INFO: Building/Buying a Desktop (PC)

[Darus Grey]

The GTX 280 is amazing if you play at 19x12 or 25x16.

If you play at a low res it really doesn't matter what card you have for most games because you're not maxing it out(long as it isn't like 4 gens old).

[Scorpvenom]

Looking for part suggestions for a new computer. $2,500 (can be a bit more) to spend to build a friend a computer that is for gaming, primarily playing Age of Conan. Debating getting a 3.0ghz dual core or a 2.66ghz quad core intel chip, he really wants the quad core so will probably get that eventhough a dual core at a higher clock is better for age of conan from what I can tell.

Need suggestions for:
motherboard (stability is key)
ram (at least 4gb, is more overkill?)
video card (probably not SLI, but one of the best cards available)
power supply
case suggestions (something that isn't a huge hulk, mid-tower of some sort, have used Antec, Lian Li, and Cooler Master)
heatsink/fan for good air cooling

Thanks.

[Sean]

So is this going to drive the 8800 GTS 512 (G92) prices down a bit?

I'd really like one to replace my Evga superclocked 8800 GTS 320 (G80) - it runs way the fuck too hot and also the old G80s lack the new HD Video stuffs the G92s have. But I'm not sure the performance upgrade is worth $210 atm.

[Senen]

Originally Posted by The Dauntless One

Still the 9800GX2 is better than the 280 and slightly cheaper.

The 9800gx2 is also SLI so your comparing apples to oranges the card was realy designed for people wanting to run Quad SLI but good luck getting most games to work with that shit.

[Desidero]

Originally Posted by Kaio

The gx2 is essentially 2 cards and was also ridiculously priced initially. It probably draws more power then the 280gtx which will be cheaper soon enough.

It is too bad that it is the same 65nm process as the newer 8xxx and 9xxx cards. That will prevent the 280gtx from getting that much cheaper.

When the 45nm cards come out thats when we'll be truly excited.

Even so the performance advantage is pretty good over the older G80 architecture so once the prices normalize this will look good.

This shows the GT200's performance advantage when running at the same clock speeds as a G80.

What's the point of showing them vs the G80 architecture when G92 has been around for three quarters of a year? G80 is 2 generations behind the 280 (and it came out in late 2006)- of course it'll be a good bit slower. It's almost a 2 year gap between releases, so a 50-60 percent increase in performance is nothing to write home about. Also, I wonder which G80 card they were comparing it to. The 8800 Ultra? The GTX?

[Loyang]

Im looking to get a new computer. My budget is around 1500-1600$.

I want a computer made for gaming. I really dont know much about cpu so i thought asking here could be a good start.

Thx

Loyang

[Kaio]

Originally Posted by Desidero

What's the point of showing them vs the G80 architecture when G92 has been around for three quarters of a year? G80 is 2 generations behind the 280 (and it came out in late 2006)- of course it'll be a good bit slower. It's almost a 2 year gap between releases, so a 50-60 percent increase in performance is nothing to write home about. Also, I wonder which G80 card they were comparing it to. The 8800 Ultra? The GTX?

Because the G92 is pretty much a G80 at 45nm with not much of performance improvements clock for clock. It does run a lot cooler and it's cheaper to make.

[Darus Grey]

Because the G92 is pretty much a G80 at 45nm with not much of performance improvements clock for clock. It does run a lot cooler and it's cheaper to make.

65nm, small correction ;0

[Candiarie]

If anyone has their sample build of about a $1500 PC they can re-post, I apparently chose a pretty inconvenient day to be relying on this thread. Mostly what would be helpful are people's mobo and case suggestions. For CPUs it looks like the Q6600s are $200 now, which isn't that much more than the dual cores. If anyone has input on that it would help a lot.


Was looking at the G92 that Sean linked earlier and this RAM since it's pretty cheap for 4GB, unless there's some downside I'm not seeing: Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

[Lyenae]

I'm still chugging on an 8800gtx, was a damn good card. Will probably upgrade to a GTX280, might wait a lil bit to get one that is better OC'd or a non-stock fan.

[The Dauntless One]

If you really want quad-core go ahead, but there's no performance increase in day to day activity and gaming. I personally bought the E7200.

The kit you linked is pretty nice, I have the exact one. Get it while you can because I think its being phased out and replaced with a PC8500 kit selling for 40-50 dollars more. The PC8000 kit will do 1066mhz (PC8500) easy.

[MrGraham]

I dropped a hard drive down a flight of stairs and now it works just fine but it makes a very loud noise while spinning, is there any chance of me fixing this or am I fucked?

[ChewieTobbacca]

Some ATI 4850 preview benches from a French site:

Preview : ATI Radeon HD 4850 (page 1: La carte) - HardWare.fr

Supposedly reliable site anyways. Looks like excellent performance for $200. Will definitely drive G92 card prices down w/ those numbers

Looks like we'll have a nice little GPU war going on this summer.

[Mkopec1]

Wow that is pretty good. Looks like the new ATI is almost as good as the new Nvivia cards, definitely better than the 8800's.

[ChewieTobbacca]

More HD4850:

TweakTown 4850 in CrossFire test
PC Perspective Performance Preview
VR-Zone quick Vantage Test (CF & Single)
Hexus.net Unveiling of Sapphire 4850 Retail
WhatIfGaming Review - has AA comparisons

Looks like 2 x 4850's are the way to go. They seem to crush 4xAA + AF easily as well