Does this seem good for gaming?

[pbmthomas]

OK, is this good? If not, any suggestions for about the same cash? It's mainly for gaming.

Antec P182 Advanced PERFORMANCE ONE SERIES Case
1TB Western Digital WD10EACS Caviar
750W TX Corsair PSU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550, Yorkfield Core, Socket 775, 2.83 GHz,
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair Dominator DDR2 8500
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P mobo
GTX 260 graphics

Plus a 24 inch monitor - open to suggestions, but preferably cheap.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I'd rather have just an E8500 and 600 watt PSU to pay for a faster video card, but you can always replace the GTX 260 again next year.

 

[dguy6789]

You would be better off getting 8GB of DDR 2 6400. Other than that, it looks good.

 

[Denithor]

Stick with the Q9550, quads are becoming necessary in more games all the time.

Switch to the Corsair 650TX, made by Seasonic & better PSU overall. Plenty of juice for even a GTX 295.

 

[zerocool84]

Are you going to be overclocking?
What's your budget?
What games are you going to be playing?

You could drop down to a cheaper Quad or even a Dual and a cheaper PSU cus from what I'm seeing you definitely don't need 750W if you're trying to save $$$.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

You should just go with Core i7. 6gb OCZ DDR3 1600 for $62 at newegg.

 

[polarbear6]

the quad u choose is a good one

but here in india the 260 is selling for 22k inr ~ 20k inr
and the 4870 14k~ 20k inr
50 inr = 1$ roughly

so it shld also be the same scenario there
so i dont see any point why any one would spend more money on a card which is not useful for games that much(i mean powerful)

and the psu is a total overkill unless u r planning on going xfire or sli

 

[octopus41092]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Stick with the Q9550, quads are becoming necessary in more games all the time.

Switch to the Corsair 650TX, made by Seasonic & better PSU overall. Plenty of juice for even a GTX 295.

Originally posted by: dguy6789
You would be better off getting 8GB of DDR 2 6400. Other than that, it looks good.

 

[pbmthomas]

Well, my budget is up to 900 UK pounds. With the terrible exchange rate and slightly more expensive hardware in the UK, I doubt that works out to much more than 1100 dollars.

The logic for the expensive psu is that it's likely I'll rebuild every 2 years or so, so I wanted to get a case and psu that would keep on being useful!

Yeah, figure will overclock - the mobo and cpu are apparently decent for that.

In terms of games, fps and empire total war.

Also, if I get the retail cpu, do you think the heatsink that comes with it will be decent enough, or should I go special?

Thanks for the comments.

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: pbmthomas
In terms of games, fps and empire total war.

Currently playing Empire Total War, and it doesn't make great use of multiple cores - there's a single intensive thread plus lesser "helper" threads that together don't push my overclocked C2D much beyond 60% total CPU usage. Tried it on a quad with similar gameplay results (and lower total CPU usage).

For graphics, I haven't seen a review that gives the edge to Nvidia or ATI on this game, but local pricing seems to make the 4870 1GB very competitive in UK/Europe/India, whereas US buyers seem to get better deals on its rival, the GTX260.

 

[polarbear6]

Originally posted by: betasub

Originally posted by: pbmthomas
In terms of games, fps and empire total war.

For graphics, I haven't seen a review that gives the edge to Nvidia or ATI on this game, but local pricing seems to make the 4870 1GB very competitive in UK/Europe/India, whereas US buyers seem to get better deals on its rival, the GTX260.

iam not so patriotic but this makes me feel proud to be a indian

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
You would be better off getting 8GB of DDR 2 6400. Other than that, it looks good.

Why is that? Those UD3 boards can handle beyond 500fsb and topping your ram out at 400fsb aka DDR2 800 cuts out much of the fun.

Keep your 8500 choice in ram; as well as the board and CPU

 

[pbmthomas]

I'd overlooked the 1Gb 4870 since it wasn't on the benchmark list I saw - only the 512MB.

Looks a good choice.

Would the corsair 650TX be enough to power two 4870s if I decided to add a second one at a later date (the mobo supports CF)?

 

[heyheybooboo]

Originally posted by: pbmthomas
I'd overlooked the 1Gb 4870 since it wasn't on the benchmark list I saw - only the 512MB.

Looks a good choice.

Would the corsair 650TX be enough to power two 4870s if I decided to add a second one at a later date (the mobo supports CF)?

You will need the 750TX with 4 x 6(+2) pin PCIe power connectors. I believe every HD4870 has 2 x 6-pin (at 75w each) power requirements.

It looks like you could save around £80 (inc VAT) with the PhII 940 / Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P from Scan.

 

[pbmthomas]

Originally posted by: heyheybooboo

Originally posted by: pbmthomas
I'd overlooked the 1Gb 4870 since it wasn't on the benchmark list I saw - only the 512MB.

Looks a good choice.

Would the corsair 650TX be enough to power two 4870s if I decided to add a second one at a later date (the mobo supports CF)?

You will need the 750TX with 4 x 6(+2) pin PCIe power connectors. I believe every HD4870 has 2 x 6-pin (at 75w each) power requirements.

It looks like you could save around £80 (inc VAT) with the PhII 940 / Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P from Scan.

Thanks for the psu tip.

Would the phII 940 and other mobo give me similar performance?

 

[TotalLamer]

Yes, the PII 940 benches fairly even with the Q9550, while being quite a bit cheaper.

 

[pbmthomas]

OK, think we have a winner:

Corsair 750W TX
AMD PhII 940
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4P
Antec P182 Advanced PERFORMANCE ONE SERIES Case
1TB Western Digital WD10EACS Caviar
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair Dominator DDR2 8500
ATI 4870 HD 1Gb (maybe a second one soon too)

Any last suggestions?

Plus a 24 inch monitor - suggestions welcome

Thanks!

 

[heyheybooboo]

Corsair CM2X2048-8500C5D is on the Gigabyte QVL list. I imagine the Dominators will work peachy but regardless of your RAM selection you have to manually set timings to 5-5-5-15-2T @ 2.1V either in the BIOS (recommended) or through AOD.

As far as your monitor - depends upon personal preference - what looks nice to you and I may not look good to ganesh and betasub. It helps to physically view each monitor and 'fiddle' with the settings if you have the opportunity - you may then shop around for the best price on the model that tickles your fancy.

A quick look at Scan doesn't help me help you. There are LCDs of which I am not familiar. I did notice a big price difference between 22-inch and 24-inch varieties. Is 2x or 3x the cost worth the extra screen real estate to you?

 

[Special K]

I would recommend the Dell 2408wfp - I have one and it's great. I don't notice any input lag when playing FPS games. Honestly I think it's a very individual thing, although Dell gives you 21 days from the date of purchase to return the monitor for any reason, so that would give you some time to game with it and see if you like it. They also have a 0 dead/stuck pixel guarantee for the entire warranty period, which is nice. Dell's ultrasharp monitors are some of the more expensive LCDs out there, but they are worth the premium IMO. Also keep in mind they frequently have sales on all their monitors, so if you are patient you shouldn't have to pay retail price for them.

 

[sgrinavi]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
You would be better off getting 8GB of DDR 2 6400. Other than that, it looks good.

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