[golden_child]

If you were allowed to build a gaming machine and were given a $3000 limit what kind of comp would you build??

MOBO: DFI Lanparty NF4 939 $175
Processor: AMD FX 55 2.6 $800
Video Card: Geforce 7800 GTX I would like to SLI but because of the allowance just one this time $450 - $550, SLI $900 - $1100
Sound Card: Audigy 4 Pro 8(7.1) with external sound conversions to reduce computer noise and 192 KHz sampling rate $300
Speakers: use my current speakers $free
RAM: Kingston HyperX 2 x 1 GB DDR - SDRAM DDR 400 $325
HDD: 2 x WD Raptor 10k RPM SATA at Raid 0 $375
Power Supply: Silverstone Zuess 650W PS ready for SLI and SATA $200
Case: Raid Max ATX $50
Monitor: Use my current 22" monitor $free
Mouse Keyboard CD DVD: Random and don't really care $200

Over all I have $125 to spend on lunch and gas all the prices include shipping some low some high but I guess it balances it self in the end

Brendin

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If i were building a gaming system on that budget i would get a x2 4800+ instead and a more appropriate sound card like a audigy 2, the 4s are for proffesional sound capture they output the sound pretty much the same as a audigy 2 quality wise. 2 gigs of corsair xl ram and a pair of 300gig samsung spinpoints which are actually faster at loading games than the raptors now even though they run at 7200rpm. And a coolermaster stacker case or a akasa eclipse 62 case. Or ideally wait for the ati 200 crossfire boards and the new gen ati cards.

[warriorscot]

If i were building a gaming system on that budget i would get a x2 4800+ instead and a more appropriate sound card like a audigy 2, the 4s are for proffesional sound capture they output the sound pretty much the same as a audigy 2 quality wise. 2 gigs of corsair xl ram and a pair of 300gig samsung spinpoints which are actually faster at loading games than the raptors now even though they run at 7200rpm. And a coolermaster stacker case or a akasa eclipse 62 case. Or ideally wait for the ati 200 crossfire boards and the new gen ati cards.

[golden_child]

Actually for the average joe the audigy 2 is great but I love to do song editing and my brother does a lot for his band so the audigy 4 is great and also there is nothing better than a nice crisp and clean sound with absolutely no interference

As for the video cards according to what I was reading that the 7800 GTX is about all you are going to need for a long time and since the prices came down recently I am all over that. The next big move in gaming is more realistic environments like destroying a wall and it will stay like that every time you come back to it, so video games will rely more and more on you processor in the future, so until then the next generation of video cards are really not going to do a whole lot for you. Also if you needed a bost in FPS wars future games will utilize more and more of that SLI technology it is just not practical yet.

Just wondering but why would you go with the X2 4800 above anything else??

Brendin

[warriorscot]

Future proof it utilises what is essentially a pair of 3200+ cpus and the 3200+ is capable of running any game out now easily and it being an amd overclocks really well as a plus, new games will have support for the dual cores as well as the 64 bits. Well if you do sound editing then the audigy four is great then, also would benfit from an x2 on that front. The 7800GTX is not that great when you look at it, its not going to last all that long as a card its going to have the same lifetime as the 6800ultras did when they come out there isnt anything special about the card apart from it being less than nvidia promised. Fututre games arent going to utilize sli until crossfire is out and the two systems have been balanced together, but looking at the crossfire features sli isnt going to last unless they revise it, And the next gen of cards when you look at the 7800 isnt really out as the 7800 core is a redesigned more efficient 6800 core. Whereas ati cores are really new cores and with 30-40 pipeleines will be a gfx machine. The prices for the 7800 are still very high as well.
And the wall thing isnt a gfx thing its a ram and engine efficeincy thing. And the new games are going to be sub-processor dependant more than anything so now instead of your sound and gfx sub proccesors you are going to have ones for physics and ai.

[golden_child]

Ok, now I was having a conversation with a co-worker of mine and we were talking about Geforce vs. ATI and our conclusion is that the ATI cards have pretty bad driver support it seems that when I change any setting in their menus it really does not seem to change anything FPS smoothness nothing but my coworker said that with his geforce he could change settings and really notice a difference, myself never owning a geforce, I could not argue but wonder that if the driver support is bad for ATI then geforce would be the card to go with.

Now mabye I read the charts wrong but on the performance charts that I read the 7800 GTX performed pretty well especially when put up against the 6800 ultra and ATI's top card, it had much higher res settings and almost all the games the graphics were set to the highest setting, I mean the benchmark settings were pretty impressive when placed next to those two cards. Now if it is just a more efficient 6800 core efficiency is always a good thing and that is all the next card in line is going to be, isn't that the idea behind it all (why fix it if it's not broken). Last time I looked the price for a 7800GTX was about the same for a 6800ultra, the 6800 is about 60 - 80 dollars cheaper.

As for the speakers I am the type of a guy who would spend 1k - 3k for one speaker just because that little bit of a difference to the average guy is a huge difference to me. Crisp clear sound is sooooooo heavenly.

Brendin

p.s. thanks for the reply

[KGH]

Future proof it utilises what is essentially a pair of 3200+ cpus

The 4800+ is constituted by two cores at 2.4ghz with 1mb L2 cache (2mb total) - same specs as a 4000+. In single threaded apps, ie current games, the 4800 will give you performance at least equivalent to the 4000+. See here

Edited by KGH, 09 August 2005 - 11:18 PM.

[warriorscot]

So it is i was reading something about a dual core and 3200+ speeds must have been there new one i was reading about, my bad. ATI has the better drivers, well apparently you never see much difference because they are usually automatically set for your pc. Mind you im having bother with the catalyst 5.7 drivers but the 5.6 ones are great.

[golden_child]

those charts are pretty interesting they had similar one of tomshardware and hardocp. My mistake tho .. when I posted this thread I was initially talking about the wrong processor the X2 is the one that I have been looking at buying it has been [bleep] here at work so my brain is fluttery (moving 500 people every week from one side of town to another).

But you say that the 5.6 catalyst drivers are the ones to go for huh, all of my friends run with Geforce and love their cards and performance so I don't know mabye I will have to buy one fo theirs and mess around with it when they are done so I can get a some what balanced opinion.

As for changing settings wether I put it on the lowest settings for performance of the highest settings for graphics I do not notice a difference at all or if any it is very minimal.

Brendin

[OneCool]

If you cant wait and have the cash just get a 7800GTX...It is the fastest video card on the market.

As for Nvidia having better drivers than ATi....I dont believe that for a second..ATi releases a new driver every month with game fixs,preformance improvements,control panel tweaks..

You might get a WHQL driver from Nvidia every 6 to 8 months...if your lucky

ATi did have driver issues...say...3 years ago..but that is old news and there new Catalyst driver team is tops in my book

Edited by OneCool, 11 August 2005 - 03:16 PM.

[warriorscot]

I fixed the 5.7 drivers i just had to install the .net framework 1.1 . You do know one cool that by the time you save up for the 7800GTX it wont be the fastest on the market anymore. Well i have a friend who spent a ridiculus amount of money on a 6800Ultra AGP and i took my new pc to our last lan and the graphics on mine were as good as his. The ATI cards offer much better value for money in comparison to the nvidia cards and before the 7800GTX the x850 was the fastest card on the market. The crossfire boards are about to come out from saphire at the end of the month. And the new r500 core gfx cards will be in the next month hopefully.

[OneCool]

The 520 cores wont be available until October..just what I read

They are stock piling there mid-grade cards (530 cores) until they release the 520..

The 530s are ready..but they cant release them until the x600 and x700 stock is out..but they need the flag ship card to ship first...and then upgrade there mainstream cards....its alll about marketing...

[KGH]

You do know one cool that by the time you save up for the 7800GTX it wont be the fastest on the market anymore. Well i have a friend who spent a ridiculus amount of money on a 6800Ultra AGP and i took my new pc to our last lan and the graphics on mine were as good as his.

That argument just doesn't work. No matter what you buy and how much you spend, within a couple of months there will be something with more pipes, faster RAM, higher clocks.

Do you really think that the new ATI cores are going to be the be all? Nvidia will respond quickly. Then ATI. Then Nvidia. It just indicates how perfectly competitive the GPU market is.

If you've got the money, buy the best that's out. You will get great use out of it. Sure in 3-6 months it won't be the newest card, but it will still give you sensational performance for a long time. Otherwise, buy mid range and update more frequently.

There is really no sense in always waiting for something better (unless its release is imminent). If you take that attitude with computer hardware, you would never effect a purchase.

Edited by KGH, 11 August 2005 - 05:06 PM.

[OneCool]

That argument just doesn't work.  No matter what you buy and how much you spend, within a couple of months there will be something with more pipes, faster RAM, higher clocks. 

Do you really think that the new ATI cores are going to be the be all?  Nvidia will respond quickly.  Then ATI.  Then Nvidia.  It just indicates how perfectly competitive the GPU market is. 

If you've got the money, buy the best that's out.  You will get great use out of it.  Sure in 3-6 months it won't be the newest card, but it will still give you sensational performance for a long time.  Otherwise, buy mid range and update more frequently. 

There is really no sense in always waiting for something better (unless its release is imminent).  If you take that attitude with computer hardware, you would never effect a purchase.

Now theres a person with a very good point.."Buy the best you can afford at the time you have the money"

Not a perfect quote but thats basicly what there sayin





but!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



What happens when you buy what has proven to be the best OVERCLOCKEN on the market...

The tables turn...you want to upgrade and money means EVERYTHING...That means you are beyond the everyday gamer and ....every-single-small-obsessive-cool-thing ...counts!

Id say ...thats me

[warriorscot]

I agree i only mention it because the release is imminenent.