1. SPS Accounts:
    Do you find yourself coming back time after time? Do you appreciate the ongoing hard work to keep this community focused and successful in its mission? Please consider supporting us by upgrading to an SPS Account. Besides the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes from supporting a good cause, you'll also get a significant number of ever-expanding perks and benefits on the site and the forums. Click here to find out more.
    Dismiss Notice
Dismiss Notice
You are currently viewing Boards o' Magick as a guest, but you can register an account here. Registration is fast, easy and free. Once registered you will have access to search the forums, create and respond to threads, PM other members, upload screenshots and access many other features unavailable to guests.

BoM cultivates a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We have been aiming for quality over quantity with our forums from their inception, and believe that this distinction is truly tangible and valued by our members. We'd love to have you join us today!

(If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you've forgotten your username or password, click here.)

A new desktop

Discussion in 'Techno-Magic' started by TrueBlueAussie, Jan 30, 2009.

  1. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2002
    Messages:
    16,815
    Media:
    11
    Likes Received:
    58
    Gender:
    Male
    @Blue: No idea about Supreme Commander. I generally try not to overpay the CPU and stick with the best cash to power ratio, consideration being paid to room for upgrade. As for ATI vs nVidia, I'd stand with Munchkin. ATI has the potential to have mightier hardware (again), but driver issues make people cry. NVidia isn't immune to those but has fewer problems.

    http://www.gph.benchmark.pl

    Try here. Select English where it says "polski". IMHO 9800 GTX+ is quite awesome.
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2009
  2. TrueBlueAussie Gems: 17/31
    Latest gem: Star Diopside


    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2006
    Messages:
    943
    Likes Received:
    1
    Okay, I have still been umming and arring while I have been gathering the money for this baby. I am still deciding which GPU's to go with. I like the look of the twin Sapphire 4870's (2x1GB DDR5) over the GTX285 after I read this article:

    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-295,2123-4.html

    Cant say I'm a big fan of Crysis but the GPU's seem to do a good job when compared to 2 GTX295's in SLI. Comments?


    Recap:

    ASUS P6T
    i7 920
    Gskill 3 X 1G
    WD 2 X 640G
    Samsung 22" x 2
    2x 1G Sapphire 4870 DDR5
    Corsiar HX 620
    Noctua cooler
     
  3. Ziad

    Ziad I speak in rebuses Veteran

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2004
    Messages:
    4,088
    Media:
    57
    Likes Received:
    47
    Over here the ATI cards are significantly cheaper than their equivalent Nvidia competitor. For me that's good enough reason to go with them, considering that on average performance tends to be the same (ATI does a little better with game X, Nvidia with game Y, and so on). If you're going with ATI I especially recommend Sapphire - their cards are among the cheapest on the market and they're very sturdy and reliable. My previous Sapphire Radeon is almost 4 years old and never gave me any kind of trouble.

    You may want to check the HD 4870 X2, which from what I understand is two cards on the same board (so with 2Gb VRAM). It'll be a bit cheaper than buying 2 separate cards, and I'm not sure but I think it will perform slightly better than 2 separate cards in Crossfire. I don't know if Tom's has compared the X2 and Crossfire of the same cards, but if he has that'll tell you all you need to know.
     
  4. Kitrax

    Kitrax Pantaloons are supposed to go where!?!?

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2002
    Messages:
    7,899
    Media:
    74
    Likes Received:
    96
    Gender:
    Male
    The X2 cards *do* perform better than 2 cards in CrossFire...but just barely. If you can afford it, 2 X2 cards in CrossFire running a 30" LCD would be a pretty sweet setup.
    Tom's Hardware doesn't have any benchmarks for 2 X2 cards in Crossfire...lame. :bad:
     
  5. Ziad

    Ziad I speak in rebuses Veteran

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2004
    Messages:
    4,088
    Media:
    57
    Likes Received:
    47
    Yeah, 2 X2 cards would REALLY blow everything else away. The only problem I'd see with such a setup is the power required... you'd need a monster PSU, and it better be a very good brand! Although, if money's not an issue...
     
  6. Merlanni

    Merlanni Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

    Joined:
    Nov 12, 2005
    Messages:
    2,445
    Media:
    23
    Likes Received:
    54
    Gender:
    Male
    Still, whit two GPU cards you always have one if the other one fails.
    Newer models of the 4870 run more silent and less hot.

    If money is not an issue go SLI whit Nvidia.
     
  7. Kitrax

    Kitrax Pantaloons are supposed to go where!?!?

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2002
    Messages:
    7,899
    Media:
    74
    Likes Received:
    96
    Gender:
    Male
    That's the best part of the X58 boards, we can finally run CrossFire or SLI on the same board! :bigeyes:
     
  8. TrueBlueAussie Gems: 17/31
    Latest gem: Star Diopside


    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2006
    Messages:
    943
    Likes Received:
    1
    Another question to you all. What is considered to be the best windows operating system for gaming?

    Also as an update, I am hopeing to either get or preoder most of the parts next weeked :D
     
  9. Kitrax

    Kitrax Pantaloons are supposed to go where!?!?

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2002
    Messages:
    7,899
    Media:
    74
    Likes Received:
    96
    Gender:
    Male
    XP by far. Win7 will be in second place once it hits shelves...possibly battling for 1st place with future updates to the Beta.
     
  10. chevalier

    chevalier Knight of Everfull Chalice ★ SPS Account Holder Veteran

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2002
    Messages:
    16,815
    Media:
    11
    Likes Received:
    58
    Gender:
    Male
    Blue, Ziad, I'd be inclined to go with GDDR5 over GDDR4 and GDDR4 over GDDR3. Avoid like plague anything GDDR2 if you want any serious gaming and GDDR3 is not preferable unless you get a good bargain. Sapphire does seem to have a reputation among ATI card makers. I'd have to warn you that ATI cards have some specific issues with NWN1, likely not NWN2 (haven't noticed and my last two cards have been ATI). As a rule, if you're willing to take the chance with drivers and compatibility issues, ATI is for you. If you aren't, go nVidia and treat the slightly higher price as a bonus you pay for not having the same kind of issues. And nVidia does have the same kind of issues, it's just it doesn't seem to be so often as with ATI.

    Next card, I think, I'll go with nVidia and see if I get any driver issues.

    And do get 4870 rather than 4850. The components are more solid from what I've heard. Make sure, however, that you have a potent PSU. Especially if you want to go Crossfire once the card is so cheap that you can buy a second one for much less than you gave for the first one.
     
  11. TrueBlueAussie Gems: 17/31
    Latest gem: Star Diopside


    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2006
    Messages:
    943
    Likes Received:
    1
    The beast is here....

    i7 920
    Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4
    3G Kingston 1333mhz RAM
    Zalman NPS9900LED
    Sapphire ATI HD4870x2 2G DDR5
    160GB WD SATAII 7,200rpm
    500GB WD SATAII 7,200rpm
    Corsair TX750
    Antec P160W
    Samsung 23" Full HD Monitor

    Installing XP on it now...
     
    Last edited: Mar 7, 2009
  12. Ziad

    Ziad I speak in rebuses Veteran

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2004
    Messages:
    4,088
    Media:
    57
    Likes Received:
    47
    And what a beast it is!

    Congratulations on your new PC. My coming one won't compete with it, but I'm looking forward to it all the same.
     
Sorcerer's Place is a project run entirely by fans and for fans. Maintaining Sorcerer's Place and a stable environment for all our hosted sites requires a substantial amount of our time and funds on a regular basis, so please consider supporting us to keep the site up & running smoothly. Thank you!

Sorcerers.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.