Building for gaming hmmmmm

[Tycoon4u]

I've got most everything to build another box but I need a little help with the best memory and vidio card please. Here's what I have now.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119137
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131377
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106289
I havn't decided on OS or CPU yet. No buget restrictions I just want to get the best that will work with what I already have. Thanks guys. Dale

[David M]

If money is no object then buy an Nvidia 295 card. Its still the king of the hill. Heck, buy two of them and put them in SLI. Be sure to buy a quality 1200 watt PSU to power them. Expect to spend about 1500 bucks just for that.

If money is still no object then get a high quality case like a Lian Li .

[ryuk999]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115130
that's the best i can find on newegg that's LGA775 lol

I thought the ATI 5970 or the 5870 was faster than the GTX295?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...61301&Tpk=5870
HIS 5870

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...61311&Tpk=5970
HIS 5970

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR_JpKI8iDU&feature=sub
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pooz-gLyoVc

[glc]

For compatibility with those components, get a Q9550 CPU, a 2x2 gig kit of DDR2-800 ram, and an ATI 4890 video card. These are the "sweet spots" right now, along with WD Caviar Black hard drives.

[Tycoon4u]

Thanks glc, here's what I came up with
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115041
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127453
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231122
Will these work with my 650W PSU ?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139005

[glc]

You bet. Minimum recommended for a 4890 is 500 watts with two PCI-E connectors. Only problem now is that MSI card is sold out. The only brand that's available now that I would NOT recommend is XFX. It looks like they still have some Sapphire and Powercolor.

The next step up is in the $300 range - a Radeon HD5850.

[Tycoon4u]

Thanks again, I think I'm going to wait for a good 4890 to be available. However I ordered my Q9550 CPU. Is the cpu fan that comes with it going to be good enough?

[glc]

Plenty good enough unless you are going to be overclocking it.

Consider a 4870 - its almost as strong as a 4890, which is simply a selected and overclocked 4870.

[Tycoon4u]

Thanks

[us11csalyer]

Originally Posted by David M If money is no object then buy an Nvidia 295 card. Its still the king of the hill. Heck, buy two of them and put them in SLI. Be sure to buy a quality 1200 watt PSU to power them. Expect to spend about 1500 bucks just for that. If money is still no object then get a high quality case like a Lian Li .

Correct me if I am wrong but the Nvidia 295 is dx10.1 right? So why not go to the dti dx11 cards now if money isn't a prob?

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by us11csalyer Correct me if I am wrong but the Nvidia 295 is dx10.1 right? So why not go to the dti dx11 cards now if money isn't a prob?

The Nvidia GTX295 is DX10.0, ATI's HD3000 series and up have DX10.1 and ATI's HD5000 series have DX11. The problem is that unless you plan on keeping the video card for a long time, you probably won't see many of the more advanced features such as DX11 since software tends to lag behind hardware. A good option is to get a sweet spot card such as the HD4890 with good performance, and upgrade it in a few years when the software becomes available to another sweet spot card.

[glc]

If you could care less what you spend, just get two Radeon 5970's and Crossfire them. However, if you do that, you should be looking at an i7 on a X58 chipset, and a LOT of patience to get it working right and stable.

I subscribe to the "sweet spot" theory.

[David M]

Originally Posted by us11csalyer Correct me if I am wrong but the Nvidia 295 is dx10.1 right? So why not go to the dti dx11 cards now if money isn't a prob?

Hey, I was just thinking of (somewhat cynically) a way of running up the bill as high as possible since money was no problem. At $500 bucks each, two 295 cards will cost you more than the two Radeon cards at $350 each. Plus the 295's are energy hogs...therefore you would also need to throw in a $350, 1200 watt Nvidia certified PSU.

If it were my computer I would take glc's advice. I'm past the days of blowing my bucks on a super fast gaming machine. I subscribe more to glc's philosophy of buying at the sweet spot. This way, the rapid depreciation of the value of your computer is much less terrifying. Even the stock market will get you better than a negative 50% rate of return. That's right, figure on a high end gaming machine losing about 50% of its value per year for a couple years.

Just throwing some facts out there so you can make a more educated decision.

[Tycoon4u]

I should have everything to start building this week. Neweggs got this 1 available now, I think I'll order it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102852

[glc]

That card should work well. Sapphire's end user support is lousy, but their cards are good quality.

[Tycoon4u]

I just noticed a combo deal with windows 7 will 64 bit work with the Q9550?
Thanks,
Dale

[glc]

Yes.

[Tycoon4u]

Cool, I got it ordered and should have it together next week. Thanks again.