Quad Core Build - Looking for Comments!

Hi Eric;

- You don't need DDR1066 unless you are planning a big overclock, drop to DDR800. Mushkin do very well regarded RAM.
- Unless you are using some very RAM hungry applications then 4GB and a 64bit OS will work fine.

- Given the plan for P45 motherboard using an ATi 4870 card would allow you to add a second one later.
- Note that the 260 and 4870 are very closely matched and you should look at individual benchmarks specific to your games to tell the appart.

- Split up the case and power supply.
- 550W is the absolute minimum for a 4870 card and then it will want a decent power base rather than a cheap one. Go for a corsair, enermax, pc power and cooling or antec power supply.

Hope that helps
Jeremy

I'd get the RC-690 without PSU, and a Corsair 750TX PSU, both from www.buy.com or newegg. The 750TX is way better than the CoolerMaster 550W, and more powerful too.

Two WD6400AAKS disks cost as much as that 1TB but have 1.28TB of space together. Plus, if you ever encode videos, the speed is more than double if the source and target are on different physical drives.

+1 for HD 4870.

I forgot - yeah, 8GB is overkill for a gaming box. Read this:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/07/08/is-more-memory-better/1

I did a power analysis, and 550W is more than enough. The only issue could be its reliability. Do other people have any issues with the coolermaster PSU? It's so much cheaper!

I am not a fan of ATI, so I do not plan on using them. Long story.

I plan on using 8GB just becuase RAM is so cheap and I plan on keeping this computer for 4 years or so. I also will be doing alot of RAM intensive computer work for school.

I am looking into dropping to DDR800

Thank you for your help and time!

i suggest getting a 650W or 750W PSU and Radeon HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 Edition it will beat the GTX 260 with 1GB>896MB and GDDR5>GDDR3

here's website for RAdeon HD 4870 1GB for $299 and $279 after Mail in rebate
Click:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?Product...




I also recommend Intel's DP45SG Crossfire Motherboard with DDR3 support its for $159
Link:http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/ite...



plus i suggest u forget about the 8GB DDR2-1066 and get the 4GB Kingston ValueRAM DDR3-1333 or 2GB Corsair Reaper HTC DDR3-1333 or 2GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1375 Kit for overclocking purposesupgrade to DDR3 plus save money

4GB Kingston ValueRAM DDR3-1333 : $147
Link:http://www.electronicsshowplace.com/4gb-1333mhz-ddr3-no...


2GB Corsair Reaper HTC DDR3-1333: $108 after Mail in Rebate
Link:http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm...

2GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1375: $111
Link:http://www.provantage.com/kingston-technology-khx11000d...

i think u should switch to ati i use to be nvidia fan and switch to ati then i started to see the difference. i appreciate how ati is trying their best to bring people cheapest available most powerful gpu. 4870 X2>GTX 280

Launch price for GTX 280: $700-800
Launch price for 4870 X2:$500-600

i dont think anyone needs 8gb of memory for gaming unless ur one of those i hav 3 gtx 280's and 3 4870 x2's with 8gb of ddr3 ram and dual QX9770 with D5400XS dual cpu mobo

Ok, so I see I have 2 decisions I need to make

Geforce 260 Vs ATI 4870 1GB
-Same price on newegg
-260 uses GDDR 3 with 448 bit memory interface
-ATI uses GDDR 5 with 256 bit memory interface
-Geforce 260 has 896MB
-It looks like my current PSU can supply either card

DDR2 800 vs DDR2 1066 vs DDR3
-DDR2 1066 seems like an overclocked 800
-DDR2 1066 costs twice as much almost
-DDR2 1066 is not 1:1 ratio with CPU
-DDR3 is faster, but doesn't seem to help that much for price

Please let me know what you think!

PS this is not a purely gaming machine. Mostly for work where I WILL need 8GB of RAM!

I would get ATI because it supports 10.1 and that makes it better value even though they are neck and neck for most benchmarks. NVIDIA is going to support it in there next graphics cards.

I'm pretty sure I'm switching to this video card:

SAPPHIRE 100243-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

Anyone have any suggestions for name brand (Sapphire vs Diamond vs Gigabyte)?

Also, Still not sure on the RAM

The FSB on my CPU is 1333. This comes out to 333MHz for each core. The RAM is double pumped, so I need only 667 MHz ram at most. Is there any flaw in that logic? (Meaning I would just go with 800)

All right, by all means get 8GB. DDR2-800 is dirt cheap today anyway. Anything else would increase the price without increasing the performance enough to justify it.

Between GTX 260 and HD 4870 1GB: forget the technical specs and look at benchmarks. The technical specs are impossible to compare in a meaningful way because the architectures are different. 800 "stream processors" as defined by ATI are roughly equivalent to 128 as defined by nVidia, but clocks and RAM type and RAM amount and other factors matter too and make it impossible to guess performance properly.

The two cards are very close. For example in Crysis at 1920x1200 the GTX 260 gets 29.7 fps and the HD 4870 1GB gets 33.3 fps. Theoretically the ATI wins, but would you really notice a 4 fps difference?
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3415&p=4

BTW, I notice you picked a motherboard with a single PCI-E x16 slot. Are you sure you want that? It would be a lot more future proof if you got something with two slots, like the GA-EP45-DS3R or GA-X48-DS4 for example. You could buy a HD 4870 now and add another later in Crossfire for future games that really need it. Or it would let you add a cheap HD 3450 or whatever and support 3 or 4 monitors. If you like the Crossfire idea get the GA-X48-DS4, it's better for that purpose at high resolutions.

PSU: if you like the Crossfire idea get the 750TX. If you're sure a single gaming card will be enough, get the 650TX.

I like Sapphire and Visiontek most. Gigabyte makes great motherboards but I have no idea about their video cards. Diamond has a pretty bad reputation in forums. No idea if it's deserved, TBH.

RAM:
mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 996587 - Retail $50
Timing: 5-4-4-12
Voltage: 1.8V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146731

Well, I looked at a lot of benchmarks and I see that 1066 vs 800 is a slight difference, not even worth 5 dollars to me. I'm switching to 800.

That's two changes you all have convinced me of, thanks!

New Build:

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKA1-GP Steel/Plastic Mid Chassis Black Mid Tower Case Retail
Remove $129.99 $129.99



10007855 Quantity Limit: 20
INTEL BX80569Q9550 Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83 GHz 1333 MHz Socket 775 2 x 6MB Desktop Processor Retail ***Free Shipping***
Remove $317.90 $317.90



10009210 Quantity Limit: 20
HIS H487F1GP Radeon HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express x16 (2.0v) Video Card Retail
Remove $299.99 $299.99



10008669 Quantity Limit: 20
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3La Intel P45 Core 2 Quad/Core 2 Extreme/Core 2 Duo/Pentium/Pentium Extreme Socket 775 1600 MHz PC2-9600 (DDR2-1200) ATX Motherboard Retail
Remove $99.99 $99.99



85025-6 Quantity Limit: 20
Corsair TWIN2X2048-6400C4 2GB Kit DDR2-800 XMS2-6400 Xtreme Performance Memory Retail ***Free Shipping***
Remove $46.50 $93.00



10009089 Quantity Limit: 20
SEAGATE Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5 TB SATA II 7200 RPM 32MB Buffer Hard Drive Bulk
Remove $179.99 $179.99



610783
Assassin's Creed PC-DVD $0.00 $0.00


Subtotal: $1120.86

How does this look now?

Changes: Went to DDR2 800, ATI video card, new HD with 32MB buffer, free video game ha. I think this PSU can still power this system without a problem. If you do not please let me know, but it says it will!

Also, I have no intentions of ever using SLI as this system is mostly a workstation. I will only be using one video card.

The Real Power Pro PSU is actually reliable.
That is a nice combo for $99.

Unless you plan a heavy OC, go with the DDR2-800.
You will likely want an after market cooler, just so a more modest OC will go smoothly.

All else being equal, I would go with the 4870 over the 260.
The reason is the 4870 supports DX10.1 vs DX10.
Right now, there is little difference since nobody uses 10.1.
However, it's a subset of DX11 so in time as DX10.1 and DX11 are implemented you may see the 4870 really shine in those games.

550W is enough for a Q9550/HD 4870 combination. For example Visiontek recommends 500W or higher for their version of that card.

(The HIS card should consume about the same, even with the larger RAM. I just like to look at Visiontek specs at Newegg because they always list power requirements there, while most others don't.)