Ugh..Time for a new PC (hardware combinations)

prawnstar69

My PC died a couple of months ago and I'm getting a bit of extra cash next month so I'm going to get a new setup and need a little advice being as I've been out of the loop for a while...

Based on my budget I'm thinking something like this...

Core 2 Duo 2.66GHz
2x 1GB 800MHz DDR2
8600GT 512mb
250GB SATA2 HDD

Now I understand I need a P35 chipset mobo for the CPU.

I could, however, for about the same price go for this...

Athlon 64X2 5000
8800GT 512mb

I know the CPU is inferior, but the GPU is better...which combination would be better?

Finally, I'll be getting Vista Home Premium, should i go for the 64-bit version?

dlinfiniti

what are you planning on doing with this computer and what kinda games would you like to play?

prawnstar69

dlinfiniti wrote: »

what are you planning on doing with this computer and what kinda games would you like to play?

That would help I guess, wouldn't it..

I'm hoping to play newer titles like Bioshock/Crysis/UT3, but mainly will be playing WoW, HL2 based stuff (CS / TF2).

I'm not hoping for all-out bells and whistles on newer stuff, but some eye-candy would be nice.

lowlylowlycook

I'd wager that the difference between those two video cards is much bigger than that between those CPUs. Add in the fact that games are rarely bottlenecked at the CPU anyway and I think the second option would be better.

prawnstar69

lowlylowlycook wrote: »

I'd wager that the difference between those two video cards is much bigger than that between those CPUs. Add in the fact that games are rarely bottlenecked at the CPU anyway and I think the second option would be better.

That's what I thought, someone told me I can get an E4500 for around the same price as the 64x2 5000 so I think I may do that, it's a slightly faster CPU according to Tom's

tsmvengy

Yeah, go with the Intel and the 8800GT or one of the new 8800GTS with the G92? chipset. The 8800GT prices should be coming back to a normal level if they haven't already.

TychoCelchuuu

Best case scenario would be a C2D plus an 8800GT; you could get a cheapo C2D until you're able to upgrade later, because right now Intel is kicking AMD's butt and an 8800GT is by far the best 3D card to buy. Still, AMD's newer processors should slot right in to an existing mobo as long as it's one that gets a BIOS update, so that's always an option if it's the only way to get an 8800GT at the prices you want to pay.

Scrublet

I cannot recommend buying an 8600gt. Do the 8800gt or gts. However, seriously consider if you REALLY can't afford the extra cash for the core 2 duo because the new 45nm Penryn's hands down blow away the Athlons. Also, (though if you're cash strapped this probably won't work) consider a motherboard with both DDR2 and DDR3 slots for longetivity.

prawnstar69

Scrublet wrote: »

I cannot recommend buying an 8600gt. Do the 8800gt or gts. However, seriously consider if you REALLY can't afford the extra cash for the core 2 duo because the new 45nm Penryn's hands down blow away the Athlons. Also, (though if you're cash strapped this probably won't work) consider a motherboard with both DDR2 and DDR3 slots for longetivity.

The motherboard I was going for (Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R) does both DDR2/3, so that's a bonus.

I could probably squeeze a 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo and a 8800gt and shave some money off the hard drive (I already have a 120gb IDE drive I can recycle and get a cheaper 80gb SATA for my OS and games (I don't generally install more than about 3 in a go) and use the 120gb for music/junk.

Would it work that way? Or is a SATA + an IDE hard drive just going to make having a SATA pointless?

imperial6

If your OS and games are on the sata it should be good to go. At least I think that's how it works

TychoCelchuuu

I think that's how it works too. I'd go for that

prawnstar69

Thanks for the input, I'm pretty certain I'm going for this setup now.

Athlon 64 X2 5000+
Gigabyte mobo (forget the model)
Patriot 2x 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 800MHz
ATi HD 3850 512mb
Maxtor 250GB SATA2 HDD
Samsung 20x DVD-RW
Seasonic S12 500w PSU
Vista Home Premium 64-bit

Should do me nicely and it fits my budget well. I did some reading and I shouldn't have any driver issues with Vista 64-bit with that hardware.

No glaring holes in that setup, are there?

Scrublet

A quick comment on the SATA/IDE stuff. By and large, there is NOT a difference between the two unless you're dealing with RAID/Raptor/Cheetah drives. The average drive does not even come close to pushing the bandwidth of IDE. Unless you're going solid state (which based on your budget you're not) recycle your hard drive without fear.

I gotta say though you should drop that ATI card. The 8800 gt is reasonably priced and so much better.

imperial6

The 8800gt is $100 more than the 3850 and it is not "so much better" if you play at 1280x1024 like most people. In fact most people probably wouldn't notice the difference unless they were playing Crysis.

Scrublet

imperial6 wrote: »

The 8800gt is $100 more than the 3850 and it is not "so much better" if you play at 1280x1024 like most people. In fact most people probably wouldn't notice the difference unless they were playing Crysis.

For the 512MB cards:
Newegg price on 8800gt: $270 -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130318
Note that there are cards as low as $260. But I wanted to limit this to immediate availability.

Newegg price on HD3850: $190 -- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814140086

At WORST an $80 difference...if using the card that should be in stock soon, a $70 difference. As far as the claim that there is no difference at 1280x1024, here are some benchmarks on the 3870, which is BETTER than the 3850 (I couldn't find good benchmarks on the 512MB version of the 3850 in the brief time I looked):
Bioshock--10fps, Crysis--18fps, Oblivion--23fps, ET QuakeWars--15fps, UT3--17fps.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151&p=6

Considering those are all with the 3870 card and not the 3850, expect even more drastic differences. Seems worth the $80 (or $70) to me.

imperial6

Immediate availability is apparently very fluid, because 15 minutes after your post the cheapest 8800gt I can find on newegg is $285 + shipping, and the cheapest 3850 is $170 + shipping....a $115 difference. That's why I called it $100 in the first place, I consider that to be the average difference in price between the two cards when you factor in real-world availability.

Now, as to the benchmarks, yes I know the 8800gt is far superior as it should be considering the price difference. However my point was that most people aren't going to notice the difference between an average of 45 fps and 65 fps, or between 2xAA and no AA, etc. You also have to consider the bottleneck created by his processor as pretty much every benchmark out there is running a system with an e6850 or better; at a certain point there are diminishing returns with getting a better and better graphics card. I concede he should indeed drop that ATI card in favor of the 8800 if he's looking to play Crysis, or if he is playing at a resolution higher than 1280, but otherwise all I'm saying is his choice of video card is perfectly acceptable, good bang for the buck, and will tear up pretty much everything not named Crysis on the market.

edit: Ok, I see now he is getting the 512mb version of the 3850 which yes, costs $190. So I'll give you an average of $80 difference, not $100, but that also means the performance gap is slightly less.

Scrublet

I'd say 45 to 65fps is pretty noticeable. I think there will be gains of about 30fps on Oblivion and 25fps on UT3 considering that the numbers i was quoting are from the 3870, not the 3850 that he'd be getting. I've also been really impressed with the improvements Nvidia has been making on its drivers over the past few years. Can anyone comment on ATI drivers? I have no idea where they stand now.

I definitely concede the processor (and probably memory) bottlenecks. I had totally forgotten to account for that, and that will definitely narrow those gaps some. I also implicitly trust Nvidia farther than ATI right now, which alone is worth the extra cash to me (but is definitely a subjective opinion).

prawnstar69

I live in the UK and the 3850 512mb is about £110 and the 8800gt is £175

As my budget is around £400 and I can't really go any higher £65 ($127) is a lot

I've looked up benchmarks and seen Crysis in action on a 3850 and I'm happy enough with the results so it should do me fine, better than the 8600 at least.

(I over budgeted a little in the OP, it all depends on wages from work and how much I spend between now and Feb 1st. If I find I end up with £65 extra I'll go for the 8800gt)

I probably will recycle my 120gb IDE, it'd be a waste not to.

imperial6

Ouch, that is a lot. Good call for sure then

Scrublet

Fuck the dollar is weak right now. Look at that conversion.