My High-End Gaming Rig - Comments / Suggestions

K

Keeper

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So far this is what I think will be good. please give any suggestions you might have!

Used for:
High End Gaming, probably at 1920x1080.
3D Animation, Modeling and Rendering.


R 900
Dirk Tooth Raidmax Smilodon Case

R 2000
Intel® Boxed Core2™Quad Q6600 Processor - 2.40GHz Quad Core, Socket 775, 8MB, 1066MHz FSB, 65nm, x64 Support

R 2000
GIGABYTE "S Series" P45 & ICH10R Chipset Socket LGA 775 @ FSB 1600 - For Celeron®D, Pentium®, Pentium®DC & Core™2 Series. 2x 16X PCI-E, 3x PCI Express 1x slots, 2x PCI, 4x DDR3 1600 (Dual) ,6x Sata2 RAID 1x ATA 133, 12x USB 2.0, 2x Realtek GBE LAN.
Durability 2 Series - All Solid Capacitors, 8 Ch HD Audio, Gigabyte SPEED, SMART & SAFE, CROSSFIRE, Gigabyte DES Tech, Ultra TPM

R 7000
Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon HD4870 X2, 2x 1GB, 2 x256Bit GDDR5, PCI-E 2.0, Dual DVI & TV-Out, DirectX 10.1, OGL 2.1, Shader Model 4.1, Crossfire

R 850
Transcend® High-Performance 2GB DDR3-1333 240-Pin Module - CL9, 6-Layer PC Board, Life-Time Warranty
(Want 8GB ram in the end, will get only 1 for now...)

Already have:
- 350W AOpen Power supply sealed in Box (Got it for free from a friend)
- 42" Full HD LCD
- 1 x 250GB Sata2 Hard Drive(For OS)
- 1 x 1TB Sata2 Hard Drive(Storage)
- Gigabyte Mouse
- Full Multimedia Genius Keyboard
- Evo 5 Series Speakers, Sub & Amp

-------------

So - later on i wanna start buying 2GB's of ram at a time, and then much later, another 4870X2 (in which case, i will get a 720-Watt Power supply or something)

Will the current 350 Watt Power Supply hold a 4870X2 ?
 
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350w will never be enough for a 4870x2, also why would you want to go ddr 3 exactly? For 850 you could have 4gb of ddr 2 800 and its a proven fact that ddr3 is about 1-3% faster but thats your choice.

If your buying a crossfire mobo you should maybe look at 2 4850's in crossfire, will be maybe 10% slower than 4870x2 and will save you like 1.8k.

You could buy a cheaper mobo and 2 x 4850 and possibly get a faster cpu like the q9550.
 
um a 4870 and 4850 give the same performance as 2*4870, but like I said not all games scale at all.

A 4870 1gig version would be better.
 
Most game i know play well on 2 cards, i own a 9800gx2 and have yet to play a game that does not scale well.
 
killadoob said:
Most game i know play well on 2 cards, i own a 9800gx2 and have yet to play a game that does not scale well.
Click to expand...

I'm just going by the toms hardware gpu charts. Seeing the x2 versions of cards or sli cards scoring less than the single card is common.
 
Keeper said:
Will the current 350 Watt Power Supply hold a 4870X2 ?
Click to expand...

I doubt it. You're looking at closer to 500W and above for that X2.
A quality 500W should suffice.

I 2nd the DDR2 and either overclock that CPU or get a faster stock chip.
 
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Are you planning on overclocking? If so, nice CPU, if not, spend a bit more on a higher clocked CPU especially for 3D work.

Also, get 4GB Ram now. Benchies tell half the story because they are done in an unrealistic environment - clean install, very few other programs/processes open. In reality, 4GB will make for a far smoother experience.

Finally, as has been suggested, I would definitely go for a more powerful CPU. 500W should be fine if it is a decent quality one, but you really do need something like that especially if you are even considering raising voltages for O/C purposes.
 
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Qwikslver said:
Well firstly get a 1gig4870 instead of the x2. Not all games scale with more than 1 card.
Click to expand...

Im gonna get a 4870X2 - I NEED It!:D

Qwikslver said:
Secondly you need a faster cpu.
Click to expand...

Only gonna spend R2000 on a cpu, will upgrade it later

Qwikslver said:
Thirdly you need a proper psu.
Click to expand...
killadoob said:
350w will never be enough for a 4870x2
Click to expand...

Noted.

killadoob said:
also why would you want to go ddr 3 exactly? For 850 you could have 4gb of ddr 2 800 and its a proven fact that ddr3 is about 1-3% faster but thats your choice.
Click to expand...

Wanted ddr2, but gigabyte SLI mobo with ddr 2 are R4000+, so went for a ddr3 one..

killadoob said:
If your buying a crossfire mobo you should maybe look at 2 4850's in crossfire, will be maybe 10% slower than 4870x2 and will save you like 1.8k.
Click to expand...

Then there's no future upgrading. 1 x 4870X2 >>>> 2 x 4850's

Qwikslver said:
um a 4870 and 4850 give the same performance as 2*4870, but like I said not all games scale at all.

A 4870 1gig version would be better.
Click to expand...

I agree with you there...
 
Not many people know that you can crossfire a 4850 and 4870...
 
Qwikslver said:
Not many people know that you can crossfire a 4850 and 4870...
Click to expand...

but what about 2x 4870X2's though? LOL...much better...
... and when i need to buy the 2nd one, they will be much cheaper...
 
antonc said:
Are you planning on overclocking? If so, nice CPU, if not, spend a bit more on a higher clocked CPU especially for 3D work.
Click to expand...
not really...

antonc said:
Also, get 4GB Ram now. Benchies tell half the story because they are done in an unrealistic environment - clean install, very few other programs/processes open. In reality, 4GB will make for a far smoother experience.
Click to expand...
Will get more and more, up to 8GB.. next year.

antonc said:
500W should be fine if it is a decent quality one, but you really do need something like that especially if you are even considering raising voltages for O/C purposes.
Click to expand...

Will do. might go for a 720W just to be safe, when i buy more ram, hdd's etc in future...
 
Keeper said:
Im gonna get a 4870X2 - I NEED It!:D
Click to expand...

You will not regret it, except if you are playing Far Cry2, something is still not lekker with the game and this card, don't know if the patch fixed it.

I think the required power supply for this card is a 650w, but I think it was something like 30A rails... You really need a decent power supply. :D
 
hmm, i think you are making a mistake going to the "intel+ATI" route.

on the 10 december 2008 AMD is releasing the new drivers for the 4800 series that basicly turns your GPU into a CPU to help with load sharing with the AMD CPU. - This should put AMD in the lead over intel even with older CPU's.

Also the new Phenom II's are coming out January, and there is alot of hype about them, maybe they will outrun intel, and maybe not. but you will shoot yourself in the foot if you buy now and it turns out that they do ...

For R2000 you can get a very descent AMD CPU, atleast one that is on par with a higher end Intel counterpart.
 
Keeper said:
not really...

Will get more and more, up to 8GB.. next year.

Will do. might go for a 720W just to be safe, when i buy more ram, hdd's etc in future...
Click to expand...

That Q6600 at stock is going to hold back the 4870x2. You're going to want to get it to around 3.0GHz.

There ARE perfectly awesome P45 crossfire boards (eg. Asus P5Q Pro) that do DDR2, but as mentioned, if you want to pay more for virtually 0 performance increase that's your choice. Remember only x38 and up boards do 16x16 pcie lanes. p45 is 8x8.

I'd recommend getting a quality, high efficiency PSU that will cater to all your future upgrades now, not later.
 
amaedict said:
hmm, i think you are making a mistake going to the "intel+ATI" route.

on the 10 december 2008 AMD is releasing the new drivers for the 4800 series that basicly turns your GPU into a CPU to help with load sharing with the AMD CPU. - This should put AMD in the lead over intel even with older CPU's.

Also the new Phenom II's are coming out January, and there is alot of hype about them, maybe they will outrun intel, and maybe not. but you will shoot yourself in the foot if you buy now and it turns out that they do ...

For R2000 you can get a very descent AMD CPU, atleast one that is on par with a higher end Intel counterpart.
Click to expand...

Yes while i agree with you on waiting for AMD i do not agree with buying amd now as intel own them badly. An overclock q6600 smashed amd's top of the range quadcore.

Personally i am excited about amd and i won't upgrade to I7 till i see what they bring to the market.
 
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