Upgrade to system

[roucious]

Hello everyone. Doing an upgrade :yay: tell me you all thinkg please.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor

XFX PVT98GYDLU GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit

ASUS P5N-T Deluxe LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI

Thanks

[Kreepy Kitteh =^o.O^=]

Re: Upgrade to system

I wouldn't get that mobo.. I had the same one and it gave me nothing but problems.. Get a good gigabyte.

P.S. You should probably post this in "tech Center" (next topic down from Off topic).

[Namakan]

Re: Upgrade to system

Tech center thataway ---->

[TheEn|gma]

Re: Upgrade to system

http://www.totalgamingnetwork.com/main/forumdisplay.php?f=175

To defuse the seriousbusiness of this thread:

[CaptainKirk]

Re: Upgrade to system

Moved

[jake_]

Re: Upgrade to system

As awesome as the 8' series was for Nvidia, the 9800 GT is definitely not the way to go anymore. I've always been an Nvidia fanboy, but the 4870 is definitely a better choice, I think most everyone will agree.

Plus, I would suggest you do as I am going to, and just wait for Intel's i7, which isn't too far off in the future these days.

[Flt. Sgt. Powderhound]

Re: Upgrade to system

I wouldn't go for a Q8200; either spend less and get the Q6600, which will to all intents and purposes be just as good, or spend more and get a Q9450 or 9550 (depending on which is available).
Graphics-wise, get an ATI Radeon HD4850 or 4870, again depending on how much you have so spend.
Since you're getting an ATI card, the last (and very weak) reason for getting an nVidia based motherboard no longer applies, so get an Intel P45 one such as the Asus P5Q series or one of the DFI Lanparty P45 boards.
Finally, for Ram you can probably get away with 800MHz RAM (Just don't click the My System link and see how much of a hypocrite I am...).

[Busby, Paul (Bicci)]

Re: Upgrade to system

My Recommendations would be any of the following going up with their price and speed

CPU -
E7200 (budget option but a good performer)/E8500 (good for gaming atm)/Q6600 (bit more futureproof than the Dual CPUs)

GPU -
4670 (budget option)/8800 or 9800GT (if you can get it for £80 or equivilent)/4850 (best bang for buck at the moment)/4870 (best single GPU card 'to buy' atm)

Mobo -
G31 (budget option)/P35 (Decent overclocking + featureset)/P43 (about the same as the P35 but with PCI-E 2.0)/P45 (better overclocking than P43 and some have 8 x 8 Crossfire)

Brands -
Asus - great boards however their customer service + website can be a bit on the hellish side so make sure you can deal with issues through the seller.
Gigabyte seem to be highly regardedon this forum, i have my reservations but iv also had some excelent results and they are usually at a good pricepoint.
Abit are fantastic but are leaving the motherboard market.
ASrock - avoid! Budget wing of asus and they are usually poooo!
DFI - Great high quality mobos
Biostar - More fantastic motherboards

Ram - 800 (cheapest and performs great!)/1066 (about the best value for performance atm imo)/DDR3 - not worth it with C2D

I would try and get 2x2gb sticks of ram if you can afford it but 2GB should be ok for now if needs be

Personally i think the most balanced set up is E8500 | HD4850 | Asus P5QL - Pro (or other P43 equiv) | 4GB 1066 Ram

[megawhompertoo]

Re: Upgrade to system

http://www.totalgamingnetwork.com/ma...play.php?f=175

To defuse the seriousbusiness of this thread:

dam that's a cute kitty cat.

what others said. take it easy on the processor unless you're doing gfx editing/compiling, go heavy/price on the gpu (hd 4870), and get 4gb of decent quality ram. add soundcard, fans, hd's to taste.

you won't go wrong with a core like that, but i prefer samsung spinpoint hd's and pioneer opticals just....well...because i do

[jake_]

Re: Upgrade to system

I, personally, am I fan of delayed gratification in some contexts, btw.

[roucious]

Re: Upgrade to system

Thanks all for the thoughts. I got all the stuff yesterday at about 2 had the system up an running by 2:30. It's rocking and seems to be great. No overheating problems as some have seen and the video card is great for what I want. I went the 8200 to get 45nm core and it was only $10 more than the q6600. I will not buy an ATI card. I've been in the industry for over 15 years and they have cause me more problem than any single video card manufacturer, that's saying a lot seeing how I've built and repaired over 20,000 computer in my time as a bench tech. I just don't have the time anymore to deal with crappy drivers. Plus as dumb as it sounds the PhysX aspect of the Nivida card is something that I want, this is purely personal. Not to mention that I got $90 in rebates on the stuff I ordered so I can't complain. Thanks again and I look forward to playing more with my new box.

[Wizrdwarts]

Re: Upgrade to system

Just because it's 45nm doesn't mean its better. doh. The Q6600 has 8mb cache, Q8200 has 4mb and a lower multiplier. You should have gone with the 12mb Q9xxx series or stayed with the old 65nm quads.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: Upgrade to system

Just because it's 45nm doesn't mean its better. doh. The Q6600 has 8mb cache, Q8200 has 4mb and a lower multiplier. You should have gone with the 12mb Q9xxx series or stayed with the old 65nm quads.

Thanks all for the thoughts. I got all the stuff yesterday at about 2 had the system up an running by 2:30. It's rocking and seems to be great. No overheating problems as some have seen and the video card is great for what I want. I went the 8200 to get 45nm core and it was only $10 more than the q6600. I will not buy an ATI card. I've been in the industry for over 15 years and they have cause me more problem than any single video card manufacturer, that's saying a lot seeing how I've built and repaired over 20,000 computer in my time as a bench tech. I just don't have the time anymore to deal with crappy drivers. Plus as dumb as it sounds the PhysX aspect of the Nivida card is something that I want, this is purely personal. Not to mention that I got $90 in rebates on the stuff I ordered so I can't complain. Thanks again and I look forward to playing more with my new box.

agree, a q6600 B0 might have served you better, more cheaply.

lol, i went the complete opposite way--after having to order nvidia card after nvidia card for my dept, and considering the recent untimely deaths of massive numbers of 84/5/6/8 and 9x series mobile and desktop cards. i guess everyone has different experiences.

for what it's worth, you absolutely spot on--ati cut their teeth (and their toes, and their arms) on the die shrink with the (awful) 2900xt series, and they failed, massively. the 3870's were a return to a "normal" (no huge problems, except AA/AF) highish end product, and they finally got everything right with the 4870's. the shrink makes these cards run extremely cool--they were adamant (until the latest driver release which includes fan control) about having the fan going at 12.5%, leading to a constant ~80C core under load, being just fine. and, technically, it is. i just don't like seeing my gpu running at -20C from boiling edit--just think about that for a sec--having the fan running at just above 10% under load and pegged at 80C? they finally, finally, finally fixed their issues with the smaller die. that's good for everyone!

with the 2900 series, they went with a 512 bus size, to increase the bandwidth of the card. the power it took to harness that bandwidth, however, went out of control and they released a hot, nasty product that competed with cheaper nVidia solutions---poorly!

nvidia has basically been shrinking and rebranding their current stock for the better part of 18 months, with marginal improvements. they're still stacking two 8800's and calling them 9800gx2's, whereas ati is incorporating two gpu's on the same board, sharing the same memory pool--not that i'd pay good money for a dual-gpu set up, just offering as a difference in technology. also, the gddr5 they're using now effectively doubles the memory bandwidth, getting them closer to a 512 bus performance with lower power and lower heat.

and here's a bit of trivia--sapphire (not ati, at least when it got to market) was the first company to actually do the 2-on-one-board, with an x1950xt x2.

meh, that's all water under the bridge now. surely nVidia will come out with something that will challenge the 4870 at price point at some point in the next 8-12 months, and then ati will have to offer something better.

[roucious]

Re: Upgrade to system

Thank you again for all your input. I did some research and the Q8200 beats or matches the q6600 in every test i could find. there for with the fast bus speed and 45nm core and only $10 more, and free assassin's creed, I went with the q8200. I couldn't justify with the appropriations comity, Wife, the extra $60 to go to the q9300 or I would have gone that route. If i could justify it would would have also gone with the Striker II NSA but didn't have the $210 more for that either. So all in all I'm sure price for the performance I'll be good I'll post my 3dmark06 score later when I get a chance to run it.

The results are in
Main test results
3DMark Score 11788 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 4854
SM 3.0 Score 4985
CPU Score 3817