Gaming Computer Build, Few Questions.

underoath84

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So I am making my second computer build, first true gaming build. I am coming from a 3 year Dell Inspiron Laptop, so this system is gonna be quite the upgrade.

So here are the pieces I got going at the moment:

Antec 900 Case
Corsair 750w PSU
Asus P5N 780i SLI board or Crossfire of same type
Corsair 2x2gb 800 ram
Sony/NEC Dvd-RW/CD-RW
Windows Vista 64bit

Now this is where the questions arise. I am trying to decide whether to go with a Q6600 or E8500. From what I understand most games dont use the quad processors yet. So maybe go with duo, then upgrade down the road?

Second question. I am gonna go with a single GPU for now, but would like to have the option to go Crossfire/SLI down the road. So I am on the fence on whether to go with a HD4870 1gb or 9800 gx2/GTX260.
The GX2 still seems to do well in all benchmarks and the price has dropped so much.

Third and final question. Trying to decide whether to go with a 22" or 24" monitor. I am mainly playing WoW atm, but am looking to get into some other games, so I was thinking that the increased resolution to 1920x1200 would be nice on a 24". Newegg has a Acer 24" 2 ms monitor for $329. Not sure how quality Acer is though.

Anyways that is it. Any input would be nice :p
 
Your GPU choice will probably be determined by what monitor you decide on. The GX2's performance really starts to drop off at high resolutions if you enable AA. I think an Intel x48 chipset motherboard and 4870 1GB model would be a great choice, especially if you go with the 24" monitor.

Here's a good article on the 4870 1GB.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3415

Look at the games you plan on playing and the resolutions you will be using to make a good decision. The 4870 1GB really holds its own.
 

br3nd064

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For cpu, the e8500 would be a better choice for gaming at the moment. The q6600 is also a good choice if you do a lot of multitasking. It would be a good idea to get a dual, then upgrade to a quad later on.

If you decide to get a 24" monitor, both the gtx 260 and 4870 1gb are good cards. Look at the different cards for different games you play and decide using those results.

Acer quality isn't the best, but it's pretty decent for the money. I have an acer monitor right now and I'm satisfied with it.
 
G

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get a 24 inch monitor... simply amazing... This may sound stupid... but your kdr comes up because you can more easily see flashing/strobing lights out of your perifory (spelling lol) vision so its much easier to see players on screen

also 4870 1 GB will probably be best for you and when you decide to go crossfire the extra 512 will help a good bit

Ditch the 780i mobo though... as it sucks and all 700 series chipsets have issues (except the uber expensive ddr3 thing called the 790i) so get an x48 instead, Gigabyte dq6 would be good
 
I based the x48 recommendation on the fact the you originally chose a 780i board that's over $200 and expressed interest in SLI/crossfire. The P45 chipset supports crossfire, but at a reduced 8x/8x speed. The reduced speed might be significant on the 4870 1GB card.

You should really pony up the extra coin for the x48 chipset. You could also look at the x38 chipset if you can't fit the x48 in. The x38 chipset will also run crossfire at full speed.
 

br3nd064

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Yes, the p45 has a reduced 8x/8x speed, but it is pci-e 2.0 speeds. This means that, really, 8x 2.0 is the same as normal x16. The 8x speed won't affect the 4870.
 

br3nd064

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It really won't affect performance. The only card that *might* be affected would be the 4870x2. All the other cards (4870 1gb included) stay under the bandwidth limits of pci-e x16.