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(Fixed) Choice In Vid Card for this machine.
BobRoss
Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 213
Here is what Im looking at for a computer:
www.gateway.com/systems/product/529665348.php
They have a choice in vid cards and This comes with the machine:
ATI Radeon® X1950 CrossFire™ solution w/ 512MB GDDR4 memory DVI w/ HDCP, VGA (via adapter
Here is what I would like to upgrade it too:
NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX w/ 768MB, Dual DVI-I Dual link TV Out (Factory Overclocked) w/ VGA adapter
How much of a difference would that be? Drastic?
Bob Ross
Comments
mentioning which cards would be nice xD
Well it's not hard.. click: add poll, then make one!
Hahaa very funny. Ty , But I went a different route instead of the poll so Fellow gamers can get the jist of what im trying to do here.
Bob Ross
nVidia still owns the top performance crown. If that's what matters to you, then that's what you should go with. Down in the mid-range cards, the new stuff from AMD/ATi is as good as nVidia, so it comes down to price/performance. Also, I've heard that the issues with Crossfire have pretty much been worked out.
Trust me when I say, build your own pc. If you don't know how, learn to build your own pc, then build your own pc. It will save you money, but it will also save you the problems you will generally walk into with pre-manufactured PC's. Not to mention the difference in quality.
But at least you'll not be buying DELL
Well I like Nvidia just because I use them more, but I think that ATI card is pretty mean too. I'm not sure it matters which one you use unless you're doing like 3D animation for Steven Spielberg on your computer. Either will run any MMORPG or game on the market with ease.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience"
CS Lewis
Now on the other side of things, I have seen and heard people who have built PC's and they were constantly tinkering with them because "this" didn't work or "that" don't work or "dammit, I'm over heating" or (enter chosen words here).
Am I against building my own stuff? Nope. But I never had a problem with manufactured stuff either.
Bob Ross
If you were wanting a good vid card, like the 8800gtx....I say get whatever crappy card comes with the computer...then go and get this card:
nvidia 8800GT. Notice I said GT and not GTX or ultra or GTS.
Nvidia just released the 8800GT, which performs better than most of the 8800GTX and GTS cards, but price range is around $250 dollars. Best card for your buck these days. It also beats the crap out of all the ATI cards that are out right now.
You should be able to pick one up for 250-280 or so, highest ones are about 300. If that's too steep for you right now just take whatever comes with the computer, though if they have an nvidia option, I'd roll with that, at least until ATI pulls their head out of their arse.
I think ATI might be better when the DX10 and stuff is more mainstream, but as of right now their cards are crap. (mostly due to the software/driver support moreso than the hardware on the card.)
But nvidia is more bang for the buck for less money right now.
D.
Dude...you're gonna pay 2 grand for a comp and it doesn't even have SLI???
You're paying too much.
If you got that kind of money to waste...go for this:
XFX GeForce 8800 Ultra Video Card
768MB, PCI Express x16, Dual DVI
Thats about the best you can get right now. It's like $630.
But seriously, if you wanna burn that kind of dough, get a rig with a
nvidia 680i chipset on the motherboard and run an SLI rig...get two 8800gt cards for the price of one 8800ultra, run 64 bit vista with your 4 gigs of ram. Could probably get it for about the same price...lose the mcafee crap, you can download better for free. Get a smaller harddrive, you can probably knock a couple hundred off that computer with that alone. unless you do digital movie making or have about 3 years worth of music on your computer...I don't really see you burning through 1000 gigs of hard drive...get like a 500g. should be plenty big enough..or two 320 gigs.
You'll blow everything out there out of the water.
I'd suggest the evga 680i motherboard. You could overclock the crap out of that quad core and tear it up. Dunno about that crap motherboard in the gateway though.
Just my two cents from a guy that builds his own rigs (and use to do it for a living.)
D.
What Daelnor said, although SLI is slightly overrated in terms of pure gains versus $$$.
I also disagree with the storage space. 1TB ftw, otherwise I can't store my animé
Ok so .... Lets fill in the blanks here
Motherboard: evga 680i
Video: XFX GeForce 8800 Ultra Video Card 768MB, PCI Express x16, Dual DVI
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI Sound Card
OP Ssytem: Windows Vista 64 bit
Ram: 4G ( type?)
HD:
Anything else?
Bob Ross
Holy crap. That price is sheer robbery. Don't do it man don't do it. They are ripping you off. If you are going to spend lots of money on a computer, then atleast go through a company that uses quality parts. Dell, HP, and Gateway all use cheapo parts and charge 2-3 times as much for them. Here are some good companies to overspend money on that won't give you cheapo parts, although expensive.
Digital Storm
Ebay Shops
$800 Gaming PC
Falcon Northwest
VoodooPC
Nvidia SLI Zone Don't buy from ibuypowerPC or CyberpowerPC
Vigor Gaming
Arbico
Addict PC
Gateway suxxxxxxxxx
Trade in material assumptions for spiritual facts and make permanent progress.
I wouldn't get a Vista 64 myself if it was my main OS. I use Vista 64 and there are applications that will work on Vista 32 and not Vista 64. I do actually use Vista 64, but I also have another drive using XP. IMO if you want the newer OS I would purchase Vista 32 home premium if you are only going to use the pc for games and video. Although I guess Ultimate is ok if you want to use your pc for business too.
just wondering why not ibuypower or cyberpowerpc?
Hold on Snow Leopard, imma let you finish, but Windows had one of the best operating systems of all time.
If the Powerball lottery was like Lotro, nobody would win for 2 years, and then everyone in Nebraska would win on the same day.
And then Nebraska would get nerfed.-pinkwood lotro fourms
AMD 4800 2.4ghz-3GB RAM 533mhz-EVGA 9500GT 512mb-320gb HD
They are cheap for a reason. They re-use parts on old machines, sometimes faulty parts that get returned to them. They also rarely honor warranty agreements, and thier customer service blows.
Since it appears you're going full bore, I'll list what I've got in my own system. If I was buying today, though, some things would be different. I built my system last February. I'm not sure that I'd still go with AMD. The C2D is kicking AMD's ass right now, as much as I hate to admit it. Anyway...
MB: You're going Intel, and I don't know Intel MBs very well, so I wont recommend anything here.
GPU: BFG Tech BFGR88768GTXOCE GeForce 8800GTX 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail -- I'd get the Ultra now, though.
Sound: What you listed.
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit) -- Several companies dragged their feet at making drivers for it, but most of them now have done so. However, HP still doesn't have very good driver support for their printers. If you have an older HP printer, this might be a problem.
Ram: (2x) CORSAIR XMS2 DOMINATOR 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4D - Retail -- Since you're getting an Intel board, check to see what it supports. Corsair makes good memory, in my experience: it's hard to go wrong with them.
HD: Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply - Retail
Case: Antec Performance One P180B Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel for durability through the majority of chassis 1.0mm cold rolled steel around the 4 x HDD area ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Let me add that you'll save a lot of money building your own system, plus you'll know it was done right. Newegg is a very good vendor to go with and the one I usually use -- so do a lot of people. Also, DO NOT skimp out on your PSU, especially if you're going SLI. It's an oft-overlooked componant that can lead to a lot of very difficult troubleshooting problems if it goes bad or isn't up to snuff.
I'd still probably roll an 8800gt over the pricier versions. Many reviews I have read where they place them head to head over the more expensive cards showed the 8800gt coming out on top. Weird, even the pro's are kinda confused as to why nvidia would make a cheaper card that can beat or do as well as the gtx and ultra.
The intel chipsets rock from what I've researched, but I'd only use them if you are only planning on ever running one card. With the SLI motherboard and chipset, you can always run one card and then have the option to add another later.
Intel has the x38 chipset out now, with full pcie 2.0 support, which might be a big deal in a couple years, but the gpu cards out now can't even push pcie 1.0, so its not really a big deal. However, you may want to make sure your mobo is going to be compatible with the penryn quadcores that will be coming out, so that you can upgrade at a later date without replacing your entire system.
nvidia is coming out with their newer 780i chipset for some kind of pcie 2.0 support and penryn support very soon, you might want to wait for one of those mobo's if you're gonna go SLI (dual nvidia gpu cards), or with the x38 for one card or crossfire support.
The raptor drives are fast, but you could do almost as good with a typical sata 2.0 drive, and come out with more storage space.
The sound card seems to be on par, though I believe there is a newer (and more expensive) version out.
As far as RAM goes...it depends on the motherboard and if you plan on overclocking your ram. If you are just gonna run it stock, then all that really matters is that it is compatible with your motherboard. I'd go DDR2 1066mhz dual channel pc8500 most likely with a newer rig, its not really that much more expensive than pc6400 800mhz dual channel if you have money to spend. Crucial is my personal favorite for ram, though corsair is good, as well as ocz and kingston.
For a case I'd suggest either a Cooler master 690 (cm690) or an antec 900. Both are nice cases with good cooling and nice extras. (the cooler master case is cheaper.)
I like the earlier guys suggestion about running 2 OS's though, the 32bit and the 64bit. The 64bit will rock for games, as it will put your quadcore and ram to better use, moreso than the 32bit version will, but it might be nice to have the 32 bit for compatability issues. I'd probably go with home premium...ultimate is very pricy and a bit overrated unless you use it for work or something.
Um, that's all for now.
D.
p.s. the corsair powersupply the guy above suggested is a good choice.
Just build your own those website that Arndur listed are pretty much the same price as gateway except they have different cases -.-