What should I do for a GPU?

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hpak

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Jan 28, 2010
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Aloha everyone!!!

Well, I am building another rig...my last rig lasted me over 4 years, but it's time to build a new one :)

I'll be using it for some general work, some games (not too intense.... got a new baby now so not as much time) and some video work.

I'm in Hawaii so the average ambient temps are higher....let's say 85 degrees average throughout the year with highs upper 90's. Also, it can get pretty humid.

Here's what I have so far:

Case - Cooler Master HAF 922 (Amazon $96)
CPU - Intel i5-750 (Amazon $199)
MB - ASUS P7P55D Pro (Amazon $169)
RAM - G.Skill Eco 4GB 1.35v at CL7 (Newegg $119)
PSU - Corsair THX750w (Amazon $105)
Cooler - Cooler Master 212 plus (Amazon $29) <=== to help with the higher ambient temps
Boot Drive - WD Raptor 74gb x 2 in Raid 0 (from my old rig)
HDD - WD Caviar Black 1TB (Amazon $99)

Now this is where I'm a bit stuck.... the GPU. I was thinking of getting the XFX Radeon 5850 Black edition, but they are back ordered. Then I started to think of whether there would either be a price drop upon release of Fermi or if Fermi comes out at a comparable price and performance.

Now I am considering a Radeon 5750 or 5770 to just tide me over.

What do you all think? I was even thinking of going with a last gen card , but really not sure if I wanna skimp on the GPU.

PS - if you're wondering why I got so much from Amazon, they are the only one that will ship free to Hawaii and their service is top notch :)
 
H

hpak

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Yeah, I've actually ordered from Newegg before and unfortunately, they don't ship to Hawaii for free....even with promo codes. :( I ordered the RAM from them cause that was what I wanted and just bit the bullet on the shipping. It was $119.99 + $16.99 shipping.
 
H

hpak

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Unfortunately, that model is from tigerdirect and shipping isn't free. In fact, when you go to check out, the shipping always shoots sky high! So it would have to be a model sold by Amazon. Even though Amazon's price is usually higher, when you take into account the free shipping it comes out cheaper. Also, you can't beat their customer service..... I find it way superior to the egg.


Also, the only reason I was looking at the Black edition was cause of the factory oc for roughly $20-30 over a regular 5850. And the reason for XFX is for the double lifetime warranty. I know they cheaped out on the board a bit, but I don't expect to x-fire more than 2 cards in the future.... if I was I would have done a x58 build.
 
branflakes71

branflakes71

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Ah, sorry I missed that about that one coming from TigerDirect.

It's hard to say what's best...if you're thinking of waiting for Femi, then a 5770 should do nicely in the meantime. I'm a fan of trying to stay with the 58xx versus the 57xx series, but if you crossfire two 5770's, you'd get a nice GPU solution.
 
JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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I'd lose both the HD's.....old tech just doesn't stand up to current generation drives.

Check out the performance charts and pick whatever 500 GB per platter drive performs best under your usage patterns. The WD Black 2 TB is a good choice but at smaller capacities, you are limited to the Seagate 7200.12 or the Spinpoint F3. The 7200.12 excels in gaming, multimedia and pictures whereas the F3 wins at music and movie maker. See the comparisons here (copy past link in manually, link won't work in forum):.

(http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/compare,1006.html?prod[2371]=on&prod[2770]=on)

As for the GFX card, if you're thinking DX11 and using, or planning on using 1920 resolution (kinda expected in tofay's market of < $200 HD displays) , the 57xx just can't cut it. See the Dirt2 article on THG's home page.
 
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hpak

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I was just gonna ask about my raptors and if they were even worth keeping...lol. I like to have a separate boot drive so I think I'll keep them for now, but will upgrade to a SSD or a Velociraptor later.
 
H

hpak

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What do you guys think of a 9800GT or a HD4850? I could just use them for now and get either a 5850 or a comparable Fermi later.

I could then use the 9800 or 4850 as a secondary gpu for the desktop or my other monitor. BTW, I have a dual monitor setup, a 22' for main and a 19" for overflow and documents, web, etc. I'll probably upgrade to a 25-26" later and get rid of the 19'. :)
 
H

hpak

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Okay...I feel like I'm talking to myself but here's a thought that just occurred to me.

I could buy an EVGA 9800GT, 240 or 250 card and use that for now and when fermi comes on the market, use the step-up program.

The only caveat of that would be that if the fermi based cards are crap, overpriced or gets delayed beyond 90 days, I'll be somewhat stuck. In the event that it turns out that the radeon series does provide a better price/performance ratio, I could still use the step-up and get a new fermi card and sell it off to a nvidia fanboy and use the money to get a radeon card.

hmmm....now that I wrote that out...maybe this isn't such a good idea... lol!

Thoughts?
 
branflakes71

branflakes71

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Well, a 4850 tends to be better than the 9800GT, depending on the game.

Keeping the card to drive the extra monitor isn't a bad idea.

Don't get a 240. If you want to go NVidia for a possible upgrade path (too bad we don't have a timetable on fermi yet), go ahead with the 250 card.
 
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