[/quote]
nvidia says it is an 80% increase but it really isn't that much at all. 512MB Ram can be used for DOOM3 and probably most of the newer games coming out.
It is looking like I might wait until they introduce the G71.[/quote]
SLI and Crossfire does help a lot
see here
http://www.guru3d.com/article/content/231/5/
here
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/X18Crossfire/hl2.htm
Sli is generally more mature and slightly faster but once some higher aa levels(like 8x and 14/16x) are turned up, crossfire leads by a lot.
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/ati_super_aa_vs_nvidia_sli_aa/
also, once you turn up the settings to high, which you will do(you wont be playing low quality settings and teextures on that monster rig will you?) 1gb and 2gb help a lot.
also, you want to have enough for the future, There are already some games that need 2gb to run well now like BF2. The numbers dont look that bad, bbut remember, a 60fps verssu a 50fps difference means that both systems ran at around a usualy 60fps but the lower rram system dropped framerates lower and for longer periods than the higher ram system so both will have relativel the same fps but the smoothness of play on the lower ram will suffer incredibly. Hitching on high settnigs is horrible unless you have at least 1.5gb of ram on battlefield 2.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/12/13/...much_ram_do_you_really_need/page4.html
Conclusion
The bottom line is that there is not just one single answer to the question of how much system memory you need. However, to help you decide for yourself, we put together the following criteria:
512 MB
There are a few situations where having just 512 MB system memory in your computer can be enough.
* If you run your games at low quality settings (small texture size) because you have an outdated CPU and graphics card, or because you prefer FPS over visual quality.
* If you only use one application at a time.
* If it is your grandmother's computer.
If you are buying a new computer, even if it's a laptop, opt for more than 512 MB - you will never regret it.
1 GB
Indeed, 1 GB of system memory will most likely be enough for the average user and for people.
* It will allow you to play new games at their highest quality settings, given that you have an adequate processor and a powerful graphics solution.
* You won't have to shut down non-critical applications when you want to play a game.
* You can (accidentally) press the Windows button while in a game without dying from a stroke during the seconds it takes to read Windows back into system memory from the swap file.
* If you go from 512 MB to 1 GB, you will notice the difference all the time. Starting up Photoshop while working with Word, an Internet browser, e-mail client and Acrobat Reader will go so much faster, and switching between the applications is a breeze.
2 GB
Still there are situations where more than 1 GB is what you want.
* If you are a professional user, you might need more than 1 GB for really heavy applications.
* If you intend to do heavy multitasking, especially if you have more than one CPU or CPU core. Running RAM intensive games such as World of Warcraft, downloading files via high speed FTP or encrypted protocols, Bittorrent or any P2P program; decompressing large archives and playing large size video files in a window or on second monitor all at the same time can max out your system memory pretty fast - if your CPU can handle it.
PCP&P are the best PSU suppliers, why did you change that?
Everything else looks fine that you change.
PC&P will not hold up all those components, i recommend the fsp 700w. you need more amps and the fsp delivers 60a over 4 12v rails. The 850 is horribly overpriced and the 510 isnt powerful enough.
Originally posted by: mwmorph
Originally posted by: cakes
My friend has 3K and wants to get a very nice computer, I told him that he can have top of the line which is basically true. This is what I have decided on so far and nothing is final so all suggestions are appreciated, thank you.
So my questions are how does the cooling look and can somone recommend me good 5.1 headphones? How does the build look in general? What is a good brand for optical drives?
Opteron 165(looks like you'll be ocing.) if you arent ocing, just go regualt amd64 x2.
ASUS A8N Sli(regualr version)
2GB Corsair value ram(2x1gb)
X-FI Extreme Music(ehh, whatever)
Antec Sonata 2
eVGA 7800GTX SLI(will prbably cost less) or X1900xt Crossfire(faster)
PCP&P 510w is too weak for slied or crossfire andso many drives and accessories, go for
this
Dell 2405FPW
(2) WD 250GB 16mb Cache
G5 mouse
Saitek Eclipse
SteelPad S&S
Thermaltake Hardcano 13
Logitech Z-5500
Cooling:
ZALMAN CNPS7700-CU 120mm(quieter and cools basically just as well.
Zalman VF-700(LED is stupid, worthless, decreases reliability[yet another part ot burn out] and uses some electricity])
Arctic Ceramique(not as deadly to electric components as silve, better for newer builders, no removal issues like silver.
Thank you in advance!
fixed
weak build.
x1900xtx comes out on tuesday.
performance ram is worthless
a gtx512 is worthlessly overpriced. a 780gt sli system will cost less and be faster, a 7800gtx 256 sli system will cost about as much and be much faster.
Corsair VALUE? No, We want to OC, and won't I have to use a memory divider if I get VALUE.
ASUS boards are known to be buggy, why not get the best overclocking board out there? The DFI Ultra-D or Expert?
Can you tell me what the response time and contrast ratio is on that monitor?
I will look into that Zalman but I've heard the Big Typhoon is the best.
Thanks for the info on the X1900XT.[/quote]
alright, yes you will ahve ot use a divider but performance difference will be very low. it is much better to save money on ram and use it on a video card since the perfoamance gain with a video card will be exponentially higher per dollar than a ram upgrade. Async ram is fine. A amd64 cares not for latencies or speed very much( the difference between cas3 pc3200 value and cas 2 pc 4000 is usuall below 5% in most games.
obviosuly you'vew been misinformed on the asus board.
http://anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2661
specificalyl read this:
http://anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2661&p=4
We were able to overclock the fsb to 340 at the 9x multiplier, which resulted in CPU operation of 3066MHz, but we had to reduce the memory ratios to reach this level. The test system was able to boot into Windows at a setting of 350fsb x 9, but was not stable enough to complete our testing. At the settings listed, our test system was able to complete the entire benchmark suite three times without any reported issues.
and here
http://anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2661&p=13
While the Asus A8N-SLI Premium did overclock better than the Albatron board in the stock multiplier section, it required relaxed memory timings. However, in internal testing, the Asus still performed better than the other two boards in the PCMark and game benchmarks, leading us to believe that the BIOS optimizations are significantly better on this board.
notice the graph for stock multiplier where the asus a8n sli got 255x12 while the DFI can olny achieve 238x12. The asus is better for overclocking period. The memory latency issues is minimal because the on die memory controller dosent care about memory speeds and latencies.
The 2405FPW is 12ms response time, but all the published specs for every company are chock full of bs. Spend some time in the video forum. Some measure grey to grey response times, many measure black to black, contrast ratio factory measurements are bs too, a 800:1 will many time not measure up to a 500:1 monitor that was measured more intensively. But i can say this, almost no one notices ghosting on the 2405fpw and contrast is not a issue for the high quality Samsung panel used in this screen.
here's the memory matrix for 939 systems.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1475190&enterthread=y
Only one area seemed signifigant was winrar. The couple game tests which slow slight inprovement with bandwidth or LL, I think you're much better of upgrading to the next tier of video card if on a budget instead of investing with overpriced ram. Investing in expensive Ram probably offers to poorest bang for the buck of any computer part. What's intesting was Ballistix's async 166 and LL the performance faired a little better than TCCD 1:1. Seems A64 prefers LL rather than bandwidth? Also shows that running async is'nt to be shunned.
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