Another person with questions :p

[zozoman]

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting on Tom's Hardware, but not my first time coming to the site! I recently had a budget computer all planned out, but I just fell into some money - which means I can spend a bit more.

Right now this is what my shopping cart looks like on New Egg

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=13036187

If you didn't go to the link I'll sum it up.

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 260

Ram: CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB

Mobo: ASUS P5K DELUXE

Soundcard: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty

Hard disks: 2x Western Digital VelociRaptor 150 Gigs
1x Western Digital Caviar 640 GB
What I was thinking about here was that I would Raid the 2 raptors together for speed and have the large drive for non-game related things.

Case: Antec Twelve Hundred Black ATX Full Tower




Now, here come the questions... I am not sure if the motherboard is a quality board or not, I do not know any decent boards really. If anyone knows of a better board I am all ears.

For the video card I have been a big fan of EVGA Nvida cards, I heard the 260 is a good card to go with. Let me know if there is something better.

The sound card and speakers. I am pretty sure that the sound card is good, but I do not know much about speakers either. If anyone has any suggestions on this let me know.

That's all that I can think of at the moment... If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!

Thanks for looking this over,

-Alonzo

 

[tastytaco]

I would personally choose this card since it is a lot better in performance on most games.
Visiontek 4870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129113
Also I wouldn't buy two velociraptors Just buy the 300 gb one and save some money also
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136260
i would opt out for the Samsung Spinpoint 1TB for all the other stuff you store.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152102
Oh and i would buy a quadcore and overclock it to about 3.0 ghz was me. It will benefit you in the long run Q6600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115018
OCZ vendetta 2 for cpu cooling if you overclock it
http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-OCZTVEND2-Vendetta-CPU-Cooler/dp/B00168ZE7E/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1222133328&sr=8-1

 

[rberry]

OK

the thing is if you want to add another 260 later that board is not sli capable. you would need to get an sli board.

ASUS is a very good brand (i like gigabyte myself but thats just my preference.)

So if you are stuck on Nvidia, a 750i or 780i board would be good for ya. ASUS has products for both of those type of motherboards.

not only that but if you wanted to go crossfire with ati cards that board only supports x4 on the second pci-e slot. which means no matter what ati card you used 4850, 4870, etc, the second card would be bottlenecked.

Hope this helps.

 

[aevm]

+1 for the Visiontek HD 4870.

I wouldn't bother with RAID 0 for gaming. Just get one disk, and maybe use the money for a better video card. It will make a much bigger difference.

Your link doesn't work, it goes to the login page and we don't know your account name/password.

I'd get a newer MB, based on P45. Something like GA-Ep45-DS3R or P5Q Pro. If you're looking for future-proofing i.e. the ability to add a second card later then look at some X48 (GA-X48-DS4, P5E Deluxe).

Did you pick a PSU? A Corsair 750TX or Silencer 750W would be great here.

 

[tastytaco]

Hmm well you do know the p45 will let you add a second gpu also? you just have to buy something like this
Foxconn P45A
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186148
or ASUS P5Q Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299
Also if you do this and plan on going crossfire you'll need a bigger power supply(can't see yours) and i would just pick two 4850s since they are the best price vs. preformance dual gpu solution.

 

[zozoman]

I think I didn't have the link shared... I shared it now and I picked this PSU out...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817379007

Thanks a lot so far for the tips!

Edit:

I notice that everyone is recommending ATI, I never used ATI before and have always had an EVGA Nvidia card. I will give them a shot. For the books, how does ATI fare with dual monitors? I use a dual monitor setup atm and would want to make sure it would carry over.

 

[tastytaco]

If your going to buy only one gpu and stay with that, thats a super overkill psu. Be sure you will be going multi gpu before you buy that.

 

[captaincharisma]

well if you have some extra money maybe consider upgrading to an Intel quad core

 

[tastytaco]

well if you have some extra money maybe consider upgrading to an Intel quad core

yeah, i would recommend the q6600 and just overclock it.

 

[zozoman]

How is the Zalman heatsink compared to the OCZ one?

 

[kitsilencer]

How is the Zalman heatsink compared to the OCZ one?

Nothing noticeable temp-wise or performance-wise. Price-wise even.

 

[zozoman]

Ok, I made some changes if anyone would like to take a look. I am debating if I should get that second video card (I'm not too sure if that Foxconn board can support Cross Fire) and from peoples experience how is it having 2 video cards, is it a lot better or just "meh"? If anything else seems fishy let me know!

Thanks again!!!

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=13036187

It seems that the mobo was not added because it is a combo deal

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186148

 

[tastytaco]

I'm pretty sure that the Foxconn board is not a combo deal, maybe just a error? Also as far as a dual gpu solution, just buy two 4850s and its not too big. here Is a list of games, their settings, and how the cards are preforming. http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/benchmarks,30.html
just pick the settings for the game you want, and see the results for yourself.

 

[zozoman]

You get some Foxconn hat, that's why it is a combo deal... (I don't want the hat)

I took a look at the list of games and it seems that ATI is leading in the benchmark area but when it comes down to games it seems that the Nvidia cards come out on top.

How do you feel about ATI compared to Nvidia? I typically play MMO's (currently Warhammer Online) and I doubt either card would make a substantial difference, but I am curious. I was also thinking it over today that buying 2 $300 cards was a bit excessive and I'm gald you pointed out the alternative ones. Another question is, do you think it is better to do Cross Fire / SLI or just get 1 beefy card? I've heard good things and bad about using 2 cards.

Lastly, if I were to use 2 video cards, the Foxconn board supports Cross Fire, correct? I did not see it say that it did anywhere...

Again, thanks a lot for the help.

 

[tastytaco]

Then don't wear the hat, jeez....
I personally feel that ATI is better right now for performance to price. Except I'm cheap so I'm going to use a 9600GSO. Also, although i haven't played Warhammer online, i doubt that it is the most graphically advanced game out there. Two 4850s in crossfire kick pretty good butt on their own and for the price they're at, its a good deal. I personally think two 4870s is overkill for now, but there are people that will argue that.
Also the Foxconn board does support crossfire it just doesn't say it there, had to find that somewhere else. (It does not support SLI though.)
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Motherboards/detail_overview.aspx?ID=en-us0000394