First Post on Bit-Tech Current Computer: Athlon XP 3200+ ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe 1.5GB Kingston RAM 600 GB Disk Space (RAID 5) Radeon 9600XT GU 128MB New Computer: CPU??? (Athlon FX-55, FX-57 or Althlon 64 X2 4800+) ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe nForce4-SLI-X16 Socket939 2GB Kingston HyperX PC3200 DDR Memory 2 X 250GB HDD or 2 X 74GB Raptors Graphics Card??? (7800GTX 256/512 or X1800XT 512MB) I need to know a few opinions as to which processor and graphics cards to choose. This rig will be mainly a gaming rig and I want to make sure I future proof myself enough. As for the graphics card I hear that ATI and nVidia will be releasing new cards within the next month, should I wait? The FX-57 is definately the leader for most current games, will it be out matched by the high end dual cores on new games? These are some of the things that worry me. The budget is $4,000 AUD (~ $3000 US) I need to spend it wisely. Let me know what you think.
Welcome to Bit Tech mate! Don't go with FX57!! If you asked me a couple of months ago, I would have agreed with you, but games are around NOW that utilise dual cores, and all new releases worth talking about will be too. Yep.. even a 2.4GHz X2 will easily outperform a FX57 if running a threaded application. Single threaded apps.. then yes, my FX will kill a X2, but single threaded apps are pretty soon to be a thing of the past. I'm selling my FX and going dual core ASAP... enough said.
Welcome to Bit-Tech! Hope you enjoy your time here Definitely go for the dual-core - single-core as a high-end gaming platform is coming to an end now with the advent of multithreaded titles. A 4800X2 does outperform an FX57 in games with SMP support. You see the light! Good choice - excellent board, although the onboard sound is questionable. It was pointed out to me recently that this won't work in an inverted case layout, so that's something to be aware of if you're using a fancy Lian Li or what-have-you . If you're going to overclock, look no further than 2GB of Crucial Ballistix. It'll do 2-2-2-5 @ 200MHz and 3-3-3-7 all the way up to 280+ if you have a good memory controller; that's with only 2.7V in some cases! If you can't get hold of them, then try some OCZ EB Platinum, which scales similarly although odd 3D artifacting occurs in some cases while Prime and SPI check out fine If you have the cash, I'd keep one Raptor as a boot/game drive and use a big HDD (500GB anyone?) as storage. You don't want to have just 148GB - you'd eat through it pretty quickly, I expect. If you can get hold of the 512MB GTX, go for it, but you might have problems securing one; stock is horribly low at the moment and as such the cards are phenomenally overpriced. The 256MB 7800GTX/X1800XT battle is very close at the moment so you might as well go for the manufacturer of your preference - NVIDIA's quiet cooling system, good drivers and proven technology do it for me, but of course it's your choice. Hope this helps
Thanks for the input so far, you've been a great help. I have been reading plenty of reviews and benchmarks for a few CPUS and Graphics cards. My local supplier has said they have a few left of the Leadtek 7800GTX 515MB card in stock. I think it would be unwise to jump at it, this early. I'll wait a bit. I have asked him to check for the ASUS TOP range... why not! I have just under a terebyte of hard disk space in my house as is. I was thinking of sticking a average drive as local storage in the PC maybe a SATAII with 16MB cache 160GB should do it. Has anybody had experience with the raptor drives, have you noticed an improvement? No probs with the case, generic for now, with 550W PSU, haven't budgeted for anything fancy. From what I have read I think I may go with the Athlon 64 x2 4800+, saves me $500 off the FX-57, then either put a 7800GTX 512MB or 2x 7800GTX 256MB SLI. Its tough, you don't want regrets with this kinda dough.
you could wait a little for the FX-60 whick will be dual core clocked at 2.6GHz, it comes out on the 10th
Raptors were once in the front of the pack, but they're definately not worth the money anymore. Definately opt for a big drive with 16MB cache. NCQ and/or SATA 3Gbps would be a plus but not too necessary (or full SATA-II compliance which includes both and a few other things, but I don't think any such drives exist right now). That better be a real 550w PSU. Chances are a 550w included with a case is total craptastic worthlessness, unless it came in an Antec case (and thus would be an Antec PSU). It'll likely toast hardware if it gets stressed, and that's most undesirable. If it's a real brand PSU, you'll be fine. Chances are if it costs over $80 (US), it's a pretty solid unit, none of those "650w for $29 omgbuyme!!1" things are decent or even safe for that matter. Without question get the X2. The FX57 will have the slightest edge in single-threaded apps, but more and more support multiple threads now, including several current games (and many many more future ones). And it makes general use infinitely smoother. Despite the FX57 being a "faster" processor, I'll bet anything that my 3800+ X2 "feels" smoother when multitasking (discounting the fact that a lot of the apps I use are multithreaded, which means isntantly doubling performance over a single processor) Depending if anyone has a clue when the 8-series will be released (I'd imagine a good way's off, as we haven't seen a 7200 or 7600 card yet), choosing the right top-end GPU can be tough. A 512MB GTX can handle almost anything, and you could always add in another later on for the ultimate SLI experience.
I have had enough experience with dodgy PSU's at work to teach me a lesson, thats why we installed TruePower 2 480W in the new PC's this year. My choice is the step up to the 550W which it claims is SLI compliant, the case is Antec without the PSU, its OK when the PSU costs double that of the case. The Kingston RAM at my supplier has latency 2,2,2,5,1 although only @ 400Mhz, I have to decide whether I want to overclock anytime soon. Thanks again for all the input...
I'd also have to strong agree that dual core is the way forward. Also nice chioce on the PSU. Hope have fun with your rig. Get an X1800 XT 512 EDIT: Also not a bad choice for PSU's but I personally prefer Tagan due thier great realiablity(sp) and whisper quite fans.
