25 replies to this topic

[JAGO]

I'm treating myself to 400$ worth of hardware at the end of February (or earlier, but as it stands now...), and I want to buy a new motherboard, processor, and video card.

Now, I'm currently running a socket 478 motherboard, intel celeron d (2.53ghz), 2x512mb ram (pc3200), nvidia fx5500. I don't feel the need to get any more memory at the moment, but I do want a third or fourth slot so if I wish, I can add more in the future. I also want to rid myself of a socket that processors won't come out for, so no more socket 478. If I'm making the same mistake with Socket 939, do tell.

I don't like the temperatures that the Prescotts run at, so I looked into AMD. Here's what I came up with (just around my budget).

Vid Card: Sapphire Radeon X800 PRO
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+
MOBO: Biostar Geforce 6100 Socket 939, PCI-ex16, PC 3200 (4 slots)

Any suggestions / better deals? I'm open to the whole, "If you're going to get this, get this instead."

[lokoike]

I just built a rig pretty similar to yours, with a slightly different video card and a different mobo.

The motherboard that I got (ABIT KN8 Ultra Socket 939) cost about $40 more than yours, but it has a few extra features.

It has 3 PCI-X x1 slots and 3 PCI slots (as opposed to the Biostar's 1 and 2, respectively), so you can add in more components such as wireless network cards or TV tuners

It has 4 SATA ports (as opposed to 2)

It has 8 channel integrated audio (instead of 6 channel)

It has onboard gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbps) ethernet (instead of 10/100 Mbps)

And what I believe is the most important difference, the ABIT board supports the Athlon 64 FX and Athlon X2, while the Biostar doesn't. Dual core procs like the Athlon X2 will become very popular soon, and offer a huge performance boost for people who multitask. If your board doesn't support multiple cores, your CPU upgrading options will be limited in a couple years (4 core procs are supposed to be on the market by 2007).

Anyway, both are very good motherboards, the ABIT is just somewhat more upgradable. Any AMD proc is an improvement over that hiddeous Intel you've been forcing yourself to put up with!

[zaphirer]

lokoike, on Jan 16 2006, 09:30 PM, said:

And what I believe is the most important difference, the ABIT board supports the Athlon 64 FX and Athlon X2, while the Biostar doesn't. Dual core procs like the Athlon X2 will become very popular soon, and offer a huge performance boost for people who multitask. If your board doesn't support multiple cores, your CPU upgrading options will be limited in a couple years (4 core procs are supposed to be on the market by 2007).

Anyway, both are very good motherboards, the ABIT is just somewhat more upgradable. Any AMD proc is an improvement over that hiddeous Intel you've been forcing yourself to put up with!

Agreed

AMD is much better than Intel, plus the 939 socket ensures that it will be upgradeable into the future. Seems like you made some good choices, but I don't have much experience in the ATi regions... I do know that the ATi is faster in the high-end range (6800 vs. X800/X850), but in general they're pretty much the same.

[lokoike]

zaphirer, on Jan 17 2006, 04:49 PM, said:

...but I don't have much experience in the ATi regions... I do know that the ATi is faster in the high-end range (6800 vs. X800/X850), but in general they're pretty much the same.

For the computer I built, I used a Radeon X850 Pro with 256 MB of GDDR3. It's pretty similar to the one JAGO is getting, just a slight improvement.

As far as GPU goes (ATI vs. Nvidia), in the past I have always favored ATI. I would have never even considered getting an Nvidia card; it was like the Intel of GPUs. But nowdays, ATI has somewhat lowered their standards and Nvidia has raised the bar, so if I was to buy a brand new, non-budget GPU, it would most definitely be Nvidia, as much as I hate to say that. Nvidia's 7800 absolutely stomped on ATI's scrawny little silicon butt.

[zaphirer]

lokoike, on Jan 17 2006, 10:27 PM, said:

For the computer I built, I used a Radeon X850 Pro with 256 MB of GDDR3. It's pretty similar to the one JAGO is getting, just a slight improvement.

As far as GPU goes (ATI vs. Nvidia), in the past I have always favored ATI. I would have never even considered getting an Nvidia card; it was like the Intel of GPUs. But nowdays, ATI has somewhat lowered their standards and Nvidia has raised the bar, so if I was to buy a brand new, non-budget GPU, it would most definitely be Nvidia, as much as I hate to say that. Nvidia's 7800 absolutely stomped on ATI's scrawny little silicon butt.

Amen to that
The ATi 1800 is... X_X

[lokoike]

Yeah, I sure hope that ATI gets back into the game. Supposedly their newest card is supposed to have 48 pixel pipelines, but I very highly doubt that is true. To put it in perspective, Nvidia's 7800 has 20.

Another thing that bothers me about ATI is the temperature of their latest GPUs. ATI has always made cooler running cards than Nvidia, but for some reason that is no longer the case. ATI 1800 takes up two slots (one for cooling and one for the board itself), while the Nvidia keeps the cooling and the board in a single slot, without overheating!

So, I can't stress it enough: if you're getting a budget card for a good gaming experience, go with ATI. But if you are getting a new card for a fantastic gaming experience, don't think twice about sticking with Nvidia.

[kobrakommander56]

Quote

So, I can't stress it enough: if you're getting a budget card for a good gaming experience, go with ATI. But if you are getting a new card for a fantastic gaming experience, don't think twice about sticking with Nvidia.

You can't be more wrong, one thing great about what nvidia is doing is that they have cornered ATI with the amount of cards they have on the market. If you are going to go for a budget card I would suggest the ^6800 GS which is better than any "budget" ATI cards. Now don't get me wrong I use to love ATI, but they've just went down the tubes, and now my full allegience is to Nvidia.

[lokoike]

Buy a $200-300 ATI and benchmark it against an Nvidia card priced the same, and tell me which one gets better frame rates.

Obviously, once you get closer to $500-600, that is when Nvidia takes over, but ATI rules the budget world, and no one can reasonably deny it.

[kobrakommander56]

ati sucks so shut yo mouth!

[lokoike]

kobrakommander56, on Jan 19 2006, 01:31 PM, said:

ati sucks so shut yo mouth!

And... you just unreasonably denied it. Oh, wait, how did that un get in there?

[kobrakommander56]

nah but seriously nvidia dominates the market, you can get much more performance from the 6800 GS at $200 than the 800, and i dont know bought the 850. When i was looking to buy a graphics card a while ago, (i bought a 7800) i scoured the internet for everything, and at the moment nvidia is going a lot stronger than ati.

[lokoike]

kobrakommander56, on Jan 19 2006, 02:36 PM, said:

When i was looking to buy a graphics card a while ago, (i bought a 7800) i scoured the internet for everything, and at the moment nvidia is going a lot stronger than ati.

Well, I definitely agree that Nvidia's high-end cards stomp on ATI. Just seeing "7800", and now my keyboard is covered in drool. I'd love to see 3DMark 2005 on your rig!

But I still like ATI's old GPUs, and any less-than-the-highest-end rigs I build in the future will probably house them.

[kobrakommander56]

well my current rig is out of commission the PSU just died on me.

i got an amd athlon 3200 venice chip at 2.2 but im gonna be ocing it later to around 2.6. 1 gig of patriot ram, which is awesome i must say, im gonna get another gig soon. 2x80 gig hitachi sata 2 hdd's in Raid 0, my 7800, which im gonna get another one when i need it later on down the road. yeah and soem other crap.

[kobrakommander56]

well my current rig is out of commission the PSU just died on me.

i got an amd athlon 3200 venice chip at 2.2 but im gonna be ocing it later to around 2.6. 1 gig of patriot ram, which is awesome i must say, im gonna get another gig soon. 2x80 gig hitachi sata 2 hdd's in Raid 0, my 7800, which im gonna get another one when i need it later on down the road. yeah and soem other crap.

[lokoike]

Yeah, I got 2 GBs of Corsair @ 400. Same proc as yours (it was only $3 more than the 3000!). 300 GB Maxtor with a 16 MB cache (crazy fast; bigger cache makes all the difference). The PSU is just some 500 watt that came with the case, which is an Aspire X-Navigator.

[kobrakommander56]

Yeah i had an aspire 500 watt adn it just died on me with under 2 weeks of USE! What type of graphics card do you have?

[lokoike]

The computer I built has a Radeon X850 Pro with 256 MB of GDDR3. It isn't my computer though; I built it for a friend.

My notebook which I bought two years ago is a flaming pile of crap. It has integrated video, so I set it to use 64 MB of my 512 MB of RAM. Pitiful. Top that off with an Athlon XP-M 2200+, and you have a paperweight with a 15" screen.

One day, when I am wealthy beyond all reason, I'll build myself a nice lil' rig. But until then... yeah, won't be versing you in CS Source any time soon.

[kobrakommander56]

Well you dont need a beautiful comp to play CS Source what i tell people, (because before I built my dream computer I had a crap computer) there is an option to run a game on the lowest setttings there are! That never bothered me, playing agame on the highest setttings is a luxury. But still your comp cant play it. LOL

[lokoike]

[kobrakommander56]

hahaha, i still love you.