Building new PC, need comments

[U-Toast]

To justify the cost of the 4870X2. You should get at least a 24" monitor. Anything lower then that and a single 4870 performs almost as well.

I am getting a 24" monitor, within a month or two.

As far as your recommended build, is the loss in graphics power really worth the cpu/mobo/ram upgrade? I mean is it worth loosing that much fps to be able to render or compress something a little quicker?

I have considered waiting for the GTX 295, but i dont have that much info about them. Do any of you know when they are expected and how much they will retail?

 

[Michowski]

Even on a 24" moniter, the 4870 512mb version still pulls over 70fps on any game but crysis. A 1gb model would surely bump up the numbers a little bit as well.

 

[chesirecat1701]

the gtx 260 216 is a beast, how could you consider it a loss? (; the 4970x2 is nice and fast that's a solid fact but the gtx is a fraction of the 4870x2 and xfx's gtx 260 216 Black edition is faster than the 4870 is quite a few widely used bench's such a 3dmark vantage and nVidia friendly crysis along with far cry 2, and in other bench's it at least keeps up

check it out Dark performance: XFX GTX 260 (216) Black Edition Review - Page 1 - Blackness! XFX GTX 260+

if your getting a 24" monitor the gtx is better cause the 4870x2 really only gets a leg up a ultra high resolutions and with AA up high due to it's massive amount of DDR5 ram

 

[U-Toast]

So you guys think replacing the E8500 with the i7 920, with 3GB ddr3, and getting the x260 black edition would be a good trade off?

What is the reasoning behind getting 3GB (is it for tripple channel?) Or can i just get 2x2gb?

Also what are your thoughts on vista 32bit vs 64bit? Both are available to me.
I am still open to more suggestions.

Thanks for the help so far

 

[Hussein19891]

Triple Channel allows for more bandwidth. Which translates to increased performance, not by a lot. But since Dual Channel DDR3 kits and Triple Channel DDR3 kits are in about the same price range. It becomes blatantly obvious to go with the later. Not to mention that applications and games are becoming more demanding and eat through ram.

 

[U-Toast]

Alright, so i think i have made up my mind then.
I will be going with the i7 920 and 3gb of ddr3 1600 (g.skill pi black unless other recommendations) and an xfx gtx260 black edition.

I am planning on overclocking the CPU, and was wondering if the ddr3 1600 will work well with that, or if i should just get 3x 2gb of ddr3 1333 (about same price)

What about your thoughts on vista 64bit?

 

[Mikepsyche]

With that budget you could get a nice i7 rig.

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Newegg.com - G.SKILL PI Black 3GB (3 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

Newegg.com - PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified (Dual 8800 GTX and below) CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

Newegg.com - EVGA 896-P3-1265-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Internal Hard Drives

Newegg.com - Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe - CD / DVD Burners

Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme-1366 RT CPU Heatsink (Socket LGA 1336) - FrozenCPU.com

You will lose a little bit of graphics power but that will make a better system overall. It will especially help you with the video editing. The i7 will be good for that.

Total: $1351

That's not too far off from my build in a post I made earlier today. Except, I'll probably only get a 650W PSU (I won't need Xfire or SLI any time soon at 1680 x 1050), and I'm thinking a 4870 1 GIG instead of a GTX 260 Core 216.

Would 6 gigs of 7-7-7-18 RAM beat 3 gigs of 8-8-8-24 RAM? I think they would.

The 4870 1GB is just a bit cheaper than the 216, and can process AA better. But, ATI drivers can be a nuisance. With this in mind, which is the better purchase? And will the 1GB version of the 4870 rather than the 512mb version go to waste on a 22" monitor, because I don't think it will.

EDIT: The 7-7-7-18 RAM was 1333, while the 8-8-8-24 was 1600

 

[zmatt]

Alright, so i think i have made up my mind then.
I will be going with the i7 920 and 3gb of ddr3 1600 (g.skill pi black unless other recommendations) and an xfx gtx260 black edition.

I am planning on overclocking the CPU, and was wondering if the ddr3 1600 will work well with that, or if i should just get 3x 2gb of ddr3 1333 (about same price)

What about your thoughts on vista 64bit?

I hate to be devil's advocate here. But i want you to reconsider the 4870. It beats the Nvidia cards in everything but Crysis and 3dmark. It really is a better value.

 

[U-Toast]

Yea i am getting different opinions from different people. I still reading up a lot. The 4870x2 does do very well, especially as they roll out new drivers. Also the 4870x2 setup i wanted at 1st is 1250$ at most, this recommended one is 1400+, but im still open to suggestions.

 

[Hussein19891]

With the 4870 at $200~ I don't see how you can go with anything else.

Other then maybe a GTX 260 (216) @ $200~ or less. But I highly doubt that.