Rebuild Advice

[mega1268]

My computer finally took a crap, i think its just a power supply but its time to upgrade anyway. Id like to reuse some parts if possible. Lmk whats a keeper and whats not.
8800gts 320mb, I wanted to reuse this but i feel like it may limit me. Im only on a 19 inch screen thou. I also see the 8800gt is way better and like 100 bux. Maybe 2 of those sli.

I have gigabyte Ga-965-DS3, Not sure if upgrade is needed, when i bought it it was top of the line :-(.

Gskill 4gb Ddr800 5-5-5-15

e4300 which will be upgraded to q6600.

Need advice on a decent PS.

So basically i just need advice on, keep the 8800gts/ram/motherboard. I cant find more of the same gskill ram anymore to just double it.

Ive been out of the loop alittle while. Why dont more people do the 2x8800gts vs single card setup

 

[faster3200]

I would replace the mobo. Go for a P35 or P45 board. The Biostar TPower I45 is the best overclocker (for a reasonable price) to date, although everyone on these boards seems to like the Asus P5Q Pro.

The ram is fine so long as you don't intend on going much more than 3.6ghz. Also 4gb is plenty.

As for a psu go for the Corsair 650TX if you can. The Antec EA650 is also a good psu. Both the Corsair and the Antec are made by Seasonic, although the Corsair is a bit better.

If you can I would go for a better video card. The 8800gts 312mb is pretty dated. An 8800gt would be a better buy if you are looking at the lower end of the spectrum.

The reason why most people don't run sli (other than cost) is it requires an nvidia chipset, which isn't very much fun to use.

 

[mega1268]

Is the 8800gt the best proformance per doller deal. I dont mind spending the money for the Gtx/ or the 260, But If its not much better i dont see spending the extra 100 bux.

 

[aevm]

GA-965P-DS3 works with Q6600. I would keep it. The RAM is also fine. You don't need 8 GB of RAM for gaming.

Your MB has only one PCI-E x16 slot, so you're only allowed one card. No SLI, no Crossfire.
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products...rboard&ProductID=2456&ProductName=GA-965P-DS3

The 8800GT or HD 4850 would be an improvement over what you have, but not enough to be worth the money IMO.
The GTX 280 and HD 4870X2 are very expensive.

I'd recommend these upgrades:

1. Q6600 retail

2. Visiontek HD 4870, $280, free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129113

3. 650TX, $72 with free shipping.
http://www.buy.com/retail/usersearchresults.asp?querytype=home&qu=650tx&qxt=home&display=col

 

[aevm]

There's also the eVGA GTX 260, also $280 with free shipping, and it even includes a copy of Crysis. I think this is a better deal than the HD 4870. Just make sure it fits in your case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370

 

[evongugg]

For single video card geForce GTX 260 the use of 500 W power unit is enough ( at least 35 a along the +12v line) .

Top Tier PSU:
http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Tiered+PSU+Listings?t=anon

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3359

http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1460

Silent PSUs
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article699-page1.html

 

[mega1268]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Ya i dont see upgrading to the other mobo. Cause it doesnt seem like much of an upgrade. This card is pretty good overclocker as is. Ill keep the ram and stuff. the crysis deal seems good also. Sux a 300 doller video card is worthless 6 months later but i guess thats teh computer world.

 

[mega1268]

There's also the eVGA GTX 260, also $280 with free shipping, and it even includes a copy of Crysis. I think this is a better deal than the HD 4870. Just make sure it fits in your case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370

It also has 40 doller MIR

 

[digitalmicron]

Hey why not try the 9800GX2??? Thats a pretty good card still and newegg has one for 279 + Shipping. Here's the link.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133231

I would think this would be the best bang for buck right now especially since the OP has to get a new PSU anyways. Plus it beats out the GTX 260 and 4870 in alot of test.

BTW you ever thought of going to a 22" monitor??? Right now they're cheap and with a higher end video card games look sweet on them.

Just my opinion.....

 

[mega1268]

Ya im gonna get a new monitor eventually. Just not gonna buy everything right away. 19 inch works fine for what im doing now. I dont play games on it that much. But ive been dying to play crysis. And like you guys if it dont run flawless on high settings i dont wanna play it.

 

[megamanx00]

Well if you wanna play Crysis at 1680 x 1050 then you should look into a 9800GX2 or Radeon 4870. I think the 9800GX2 will have lower minimum framerates at that resolution than a 4870, but you may want to scour the net for reviews just to be sure. Your MB is fine. I think you may be better off with an E8400/8500 than a Q6600 since many games right now are really only optimized for two cores and will receive more benefit from a higher core speed. Not only that, the new Wolfdale CPUs overclock well. If you can afford it though look into a Q9400 or faster CPU.

 

[mega1268]

wont the quad core be alittle more "future proof". not that im really worried about that cause i upgrade alot but arent the upcoming games quad core capable? Also, if im keeping a small overclock. w/e i can get without increasing core voltage. Do i need a better cooler? Not really worried about it lasting forever like i said i upgrade alot.

 

[wgdz]

people could argue that quad core is more future proof, but no one knows when we will actually see multi core usage.

At this point I think either chip is fine, judge what you need based upon the following:
Dual core: in general faster in games
Quad core: faster if doing graphic editing, encoding, etc

I see quad core only worth it if you do alot of those tasks, otherwise if you only do it only a handleful of times, that extra seconds doesn't really benefit you much in my opinion. Also note that for same price, e8400 (new chip) you could get the q6600 (old chip). Where as if you want the new 45nm for quad, you'll have to spill out more $.

 

[mega1268]

ok ive decided on the E8500 and the 9800 gx2. and i only have 2 gigs of ddr800. so i think im gonna upgrade off that. Is my motherboard gonna bottle neck a 8500 and 9800gx2

 

[mega1268]

Will my motherboard accept a 45nm processor. IT only says 65 on the website? also is the 8500 worth the extra 20 bux if im just gonna overclock anyway?

 

[faster3200]

You mobo will support the newer procs, just make sure you update to F13 or F14b Bios.

It is worth the extra money for the e8500 vs. the e8400 because the e8500 will have a higher multiplier, meaning it will be easier to OC.