pc for gaming(what mobo/cpu)

dr_gonza_attorney

my old motherboard craped out its time to upgrade(need to build system that will last a few years)
whats the best motherboard/cpu for gaming thies days(gta iv) i asume quad core is needed for future gaming.

iam keeping all the old stuff case, harddrives etc.
but is the ddr2 out of date already i have 4 gigs of it
i see the new motherboards are ddr3

iam willing to spend around a grand, what mobo cpu would you guys be buying for future gaming(also if you have links to irish websites so i can buy today)
cant live without computer must upgrade asap
midlans lan event is on soon to hope i will have it built by then

ScumLord

It looks like you already know you'd be best off getting the fastest quad core you can afford. I don't think you'd need to spend any near a grand to get current, especially if it's just MB, CPU and RAM you need to get.

Blazher

Hi mate

I have spent the last two weeks looking in to my own new build and i can tell you.

If you want a PC just for gaming and keep the price down

Then i would say go for AMD 3 with a HD4870x2 all cheap and will run most if not all games on max settings.

You can put a full system together for around 600 Euro.

dr_gonza_attorney

i might try the AMD 3 they sure are a lot cheaper then ithe i7
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=451982

is this a good mobo
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=427375

so i can still use the 4gb of ddr2 ram no need to buy more

also i have a ati4750
does having two of em make much of a difference

if you guys think the above will work i shall buy now

Blazher

To be honest mate. I would buy a cheap(ish) set of DDR 3 and get a Evga/Giga board.

Asus i would stay clear of. They make good boards but its a pain to RMA get repleasements.


I personally love Evga.

as for your Card. pick up a second one and go crossfire.

get a nice crossfire DDR3 board and that AM3 Chip thats you set

as long as you have a good PSU!

dr_gonza_attorney

Blazher wrote: »

To be honest mate. I would buy a cheap(ish) set of DDR 3 and get a Evga/Giga board.

Asus i would stay clear of. They make good boards but its a pain to RMA get repleasements.


I personally love Evga.

as for your Card. pick up a second one and go crossfire.

get a nice crossfire DDR3 board and that AM3 Chip thats you set

as long as you have a good PSU!

advice taken
ordered now no turning back

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition , 3,2Ghz, AM3, 8MB, 125W, Boxed

Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P, Socket-AM3
AMD 790FX+SB750, ATX, DDR3 , Firewire, 2xGbLAN, 2xPCI-Ex(2.0)x16

OCZ RPX HPC DDR3 1333MHz 4GB KIT

question about grafix cards
i have 4850 ati saffari radeon
but i go to buy a second one for the crossfire thing but the ones for sale dont look the same i.e its the 4850 but the chip on the websites look different. i have the model 2 of it. is it compatiable with the newer ones eg
http://www.komplett.ie/k/kl.aspx?bn=10488&mfr=SAPPHIRE&filter=A00247.K263692.A03616.K144544.
both dont look the same as the 4850 i have, will they still crossfire.

Outkast_IRE

As far as i know with the crossfire set up you dont need the exact same card. I may be corrected here on this .
Pick up the same model and you will be fine . Am i right guys?

Blazher

As long as they are the same model (ie, 2x 4850 or 4870 etc not 1x 4850 1x4870 ) They will work. Brand dose not matter.

You will need a good 650WAT but i recommend 750Wat PSU to run them in Xfire.

get this Corsair Powersupply HX 750W you cant go wrong. People always over look the PSU and buy a cheap one, But they dont understand is. Its the PSU that powers the lot funny enough


I got the bigger brother of that PSU the 1000wat and the they are great.

Effluo

hold on a second?

750 watt psu for running 4850's in crossfire???

That would run two overclocked 4890's!!!!

Blazher

Effluo wrote: »

hold on a second?

750 watt psu for running 4850's in crossfire???

That would run two overclocked 4890's!!!!

I told him he would get away with a 650 i was just recommending that 750 to him. If he ever upgrades again etc.

Outkast_IRE

ya always better to have bigger psu than needed for future needs.

dr_gonza_attorney

true i have a 570w but i shall look into getting a 700+w for the new build

rordeb

How much will the whole lot come to?

dr_gonza_attorney

rordeb wrote: »

How much will the whole lot come to?

off komplett

PROCESSOR
1,00 PCS 451982 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Expected in stock 11.08.2009
3,2Ghz, AM3, 8MB, 125W, Boxed

TOWER CASE
1,00 PCS 326309 Thermaltake Armor Silver Aluminium Front
, 25 cm Fan, Super tower (Without PSU)

MOBO
1,00 PCS 431466 Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P, Socket-AM3
AMD 790FX+SB750, ATX, DDR3 , Firewire, 2xGbLAN, 2xPCI-Ex(2.0)x16

RAM
1,00 PCS 349983 OCZ RPX HPC DDR3 1333MHz 4GB KIT Expected in stock 10.08.2009
w/two 2GB ReaperX DDR3, CL 6-5-5-18


Total Order Amount:


Net 480,25
Freight 20,59
VAT 21,50 % 107,68

Order Total 608,52

STILL TO BUY
also new ati 4850 100 euro
new powersupply 700+w around 100
total
800

in the end i didnt keep much from the old comp
only harddrives and gfx card saved

i could have made savings here but i figgured the best thing was to get a new case could have used the old one but it didnt have much space

my advice to anyone is get the biggest tower case you can so you can add things on and have good cooling

still i think its a good buy for now for gaming
the i7 intel systems are far to expensive and i have the money for it but i just cant seem to justify the cost. also i could have choose the 2.8 or 3ghz amd processer and saved 100 euros but when your buying a processer get the fastest one in it and dont overclock it. it should last longer i hope

Effluo

ummmmmmmmmm

well how about this

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1471/sapphire_radeon_hd_4850_in_crossfire/index13.html

Yes that is a total of less than 350-385watts on load with xfire 4850's

This also includes the ever power hungry and overclocked Q6600 :O

granted there's only one small hd and no cd rom but that won't make that much of a difference!

Now look at this
http://www.corsair.com/_images/charts/vx550w_efficiency.jpg

power supplies are more efficient in between the 40% to 80% load region so when you have a system that's idling at around 230 watts and has a max load of about 400 then you would be absolutely completely retarded(and enjoyed paying more on electricity bill) if you were to get a power supply more than 550 watts.

dr_gonza_attorney

thanks for pointing that out
must get out my calculator and figure out what wattage i will be using
my main concern is adding more stuff in the future like 4 to 6 harddrives
shall i go on a downloading spree.
so your saying if i had a 500w and a 800w powersupply
and the load is average 400w the 800w powersupply will still cost more to run
i always did blame the high esb bill on the dam computers time to go green i guess

Effluo

It would depend on what specific psu you had but for corsairs range that certainly would be true...

Also none of those psu calculators really work too well and what manufacturers recommend in terms of power needs is always overestimated!

It's best to go searching for independant reviews and tests to find out what wattage your components really need...

Solitaire

PSU calculators always talk utter crap. Sorry, they just do.

They rarely tell you what the 12V requirement is, they always generalize too much on oddball peripherals (e.g. a PCI/e card uses 5W... at peak a bog-standard 100W amp card hits 100W!), exaggerate graphics card requirements and ludicrously exaggerate overclocking overheads.

In real life a HD4850 uses nearly as much juice as a HD4890, which uses almost as much as a HD4870... but the HD4850 only has one PCIe PEG connector while the others have two so people always assume two of them in CF uses twice the juice of CFd HD4850s. Not true. Off the top of my head two HD4850/90, a lightly-OCd X4-955BE and the mobo/HDD/opti requires ~35-40A of 12V power. Some manufacturers have claimed that for just one graphics card . But putting such a system on a VX550W isn't clever either - you should really try to keep peak (priming) power usage below ~70% of a PSUs output, so in real life you don't go much past 50% even when gaming. That way you keep the PSU running at peak efficiency, wasting less energy.

Oh... and why the TT Armor? So many good cases nowadays, and that one is pretty dated...