New Pc (Help Needed)

[Gorion]

so, had a little chit chat with Norm(since ime buying from him), ime just a bit uncertain on few items..



Cpu: AMD AM2 FX 62 Windsor Core, Dual Core 2.8GHz, 1MB x 2 Cache,

Mobo:  ? (aiming for the best ofc..)

Hdd: WD Raptor® X   150 GB, 1.5 Gb/s, 16 MB Cache, 10,000 RPM

Ram: TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF XMS2-8888 2048MB 4-4-4-12-2T 2X240DIMM Dominator, Corsair (these come with a fan that clips onto them, to help cooling

Psu: BFG 1000watt

Vga: (open to suggestions, this is a very hard topic :/ )

browsed a bit, and came up with some thoughts...

Radeon x1950 XTX CF (R580+, 648 Mhz, 1998MHz, 512 MB GDDR4)
OR
BFG GeForce 7950 GX2 1GB

Case:NZXT Nemesis Elite Black Gaming Case with Window No psu

Monitor: check my TFT thread http://www.deadmen.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=16790

Cooling: Danger Den watercool kit, cpu + vga + chipset, or something similar (in summer, Malta is HoT)

Drives: well, i need a DvD reader + writer (possibly can write on cds too, otherwise ille have to get 1 and 1) x2 (pref. black)

Ppu: ime waiting for the ageia pci-e to be released, then ille be buying that too, so ille need to have a slot for it

Links:


cpu: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=401094
hdd: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=190&language=en
ram: http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/dominator.html
psu: http://www.bfgtech.com/power_supply_1000W.html
vga: http://www.bfgtech.com/7950Gx2_1G_PCIX.html  OR http://ati.amd.com/products/RadeonX1950/x1950pro.html
case: http://www.nzxt.com/products/nemesis_elite/
cooling:http://www.dangerden.com/news.php

need some thoughts  (harsh ones help too )

bdw, i wont OC anything in the system, and this will be used for gaming so performance is a must

[Dr Sadako]

Do not waste your money on an AMD AM2 FX 62 when you can buy a intel Core 2 with better perfomance for less cash.

Go for the 1950 CF if you have the money and you feel rich, however the GX2 and the CF verisons are a waste of money as the gain is very small. In the case of CF you will get 30% perfomance boost in compairson to a single 1950. And the GX2 will only work on a few titles i.e. it will run the other titles as a single card but at lower performance than a single card.

In the case of computer case take a look at Cooler Master Stacker 830.
http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/stacker830/

[TeaLeaf]

:withstupid:

TL.

[DuVeL]

I'm also with Sadako.
Core 2 is the way to go if you can.

[suicidal_monkey]

core 2 duo, and (unless you've got money to burn) go for a good single gpu solution at the moment. 7950gt, 7900gtx, 1900xtx, etc? the 7950gx2 might be a good buy but reviews do show it underperforming in several games, no doubt this will change eventually?

[Gorion]

so basically speaking,

Intel Core 2 Duo Extreme Edition X6800 775, 2.93 GHz, 1066MHz FSB, Conroe Core, 2MB x 2 Cache

is better than

AMD AM2 FX 62 Windsor Core, Dual Core 2.8GHz, 1MB x 2 Cache

?

even if the amd one has nearly 1k more FSB and 128KB x 2  lvl1 cache?

intel one doesnt have hyperthreading, but the amd one has hypertransport (which afaik are the same things but named diff)

EM64T means?

links:

intel: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=430635

amd: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=401094

[suicidal_monkey]

afaik the e6600 is as good as the fx62 tamd one ... the ex6800 whatever fairly kicks butt

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2006/08/02/thg_tuning_test_uk/page6.html#games


so, save money on the cpu, and put it into the rest of the components, particularly the gpu!

depends on your budget of course, if it has no limit then by all means get the 6800 extreme cpu

[outofsync]

are we not being pushed by the hardware and software manufacturers to buying hardware of a higher spec when there is no software that requires such power? Maybe I am  becoming increasingly cynical in my old age but if you get more than 35FPS with eye candy in your FPS/MMORPG then theres not much difference to be had. Technology is going to change so much in the next 2/3 years that it is not reallly worth upgrading unless your rig is ancient. VISTA is yet to become established, XP seems like a stable environment for gaming and consoles are providing a more consistent gaming environment. We have dual cores then quad cores what next? I know moores law is there but what benefits does it show on the desktop other than increased FPS. I have'nt seen a game in the last 5 years that beats some of the old C64 and Speccy games for playability and innovation (other than eye candy). Let the flaming commence.

I might just be losing faith... I'm sure there are a lot of gamers hoping that crysis/quake wars etc offers up a new experience but I'm not holding my breath... I'm actually looking forward to "bioshock" and "mass effect" to offer [perhaps] something new in gaming. whatever happened to jet pack willy. :-) joke

[Armitage]

Bit of a thread hijack. sorry Gorion:)
 
but I have been doing a bit of pc window shopping. I may get a new one in the next 6 months. but I have come across a "AGEIA PhysXâ,,¢ Physics Processing Unit"! anyone got one? is it supported by any games yet ? is it worth the £160?

[Dr Sadako]

but I have been doing a bit of pc window shopping. I may get a new one in the next 6 months. but I have come across a "AGEIA PhysXâ,,¢ Physics Processing Unit"! anyone got one? is it supported by any games yet ? is it worth the £160?

No. Yes, one game. And definitely not. Rumor has it that a "physX" type of engine will be built into next generation of graphics cards.

[Dr Sadako]

afaik the e6600 is as good as the fx62 tamd one ... the ex6800 whatever fairly kicks butt

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/2006/08/02/thg_tuning_test_uk/page6.html#games


so, save money on the cpu, and put it into the rest of the components, particularly the gpu!

depends on your budget of course, if it has no limit then by all means get the 6800 extreme cpu

You are right the E6600 is as good as the FX62 but the price is much less. My suggestion is that rather spending the money on an X6800 extreme go for more memory or a quad core that will be released soon.

[Armitage]

No. Yes, one game. And definitely not. Rumor has it that a "physX" type of engine will be built into next generation of graphics cards.

 
had a feeling that would be the case. but worth an ask!

[Gorion]

ive been looking at the ram specs and ive got a tiny little problem deciding..

Part number................. Speed.......Size......Latency  
TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF XMS2-8888 2048MB 4-4-4-12 2X240DIMM

vs

TWIN2X2048-6400C3DF XMS2-6400 2048MB 3-4-3-9 2X240DIMM

which would be better for gaming? latency vs bandwith?

[Anonymous]

ive been looking at the ram specs and ive got a tiny little problem deciding..

Part number................. Speed.......Size......Latency  
TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF XMS2-8888 2048MB 4-4-4-12 2X240DIMM

vs

TWIN2X2048-6400C3DF XMS2-6400 2048MB 3-4-3-9 2X240DIMM

which would be better for gaming? latency vs bandwith?

Save yourself some money and buy the cheapest. I bought 4Gb of TWINx 2048 XMS2-6400 4-4-4-12 and it overclocks like mad - I run it at 900MHz instead of 800MHz without any effort at all. From what I have found on the web, latencies have less of an effect on the Core 2 chips.

However, NB that corsair are being a bit sneaky with their memory timings. For instamnce, the 4-4-4-12 memory I bought runs at 5-5-5-18 when set to SPD. It will run at 4-4-4-12 and corsair tell you how to do it. Basically you set it to manual timings and up the voltage from 1.8 to 2.1 volts and they say it will run more than happily at that. As I said, I have upped the frequency as opposed to the timings and I get a memory throughput of over 5.6Gb/sec when testing in Sandra - thats about twice the throughput of my old P4 3.4GHz with PC3200!!!! I am running mione at 5-5-5-15 and an FSB of 333 to get a 6600 running at 2.7GHz with 900MHz memory (a nice 3x multiplier). This is air cooled with a Arctic cooler Pro 7 fan and is next to silent. The Chip runs two instance of FAH and under the full load the temp is (goes to check) 38 degrees