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Advice on a new computer...
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Posted by: cjmdjm
A friend of mine is looking to upgrade his system by replacing the motherboard, processor, RAM, and maybe a few other components sometime in the next few months. I think he is primarily concerned with gaming performance, although he will be using it for alot of other stuff too.
He's considering the following processors:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115039
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115043
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819115037
(Core 2 Quad Q9300, Q9450, Core 2 Duo E8400)
Probably an Asus motherboard similiar to this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16813131074R
And some RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820134012
A few questions:
Many people around here are saying that most current games cannot take full advantage of quad-core chips, and that you are much better off with a fast dual core. Any idea how long it will be before most games start making use of quad core chips? Would you suggest getting a quad core chip?
At the moment, I think he plans to use his current nVidia Gforce 8600 card in the new system, but I was thinking, it might be better to get a core 2 duo e8400 and a new geforce 9600, which would be about the same price as a core 2 quad q9450 and no new video card.
Which provides better gaming performance, a Core 2 Duo e8400 and new geforce 9600, or a Core 2 Quad q9450 and his current geforce 8600? How long before games take advantage of quad core enough to make up this difference?
Also, any thoughts on the motherboard? Is the nVidia chipset a good choice over Intel? I have heard they are good for gaming. Should he consider a board with support for the expensive DDR3 memory, so he can upgrade once DDR3 becomes more mainstream?
Thanks!
Posted by: goranpaa
I think the E8400 and a good non Asus mobo ( Asus mobos is'nt the best nowadays) + the 9600GT is the best choise of the ones you listed. The Quads is most useful when doing very heavy editing work or 3D construction, together with a Quadro card. Not much use for gaming really.
There will take so long time before any game manufacturer cares to start make any serious attempts to make Quad, multi treaded supported games. That any of those Quads you picked, will be as modern as a Pentium 4 D by then.
The game manufacturers, have enough work with developing the DX 10 games as it is for quite some time now.
The 8600 cards are crippled by the 256 mb - 128 mbit memory interface. Using a 8600 in a resoloution over 1280 x 1024. And it manage at the best playing The Witcher for ex. at mostly medium settings.
The 9600GT will dance circles around it. And for about 30 bucks more. You can get this 8800GT :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814127329 wich is a little faster still. And got great cooling ability.
Also, make sure his case can handle the 11 1/2 inches long ( with the power connector) 9600GT or 8800GT.
He will also need a good 500W psu with minimum 26 Amperes on the +12V rail(s) :
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16817104037
Make sure the case have good cooling ability.
Good mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813128059
The E8400, is good for about a 3.8 to 4 GHz overclock with the right cooler, RAM and mobo.
Posted by: rjbarker
Presently running 780i Evga Mobo, E8400 Oc to 3.8 Ghz and 4GB (2x 2Gb) Mushkin XP2 Rdlines, absolutely amazing!!!!!
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