• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

What Motherboard/Graphics Card?

C

CrudOfCrow

Member
I'm planning on building a new computer but i need reccomendations on a motherboard and a graphics card. I'm planning on spending somewhere around $1500 on the entire system. I'd like an AMD gaming system with SLI. Right now im not sure wether or not to use 939 or AM2. I'd like to leave room in the future to upgrade, so ill probably just use one graphics card for now and eventually have two.

Heres the case i plan on getting
Lian Li V COOL PC-V1200A plus Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

As far as motherboards go I hear that ASUS and DFI are the way to go?
 
939 is on its way down, but it supports X2 if that's what you meant.

Go for an AM2 motherboard and CPU if you still want AMD and upgradeability.

DFI is mostly aimed at overclockers, ASUS is good all around, only that their website and support services suck.
 
Originally posted by: DavidoFoo
For $1500, it's a much better idea to go Intel.
Click to expand...

Why? If he doesnt want to OC difference between Conroe and X2 is just about 10% and btw in every game you´ll be GPU limited.
 
I've had absolutely no experience with Intel, i dont know much about their stuff. From what i remember you cant overclock an intel. Currently i run an athlon xp 2800+ oc'd to a 3000+. Theres a part of me that would feel kinda bad switching sides...intel is like the darkside.... Maybe that spawns from my childhood love for nintendo and hate for sega....go team go...whatever...

So if i switch to Intel, do they support SLI? What type of motherboard? CPU? I'd like to spend about 3-400 on a graphics card, any ideas for that thing?
 
Those Conroe CPUs can be OCed very well but I still want buy AMD Because i dislike Intel and none of my apps/games is CPU limited so I dont need top of the line CPU - its better to spend money elsewhwre or save them.
 
I'd rather stay away from intel... So with that said, AM2 X2, FX? Dual or Single core? and after that i think it just depends on my budget...
 
CPU: X2 3800 or 4200
MB: MICROSTAR K9N Ultra-2F - nForce570, DualCh DDR2 800, PCIe x16, SATA II RAID, 2xGLAN, 8ch audio, scAM2
RAM: some value RAM 2GB
Graphics GeForce 7900
PSU: Fortron, enermax or Seasonic 450W
HDD: Seagate 320GB 7200.10 SATA2
Monitor: 19" LCD LG Flatron L1970HQ-BF - stríbrno-cerný (silver-black), 2000:1, 300cd / m2, 4ms, 1280x1024, DVI, TCO03
btw: I dont think SLI is worth of money it´d cost
 
Originally posted by: Rommel44
Originally posted by: DavidoFoo
For $1500, it's a much better idea to go Intel.
Click to expand...

Why? If he doesnt want to OC difference between Conroe and X2 is just about 10% and btw in every game you´ll be GPU limited.
Click to expand...

E6400 is cheaper, and faster than the X2 4600+.

Unless one is going with an X2 3800+, Intel C2D is the best value.
 
Originally posted by: CrudOfCrow
I'd rather stay away from intel... So with that said, AM2 X2, FX? Dual or Single core? and after that i think it just depends on my budget...
Click to expand...

But that's the trick, Intel is cheaper than AMD, $ per peformance. The only exception is the X2 3800+. And it would appear that with a $1500 budget, you aren't looking for the bottom of the barrel cpu.
 
Ok, just so you know i dont have to buy a monitor, i've already got a KVM switch and i plan on using the monitor i already have. Also, like i said i want this computer to be upgradable. So i dont mind spending money on parts that wont be used just yet, such as a nice motherboard with SLI capabilities. (even if im not using it at the current moment).

Why does AMD only offer a $300 x2 processor...and then jump all the way up to $800 for FX-62...the next one better?? Doesnt leave much room for anyone willing to spend between that much..

If i go towards the intel direction, is there a processor better than the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Dual-Core, but not as expensive as AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 2.80GHz Dual-Core ???
 
The new conroe e6600 conroe cpu at stock speeds beats absolutely EVERY amd cpu, as in every am2 X2 dual core, and even the FX-62. And the e6400 goes for around $350, so in terms of price/performance that cant be beat. I was an AMD guy myselft and swore never to go to intel, but these new conroes chips are insane and if you overclock them they are godly! My next computer will be with a conroe, they are just too good to pass up.

If you overclock the e6400 is a better deal at $250 and can be easily overclocked to e6600 speeds.
 
Guys, you are like trying to overpower this guy. He said he wants AMD but you keep pushing intel and conroe. OK so it might be more powerful but what he's gonna be doing is more GPU-limited anyway, and if he prefers AMD over intel for whatever reason that is up to him. No need to push, I don't know about the OP but it gets on my nerves when people try and push me into something I have said no to a couple times already.

Besides, I'm on the OPs side with sticking with AMD. But then my reason is because I have no money to upgrade for a long time anyway! 😛
 
Well, whichever proc you prefer (Inte or AMD) and you dont plan to OC I'd suggest buying the most pcu you can for your money. This is an old rule of thumb that has long been used by many people. AMD mobos have a wider selection than Conroe currently and generally speaking cheaper on average and have better supply and availibility. Prices are dropping weekly if not daily so you really gotta shop around. AM2 will give you more future upgrade pathway than the old 939s and the pricing on the chips aren't much difference last I looked. So if AMD is your thing I'd reccomend AM2 as the way to go. since DirectX10 cards are due out this year (which we only have 3 months left) I would suggest not getting anything stronger than a 7900GT since you'll most likely want to upgrade around first half of next year if not sooner. If you are running a monitor that has a resolution of no more than 1600x1200 and wont ever go to a bigger one I'd say dont worry about SLI or Crossfire. Just save the money and go with the higher end single card solutions. Which is 7950s and x1950s I believe. You can go lower naturally but those are the highest end single cards currently. if getting the Lian li v1200 case make sure how the mobo lies in it. if the mobo is inverted (upsidedown) then be careful choosing the mobos with the heatsink chipsets. Some mobos with that type of cooling dont run well inverted. ASUS reccomends theirs not to be placed upsidedown.
 
If it were me I would wait a few months for the conroe kinks to work themselves out. If you need to build now and don't mind buying amd stuff, build out a system (mobo, ram, gpu, psu, case, fans, heatsink(s), hard drive(s), etc etc) and then use whatever you have left on the best AM2 x2 cpu you can afford (perhaps with an eye for one that is known to oc well) and then start overclocking.

It sounds like you're going to be doing some gaming with this box, so your selection of video card(s) is a bigger issue than cpu-choice at the moment. You can't go wrong with the lastest mid-to-high-end cards from ATI or nvidia, really. But that discussion is for a different forum.

By the way, that's a very nice case you've picked out. I'm not up on the AM2 motherboards or ddr2 ram so I can't offer any further advice. Good luck with whatever you choose.
 
The only thing that has kept me looking at getting a 939 over an AM2 is that the 4800+ 939 has 2x1mb cache - is it reasonable to consider a 939 solely because of this, or is the performance boost I would see negligible?

I'm not sure I need to consider AM2 for upgradability since I probably will wait about 2 years before considering another upgrade, and I'll be looking at quad core or whatever comes after AM3.

Right now my system is 3 years old (Athlon 64 3200+, Radeon 9800 Pro AIW)
 
Heh, the only intel you should look at are Core 2 Duo (aka conroe and allendale). If you're overclocking then they are the only CPUs you should be looking at period (assuming you can afford a dual core). They are all socket 775, but not all 775 boards will work with them, yes it's complicated.

The P5W Deluxe is the best board around but it's not cheap. The Gigabyte P965 DS3 is a lot cheaper and very close to as good for overclocking if not better (yep again it's complicated). If you're not overclocking then you might as well just get a nice cheap intel board (warning, make sure your RAM is 1.8V as there are known issues, sorry, still complicated 😀)
 
So this is what i have thus far.

Case: ($230)
LIAN LI PC-V1200Bplus II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

MoBo: ($270)
ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

CPU: ($360)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

RAM: ($270)
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 - Retail

DVD-RW: ($40)
LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 5X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2M Cache ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner With LightScribe - Retail

Total so far ($1170)


So all i need now is a GPU, PSU and a hard drive or two. I was planning on having it be about $1500 but a little over isnt bad. I could probably cut a few bucks off by making some of that OEM but thats just fine tuning prices at the end.

Any ideas on the Graphics card and Power Supply? I'm looking to eventually take advantage of crossfire, but i'll leave that for future upgrades.
 
If you need to shave any money off then you can save $150 on a P965 DS3 and $70 on the RAM without losing any noticable performance. The RAM you've got is really price gouging you.

Graphics card is a matter of how high is up. If you've got a 19" LCD then i'd be looking at a 7900GT or X1900XT, keep any money saved and buy a G80 when they are released.

If you're sure you're going for crossfire then you want a 600W PSU, brands are the usual suspects. Enermax, seasonic, silverstone, enhance, FSP etc. etc. Budget $150 for that. However Crossfire and SLI are both very poor upgrade choices in the near future with DX10 coming up. Not to mention that i don't think the DS3 has crossfire support. In which case a 450-500W PSU would be enough.
 
Not really. Crossfire at the moment is just for X1900XT or X1900XTX. Which are monsters in terms of power draw. Each one can suck down 120W or so (10A on the 12V rail). Which is a bit more than a 7900GTX does (A touch over 100W for them i think).

As such a PSU on the 7900GTX sli list will probably manage crossfire (especially as they will be tested to manage even with a Pentium 965EE which draws a massive amount more power than AMD or C2D CPUs). But entries on the 7900GT sli list will be pushing it. (To find the list google SLI certified PSUs)

Crossfire is ATI's equivalent of SLI. It's just SLI is more popular than crossfire. To use either you need a motherboard that supports it. But a SLI motherboard will not support two ATI cards in crossfire. Nor will a crossfire board support two Nvidia cards in SLI. (Single cards will work fine though).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top