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Intel or AMD for gaming rig?

runzwithsizorz

runzwithsizorz

Diamond Member
In USA looking to upgrade computer used for gaming (FSP ET AL). I want to spend about 800.00. I believe all I will need is a mobo, cpu, ram, and vid card.
Currently have:
Vid card 265 GTX 215
WD raptor 300 gig 10,000 and WD raptor 75 gig 10,000 rpm
Thermaltake 850w psu
CPU wolfdale 8400 and Intel EVGA mobo
I don't "store" hundreds of games on the hd, so 300 gig is fine for me.

Would like core i7 build and need to upgrade to Win 7 (not included in build cost). Have had both AMD and Intel computers, so this is not an issue.
Please advise.
Thanks,
Wife of Runz()🙂
 
Can you double check on that video card? Do you mean GTX 260 Core 216? Also, what resolution do you game at?

Anyway, for $800 I would go with a Phenom II X4 965 ($180), GA-870A-UD3 ($100), 4GB of DDR3 ($110), and a 5870 ($390). That'll be pretty beastly compared to what you have now. I would not go i7 at your budget because that would compromise your ability to get a 5870.
 
runzwithsizorz said:
Yes That is the vid card. Thanks for the info. And can I get 6 gig ram? Or will I need that much ram.
Click to expand...

For gaming? No.

Just an FYI, your power supply is powerful enough you can keep your old video card for physx and CUDA. It should be fine in that motherboard's x4 slot.
 
mfenn said:
Can you get 6GB of RAM? Sure.
Is it advised? No, because you wouldn't be able to run in dual-channel mode.
Is it necessary for gaming? No.
Click to expand...

it should interleave the first two sticks and then use the last stick in single channel mode. no idea if windows and the memory controller are smart enough to keep it in the first 4 GB when possible.

anyway, with the addded cost of 6GB kits compared to 4GB kits (seems they always cost more per GB), i wouldn't bother with 6GB. either go with 4 or 8. 8 being completely unnecessary for any current gaming.




OP: a 965 isn't that much of an upgrade from an E8400 for gaming. the video card is a much bigger gain. i wouldn't bother with the 965. going from what your resolution sounds like, i'd save the cash for a bigger monitor to go with that nice new video card.

if there's a microcenter in virginia you may want to check out their CPU specials. they've been running sales on i7s for under $200 for over a year now.
 
Last edited:
ElFenix said:
it should interleave the first two sticks and then use the last stick in single channel mode. no idea if windows and the memory controller are smart enough to keep it in the first 4 GB when possible.

anyway, with the addded cost of 6GB kits compared to 4GB kits (seems they always cost more per GB), i wouldn't bother with 6GB. either go with 4 or 8. 8 being completely unnecessary for any current gaming.
Click to expand...
Yeah that's the problem. Even though some of the memory is faster, the memory allocator in the OS doesn't know it. With typical allocation strategies, the allocated pages are going to be spread all over the address space. You'll be hung up by the slow RAM 1/3rd of the time on average.
ElFenix said:
OP: a 965 isn't that much of an upgrade from an E8400 for gaming. the video card is a much bigger gain. i wouldn't bother with the 965. going from what your resolution sounds like, i'd save the cash for a bigger monitor to go with that nice new video card.

if there's a microcenter in virginia you may want to check out their CPU specials. they've been running sales on i7s for under $200 for over a year now.
Click to expand...

Entirely game dependent. In less-threaded games, sure. In games that actually take advantage of a quad (BFBC2, Dragon Age, etc.) there will be a nice jump.

I do agree that if the OP is running at some low res, a new monitor would be a better investment.
 
Seems like you've got a pretty decent machine already. Honestly, I'd hold off for a while. You could drop some money buying an i7 or Phenom 2 machine, but I don't think the performance boost would be enough to justify the cost, assuming we're only talking about gaming.
 
I have taken all your advice and an wondering if I might (for now) upgrade to win 7 (xp doesn't use all the 4 gig ram) and sli the gtx vid card . The mobo is EVGA 750i. Only questions:
1. 32 or 64 bit win version?
2. Will sli improve the graphics capability?
Thanks,
Runz wife
 
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