advice pc hardware (yet again)

adamr

adamr

Executive Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2005
Messages
6,655
Reaction score
314
Location
Fourways, Johannesburg
Inno3D GeForce GTX280
Mushkin ES 996640
Seagate 500GB Barracuda SATA300 32MB 7200RPM Hard Drive
XFX N780-iSH , nForce 780i Sli
Intel Core2 Duo E8500
Antec True Power Quattro 850Watt
CM 690 NVIDIA Edition

..... what prices on the above components can someone quote me ... i have checked prophecy, sybaritic .... so i am doing my homework

1. comment on the above makes etc ...

2. what must stay is the 500Gig HDD in terms of just capacity ... what other makes etc

3. DDR2 800, 1066, DDR3 blah blah blah ... which one ... and i heard go with 4gig even though 32bit OS dont see it, it still has performance advantages ...

4. This PC will be primarily used for games ... soooooo ... Dual core is good enough ... dont see any games at the moment using quad etc... when quad core becomes the norm in games then i will upgrade to quad core ... reckon the 8500 is good choice?

5. i know the 4870x2 is the best GPU around .... but what good prices are there ... i will be running games at a max res of 1280x1024 on my 19" LCD

6. Motherboard ... which one???? i dont intend going SLI at all ... gonna use my X-FI eleite pro sound card ... wireless NIC will be nice to have ... and remember again i am gonna game on it ... also would like to overclock ...

7. Coolermaster chassis's? currently have the P180 Antec, but will sell it with the PC and want a new chassis but something a lil different ... dont like the thermaltakes, they too gaudy ... coolermaster looks nice, what others are there that i should look at?
 
Sorry typing this on my phone so not very long. eVGA 280 R51xx incl VAT from digitalsaonline, Price any good?
Why not get bigger LCD? New sys is overkill for 19 inch gaming.
Coolermaster 690 is a step back from ur P180. HAF932 has good price but also depend on ur preferencw, Antec 900?
 
cyberarmy said:
Sorry typing this on my phone so not very long. eVGA 280 R51xx incl VAT from digitalsaonline, Price any good?
Why not get bigger LCD? New sys is overkill for 19 inch gaming.
Coolermaster 690 is a step back from ur P180. HAF932 has good price but also depend on ur preferencw, Antec 900?
Click to expand...

Inno3D is R4800 odd at prophecy, is it a good make? ... i know i know ... all the chips are from Nvidia ... but still ...

i might go for 22" samsung in the not too distant future ... on the chasis maybe ill just get another P180 ... maybe black this time around ...
 
Piece of advice: don't get a nForce based motherboard if you intend using your X-fi sound card. 8/10 people who use that combo have suffered from the dreaded snap crackle and pop issue. It is a well known problem that has never been properly fixed. Using an Intel motherboard doesn't guarantee that you won't get the SCP, but it does lower it a lot. Also, the nVidia chips were known to have strange data corruption issues.

If you are only running a 19" LCD at the moment with that resolution, a GTX260 will work perfectly. Since it's such a low resolution, even the older 8 series will eat that res alive. However if you are upgrading monitor to 22", then again the GTX260 will be fine. If you have the cash, get the 280, but it really only becomes useful once you have 24" and up.

Hope that helps :)
 
500gb's is problematic, don't know why (bad batch?)
On my way to go swap out the other 3 of the 4 i bought. That will make it 100% failure in first 3months on the 500gb hdd's :(

Rather get the 750 or 1tb.
Sounds like they're more stable
 
Asha'man X said:
Piece of advice: don't get a nForce based motherboard if you intend using your X-fi sound card. 8/10 people who use that combo have suffered from the dreaded snap crackle and pop issue. It is a well known problem that has never been properly fixed. Using an Intel motherboard doesn't guarantee that you won't get the SCP, but it does lower it a lot. Also, the nVidia chips were known to have strange data corruption issues.

If you are only running a 19" LCD at the moment with that resolution, a GTX260 will work perfectly. Since it's such a low resolution, even the older 8 series will eat that res alive. However if you are upgrading monitor to 22", then again the GTX260 will be fine. If you have the cash, get the 280, but it really only becomes useful once you have 24" and up.

Hope that helps :)
Click to expand...

I am using the Asus P5ND Nvidia Nforce 750i and I am experiencing the SCP issue you mentioned using the onboard sound through my Logitech surround sound...Is it the MB at fault? At first I put it don’t to the speakers, or bad MP3 quality, but it seems to happen even on high quality songs.
 
ok so no 500Gig .... noted ... i dont store movies etc on my HDD ... so i might just go witha 320Gig ...

dont do Nforce, but rather the Asus P5Q board ... ok ... but i see there are a few of them ... ranging anywhere from R1500 to ovr R4k ... which has has the wireless nic built on?

on the GPU side ... see i have a 8800gtx, and crysis even warhead makes its crawl ... even at 1280x1024 ...

waht abut memory DDR2/DDR3???which makes etc???

NB: let assume money aint an option, but thats not saying the most expensive is the best ... i want the best performance PC to play games at full bore at 1280x1024
 
Last edited:
Leadtek Nvidia 280GTX R 4 559.00
Mushkin ES 996640 (2x2Gig) DDR2-800 R 887.00
Seagate 320GB Barracuda SATA300 16MB 7200RPM Hard Drive R 557.00
XFX N780-iSH , nForce 780i Sli R 3 029.00 .... the board must either have the wireless nic built on or support via pci a Wireless card, also needs to support my X-Fi Sound Card ... soooo 2 PCI cards and 1 PCI-E card being my X-Fi
Intel Core2 Duo E8500 R 1 767.00
Antec True Power Quattro 850Watt R 2 083.00
Antec P180 Black R 1 379.00
logitech dinovo Lazer deskop R 1 727.00

the red needs to chnage ... give me model number asus P5Q to work with here ...

advice still needed on the mushkin memory ... give me advice on memory

and also on PSU ...

also give me better prices if you have on the components above
 
Last edited:
@ adamr

How old is your system if your 8800GTX is struggling to run Crysis? What effects have you got turned on, eg anti-aliasing?

I play Crysis at 1920x1200 on my 8800GTX and it's pretty darn smooth. No AA or AF, but the game already looks so good without them. Only now and then do I notice some aliasing.

As for PSU, get a Corsair HX620W. That thing is quiet, but gives loads of juice. Lots of good reviews on the web, and I personally love mine. You really don't need 800W of power. Just a good supply.

As for memory, DDR is champ for price. Performance has dropped a little compared to DDR3, but it's nothing you will ever notice. Again, go for Corsair, who are one of the top memory manufacturers, if not the top. And get 4GB, it's dirt cheap.

I can't tell you about motherboards, as I have not been keeping up to date. My old Asus P5WDH Deluxe with Wi-fi has been running like a champ. I haven't tried to OC it but I don't need OC right now. If you want onboard wi-fi, you will need to get one of the Deluxe of Premium branded Asus boards, they usually have the built in wi-fi.

Which X-fi do you have? As far as I know there are only 2 models that have been released as PCI express, and haven't seen them available locally.

@ Grimspoon

The SCP issue was mainly to do with X-fi and nVidia chipsets AFAIK. I haven't heard of onboard having it. Check that all enviromental settings are off in the driver software. Maybe update your sound drivers and then the motherboard BIOS?
 
That PSU would be overkill, you could power that rig quite comfortably with a decent 500 - 600watt PSU. Rather save yourself R1000 - R1500, or spend it elsewhere on the rig. Perhaps a nicer case or an X48 mobo or a 4870X2.
 
Last edited:
Saphire 4870X2 2 Gig DDR5 R 5 500.00 Computers only
Mushkin ES 996640 (2x2Gig) DDR2-800 R 887.00 prophecy
Seagate 320GB Barracuda SATA300 16MB 7200RPM Hard Drive R 557.00 rectron
Intel Bonetrail 2 X48 Motherboard R 2 849.00 rectron
Intel Core2 Duo E8500 R 1 767.00 rectron
Corsair 620W R 1 300.00 prophecy
Antec P180 Black R 1 379.00 sybaritic
logitech dinovo Lazer deskop R 1 727.00 rectron


i currently have a 750W silverstone ... its over a year old ... i was told they consumables and was thinking i need to replace it also ... what is the benefits of the corsair over the silverstone psu?


sorry the x-fi is a pci card ... my bad on the post ... so i need two pci slots ... one for the xfi, the other for the wifi card and then the GPU ... what's the recommended power for the 4870x2?

the corsair memory is a fair bit more expensive than the mushkin memory .. is mushkin good at all? can someone quote me cheaper DDR2-800 corsair memory at 4gig??

the bonetrail mobo from intel how is that???
 
Last edited:
Intel boards aren't good for overclocking. Go with the equivalent Gigabyte board from Rectron. :)

Also decide on DDR2 or DDR3.
 
Asha'man X said:
@ Grimspoon

The SCP issue was mainly to do with X-fi and nVidia chipsets AFAIK. I haven't heard of onboard having it. Check that all enviromental settings are off in the driver software. Maybe update your sound drivers and then the motherboard BIOS?
Click to expand...

Just updated my BIOS, seems to have made a difference, played a few tracks and can't pick up any crackling. Thanks for the help!
 
At least some1 was helped in this thread. :D

The HD 4870x2 needs a 650W power supply, that is what's stated on the website...
 
SharkBait said:
At least some1 was helped in this thread. :D

The HD 4870x2 needs a 650W power supply, that is what's stated on the website...
Click to expand...

ooooh then a 620W wont cut it ... think i will then get the 750W silverstone (again) .... who here has a 4870x2 and what psu are u running?
 
ok just going for this

Saphire 4870X2 2 Gig DDR5 R 5 500
Mushkin (2x2Gig) DDR2-1066 R 1 271
Seagate 320GB Barracuda SATA300 16MB 7200RPM Hard Drive R 557
Asus P5Q R 1 450
Intel Core2 Duo E8500 R 1 767

can anyone quote better prices for me on the above on any component??

keeping my P180 silver and keeping the 750W PSU and my two optical drives ...

So need to sell my

8800GTX 768Mb
AMD 4800+ CPU
2 Gig DDR400 Corsair Value RAM
MSI Platinum Nforce 4 Mobo, SLI
80 Gig HDD Sata 1
160 Gig HDD SATA 2

what could i ask for the above???

btw thank you guys for the advice thus fair ... im more informed now with PC's :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X