Lots of questions! Please help

Sorry, i couldn't find the right forum section, but this is somewhat related to CPUs

I'm spending $1200 on a new system soon and i just wanted some input

Would you rather go

AMD 955 BE + 4 gb 1333 + a LG 22'' monitor + XFX 4870 XXX 1gb

or

Intel Core i7 920 + 6gb 1333 + XFX 4870 XXX 1gb

Basically, should i go amd with a better monitor? or should i go i7 with no monitor?

Right now, i have a 1280 x 1024 and a 1440 x 900. I feel buying another monitor is kinda pointless since i have two already, but they are lower end. ( One LG one Dell )

Another question,

Is it better to get one video card now, ( EX: gtx 260 core 216 ) and in 3 years, add another one? ( gtx 260 core 216 )
Or is it better to get one video card now, ( EX: 4870 1gb ), and in 3 years, buy another single graphics card? ( I don't know what graphic cards will be out in 3 years )

If you think it's better to just SLI in the future, i might change my I7 build from an ATI card to a Nvidia card. But if you prefer one powerful card over two older ones, i think i'll go ATI right now. I found the XFX 4870 XXX edition 1gb online for $134 and i think thats a steal.

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jchan wrote :

Sorry, i couldn't find the right forum section, but this is somewhat related to CPUs

I'm spending $1200 on a new system soon and i just wanted some input

Would you rather go

AMD 955 BE + 4 gb 1333 + a LG 22'' monitor + XFX 4870 XXX 1gb

or

Intel Core i7 920 + 6gb 1333 + XFX 4870 XXX 1gb

Basically, should i go amd with a better monitor? or should i go i7 with no monitor?

Right now, i have a 1280 x 1024 and a 1440 x 900. I feel buying another monitor is kinda pointless since i have two already, but they are lower end. ( One LG one Dell )

Another question,

Is it better to get one video card now, ( EX: gtx 260 core 216 ) and in 3 years, add another one? ( gtx 260 core 216 )
Or is it better to get one video card now, ( EX: 4870 1gb ), and in 3 years, buy another single graphics card? ( I don't know what graphic cards will be out in 3 years )

If you think it's better to just SLI in the future, i might change my I7 build from an ATI card to a Nvidia card. But if you prefer one powerful card over two older ones, i think i'll go ATI right now. I found the XFX 4870 XXX edition 1gb online for $134 and i think thats a steal.

Well, I would go with the new monitor because its sounds like your current one is kinda lame. If that means AMD for you then that's the route I would go, but I like to support the little guy anyway.

I would just go with your personal preference and find a way to fit a new monitor in. There are plenty of folks here who will tell you that core i7 is faster (and it is), but if you are building a mid range system than I doubt 20 frames per second is gonna be a big deal to you.

If you're going to only make video card purchases every 3 years, sli doesn't make a lot of sense. Get the most powerful card you can afford and see how long it holds up with the games you wanna play. I have an HD 4850 and I can play anything I want. But for how long? tough to say. Prolly for another 18 months or so.

Reply to buzznut

if you're planning on having money in the future, go with the i7.....then you can buy the monitor

Reply to uh_no

I will give you my input on the video card. I would suggest getting the most powerful single video card that you can afford now and figure on getting another new one in 3 -4 years as by then the most powerful video card now will be about 30-50% as fast as the one you can afford then.

Although it might be possible to SLI 2 or 3 of them together to get much better performance (only in some cases) it will run hotter and less efficient than the new card.

I basically went thru this with the 8800GTX cards. I had one, I bought 2 more on ebay and tri-sli'd and it was great but the heat was unbearable.

I got 1 GTX 275 and sold my 3 8800GTX cards and still had 130 bucks left over. You can say I did ok and basically I think I did but what I paid on my power bill for the duration of the time I ran them broke me even, maybe.

My 2 cents...

Reply to englandr753

Englandr has it right, very good advice.

Reply to buzznut

I agree get i7 now. Monitor will be sub $200 add on later. I7 later will be another $800-$900. If you dont get i7 now your gonna wish you did and your gonna want to upgrade real soon.

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Reply to daship

daship wrote :

I agree get i7 now. Monitor will be sub $200 add on later. I7 later will be another $800-$900. If you dont get i7 now your gonna wish you did and your gonna want to upgrade real soon.

If your budget will allow you to go that route I agree. The faster gpu you can get to go with this later will shine more with the more powerful cpu. If you are stuck with this system for a while it will reveal its benefits near its eol (end of life).

Both would be great systems but you will get an edge going i7 now...

Reply to englandr753

yeah thats what i thought. I currently have a 7 year old desktop and it served me well. I'm making a giant jump from a single core to an i7 lol. So i'm hoping this new system lasts me another 7 years or so.

I think i will just bear with the monitors for now. I think i7 and a single powerful gpu is the way to go =]

One last question

Should i just order all the parts now? A lot of the parts have 20% Bing Cashback from ewiz.com, and when i order when Win 7 is out, the special 20% Bing CB will be gone.

I'm only like a month or two away from Win 7 release.... so question is: Order now with 20% cashback? Or take the risk and order 1/2 months from now and hope there are good new egg deals?

Reply to jchan

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Forum CPU & Components : CPUs - Lots of questions! Please help