Looking for some recommendations

[rlwjr]

Heyya guys and gals,

I currently own an ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless mobo with an AMD Athlon 3800+ and a BFG 7900GTX vid card. I think I'm bottlenecking hard at the CPU, and I have had alot of heating issues with the 7900GTX and am ready to drop kick it to my neighbors yard. I'm looking to upgrade around the February or March time-frame. What do ya'll suggest? I'm currently looking at moving up to an AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ AM2 and an eVGA GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3. I feel real certain about my choice of processor, but am looking for input on the vid card.

My goal is to be able to play the cutting edge games with as little headache as possible. I'm tired of trying to squeeze a little more and a little more out of my system. I want to just be able to set something like Crysis on Max and play.

Thanks in advance!
Rick

[RickyTick]

Heyya guys and gals,

I want to just be able to set something like Crysis on Max and play.

Rick

I think you'll need a good bit more than an 8800GTS 320mb to play at max. Consider the new 8800GTS 512, or the 8800GT 512. The GTS is a little pricey, but its a great video card.

Also, it sounds like you're partial to AMD, but the Intel processors are better performers.

[rlwjr]

I'm partial to AMD because of the mobo... I don't think the difference between AMD and Intel is at the point where it's worth scrapping a perfectly fine and able mobo. But, the info on the vid card is great. So, the extra memory on the GTS will make that big of a difference?

[Jamie Nixx]

Just so you know it is worth scrapping the mobo to go Intel ;)

No computer out now can play Crysis on Max settings.


The older 8800GTS's (640 and 320) have now been surpassed by the newer efficient models the 8800GT 512 and the revision GTS 512.

The GTS is more expensive than the GT but its performance increase in minimal.

Go for the 8800GT.

[rlwjr]

Well, I was looking to spend as little as possible, but up to around 800 I think I could swing. Think I could make the change to Intel, which would include a new motherboard, processor and still upgrade the vid card to a 8800GT 512 for that much? If so, what would you recommend? My last two rigs have been AMD, and built with the recommendations of MySuperPC in mind.

[Jamie Nixx]

Truth is unless AMD pull something of biblical proportions off within the next few months it is likely they will go out of business, i can't see them coming back, Intels cores are just too good.

Anyways, the 8800GT is $279.99.

Add to that an Asus P5K-C ($134.99) and an E6750 ($189.99) and 2GB Corsair XMS ram ($47) and you have yourself a powerful rig that will play Crysis on high........maybe :p :D

[Spiffs]

I have the pieces that jamie specified and they work great and if the dual core 2.66GHz doesn't do it for you, then you can overclock :)
I haven't tried crysis yet but the system is good so far

[rlwjr]

Yeah, I don't actually own Crysis, nor will I prolly buy it, the point is I want to be able to play it if I want to. Crysis was merely brought up as an example.

I'm seriously looking at taking the route Jamie suggested. Only thing is I'd have to replace all that stuff on my own, and I've never done any PC building on that level. Only thing that really kinda worries me is trying to get the M2N32 board out of the Antec Sonata case. Never actually installed a mobo before, all the other I think I can handle.

What kind of temperature stability am I looking at with this rig? I'm fighting temp problems now. I don't really know why though, might just be that where my case is located now doesn't provide enough flow. Either way, I'm tired of even thinking about temperatures. Any input?

Thanks for all the help so far!

[Jamie Nixx]

Undo the screws, lift it out.......whats the problem, its 10 times harder putting a mobo in then getting it out :D

Well the C2D are really cool, i mean your talking 30DegC or under in an airy space, the 8800GT gives off some major heat, but that will be fine, you won't need to worry about temps.

[rlwjr]

Thanks Jamie, you've been a help. On a side note, are you familiar with the Antec Sonata case? Funny thing about that case, it has a huge black "duct work" thing that is supposed to help vent the CPU and power supply heat out the back. Supposed to kind of keep it all seperate from the rest of the insides. Funny thing though, this last time I was in the case trying to figure out what was making it run so hot, I pulled out all that duct work crap. I prolly got a good -5C difference. Now, that's not amazing or anything, other than the fact that I removed something that was supposed to make it run cooler. LOL

Anyways, thanks again for all the help and I will prolly be back asking questions as the time gets closer to purchase. I'm now thinking about just going ahead with a complete new build and donate the current one to the wife and kids.

[rlwjr]

Heyya Jamie, I'm about to do the deed here in about a week and upgrade the mobo, cpu, vid card and memory. Do you recommendations here still stand? Or do you have any updates to the specific suggested pieces?

Thanks in advance man, you are utterly valuable!

Rick

[shyster]

I know I am not Jamie, so you can listen to this or not, but most of the people here would probably suggest switching the processor to the new e8400's they are about $40 more than the other one listed, but they run cooler (which means better overclocking if you wanted to), and they are more energy efficient.

Other than that I would say search around, the 8800GT's seem to be on sale all the time, so you should be able to get one for less than the price Jamie listed.

Of course this is all up to you whether you want to spend the extra money, but the newer e8400 will probably get you to that crysis level better than the e6750.

[Jamie Nixx]

The E8400 is $55 more than the E6750 on newegg, so its up to you, if you have the money, go for it, if you don't, its not a big deal, you won't see a difference in Crysis, maybe 2 FPS max.

The E6750's run amazingly cool anyway, i mean even overclocked to 3.0Ghz with a decent cooler your looking at 25DegC, i think WM's one runs at that speed and idles 18DegC.

When i listed the 8800GT they had just been released, as Shyster said, they are a fair bit cheaper now, i have seen them going for about $240.

[rlwjr]

I'm prolly gonna stick with the e6750. Do you still recommend the Asus P5K-C mobo? What kind of memory should I look at to max performance without overspending to just have the biggest baddest? I really need to learn more about memory!

[Jamie Nixx]

Stick with the memory i suggested.

[iiiprimeiii]

i dont know if u ordered parts yet but i just built a comp with e8400 gigabyte p35c mobo 2gb corsair ram and one of the new 8800gts 512 gpu. i play crysis on all high with everything at stock settings and i have no problems. also in my build if u want it to be neat inside ur case i recomend getting all SATA drives. the ide ribbon cables are huge and a pain in the arse to hide. there is actually no hiding to them. just a thought. good luck on build. :D

[AFMedic]

I should have gotten an 8800GT 512. =o( My 8800GTS 640 Superclocked only gets around 10400 on 3dMark.

[iiiprimeiii]

i dont really know what the score means but i got 12230 for 3dmark06 on my setup all stock no overclocking.

[AFMedic]

see, yours is better. i tried overclocking, but i got some artifacts in cod4 and i can only do antiliasing to 4x without jacking things up. GT is the way to go. myabe i should get a gt and sli them. nah... i'll wait for the 9000 series and step-up i guess. :D

[iiiprimeiii]

i overclocked mine to 3.6 for like 2 days and ran 3dmark again and it only went up to 12900. so i reset it back to stock. it runs great there anyways.

[rlwjr]

Got all my parts ordered. They should be here today. I ended up getting one of those MSI 8800GT's that had the rebate that put them at 209 bucks. It was that monster heat sink that sold me, LOL.

Got a question though. And excuse me if I don't quite ask it right, cause I just barely understand what I need to do here. When I go to install my clean XP install when I upgrade the mobo and cpu, and I hit F5 to set the correct ACPI HAL..... I select Multiprocessor ACPI, correct?

Any guidance on that aspect would be greatly appreciated.