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Need a direction for a new build...............

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Ok, I've really been going back and forth over a new build. First let me list my current specs:

AMD X2 5600+ 2.8 GHz AM2 socket
Biostar AM2/AM2+ mobo
4 Gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2
XFX GeForce 8600GT XXX
430w PSU ThermalTake

I've been considering a completely new build and passing the parts listed above down the line to my brother. I have around $700-800 for a CPU, MoBo, Memory, GPU, and PSU.

I'm considering either the Q9550 or the new AMD Phenom II X4 955. That decision right there is the start of my problems :pt1cable:

I've had many friends/co-workers voice there opinion and most go with the Intel (They see the 12 Mb L2 and go bonkers). Benchmarks for the two are pretty much split and I don't have any plans to do a serious (if at all) OC as this will be a multi-purpose everyday machine. (Visual Studio/Blu-Ray machine/Gaming rig)

I hesitate to go with the Q9550 as it is a end of life socket type and I've made that mistake before. The AMD is right up my alley until I get to GPU choices: I'm a NVIDIA fanboy and every build I've ever made has been an AMD/NVIDIA combo. I would like to get the AMD 955 and whatever GTX card I can afford. If I do that, I lose the ability to SLI the cards and would have to rely on 1 super card to keep up to date instead of popping in a second card in the future for a (cheaper) shot in the arm. Is SLI such a big deal that I should go with the Intel or should I just get the AMD/NVIDIA combo and later down the road just replace the one video card with a beefier one? Should I be considering ATI and crossfire?

For 700-800 can anyone help me with the build? Again, I have everything except the CPU, MoBo, GPU, Memory, and PSU.

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

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@Rocket254 SLI/ Crossfire is only required if a single powerful card cannot offer satisfactory performance...
What is the resolution of your monitor?? Choosing the graphics card would depend on them...

And ATI recently have the best value for money components...So even choosing crossfire route would only benefit you if you feel the need for higher powered graphics....

Message edited by gkay09 on 07-31-2009 at 08:46:28 AM

Reply to gkay09

I will be running a 23" monitor at 1920 x 1080

Reply to Rocket254

For that resolution, a single GTX 275/ HD 4890 would be suffice to run the current games @ High settigns...But if you want the absolute best image quality with all the settings @ Max with full AA and AF, then a single card might not be suffice (For games such as the Crysis, GTA4,...)

Reply to gkay09

Would you recommend the AMD or Intel?

Reply to Rocket254

^ Both the intel Q9550 and the X4 955 are similar in performance...So going with either would not be a problem (Though the X4 955 has a slight edge with regards to the newer socket)...

But with either of those, the crossfire is the only best option if you are considering multiple cards later on as the SLI scales well only on X58 mobos...

Reply to gkay09

But if you are planning to single beefier card at a time, then going with nvidia would not hurt at all...

Reply to gkay09

And is 700-800 you budget only for these components - CPU, MoBo, GPU, Memory, and PSU ??
And what will you be using the PC primarily for???

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to gkay09

maybe an amd build along this line? (from newegg)

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor $125
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103674

ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131366

XFX HD-487A-ZHFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 $149
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150329
or
XFX GX260NADFF GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 $169
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150329
or
XFX GX275XAHFF GeForce GTX 275 896MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 $209
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150359
or
XFX HD-489A-ZDFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 $194
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150387

CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC $99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] vYnBsEZx8N

2x mushkin HP 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $166
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] vYnBsEZx8N
or
2x G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 $150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231180

average between $663 - $739

i'm just a noobie to this stuff but i was on and thought that might give you some idea's from what my limited knowledge is based upon

edited in links

Message edited by grog189 on 07-31-2009 at 09:16:29 AM

Reply to grog189

^ That is a very good setup...But I doubt he would require 8GB of RAM...4GB is more than suffice...

And if you check newegg, you could find very good combo deals...

Reply to gkay09

gkay09 wrote :

And is 700-800 you budget only for these components - CPU, MoBo, GPU, Memory, and PSU ??
And what will you be using the PC primarily for???

@gkay09 That is correct. I already have the case, HDDs, etc... Just need the components listed.

I will use the build for everyday use. Some internet browsing as well as watch Blu-Rays. I am not a super hardcore gamer as I don't have the time for it but I would like to do a fair amount of gaming and have great quality speed/graphics when I do.

Reply to Rocket254

taking out one set of ram would lower it another say 70 - 80$ which then could either be used to buy a better single card gpu or even go for 2x 4870's in crossfire if you go amd route? Although i don't know if that would require a higher power supply or not

Reply to grog189

Reply to gkay09

And as for the graphics card, either the XFX GTX 275 that grog189 listed or
this overclocked one wiht an after market cooler...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 0GTX%20275

Reply to gkay09

Is the performance increase with the 285 over the 275 not worth the price difference?

Reply to Rocket254

^ YES...@ 1080p resolution, the GTX 285 would dish out say about 3-5 FPS more than a GTX 275, which is negligible but the price difference - $100 - not so negligible...
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2266.html

Message edited by gkay09 on 07-31-2009 at 10:40:39 AM

Reply to gkay09

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts [...] ,1341.html

there is a chart showing overall benchmarks, most tests seem to show the 285 only having a minor increase over the 275 for a much higher price tag.

Also here are two other reviews you might want to read about them.

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,2139.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 266-2.html

Reply to grog189

How much do you need a quad core cpu?
At a clock rate of 3.0 or better, the vga card is much more important for gaming than the cpu.
At that level, overclocking is good for bragging, but it will not net you as much increase
in FPS as a better vga card will. Today, very few games can make use of more than two cores.
Flight simulator X and supreme commander are exceptions. It is not a trivial matter to code multi threaded programs,
and game vendors will not sell too many games that require quads to run.
I don't see this changing in the next couple of years.

If you have software that is multi core enabled, or if you do lots of cpu intensive multitasking, then a quad might be appropriate.

For games, a duo at 3.0 you can get very satisfactory game play. Read this article, and see where you fit:
http://www.guru3d.com/category/vga [...] _fuel_war/
The cpu used there was a E8400@3.0. My sense is that as little as a GTX260 would give you very good gameplay in most titles.

If you are not urgently in need of a new build, wait for the i3 and i5 cpu's coming out this fall. If you have the itch and need to scratch now, then consider the following budget for $700-$800:
cpu i7-920 $280
X58 mobo $200
6gb ddr3 ram $75
psu $80
GTX260-216 $150.
______________
total $ 785.

Or, you can go with a E8500 based system for about $200 less.

Reply to geofelt

I got an AMD 955 with ati 4870 and I can preety much play all games max settings, I also got my 955 to 3.7ghz, I could proly got higher than that but thers no reason though.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to K1ash3r

K1ash3r wrote :

I got an AMD 955 with ati 4870 and I can preety much play all games max settings, I also got my 955 to 3.7ghz, I could proly got higher than that but thers no reason though.

Out of curiosity, how well do you do with your cpu at stock 3.2?

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to geofelt

Lets say I go with the 955. Would anyone recommend me getting a single 275 and later on down the line replace it with a new DX11 card or should I go the ATI route, getting one card now and adding a second one later on in XFire?

Also (stupid question alert) What happens if you put a GTX295 in an AMD board?

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Rocket254

Rocket254 wrote :

It will run just fine.
Do not worry about DX11. By the time many games are coded to use it, the vga card will be obsolete.

Do not anguish about ATI vs. Nvidia. You generally get what you pay for. Think instead about what you want/need. If you can use one good card for starters, do that and see how you do. Graphics cards are easy to sell and upgrade. You lose some on the old card, but the new cards get cheaper and/or better.

Reply to geofelt

So the 295 will actually run in SLI on the AMD mobo?

Really?

Reply to Rocket254

although this is a couple days old if you are still looking for an answer... Far as i understand it the gtx 295 multi gpu does the sli on the card so it only takes up one slot and does not need sli from the mobo. Now if you wanted to sli two gtx 295's then your mobo would need to support sli but thats a lot of overkill

Reply to grog189

Do you see the "2 GPUs on 1 card" trend continuing in the future? If so, I wont worry about going with AMD and losing SLI support. I'll just keep a 295 in there :bounce:

Reply to Rocket254

from the looks of it ati has put out more daul gpu cards than nvidia but it does seem both companies want to have the fastest single card out there so i'm sure they will in the future. Most of the ati cards though are only a few fps behind the nvidia one's it seems but are also a bit cheaper so your not really losing a lot even if you went with ati

Reply to grog189

geofelt wrote :

Out of curiosity, how well do you do with your cpu at stock 3.2?

umm well not bad but I did get a 10fps increase in GTA when i overcloked from 3.2 to 3.7

Reply to K1ash3r

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