First time builder and have a crap load of questions...

[veg1992]

Alright, I guess I'm just a nVidia fanboy.
BUT my father's fx5500 does keep up with my x600 in CS:S.

I guess I'm just afraid to step out on a ledge and try something different like an ASUS mobo and another ATI gpu...

So is the Radeon HD 3870 X2 better than 2 8800GT SLI? Also does it have DX10.1 support like the GeForce9 series that's coming out soon? And will it play Crysis (no doubt that it will if it costs close to 500 bucks)? And if I get the Radeon HD 3870 X2, which brand would I get because I have no idea which one is good or bad because I've only had my eyes on nVidia cards...

Thanks for the help!

because CS:S does cap at 120fps, and yes it is, doesn't matter which brand

 

[maroon1]

So is the Radeon HD 3870 X2 better than 2 8800GT SLI?

Form the benchmarks that I saw, 8800GT SLI does beat HD3870 X2 in most cases

 

[iGarrett]

Alright... So I really like the sound of the Radeon HD 3870 X2 (probably will get the VisonTek?) That way I can keep up with the high demand of future games and buy another one later on and use crossfire

K so I think I've got and idea of what video card to get...

Now for the motherboard... Since I'm looking at an ATI card, I don't think I want an nVidia board. So I need opinions on the: Gigabyte X38-DS4 (even though I've never heard of Gigabyte, the description of the board on their site seems solid...) and the ASUS MAXIMUS FORMULA (even though I'm afraid of ASUS, I might as well take a chance...).

Any other suggested motherboards? I need a mother board with PCI-e 2.0 and 45nm CPU ready...

Thanks for the help!

EDIT:
(Then again I just searched google and most people are praising the 8800GT vs Radeon HD 3870 (not x2, but still.. I honestly don't know.. All I do know it I want 1 card now and then I want to buy another later...)

 

[veg1992]

any p35 board supports 45nm CPU's, also the x16 and PCI-e 2.0 is backwards compatible, so you can run a PCI-e 2.0 card on a PCI-e 16x slot

 

[iGarrett]

Well, I just wanted to take advantage of PCIe 2.0's speed

I honestly can't figure out what the best motherboard would be for me...
As for the video card, I like 8800GT but if SLI isn't supported then I guess the Radeon HD 3870 X2 would work too...

 

[veg1992]

honestly no card can take advantage of dual x16 let alone 2.0

 

[No Absolution]

Well I think I'm gonna stick with nVidia even though the Radeon HD 3870 X2 sounds oh so nice, I think I just want to stick with 1 GPU 1 card and that will do fine for now... (I mainly wanna play UT3 :nerd: )

Alright, well one of my questions was never answered...

If I get the Antec 900 case (most likely will...) and get the OCZ GameXStream (nice long cables and 700 watt) the PSU fan will be aimed right at the GPU, will that possibly damage the GPU?

Thanks!
--Garrett

 

[DawnOfDoom]

Well I think I'm gonna stick with nVidia even though the Radeon HD 3870 X2 sounds oh so nice, I think I just want to stick with 1 GPU 1 card and that will do fine for now... (I mainly wanna play UT3 :nerd: )

Alright, well one of my questions was never answered...

If I get the Antec 900 case (most likely will...) and get the OCZ GameXStream (nice long cables and 700 watt) the PSU fan will be aimed right at the GPU, will that possibly damage the GPU?

Thanks!
--Garrett

lol the fan blowing on the GPU wouldnt damage it if not cool it better if you have a low wattage CPU that doesnt heat up your PSU and is a power hog. lol

 

[WarrenX]

No Absolution, nice build btw but theres one thing i would recommend, dont get the newest cpu (9xxx) yet, i would get the 8500e, you dont know how its going to operate with some games, get a processor thats already undergone deep testing.

 

[DawnOfDoom]

No Absolution, nice build btw but theres one thing i would recommend, dont get the newest cpu (9xxx) yet, i would get the 8500e, you dont know how its going to operate with some games, get a processor thats already undergone deep testing.

the only issue with the wolfdales is that when you OC they have a 4.2GHz Barrier But with the later 8600 CPU's that im hearing about their gona correct thsi bug and possibly hit 5.0

http://www.techist.com/forums/f78/yorkfield-harpertown-delayed-because-bug-164111/

Proof ^^^^^^