$850 gaming PC

[Uniqueuponhim]

I'm pretty sure the P45>X38...i seen someone post some reviews about it earlier. Even thought it is 8x-8x vs 16x-16x it still wins. Doesn't matter, cards don't even use the bandwidth PCI-E2.0 provides.... get a good quality P45 board and you're set.

ANYWAY most ddr2/ddr3 boards have issues and aren't to good. RAM seems a bit over priced..I'd get a cheaper 800mhz set. Don't even start "omgomogmm 1066vs800!@!21!!!" because it doesn't matter unless you plan on doing a 500FSB overclock...which you won't be doing with that chip/board.

Well, according to the data I just linked to, the crossfired 4850 actually is throttled by the p45 board with dual 8x. Of course it's only throttled when running very high end games, but the fact is that the motherboard does create a significant bottleneck in new games. The reviews talking about how cards don't even use the full bandwidth at 8x/8x are from 2006 and 2007, and are therefore not really relevant. What is relevant is the data.

The reason I settled on that board was because it was the lowest priced x38 board, and it still had some pretty good reviews - in particular, Reviews - Pro-Clockers! PC Reviews One MegaHertz At A Time

As for the RAM, I see your point. One of the issues with this board was actually that to overclock with it you had to underclock the RAM to 800 anyway.

How about one of these:
OCZ Reaper OCZ2RPR800C44GK 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 4-4-4-15 Memory Kit - $107.05
OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-18 DDR2 240PIN Dual Channel Memory Kit - $78.50

The former is significantly more expensive but seems to be the more popular one. From what I can tell, the heat sink that comes attached makes it more overclockable. Will that make much of a difference with my setup though? Is the extra $30 worth it?

p45 is a better chipset than an x38. x48 would be close to par with the p45. p45 does not bottleneck the pcie at a substantial (ie "measurable") rate unless you are playing insane resolutions (like 2560 x 1600). there are countless reviews stating this, and a few that still cling to the idea that it does, even at like 1280, lol. as far as the "tables speak for themselves", it aint hard for a website to post up some results favoring whichever board they are in support of. at 1920 i will dispute that ther is as much difference as that website claims. and i'd wager nosboost's left nut (LOL) that there aint NO WAY its 17% faster. it may be a little (and i mean at the most 5-10%) faster SOMETIMES, and that depends on what game, resoluton, scene, etc etc etc the list goes on....

Ok, I'm starting to come around. But it's hard to do so without seeing some actual numbers. When I buy that second video card later on, I'd like to be able to use its full potential. Also, if you agree that the x38 is at least faster with these games at very high resolutions then isn't it also possible that it will be faster at lower resolutions with more graphics intensive games in the future? Is there any actual disadvantage to getting the x38 (other than the price)?

 

[Nagasama]

The reviews talking about how cards don't even use the full bandwidth at 8x/8x are from 2006 and 2007, and are therefore not really relevant. What is relevant is the data.

huh? p45/x48 weren't even out in 2006/7...
lol..here we go...
here's some "relevant data" from 2 months ago...
Legion Hardware

i linked the last page.
the p45 costs less, uses less power, and overclocks better. all for less than a 5% difference in crossfire performance up to at least 1920 x 1200 resolution. seems like a good trade off to me.

Also, if you agree that the x38 is at least faster with these games at very high resolutions then isn't it also possible that it will be faster at lower resolutions with more graphics intensive games in the future? Is there any actual disadvantage to getting the x38 (other than the price)?

very high resolutions, yes, it seems like it is faster. i haven't studied 2560 resolution too much, i will never have a monitor that big (thanks wifey lol)
lower resolutions, no it will not be any faster. if the game was so intensive, at low resolutions, it will bottleneck the card before the chipset.
i dont know of any advantage of the x38. besides the x16 crossfire, which is a MYTH unless you are playing on a 32" monitor.

 

[Uniqueuponhim]

huh? p45/x48 weren't even out in 2006/7...
lol..here we go...
here's some "relevant data" from 2 months ago...
Legion Hardware

i linked the last page.
the p45 costs less, uses less power, and overclocks better. all for less than a 5% difference in crossfire performance up to at least 1920 x 1200 resolution. seems like a good trade off to me.

Thank you for the link. That is enough to convince me to go with a p45 instead. And the P5Q Pro P45 seems like my best bet.

And for the record, I didn't say anything about reviews of p45 or x48 in 2006/07, I said reviews comparing dual x8 to dual x16.

 

[Uniqueuponhim]

I've edited the OP to change from 1066MHz to 800MHz RAM, and the Motherboard from the x38 ASRock to the p45 Asus.

I'm still not sure if the OCZ Reaper is worth the extra $30 over the gold. I'm also not too sure if I have a suitable power supply, or sufficient cooling. So I'm still looking for help in those areas. Thanks for showing me that I'm better off with a p45 motherboard and saving me some money.

 

[Nagasama]

np man thats why we are here.
i have the 1066 reapers, i had the 1066 OCZ platuinum before that and did not like those at all. i get much better clocks with the reapers (and not to be superficial, but they look WAY better )
and also, i had a p5q pro before i had this deluxe, and it waqs a great board. i get better overclocks from the deluxe and obviously the cooling is a little better, but overall the pro is a great board.

 

[Uniqueuponhim]

So is the rig I have in the OP adequate? Is there anything at all that you'd change? What about a cooler, if I plan on overclocking a bit?

 

[Nagasama]

its adequate. the only thing i would change is i would go with a q9550 instead of the 6600. it is a little more expensive, but runs cooler, uses less power and is quite a bit faster clock for clock. if you have the money to spare, it is about 120 dollars more.
as far as cooler, the main recommendations here are the xigmatek s1283 (i have this one and it is great), or the sunbema core contact. both are excellent coolers, and cost about 40 dollars.

 

[Uniqueuponhim]

It`s actually about $160 more here, so I don`t know if it`s worth it. Plus, it looks like I can easily overclock to 3GHz+ anyway so I don`t think it`ll make much difference.

I'd like to know though, will I actually need the extra cooling if I'm only going to 3GHz? Would it be a good idea to get it anyway?

Also, I've been kind of thinking about getting the 4870 instead of the 4850. It's about $110+tax extra. Plus it'll be another extra bit of money down the road when I decide to double them up. How does the 4870 compare to the 4850? How would 2 4870s compare to 2 4850s? And how would 1 4870 compare to 2 4850s?

 

[Nagasama]

i would get the cooler anyway, yes.
2 4870's are almost equal to a 4870x2, the most powerful card ATi makes.
2 4850's are faster than one 4870 by a little. but, your upgrade path is over. a single 4870 will perform for quite some time. then you can crossfire another one...by the time you need it, they will be cheap.

 

[norcrawler]

ya pretty sure the 4870x2 is like the fastest card out right?
and even two in xfire are darn near close.