New PC?!

[Guest]

Hi Guys,

I am looking at purchasing a new machine. Now I have put it down to two possibilities, any help and answers to my questions would be much appreciated.

First Rig :


Motherboard
MSI K9A2 CF-F AM2 Plus, C/Fire, DDR2, SATA2, GBLan, ATX

Processor
AMD Athlon64 5200 Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor

Memory
4Gb (2x2Gb) Dual Channel DDR2 800Mhz Memory

Graphics Slot Crossfire 1
Sapphire 512Mb Radeon HD 3850 PCI-Express 2 VGA Card
CrossFire 2
Sapphire 512Mb Radeon HD 3850 PCI-Express 2 VGA Card


Second Rig :

Motherboard
MSI P31 Neo-F LGA775, DDR2, SATA2, ATX

Processor
Intel Core2 Quad 6600 2.4Ghz LGA775 Processor (G0/SLACR)

Memory
4Gb (2x2Gb) Dual Channel DDR2 800Mhz Memory

Graphics Card
512Mb nVidia GeForce 9800GT PCI-Express VGA Card



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Now both rigs are around the same price same size Hard Drive at 250gb.
Which would be best for gaming the dual 3850s using Crossfire or the single 9800GT ?

Also how does Crossfire work exactly I am totally new to the Crossfire concept some people say it shows the cards down etc ?

Thanks in advance Kez

 

[rodney_ws]

Sweet Jesus. DO NOT Crossfire two 3850s. Do NOT. If those are your only video options, I'd go with the 9800 GT.

 

[rodney_ws]

And the Q6600 will dominate the AMD CPU you listed. Those two rigs are nowhere near apples-to-apples. Are you sure you're not smoking something?

 

[serpent1202]

The best for gaming would be the intel setup, but get a e8400 instead of a q6600. I would also get a new 48XX series card, if your on a budget then get the 4850 for $150 off newegg.

A friend of mine went with the crossfire configuration a year ago and now he wishes he would have went with the faster, single card solution so he could have upgraded down the road when he needed the power.

If the budget permits I'd also add $20 to the HD selection and get a WD 640 gig, the drive performs well and will nearly triple your storage capacity.

 

[Nik_I]

why would you be comparing an old amd dual core to a much more modern intel quad core?? and for the price of 2 3850's, why not get a 4850? that would be even faster than a 9800GT.

 

[Guest]

As said totally new to all this thanks for the info guys

 

[Nik_I]

As said totally new to all this thanks for the info guys

what you should do is tell us how much you plan to spend, and then we can put together a list of parts that'll get you the most for your money .

 

[Guest]

Well i'm from the UK so in £ I have around £400 pretty low budget.

 

[Guest]

Maybe at a push £450

 

[Outlander_04]

Here my 2 cents on the budget gaming rig .

e8400 or e7300 if you are happy to overclock and need a budget option
gigabyte or asus mb with a 43 or 45 in the name . MSI ... I dont like the color
2 gig of RAM for XP or Vista 32 bit ,or 4 gig if you have Vista 64 bit
WD or Seagate 640 gig Hdd or the Seagate 500 gig with 32 mb cache if money is tight .

9800 gt or 4850 radeon . Look around for models with two slot coolers which run cooler and quieter .

If you have change get a cpu cooler to cap heat and noise there as well.

One thing you dont mention is monitor resolution . Those gfx cards are good value performance cards but even they will be wasted if you are using an old 17 inch crt .

 

[Guest]

Ah i am using a ViewSonic 17" TFT at the moment and sometimes hook it up to my 42" Plasma to watch movies etc, I am not too worried about the storeage space as I have a few spare 250gb Sata + IDE Drives.

 

[Outlander_04]

The hdd's Ive mentioned are faster . Newer tech puts more data in a smaller area and so it reads and writes quicker , but I guess the zero cost option is to reuse your sata 250 gig drive . If you have two identical sata drives then consider buying a mb that supports RAID 0 .

Either of the gfx cards will get really good game play on your monitor , both will be stretched but ok on a 1080 p screen if you drop back the quality a bit . I use a 9800gt on a 720 p panel and it all works fine.
If you have an hdmi input on the plasma then get the 4850 so you have sound as well and wont have to connect the pc's speakers

 

[Guest]

ok thanks for your help matey

 

[Guest]

Motherboard
MSI P31 Neo-F LGA775, DDR2, SATA2, ATX

Processor
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0Ghz LGA775 Processor

Memory
4Gb (2x2Gb) Dual Channel DDR2 800Mhz Memory


Graphics Card(s)
512Mb nVidia GeForce 9800GT PCI-Express VGA Card


going to go for this set-up then £400 should cost around which isn't too bad. will let you know how it goes.

 

[jonpaul37]

Honestly, get an Intel E8400 and an ATI 4850, this will be the best situation, hands down...

 

[Guest]

Total: £450.71

Gigabyte GA-EP31-DS3L iP31 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz) 1333FSB 6MB L2
Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5
Gigabyte HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDCP HDTV out PCI-E Graphics
Extra Value Black/Silver Gladiator Mid Tower Case - With 500W PSU and 12cm Front Fan
Maxtor 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm *32MB Cache* - OEM

What you guys think I'm not really a Maxtor fan but thats my max budget.