GPU Questions

Hiya! My first post here at techspot =) pleased to make your acquaintances

My current computer is getting to be 4 years old now (see siggy) and I'm thinking of building a desktop sometime soon.

I'm not a hardcore gamer -- i don't really mind having my settings at Low/Medium and don't need crazy-*** FPS for my games. However, I would like to be able to use this computer for a good 4~5 years without too many issues (too much to ask for?)

I like shooters like Teamfortress2 and Cod4 as well as RTS like Starcraft (I'm expecting to get SC2 when/if that comes out). I've always wanted to play Left4Dead as well. Ahem.

This being my first time building a desktop, I'm not too sure what kind of hardware to get. As far as the GPU goes, what do you guys suggest? I'm willing to stretch my budget to 250 for a card, but preferably closer to the $200 range. The entire system, I'm thinking 1000~1200 without a monitor. Sound reasonable?

Thanks in advance for your feedback i appreciate it.

[edit] and since i can't see my own siggy....
Current configuration (Dell Inspiron 6400)
Intel Core Duo (2ghz) /// Ati Mobility Radeon x1400 /// 1GB memory

Does this include mouse, keyboard, phericals, or OS?

For now, look into the , 4890, 4870 (specifically the Saphire vapor-x 1gb 4870 available at newegg at $150) as good graphics card choices, you should be able to play any game at good settings with any of these. They go in order of price.

As for a processor, I recommend the AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor - Retail $120
CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 ... - Retail $100
ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $140
OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3RPR16004GK - Retail $84
Pioneer CD/DVD Burner Black IDE Model DVR-118LBK LabelFlash Support - OEM $28
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $100

That adds up to $575 excluding the harddrive, sound card, graphics card, and shipping.
You can look into your own hard drive, and/or sound card.

Ehh. Good question.

I have all the peripherals I will need (as far as I can foresee). But an OS i completely forgot about. I'll probably need to buy that one =\. I'm a student, so I can likely get a deal on that... but I'll have to look into it when I start in September.

I've been looking at the Radeon 4870 for a while. Does the Vapor-X cooling system make a huge difference? The pricing seems really good. (By the way, I'm a Canadian resident, so newegg.com deals aren't available to me... *sad*... the Canadian site does offer the 4870+vaporx for 160CAD though)

I will look into these parts for sure! Thanks hellokitty =) your feedback was great

The vapor-x is better than a standard cooling, but I recommend it because its also the cheapest 1gb 4870, a great deal. On newegg at least .

Icic. That sounds cool. 160 bucks is still pretty good.

Actually, a more general question. I've heard that the next series of graphics cards (5000-series for ATI) is coming out "soon". If I wait for them to come out before buying smth like the 4870, would I see a huge reduction in cost?

Hi matchu,
Gpu prices are really phenomenal right now. and DX 11 cards are going to take a while to gather support from the game companies,witness how long it has taken for DX 10.0 and 10.1. just my opinion, but i would not delay a build based on a huge price drop from the upcoming DX 11 cards.

Thanks, Red~ that's a good point! FYI, the time frame I'm thinking of is to have this thing completed by mid-2010. (Yeh, you can tell i'm not in that huge of a hurry).

For your budget, I recommend these parts:

• Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 AMD 770 Chipset AM3 ATX Motherboard - Retail - $90.75 ($80.75 after $10 rebate)
• AMD Phenom II X4 810 AM3 2.6Ghz Quad-Core CPU - Retail - $159.99
• Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1333MHz 4GB(2x2GB) Dual-Channel Kit - Retail - $79.99
• XFX GTX 275 896MB GDDR3 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card - Retail - $248.99
• Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200RPM SATA HDD - OEM - $99.99
• Cooler Master HAF932 Full-Tower Gaming Case - Retail - $168.92
• Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W PSU with Active PFC - Retail - $120.99 ($109.99 after $11 rebate)
• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Windows 7 Upgrade Offer - OEM - $161.86

Grand Total = $1150 approximately, not including shipping. Your entire NCIX order will ship free, since its below 150lbs. This offer comes with the WD HDD. Also, register the card on XFX's website to be eligible for their Double Lifetime Warranty. More details on the latter here.

I don't think that the AMD Phenom II X4 920 will be supported on the given AM3 motherboard as the processor is an AM2+. You might want to look into the X3 720 as stated above. Or maybe even the X4 955.

GFX

i see someone has already suggested it, but i'll say it anyway, if you are looking at $250 or so for graphics card skip the Radeon HD 4870 or 4890 because GTX 275 outperforms these cards with no effort.


Techspot has a review for this: www[DOT]techspot[DOT]com/review/164-radeon-4890-vs-geforce-gtx275/


srry bout link cant url yet

I think Newegg got it wrong on that one. All the Phenom II's are AM3, as far as I know.

Thanks for pointing that out Ritwik7, link fixed.

Hi Matchu

If you are interested in the Antec 900 tower, Best Buy has a close out sale right now for $67.00US dollars. This is a great price.

I have the Antec 900 case and I love it.

Rage designed my system for me over one year ago. All I can say is Rage should be charging for his advice. You can't go wrong with his suggestions. Good luck.

What do you mean SHOULD be charging!??? he didn't charge you? he charged me! why that no good *****! :haha::wave:

So the original CPU is actually AM2+? I didn't realize there were any Phenom II's that didn't support AM3.

Its listed on AMD's site as AM+ plus as well. i didnt know that either. i thought the point of Phenom II was DDR3 memory controller.

http://products.amd.com/en-us/Deskt...&f5=&f6=C2&f7=45nm SOI&f8=&f9=&f10=False&f11=

Hey, everyone, thanks for the replies ^^ looking at all this stuff right now. lots of info. very intimidating.

I will definitely get back to you guys with more specific questions about these parts.

One question that comes to mind since Hello Kitty brought up the issue of cooling. A couple of user reviews point out that the gtx275 can get kinda warm. Looking at the xfx website - it says the card has a fan. Is that generally enough, or might i need to get an extra cooling device?

The case is pretty large and comes with four fans, so cooling will not be a problem. The GTX 275 is also a dual-slot card, so it pushes hot air out of the case.

You shouldn't have heat issues at all IMO.

you can build a core i7 system for that money

COOLER MASTER HAF 922
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
XFX Radeon HD 4890 1GB
Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W
Patriot Viper 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1333
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz
COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520
all for ($1,097.92)