need advise on new PC

Hey crossfire members,

I am going to buy a new PC, but I don't know much about them.
I have picked some stuff, so I would like some people to look at it and give me advise on what I need to upgrade/downgrade to save money/improve performance.

Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E8600
O/S MS Vista Home Basic 32bits SP1
Mobo ASUS P5Q-E,s775
Memory Corsair 4096MB,DDR2
Hard drive Samsung 750GB

As for graphic card im undecided between the GTX260 and the ATI HD4870

I prefer nvidia cards, but the GTX has 896mb and the HD4870 has 1GB and is cheaper, so not sure yet.

Any form of help is greatly appreciated.
Comments
126
ment ,rofl


take xp tho.
got XP here, and this version of vista is cheaper, so Ill just format and put XP on it and then maybe upgrade to 64bit vista

and what caused you to rofl if i may ask?
Parent
your namen.
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what is wrong with my namen?
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ask flo0pz he is working @ nvidia
sad but true :(
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whats hes doing there? :p
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i dont know how to say it in english :S

hmm...
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banging swedish models :)
Parent
if you gonna use vista, ise 64x and vista sp1 ultimate
srsly i use it and its fucking awsome :D
+
will be even better with your 4gb ram ;)
i would switch mobo to gigabyte :(
im a fan of them and they are rly strong :p

good luck, tithadesh

edit: spend money on cooling of course !
forgot to include in post that this O/S is only picked because its the cheapest, im gonna format and put xp on. nto sure yet if vista 64bit is so awsome, but then again, wht do i know
Parent
its better for gaming, as it gives full potential of ur hardware
but more programs supports 32 bit
Parent
It´s NOT better for gaming so far!
32bit applications (as the most games) will run in a virtual environment, this will slow down any 32bit app.
There are only a few "real" 64bit apps out there, mainly in the professional sector.

The only real benefit till now is the native support of more RAM and the biggest benefit for sure are the driver problems with certain hardware.
Parent
well do what i did

download now vista ultimate sp1 64bit
buy computer without o/s
and when you get your computer install the disc you burn with vista on it

and i can tell you this

i use many many programs and games and i never encounter any problems with that o/s

believe me :)
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dunno if its possible to buy a PC without O/S unless if I buy all the parts and assemble myself, but I dont think thats a very good idea. if it is possible then this seems like a good idea
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lol sure its possible

you buy from store yea?
you pay a bit extra cash for them to assamble it yea?

just tell them you already have o/s D: so you dont need to buy one
Parent
well im pretty lazy so was thinking of buying from online store :p and then just click all the stuff I want, but it doesnt let me choose " no O/S" : (
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Quotesrsly i use it and its fucking awsome

Quotei use it

QuoteIsrael Cohen Ishai


image: 0a8e014ab6af910e4a7b722b804e5447
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:DDD
nice picture

now we put to the test if sol going to give you warning points !!!
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nvidia ofc
if single: HD4870, if multi: 260GTX
HD4870 currently performs badly under CF / x2 CF, dont know if its due to drivers problem, but be warned
dubble should be HD4850 I think if he want´s to spare money.
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fuck off with the hd4850 already lol :S
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Oh god, you are fast!
He doesn't want to spend much money I quess, so why would he buy 2x 260GTX.
+ he shouldn't take a E8600.
Parent
hd4850 still performs as much as an 8800GT and its already old, having 4870 with an improved drivers fix's over the years is a much better choice (hd4850 wont last long with the modern games, even if it looks cheaper)
for the e8600, its currently the most powerfull 775 socket CPU on the market, and OC like a tigerrrr (except for extreme, but they overpriced)
if he really have the money he should get it because there wont be any other 775 socket CPUs afaik ^^
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I didnt even know taking 2 graphic cards was possible. but if I just take 1 then the ATI one is best? is that your conclusion? (im sorry i cant follow all of it due to a lack of basic PC knowledge)
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they are both similair, but since you dont have much knowledge, just pick one hd4870, having an 260GTX will just annoy u if you will wat to SLi it in the future(going into nvidia chipset etc)
so go with the hd4870
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money is not really an issue, though im the type of person who doesnt want to spend more money without getting better stuff for it. so if the nvidea is equal to the ATI card ill buy the ATI card cause its cheaper, but if 2x nvidia is betetr then ill buy that :P
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what do you want to do with your PC?
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I want to bake pancakes with it....


what the hell do you think i wanna do with it? :P play WoW ofcourse!
Parent
Like playing games, rendering?

If money really isn't a problem take:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
XFX GTX280 XXX
GigaByte X48T-DQ6
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q9550 sux -.- e8500/600 > it
Parent
HAHADADHADHADHADHDAHADADADHASDHADADADADADAD

HAHAHADHADADHADDAHADHA

I was going to find a TV show that has a character that is laughing as manically as I am right now to take a screencap and post here but honestly I don't think in the history of television that has ever happened.
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Haha I lol'd
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GigaByte X48T-DQ6 ==> 250€ and need DDR3 ...
Q5550 ==> 300€

Take good P45 mobo and E8400 ...
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ive heard from alot of people that quad core is still pretty useless as I will just play games and I wont do any video editting or stuff liek that.

but as overview, which parts do you think need an upgrade? only the mobo? guess i should get a 1gb mobo if i understand what you are saying. graphic card doesnt have to be best of the best, but i heard that the GTX cards are good enough for nearly any game and this ATI card seems to be nearly equal. problem with better gfx cards is that the prices go up really fast and you can barely notice difference so then it feels like wasting money, tho I can afford it if needed.
Parent
he wants you to get the e8500 because the e8600 is overpriced, if u can really afford it, i see no reason in not buying it( unless you are not OCING it? its meant for oc ofc)
and go for the ATI, it can max out every game except crysis on high
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price is not an issue here, just took the fastest, price differences are minimal and i dotn know shit about overclocking. thanks for the great info btw : )
Parent
if prices are really not a problem, look for HD4870X2
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well here the thing is, I dont really NEED 2 graphic cards. so is it a big difference? cause 2x that gfx card means quite alot of extra money and if its barely noticable then it feels like a bit of a waste
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it gives around 80% more performance over one hd4870, and this addition comes as in one card, yeah its expensive, since u said u have no problem with prices etc ^^ i think u can afford it if u also take of fsome cash from the #8600 (dont buy it if you arent planing on OC)
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well if it gives 80% more that is alot so I wouldnt call that a waste : ))
yeah overclocking is not really something im planning to do. so maybe 2x HD4870 is a good idea then, that would suffice for my needs anyway
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make sure u order the one card addition (instead of 2 cards)
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why is that if i may ask? and do you think its better to take the HD4870x2 or just 1 even better gfx card?
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depend on your screen.

22" => HD4850
More prefer HD4870 and even more prefer HD4870X2
Parent
Depend of your screen but two GFX is often useless, buy good case / cooling instead.

HD4850GS is often good, HD4870 if you want something better.
Parent
hi2u, need halp.
Need power supply for:
e8400
hd4850
msi mainboard

I don't know if BeQuiet straight power 400watt (60€) is enough ;/
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It isn't, get 500-530.
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try to look for enermax pro 82+ 525W, should serve u right
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kk thx

€ 89,90*
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+1 or any Corsair PSU
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im not much familiar with corsair PSU';s except for those crazy 200000W lol
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good stuff same as Seasonic PSU with more warrantly and often less expensive
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Chieftec CFT-500-A12S
is it any good?:(
60€
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no idea ^^
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well, I think I'll just test them :P
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"BeQuiet straight power 400watt" was enough.
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Enough but BeQuiet isn't Corsair/Seasonic/Enermax in term stability/quality/silence.
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I don't think he really cares here, 400W is really enough for what he has !
Parent
400W is enough but often boring to get an Airbus in your case
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Never ever heard the noise of a powersupply, whatever its quality was, since my other fans make more sound (gfx, proc, ...) 8D
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k :)

I use only silent component for cooling that's proabbly why :D
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cooling ? watercooling ?

haha, waste of money 8D!
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aircooling ==> profile :D
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Ahhhhh ok then !
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Yep.

I only have a 550W (Antec) but in fact I have :

2 overclocked HD4850 (CrossFire)
Asus P5Q-E
2 Raptor 36 Go @ RAID 0
1 Seagate 7200.11 500 Go
2 Go OCZ Platinum DDR2 overclocked to ~900MHz (4-4-4-12)
Intel C2Q Q6600 overclocked to 3,6GHz, with an OCZ Vendetta fan on.
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Audio

many persons overrate the power supply, unnecessarily ofcourse.
Parent
np !

hf :p, and you've got a problem=> pm me !
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ATi ofc
nvidia is better for opengl (RTCW:ET , wolf2 = coming soon , ETqw ...) and ATi is better for the rest (globaly) for the processor u can buy a 8400 or 8500 i don't remmember and u can overclock easy (sry for my gooooood engrish)

EDIT : actually hd4850 is better price/quality
Quote by Nicolahnvidia is better for opengl


rofl, wat?

And it appears that he's looking for amazing perfs, so the HD4850 doesn't really fit to what he'd like, although it delivers good stuff.
Parent
Better for gaming OpenGL, not really, but for professional work they have better OGL drivers to that. For gaming, the benchmarks speak for themselves.
Parent
- don't take E8600, better take the E8400/E8500 and overclock it, OR go for a quadcore !
- better take the HD4870
- don't buy your O/S. If you really wAAAAAnt to buy it : take XP SP3.
- the mobo you want looks a bit useless compared to what you want to plug in... would go for a MSI P35 Neo Combo-F here !
- 4Go of ram is useless, you should better buy 2Go of highly perfoment RAM (OCZ? - DDR2 ofcourse, dual channel, timings : 4-4-4-12, 800MHz or higher)
- About the harddrive... you'd better buy : a WD Raptor 36 Go for your OS and your favorite game & a 500 Go (Either Seagate 7200.11, either Samsung F1) for your other things (musics, etc)
4gb is not useless, windows 7 is coming soon and im 100% sure he dont want to stick with a shitty 2gb
duo > quad for gaming any time, even in the future(unless its e8400)
NOOOOOOOOO dont take the msi :D omg i bought it, only troubles, switched it twice, it's freaking shit ^^
Parent
Agree with the first part.

Raptor is overated now. Prefer Asus P5Q / Gigabyte P45 for mobo, PCIE 2.0 support and P45>P35 in term of OC.
Parent
Asus P5Q is useless for what he wants to buy, too many vacuum slots that he could use for something else... but that's my opinion. I agree with the P45>P35 thingy, but P45 is too expensive here ;/

PCI-E 2.0 doesn't change many things afaik, you'd win, what, 5 fps ?

+ Raptor are maybe still overpriced but it's still one of the best harddrive out there right now.
Parent
2xSamsung F1 RAID0 provide same performance for lower price/noise and more capacity.

P45 isn't not so expensive P5Q = 120€ / EP45 = 100€ seems useless now to buy P35.
Parent
You're talking about the future.

Windows 7's going to be out in, more or less, one year. How much time for the fixxed version ? Let's say 2 years and it's going to be fine... until then... 2Go are REALLY enough

duo > quad because people are speaking about the old-generation quadcores. Have a look at the recent ones, it's better than duocores in many many things, including games.

Also had this MSI, never had any problems with it...
Parent
this is a useful post, thanks!

overclocking... that has always seemed to me something that only die-hard gamers do, so im not sure if i dare to do it.

4gb ram useless? can you explain why? and also if I take 2gb is TWINX a good thing or not? (shit is so confusing...)

will take a betetr mobo i guess since alot of people say I should.
as for the 2 harddrives, what is the advantage of taking 2 small ones rather than 1 large one?

sorry for not knowing shit and thanks for taking time to help
Parent
OC = the CPU has a stock "clock" (for example E8500 runs on 3ghz, OC makes the clock run faster than the stock, meaning it will run in 3.ghz etc, making it more powerfull, but requires better PSU and cooling options)
memory = since you are using XP, it wont take over 1 or 2 GB of memory, since it doesn't support it, but vista / windows 7 does
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Using Vista with E4400 + 2Gb DDR2 don't have any problem and i'm making lot of moviemaking
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just saying vista supports it, xp doesnt
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problem is, I have no idea how to do this overclocking and im afraid that if I try I end up setting my PC on fire : ( and it would also mean that id have to place extra cooling in myself if the thing gets too hot doesnt it? that will be kinda hard for me too :p
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OC is really izi now, lot of T° protection you can't burn your CPU like you can before :D
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then maybe I will try. but i guess the E8500 can be overclocked too? so that might be better then as im not totally sure about it yet
Parent
Yep, it can be easily overclocked !
Parent
Imo its not really needed to overclock that cpu. It's fast enough w/o overclocking and especially when you don't have any knowlegde about oc, don't
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np :p

Overclocking consists in making one of your component better, via the BIOS in most of the cases. The most overclocked components are (in order) : CPU, gfx & ram.

e.g. : To overclock your CPU, go to the BIOS, find the right mitre and increase the FSB = your CPU will end having an higher frequency. But don't forget that it has its limit !

-

4Go ram is useless because : XP & Vista blocks to 3 Go (well, 2 for XP but there's a software so you can see 3Go on your screen :D), + you'll NEVER manage to use them entirely... tbh, I can't use my 2 Go entirely...

I don't know TWINX so can't really tell you... go to some famous webjournals and read articles about it ! OCZ & Corsair are doing good products.

-

as you want for the mobo, both are fine. The only difference is the chipset (P45 for Asus, P35 for MSI : maybe you've guessed, but it's better for overclocking and stuff) and the number of slots for pci-e/sata components. But there's also the price ! :p

-

A "large" disk won't go fast enough (that's my opinion) for the O/S, especially if you take Windows, above all if you choose vista. That's why I proposed you the Raptor for the "speed", and the Seagate for the "large&quality".

-

Did I miss a question ?
Parent
Vista 64-bit, 32-bit is waste of time and effort.
ok take #8500 then instead of E8600 ^^
what i advice:

E8500
HD4870X2
GA-EP45-UD3P (not entirely sure)
4gb memory
enermax modu 82+ 625W (or more W, not 100% sure)
HD4870X2 => HD4870
GA-EP45 ==> P5Q Pro
500W enough for PSU, and a good cooling like Noctua NH-U12 or smthing like that.

Sounds nice like that imo :D
Parent
Roflkartoffel, no idea!
I knew! : (
same here, i suck at this

btw lol comment 69 : DDDDDD
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lol =D
dode rally tonight? =D I'll bring PSO ook. Defeated eindbaas @ hard. Pure win.
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definitely, laten we het doen. I heb now played dode rally uit about 4 keer.
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also on the hoogste level? Because we'll try it vanavond.
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2 times op de lowest level en 2 times op de medium level, maar hard is pretty vervelend tbh!
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alsnog we're going to doen dat. we will own ze.
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I already knew that i didnt know shit about PC's but this has made it clear even more for me..
thanks for all the help anyway, i will try to make something nice out of it :p
GOOD LUCK MISTER!
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will need it :-(
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GO PLAY WOW NERD
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MY MAGE IS LVL 76 FAGGOT

but I might stop playing actually : (
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netsplit comeback?

WHERES FRATS OMG
Parent
The best advice I can give you is that two of the most moronic people on Crossfire run rampant with their stupid uneducated opinions in hardware/os related journals.

It happened here. No prizes for guessing who they are.
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so you say I dont listen to anything they said? I should do the opposite? im even more confused now
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Buy PS3 and big LCD screen instead if you want to play games.
you'll still suck lulz :XD
but then Ill have stable fps in ET so I can give sick headshots and do imba dmg and make you look like a newb luzl
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but i already are :(
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als ik jou was zou ik het gewoon ff op een hardware forum vragen hoor:p
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buy a timewarp ticket instead!
ja timewarp is vet ben vorig jaar geweest :D
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vet! ik ga denk jaar waarschijnlijk
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cool :) eerst jaar dat het in Nederland is toch ?? waar is het dit jaar Rotterdam ofzo?? zoiets had ik gehoord
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ja het was afgelope zaterdag in maassilo:P ik ga ook nog naar duitsland in april ofzo is het dan
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oh ja is al geweest -.- ja ben ook in duitsland geweest was ook vet :D
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in duitsland is het meestal ook vetter hoor, al was het zaterdag ook niet verkeerd :D
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