[SOORENA]

Ok so I gathered some money and I decided to upgrade my new rig. So here we go:


Motherboard: ASUS M2V $98.77

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon X1950 Pro $220.22

OR

XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX $179.99

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ $228.00

Memory: OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 2GB $191.96

Total : $738.95 or $698.72

I already have two IDE hard drives and I was looking for a motherboard that has two IDE ports because I have a DVD-RW also. Other parts I have include:

CASE + PSU
SOUND CARD
WATER COOLING

Please I am trying to keep this as low as possible with a possibe good system. My limit is 800 dollars, that is with the Canadian 14% tax (gosh I hate that).
Also I think all of you know I'm a gamer so yeah this is a gaming rig. What I'm not sure about is the Video Card, should I get the DX10 or DX9? Which is better? Oh and if you find this on a site that is cheaper please let me know.

Oh I forgot to tell you about my hobbie (Overclocking) and I am wondering if that Mobo is good for OC.

Thanks.

Soorena

Edited by SOORENA, 19 April 2007 - 07:51 PM.

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Yeah, i'm woundering the same thing, because i'm upgrading the vid card from a 7600GT xXx, and i wasn't too sure what to get, a 8600 DirectX 10, or some good DirectX 9, like 7950 GT.. or something, which is better? will 8600 beat the directx 9 cards? ? if yes, which model is the best? (gts gt.. ??)

thanks

pers

[pers]

Yeah, i'm woundering the same thing, because i'm upgrading the vid card from a 7600GT xXx, and i wasn't too sure what to get, a 8600 DirectX 10, or some good DirectX 9, like 7950 GT.. or something, which is better? will 8600 beat the directx 9 cards? ? if yes, which model is the best? (gts gt.. ??)

thanks

pers

[SOORENA]

Where's James when you need him?

[pers]

lol i know, he's really good at this stuff, and really polite too

[james_8970]

lol here I am

First of all our tax changed to 13%. Federal tax went from 7% to 6% last July I believe, better check you receipts if people are still charging you that extra percentage at the stores and pocketing the money, yes there were many issues like this for the first month or two after the price cut, but it shouldn't be the case anymore.

Anyways back to the build

Your going to have to change either the memory or the motherbaord, Asus motherboard + OCz memory = BSoD......not something anyone wants. Also you can get better latencies for that price.

Graphics cards - Take a look at this benchmark. As you can see the x1950 pro outperforms the 8600GTS, but your giving up DX10 support. Since it's overall pretty close, I'd go with the 8600GTS, yes I understand it runs slower, but not enough to suggest going back to DX9 when DX10 is available to you. Now catelest 7.4 was released yesterday (ATI's driver) and it's said to increase performance by up to 15% on the cards, making these 3 days old benchmarks kinda off. It's up to you in the end.

I want to add one thing amongst all this stuff, I'd recommend you wait till the end of the month. On April 22nd Intel will do some major price cuts. What does this have to do with you, well the E6600 is an extremely good over clocking processor and it should drop 100$ making it an extremely attractive buy and maybe even cheaper then the 5400+. If your heart is really with AMD, because of these price cuts, we'll see less demand for AMD processors and more pressure on AMD to drive their prices even lower. It won't drop significantly like it did on the 7th, but even if it does drop 20$, it pays for the shipping.
Another thing, on the 23rd ATI/AMD will release benchmarks and a date for the 2x00 cards from their graphics devision. They are expected to be better budget cards then what Nvidia has to offer and good prices as well. While I can't confirm that this is true, ATI will be giving out benchmarks on the 23rd of April as well which will guide you on what route you should or should not take. If you have the time to wait, I really urge you to do so since you'll get much more performance for your money.
James

Edit: Do you even have Vista?

Edited by james_8970, 19 April 2007 - 09:34 PM.

[SOORENA]

Yeah I alreay have a copy of Ultimate. I think I'm gonna wait like you said till everything starts going downhill in pricing. By the way the Video Card I said was a GT not GTS, which is better? I saw that the GTS was more expensive but is it worth it?

Thanks

Soorena

[james_8970]

GTS is better. I posted a link to benchmarks it's really up to you to decided. ATI's cards are going to be extremly affordable, the HD 2900XT beat the Geforce 8800GTX in most benchmarks and is priced at around USD400$. If this does really happen as AMD have stated, it'll drive prices of the cards down alot, but it's all a matter of when the heck are they going to quit delaying the products and release them!
James

[SOORENA]

As you said I'm gonna wait a little until maybe the end of May or even June, I'm gonna be too busy to build my pc anyways. We'll see what comes out by then and then I'll bump this topic up and we'll discuss what I should get. Thanks for your help.

[james_8970]

No problem, sounds good to me
James

[james_8970]

http://www.tgdaily.c...o...&Itemid=118
great.....we might have to wait a little longer to hear what we want to hear now......
James