I don't see that I would get much of a performance gain for the price over 1-2 for what I do.

Please help!! I'm getting desparate!! My computer is crawling!

None of those will be able to run current games on max at playable fps, just so you know. But go with #2, I guess. If you're a serious gamer, drop the Q9550, get yourself a Q6600, and a 4870X2. Should be about the same price.