New Gaming Rig Final Opinions

[nachota1987]

hi guys,im 2 months away from getting my new rig http://img.tomshardware.com/forum/uk/icones/message/icon7.gif ..ive been reading and researching a lot and i came to this:

- GIGABYTE MA790X-UD4
AM2+

- PHENOM II X4 940 BE

- ATI RADEON 4870 512mb

- Antec 300 Case

- Coolermaster eXtreme 600W

- 2 x 2gb Kingston 800mhz

- 500 gb SATA II 32mb

- 19" monitor (i think its 1440x900)

im buying mainly from spain (www.appinformatica.com )

what do u say? anything wrong?
thx! XD

PS: i chose de 4870 512 but had doubts with the gtx 260 192 cores since it has a similar price but from whay ive read, the 4870 "equals" the gtx 260 216 cores, and not the 192 one..

and also theres the chance i could add another 4870 (changing the psu) but that could be in a couple of years

 

[keola27]

Video card: The HD4870 is a great card but doesn't support PhysX so it depends on what games your playing or will be playing and if you even really care.

Cool Master is fine, but if you have some extra money please buy a little bit better Power Supply.

 

[Cpt Deadboots]

I'd get a different PSU - Corsair 650 TX would be a good option.

Also, Seagate and WD's 640 GB drives are known to perform better than the 500 GB models. I'd shoot for one of those.

Nice build.

 

[nachota1987]

keola27: im going to play fallout 3, mirrors edge, far cry 2, cod4, crysis, etc and also planning on playing diablo 3 and starcraft 2.. fallout 3 and diablo 3 being my favourites..ive also heard diablo 3 going to use havoks physics

Cpt Deadboots: ill look for better psus and hds.. i saw the Antec Earthwatts 650W EA thats like 20 more bucks but maybe its worth it

 

[keola27]

You are correct Blizzard will use havok! thank god! but Mirrors edge uses physx and looks poopy on ATI cards. here is what i think on the games.

fallout 3- No physics but will run better on ATI! (HDR + AA)
diablo 3 - Havox
SC2 - Havox

Go with ATI if that's your fav games and good taste in game BTW ^_^


The antec PSU is much better than what you were looking at.
The HD 640 between 500G model isnt that much better but he is correct its a little better.

 

[nachota1987]

XD im still playing fallout 2 and diablo 2 lod lol.. cant wait for this 2 months!

 

[nachota1987]

and ill also have to check here about the ati drivers since ive never had or installed an ati card before

 

[keola27]

Video cards are easy, shove the card in to a PCI e slot, connect the card to your monitor and than boot windows and run the CD that comes with the card.

 

[nachota1987]

but from what ive read, since the drivers that come with the video card are old, its better get the newer ones from ati directly

 

[keola27]

Yes the site is http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

The drivers should be updated but its not that big of deal. and even after you install the "new" drivers 3 weeks later they will be "old"
Remember the saying if it isn't broke don't fix it.

If the card is from ASUS and a few others i don't remember get the driver from them and not ATI, i know Asus adds extra things and sensors and other good OC stuff will not work with the ATI drivers

 

[nachota1987]

im getting the sapphire

 

[nachota1987]

well, ill change the psu to a Antec EA 650W

about the hd: i can get a 500 gb 32mb maxtor, a 500gb 16mb wd,a 500gb 16mb hitachi or a 640 GB 16MB samsung for the same price

which one?

im buying the hd in my local store (www.tranza.com)

 

[keola27]

never ever ever get a maxtor! Western digital and Seagate are the top 2 brands for desktop computeing.
so answer WD

Sapphire is the flagship for ATi so the drivers from ATi will be fine.

 

[Helloworld_98]

^ yeah, only buy WD and samsung for hard drives.

also mirrors edge has a lot of physx coming into play so if you buy an AMD card as your main card it might be worth paying however much extra it is for a 9600GT for a PhysX card.