bugrit

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Nov 18, 2008
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Is this a decent build for a gaming PC?

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz) 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor

ASUS HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDCP HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card

Samsung SH-S223F 22X DVD1RW/RAM/DL Serial ATA Black Bare Drive - OEM

Antec 300 Three Hundred Case - No PSU

Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 1066MHz/PC2-8500 HyperX Memory CL5 Unbuffered Non-ECC

Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB SATAII 16MB Cache 7200 RPM - OEM

Coolermaster RealPower 620W Modular PSU - SLI Ready
OR
Coolermaster IGreen 600W PSU - 85% Efficiency 8pin ATX12V v2.2 120mm Fan

In particular i'm not sure about the PSUs. I'm fairly sure that they support SLI, but will that be OK for Crossfire and which one of the two would be better?
 

nsimo86

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Looks good to me. Do you intend to do any overclocking? Find out how many watts are required to run two 4870s in crossfire, I know two 4850s needs 550W so it may be more for the 4870s.
 

Huttfuzz

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Everything good , but save up and forget about the Kingston RAM. Get Mushkin, G.Skills or even corsair. DDR2 800 will do the job and is cheaper.
 

jthorn

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3 months ago I would have said looks great. Now I am ready to say dual core is too old. Go with a Q8200 CPU or better. There are some great deals out there. And if you can find a Q9XXX series cpu deal go with that. Your MB and GPU picks are great. So are the case and the monitor.
 


Or this RAM:
G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209
It's $11 more but has better timings.
If you're not planning to overclock you don't have to care about timings.


Also, you'll need an OS. This one will give you DirectX 10 and full access to the 4 GB of RAM. There's also an "Ultimate" version with more frills and more expensive.
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488

 

jeep11

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Oct 26, 2008
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You might be intrested in my build.

P5Q PRO
Antec 300
q9400
2X2 G SKILL DDR 8002 5-5-5-15
500 gig Segate Barracuda
Sapphire 4850
Lite-On dvd burner
Corsair 650 watt
Tuniq TX-2 thermal compound
vista Home Premium 64

For a little under 1000
 

Rogue77777

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Save some money on your OS and get Windows 7 Beta 32 or 64 bit. The beta's good until August 2009. If you don't like it, you can always get Vista later.
 

bugrit

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Thanks for all your help. Here's the build I think I'll go for:

Asus P5Q PRO P45 Socket 775 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz) 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor

ASUS HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDCP HDTV out PCI-E Graphics Card

Samsung SH-S223F 22X DVD1RW/RAM/DL Serial ATA Black Bare Drive - OEM

Antec 300 Three Hundred Case - No PSU

Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB SATAII 16MB Cache 7200 RPM - OEM

Corsair 750W TX PSU - 120mm Fan, 80+% Efficiency, Single +12V Rail

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC6400 Titanium Memory CL4(4-4-4-15)



I only plan to OC to 3.6Ghz so I think the 800MHz ram will be fine. The PSU is on AMDs list of certified Xfire components http://game.amd.com/us-en/crossfirex_components.aspx?p=3.

Regarding the quad processor, I'm not convinced of the advantages of quads over the dual core processors for gaming given the cost as not many games are optimised for them. My budget only allows me to have a quad or a high end GPU and I think that the GPU is going to give me the better gaming experince.

Thanks for the tip on Windows 7. I'll definately be having a look at that.
 

Zenthar

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The performance loss is 5-10% compared to full x16 XFire if I remember correctly. It can be considered an acceptable trade-off considering the price difference of X48/X58 boards.
 

fullmetall

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+1 on ram and PSU :) but, if you wanted you could get the OCZ Reapers at DDR2 1066. They're a very nice set of sticks(2x2gbs) + EPC on them.

nice build. kudos to you, good luck.



 

fullmetall

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It's true, the new os coming out can seperate all cores and run them at different times as of what i've heard.

to help running mutiple things at once. E8400 is still a nice chip but, as of the new os coming out, Quad core is your best bet.

Q6600 is the way to go. 20 bucks more i think.
 

Zenthar

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Or simply get an E8400 now with an quad-capable board, upgrade to a Q9550/Q9650 in 1-1.5 year when enough has evolved to really make a quad worthwhile and the prices have dropped. After another 1-1.5 year (so in 2-3 years), change the whole thing to whatever is good then.