Nvidia 9800 or 260

[rrm089]

Should I go with an Intel quad Q8300 with two Nvidia GeForce 9800gtx 512mb. Or should I get an Intel i7 920 with one Nvidia GeForce gtx 260 896mb. I'm wanting to play games like crysis and oblivion, and keep my price around $1,000.

 

[17rawr]

how does either setup stay inder $1000 - im looking at building something like that too.
I would get the Intel i7 with the gtx260 because its best to keep with the most updated motherboard. what RAM are you looking at??

 

[L1qu1d]

i7 system looks much better, and the new cpu will help when you sli more cards Though I doubt u'll make an i7 system for under 1000$ including taxes, psu, hard drive video card case and any other peripherals needed.

Good luck though

 

[17rawr]

when you do build you system please tell me how much your system costs

 

[invisik]

Get the Q8300 with a gtx260. =]
i7 is just a simple waste of money now.

 

[spathotan]

Why not i7 and two 9800GTX+ ? I would rather go with that than the single GTX 260.

 

[17rawr]

lol a 260 is only $20 more not twice as much

 

[invisik]

i7 is a waste on two 9800gtx i would only go with it with high end cards like the gtx295. Get one gtx260 now and later add another for sli when you need more fire power.

 

[L1qu1d]

I would say the i7 is better deal cuz when he saves up a little more, he can throw those cards out.

I know 9800 GTX is a waste, but if he goes with the old system he'll be behind and won't have the option to go to i7...this way he has the option to go to another video card.... you kno?

 

[invisik]

Well i see your point of view but its up to how much money you have. The q8300 will last some time i would just go with the q8300 and gtx260 just my opinion. If you go with the i7 it will cost you more now up front and getting 2 9800gtx will cost you even more. Remember q8300 is a decent overclocker so dont worry much about cpu bottleneck, just overclock. =]

 

[L1qu1d]

not that much more, I mean price/performance is much better on the i7s from what I've seen.

Remember 2 9800 GTXs are stronger than 1 9800 GX2 which is stronger than 1 280 GTX. He should be ok for now. It would be much cheaper in the end to do a video card upgrade than a whole system upgrade.

 

[spathotan]

The total price of an i7 system is vastly overexagerated. Its not that much more than a LGA775 system.

Also, as l1qu1d said and I insinuated in my above post, two 9800GTX+ would beat any single card (single GPU) setup. Two 9800GTX+ is $330, and those are overclocked EVGA's, a single GTX 260 is $230.

While a single GTX 260 beats a 9800GTX+ it dosent SMASH it into oblivion or anything, so even if SLi isnt supported or scales poorly he still has something to fall back on, not to mention the awesome performance he will get with the SLi. He plays Oblivion, which can be maxed with even a single 8800GT, and the SLi 9800GTX+ setup will do very nice in Crysis.

 

[17rawr]

the cheapest Core i7 + the cheapest motherboard for it is about $400

 

[spathotan]

A base i7 system core can be built for under $700. Thats CPU, mobo and 6GB of memory. Adding two 9800GTX+ and a 850W Corsair PSU brings it to $1100 which is $100 over his budget. He will probably recycle old cd/dvd drives and keyboard/mouse, only question remains hard drive.

Bring it down to a GTX 260 and a weaker PSU and it drops under $1000, without HD and DVD/CD drive.

 

[17rawr]

what website are you using??

 

[spathotan]

Newegg.

Sounds like you think im lying.

 

[spathotan]

Like I said, $100 over his "budget", which isnt much considering the performance.

 

[17rawr]

no I was just asking cause I am looking for a system that is about that.
btw I use Newegg too

 

[spathotan]

Ahhh. Well he dosent have to buy the second 9800GTX+ right away, he can add it later.

I wont personally be going to i7 (just bought this Xeon X3370 last week which is on par with i7 920 pretty much), but I cannot recomend anybody buy a Q8300.

 

[17rawr]

Im gonna base something off of that. 4gb of ram and 1 260gtx or 9800. add a harddrive and a dvd burner

 

[invisik]

Okay lets say he got the 2 9800gtx or whatever but is it worth to get an i7; gddr3 and mobo expense seems to much and doesnt justify the "extra" performance in my opinion.
q8300 189.99$
ASUS P5N-D LGA 134.99$
Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB (2 x 2GB) 6400 27.99$ after 25$ rebate.

 

[spathotan]

The Q8300 is not a real smart buy for a gaming build. It has a low multiplier and cant OC worth a damn. He would be much better off getting a Q9550 at $280 if he sticks with LGA 775. But then he has to deal with the 50/50, coin toss, pin the tail on the donkey that is Nvidia chipsets if he wants to do SLi.

 

[invisik]

Well ill agree with you on that. The q6600 isnt a bad option either that cpu overclocks nicely or the q5550. i7 seems a waste at the moment to me.

 

[spathotan]

The Q9400 is also a good buy.

Also we cant forget about AMD. Actually....now that I think about it its probably his best bet....

Phenom II 940 - $230
790GX - $130~
Two HD4850 - $300~

And if he wants to stick with Nvidia, AMD nvidia chipsets are easier to recomend than their Intel counterparts.

 

[spathotan]

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=14633107

Entire build minus case for under $1000 even after shipping.

PII 940, 790GX, two 4850's, 1TB hd, 750W corsair, 4GB ram.

Solid build that pretty much nobody can shake their head to unless brand loyalty is at play.