I may have to lower my new system budget, will these ideas work?

[cc130doc]

Hello all,

So I was planning on buying a new system last week unfortunately I've had a death in the family and travel cost meant holding up on the computer purchase and maybe a lower budget. I've been doing some reading and looking around and have found some things I'm hoping you guys can clear up.

In a post here at Tom's that I can't find now a poster that seemed quite knowledgeable about threading processes explained at length that the difference between a 3 core and 4 core processor would be very minor for video games and most uses. I've also found a n article here at Tom's that seems to confirm it. Is this true? If so, with the 6 core processors starting to come out do you think it would be more financially sound to pick up a 3 core for now and then buy a new 4 or 6 core system in system in 3 years? It seems that a system built around a 3 core processor will run about half the cost of a 4 core.

Also in regards to graphic cards, I've looked at the game stores and the minimum requirements on all the games I'm looking; City of Heroes, BioShock 2, Starcraft 2, Mass Effect 2, things like that and they only need between 256 and 512 MB cards. Are things changing up soon in the game world that a 1GB card is necessary? The cost difference between a 512 and a 1GB card is less than half the price. I'm thinking that I should get a 512 for now and upgrade later. Thoughts?

Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated.

Charles

 

[jared51182]

Cost is always a problem, but I would use the template, and have the people here help you build within your budget while maintaining quality. These are pretty general questions, but if we have a better idea of what you want with your computer, and your budget, I'm sure you can get a quality computer while staying in budget.

Fill out this template: Build Template Link

 

[lowriderflow]

it'd helpd to know your budget.. but an AMD 3core processor is more than ample. Theres a high probability you can unlock the 4th core anyway... if you google 'unlocking 4th core' theres a million how-to's.
Theres no reason for a 6 core processor right now for gaming... only use 6cores if you do alot of CAD and other heavily threaded apps all at the same time.

Most games today only utilize 2 cores... a few use 3/4, nothing uses 6. Nor will it for a few years
As far as budget video cards, this 5770 is $135 after rebate - it's really a good deal. I dont know what you ahd budgeted for a video card, but that card should be the bare minimum if you want a good gaming experience.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102873&cm_re=5770-_-14-102-873-_-Product

 

[cc130doc]

I'll fill out one of the templates when i get home, the box is for gaming, not online FPS's though. and the basic stuff, word processing, movies, nothing fancy.

I won't have a budget until i get home next week and find out what this is going to cost meIt will probably be below $1K but I"m not sure how much yet. I just know that I'm going to have to lower my budget if i still want to get a new box before the end of August and not wait until November for my old budget to recover. I'm just looking at options to cut costs right now. It may mean that the box i get will only last 2 years unlike the 5 that my present one has lasted but these things happen.

On the topic of graphic cards though, how well would this hold up to a 1GB card.

EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339

It cost as much as the 5770, but it runs on 256-bit ram instead of 128

 

[4745454b]

But its weaker. The 9800GTX+/GTS250 isn't as powerful as the 5770, can't support DX11, and uses more power. The 5770 is an all around better card. You can't just look at ONE thing on the cards and figure out if X is faster then Y.

 

[batuchka]

Err the GTX 260 is slightly better but at times trades blows with HD 5770 so why bother with an outdated/inefficient 9800GTX+ ? Btw video RAM comes to play at say 1920 x 1080 and higher and more importantly what kind of card that video RAM is slapped on to eg:

512mb GTS 250 murders a 1GB 8500GT @@

 

[jared51182]

Remember, as Batuchka is implying, it isn't just the hardware, it is also the software and architecture of the cards. Even though one has more RAM than the other, the 8500GT uses GDDR2, whereas the 250 uses GDDR3.

Moreover, all of the 8500GT's on newegg (although out of stock) are core clocked at 450MHz. In contrast, the GTS 250's base core clock is 675MHz.

There is a lot more going on than just amount of memory.

 

[coldsleep]

As others have mentioned, a 3-core will be more than adequate, and 6 cores are completely unnecessary. More graphics power never hurts, unless you're gaming at a really low resolution.

If your budget is around $1000, you might consider focusing on the base of an upgradeable AMD system. In other words, get a triple-core now, and spend a little more on the motherboard and PSU. Then you could plan on CrossFiring in the future, and upgrade to a Bulldozer chip (if you need/want to) when they come out next year, as they're supposed to work on AM3 motherboards. For $1000, you should be able to fit in a 5850, if not a 5870, which would give you quality gameplay at 1920x1080 for at least a couple of years.

 

[jared51182]

As others have mentioned, a 3-core will be more than adequate, and 6 cores are completely unnecessary. More graphics power never hurts, unless you're gaming at a really low resolution.

If your budget is around $1000, you might consider focusing on the base of an upgradeable AMD system. In other words, get a triple-core now, and spend a little more on the motherboard and PSU. Then you could plan on CrossFiring in the future, and upgrade to a Bulldozer chip (if you need/want to) when they come out next year, as they're supposed to work on AM3 motherboards. For $1000, you should be able to fit in a 5850, if not a 5870, which would give you quality gameplay at 1920x1080 for at least a couple of years.

^+1

 

[Rancid504]

I do not know what your budget is but if it is around $1000.00 here is an AMD build for you to condsider.

Samsung Spinpoint f3 : $55.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181

Antec Nine Hundred Two case and Antec TruePower 750 watt PSU : $210.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.458429

XFX Radeon HD 5870 and AMD Phenom II 955 BE : $520.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.460579

Asus M4A78T-E motherboard and Mushkin Enhanced Blackline RAM : $170.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.461579

LG ODD : $18.00 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136180

Total comes to $973.00 after rebates. If your budget happens to be less then that you can still get a great build by using the combo deals on NewEgg.

 

[cc130doc]

As others have mentioned, a 3-core will be more than adequate, and 6 cores are completely unnecessary. More graphics power never hurts, unless you're gaming at a really low resolution.

If your budget is around $1000, you might consider focusing on the base of an upgradeable AMD system. In other words, get a triple-core now, and spend a little more on the motherboard and PSU. Then you could plan on CrossFiring in the future, and upgrade to a Bulldozer chip (if you need/want to) when they come out next year, as they're supposed to work on AM3 motherboards. For $1000, you should be able to fit in a 5850, if not a 5870, which would give you quality gameplay at 1920x1080 for at least a couple of years.

I like this idea. Great idea in fact. If i look for a good mother board with onboard video and keep my 19" benq monitor for now, hen buy a new GPU and monitor latter when funds are available. Split the purchase in half.

I'm going to have to look into this.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

Charles

 

[coldsleep]

I like this idea. Great idea in fact. If i look for a good mother board with onboard video and keep my 19" benq monitor for now, hen buy a new GPU and monitor latter when funds are available. Split the purchase in half.

If you provide a budget, I'm certain that I (or others) can whip up a build to suit.

Rather than getting a system with onboard video (although you could also do that), you might consider getting a system with a medium to high-end gaming card, and then SLI/Crossfire it when you upgrade. That would allow you to game now, and then allow your graphics to keep pace when you upgrade your monitor.

Looking back at your original post, I should also mention that minimum specs and recommended specs can be vastly different. Graphics card recommendations especially depend highly on what resolution you intend to game at. Dragon Age Origins runs pretty much flawlessly at 1920x1200 with a 5870 for me...the minimum system specs are a 128 MB graphics card, but it ran incredibly poorly (probably about 10-15 fps) on my old system at the same resolution with an nVidia 8700 512 MB card.

 

[cc130doc]

Best answer selected by cc130doc.
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nSorry coldsleep I didn't know about the "Best Answer" thing until just now. [:lorbat:6] I have selected it now.
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nAlso I'm starting a new thread about the system purchase.
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nCharles