GPU help

[joshwood123]

hey everyone, im building a new computer, and im stuck on what gpu to buy, right now im looking at a GIGABYTE GV-N98TOC-1GH GeForce 9800 GT 1GB 256-bit with gddr3, but theres this new Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit with gddr5 that is about $40 more...is gddr5 alot better than gddr3? im confused about that, ive heard its not much better... i plan on playing games like crysis, fallout 3, ect. so if anyone has any advice for me on what gpu to get i would be very thankful ... it just needs to be $200 or less... lol
-Josh
system specs.
NZXT Nemesis Elite case...Black
-MSI P45 PLATINUM intel p45 chipset
-CORE 2 QUAD Q9550 2.83Ghz (1333Mhz)(plan to overclock to at least 3.0Ghz if possible)
-Windows vista H.P. 64bit
-8GB DDR2 SDRAM 800
-610W PSU
-1TB hdd (will buy at least one more in the future, and set it up in a RAID 0)
-GPU, not sure yet,
-blue ray drive.. also not sure yet..

 

[Liderc]

The 4870 1gig is definitely going to give you better performance than the 9800GT, but as you said it comes with a bit higher price tag. If you're on a 24'' monitor, I'd say the 4870 is a much better buy than the 9800GT. Just make sure you have a quality power supply, you say yours is 610watt but what brand?

If you'd like to cut cost a bit, you don't need 8gigs of RAM, 4gigs would be more than enough and you don't need a 1TB hdd, a good 500gig or WD 640gig would definitely be good.

 

[joshwood123]

the 4870 i gb is $250, the 512 mb version is $200 and the 9800gt is $163 on newegg.
and my power supply is a PC Power & Cooling 610w, i got it cuz its quiet and a 5star rating and it was well in my price range, so maybe with the money i saved on the psu i can get that i gb 4870...?

 

[eroc]

4870 1gb will run circles around the 9800gt

it's around $220 (after mir) @ newegg go for it!

 

[Akebono 98]

You don't say what resolution you will be gaming at--that makes a big difference.

In a vacuum, I'd go with 4870 1GB or GTX 260 Core 216. You'll need the most GPU power you can get within your budget, by the sounds of it. Try to look for a good deal on these cards in the post-Christmas sales, or in the new year. You could also consider two 4850 cards in Crossfire as well.

Before you buy, you should go and look at some of the benchmarks to make sure you'd be happy with your choice of card at the resolutions and level of detail / eye candy that you would like to use.

Skew your budget towards GPU if you're primarily gaming. I'd save money by reducing CPU to a dual core and OC'ing that (well beyond 3GHz, btw), as well as go with just 4 GB of RAM.

The MSI mobo is a waste of money--go with Asus P5Q Pro or Gigabyte EP45-UD3P.

Blu-Ray is a nice to have, but cuts into your budget for gaming.

 

[Amg]

whoa wait a second, the HD4850 can sweep the floor mostly with the 9800GTX (I say mostly) but get teh HD4870 if you are gaming on high reslution and on a fairly big screen

wait a moment, thats a point is the 512 version powerfull enough for a 24inch T240

 

[joshwood123]

well, im going with the quad core because i also plan on graphics editting and other large things like that besides games, and i am getting the RAM cheap and its good. I really want to go with the HD4870, and i'll get back to you with the exact resolution my monitor is tomorrow sometime i hope, all i remember right now is its a 19' princeton LCD... i also plan on hooking my PC to my 32' HDTV at 1080p, so would i need the hd4870 to do that? im sure it could...

 

[Akebono 98]

If you want to OC, then of course putting 8 GB RAM into the system and filling all 4 slots adds extra stress to the northbridge controller...

The 4870 is plenty for a 19" monitor. You could turn those Crysis settings up pretty high!

How do you want to use the HDTV? Simultaneously with the 19"? Or separately? For Blu-ray? If the HDTV is, for example, 1920 x 1080, then for the purposes of graphic card matching for gaming fps, it would be in-between the native resolutions of 22" and 24". Blu-ray doesn't require a 4870, btw. But if you want to simultaneously watch Blu-ray on the HDTV while playing Crysis on ultra high on the 19", then that's a taller order... :lol:

 

[joshwood123]

my 19' monitor is 1280 X 1024 so that 4870 will handle that no problem. and i will probably just be watching blu ray movies on the tv, since i dont currently own a blu ray player. i might try gaming on it, but it would, like you said, be a tall order. and what do you mean by "If you want to OC, then of course putting 8 GB RAM into the system and filling all 4 slots adds extra stress to the northbridge controller... "? what if i dont overclock? or only overclock it up to 3.0Ghz..? i need the ram, cuz i do video editting and am going to do graphics design...

 

[joshwood123]

sorry 19" not 19' lol

 

[Akebono 98]

4 sticks of RAM will limit the overclock because there is more traffic going through the Northbridge memory controller (as opposed to 2 sticks). Looking at the specs of your P45 Platinum mobo, I would think that it could handle FSB 400 at synchronous mode for RAM, which gives you DDR2-800. That would still give you an upper CPU overclock limit of 3.4 GHz (8.5 multiplier x 400 MHz), so not to worry.

Since you've done your homework and obviously want the 4870 to play Crysis with eye candy on your 19", then just go for it. That "tall order" I mentioned was for simultaneous use... doubt you could play Crysis immersively and watch Blu-ray at the same time...

 

[joshwood123]

so i dont need to worry about the 8 gigs of ram slowing my computer down?

 

[Akebono 98]

Nope, not at all. With air cooling and daily use, I doubt if you'd want to OC too far above FSB 400 anyways. Any extra increment would be academic, IMHO.

 

[joshwood123]

well i have made my decision, i am going to buy the 1GB SAPPHIRE 1GL Radeon HD 4870 ... newegg is having a sale ... lol and i have another question for anyone who is good with RAID... i want to buy an SSD along with my 1tb hdd, could i set them up in raid together? and have my OS on the ssd? i know they have very fast boot up speeds, so i really want to do that... thanks, any help is appriciated

 

[Akebono 98]

Before you go and RAID anything, go to the forum section on Storage and look up the RAID FAQ, and do a bit more reading first. You can't RAID that SSD with a 1TB. You need two of the same drive to do a RAID array.

 

[joshwood123]

thats what i thought, and thanks, i will read the RAID FAQ... i think im just going to use the ssd as a OC start up drive and use the 1tb hdd for storage and programs...

 

[joshwood123]

OS not OC, sorry, my keyboard is lame.... =/

 

[Akebono 98]

Apps go on the faster drive as well, btw.

 

[joshwood123]

yeah, i will be sure the apps are on the ssd as well, =) thanks for the tips

 

[joshwood123]

One more question, if i went with 1066 ram instead of 800 ram would that cause problems in my north bridge? i know my mobo can handle a 1600Mhz FSB, but im only going to put it a 400mhz max(i just want 3.0Ghz total from the cpu)... sorry i know i sound like a noob(pretty much am... lol) i just want to hear peoples opinions on things so i dont do something stupid... haha
thanks for the help.

 

[alcattle]

If the FSB is set at 400, the RAM will go at 800. Using 1066 will waste money

 

[joshwood123]

ok, so theres no way to change the ratio so that FSB 400 =1066? if thats not possible then i wont buy the 1066 RAM

 

[Akebono 98]

Just to clarify, when they say "FSB 1600", that means the the "real" FSB is running at 400 MHz (one quarter). DDR2 RAM runs at twice the speed of the FSB, so in that case, DDR2-800. If you don't set your FSB above 400 and don't run a higher memory divider and don't overclock above this, then you don't need anything more than DDR2-800.

 

[joshwood123]

thank you very much i am glad i didnt buy the 1066, that would of been a waste of money. thank you very much!