Computer hardware advice

[El Idiot]

I'm calling on the infinite knowledge of the inter-webs and its mighty system of tubes.

I'm about to build a new computer, and I'm rather stuck.
AMD+ATI, or Intel+Nvidia?

The newer AMD mobo chipsets, the 790 seems to offer some performance increases with a respectable built in video chip that can do crossfire with any drop in ATI, and at a very reasonable price around 100-150$. The AM3 chips work in some of these boards, and they are coming out within half a year. An Athlon FX X2 is just under 100$ and should meet all my gaming needs, and when I need to, I could drop in the newer chips I hear are supposed to finally be under 60 nm.
The 4830 and 4850 cards seem like a great deal for what I'm after.

On the other hand, Intel's Nehalem will debut sooner than AMD's Fusion. Their Q6600 is still landmark, should do more than I need for quite some time, and is reasonably cheap. Nvidia finally lowered their prices to reasonable levels.
What's the equivalent to AMD's 700 mobo line for an Intel chip?

[SwiftSpear]

Go intel ATI. Neffeelimb is going to be intel's first major GFX card release. The drivers will suck, and it will preform chaotically vs most of the other GFX cards on the market. I support intel in their effort, but we don't really need them in the graphics market right now, so let other suckers do the beta testing for them.

It's really irrelevant weather or not a system can run in SLI or crossfire. Ultimately, I just find it pushes up mobo costs and most people never will invest anyways. Even if you do invest, it's usually just giving you an extra half year of market compatibility, the next generation of video cards will equal the power of your dual setup anyways, and require a fraction of the energy consumption.

Asside from OGL drivers (which they are slowly but surely improving) ATI cards are a way better value for the dollar spent right now, and intel processors are a better processor. Don't be a hero, build a smart machine, not a super machine.

[Dash_Riprock]

I own a 4850 and am very pleased, even though I bought it when it was $200 . Can run crysis on all high settings completely playable, or all very high settings with a little overclocking. If you do go with this card, get one that comes with a non-stock cooler if at all possible, as it is a POS.

Oh yeah, and the new Intel i7 line of processors is coming out Nov 17. If nothing else, wait a couple weeks after they come out for them to drive down the cost of the core 2 duos. There might even be one at that point that's a better deal.

[lurker]

Swift, why is graphics integrated into Nehalem major but their current way of doing it not? Either way, El Idiot is talking about using a discrete card.
My opinion is that you should try to get some nice cheap core 2 and DDR2 in a couple weeks.

[REVENGE]

Once again

the question is

what do you want to do / run?

[imbaczek]

Intel+ATI. Nothing else matters right now.

[El Idiot]

Oh yeah, and the new Intel i7 line of processors is coming out Nov 17. If nothing else, wait a couple weeks after they come out for them to drive down the cost of the core 2 duos. There might even be one at that point that's a better deal.

Sold.

Now why ATI? For another 50$, MSI has a GTX 260 new version and overclocked that comes to just 200$ with the rebate (though some reviewers say the rebate is BS, 240$ isn't bad). Even GDDR5 couldn't save the 1 gig 4870 against it.

What about the mobo? (I have a thing against Intel mobos.) The nforce 750i has a decent price.
Should I even bother looking for a mobo that can do DDR3?

[Peet]

DDR3 is still pretty expensive and not backwards compatible with DDR2, so don't bother with it just yet. Go for an evga 750i or 780i.

[smoth]

I <3 my 280 :)

imbaczek, IIRC spring has issues with ati cards. so why go with a more powerful card that still will have issues with spring? I looked at the BBDs of both when I got mine, what makes the ATI the choice when ati and spring no like each other?

[Sleksa]

imbaczek, IIRC spring has issues with ati cards. so why go with a more powerful card that still will have issues with spring? I looked at the BBDs of both when I got mine, what makes the ATI the choice when ati and spring no like each other?

Im running 4870 and spring is ok

[Hoi]

Well, ati is cheaper, and in a few rare occasions people also play other things than spring

[lurker]

Dwarf Fortress runs well enough on nVidia, you know.

[SwiftSpear]

Swift, why is graphics integrated into Nehalem major but their current way of doing it not? Either way, El Idiot is talking about using a discrete card.
My opinion is that you should try to get some nice cheap core 2 and DDR2 in a couple weeks.

You're right. I'm mixing up Nehalem with Larrabee. Nehalem is awesome, Larrabee is also awesome, but give them at least a generation to iron out bugs for Larrabee.

[El Idiot]

This seems to be just fine for what I need. Plus the prices should drop in a few weeks anyway.

20-25$ more for 4 gigs of DDR1066 rather than 800. Would my 25$ really see a difference in performance?

I do recall some mobos in the 750i+ range that had some trouble recognizing RAM or something. I remember they had some issue. I think the issue was only with Vista (go figure).
EVGA 750i @ 175$ for a 1066 standard.
EVGA 750i @ 130$ for an 800 standard.
There's another + 45$ if I want DDR2 1066 over 800.

What's funny is I could spend 2000$ on a computer, and I'd still spend most of my time on it playing XCOM.

[BigSteve]

Id go intel + nvidia, purely because Ive been buying nvidia cards forever and Ive never once had any problems with them, theyve always slotted right in there, and worked perfectly with no driver issues whatsoever.
Some people may have had different experiences though, but I'll be sticking with nvidia for the foreseeable.

[Peet]

The extra $70 for ddr2-1066 is most likely worth it, particularly if you run with a high fsb.

[SwiftSpear]

This seems to be just fine for what I need. Plus the prices should drop in a few weeks anyway.

20-25$ more for 4 gigs of DDR1066 rather than 800. Would my 25$ really see a difference in performance?

I do recall some mobos in the 750i+ range that had some trouble recognizing RAM or something. I remember they had some issue. I think the issue was only with Vista (go figure).
EVGA 750i @ 175$ for a 1066 standard.
EVGA 750i @ 130$ for an 800 standard.
There's another + 45$ if I want DDR2 1066 over 800.

What's funny is I could spend 2000$ on a computer, and I'd still spend most of my time on it playing XCOM.

RAM speed almost directly corrilates with machine speed. It's pretty much as important as processing power.

[El Idiot]

This is looking like a steal for what I want.
DDR2 1066 is still as fast as I'm willing to shell out for. Prices will drop, and I think this board will leave room for upgrading later. No?

[SwiftSpear]

This is looking like a steal for what I want.
DDR2 1066 is still as fast as I'm willing to shell out for. Prices will drop, and I think this board will leave room for upgrading later. No?

Looks pretty good to me. Realistically, that board is outdated... but we're currently at a point where if you want a motherboard that is going to be viable in 6 years you're going to need to shell out 2000 for the system (DDR3's a bitch). You can put more RAM into it, you can put better vid cards into it, and do some degree you can upgrade the CPU, it's a good mobo.

[El Idiot]

I think the maximum that board can support will be usable at the least for another four years before I'll think about upgrading, and when I do it should be dirt cheap to do so.

Realistically, even these will be outdated as soon as I open the box. Never saw much point in staying on the bleeding edge.