Building a GODLY comp, come tell me what's wrong with it!

[diabloII]

Id get this if i could

AMD FX-55
ABIT A8N-Fatality or normal (practically the same)
Liquid cooler for Fx-55 (not sure which)
1gig G.Skill F1 PC4400LE
2XWD Raptor 76gig in Raid 0
2XSeagate 200gig in Raid 0
ATI X850XT-Platinum
Thermaltake or Antec PSU
Rest the same

dfi lanparty ultra-d SLI with 2 asus 6800 ultras, a PCP&C 510 SLI, and basically what you listed

 

[bigbmxdave]

-shop around, those prices are too much

 

[GrimReaper23]

well www.overstock.com everyone go there now and the because they had the raptors for 35.00 USD don't know much what they got now though

 

[Thresh]

yeah change your cpu to a amd at same price and get a raptor hd. if your striving for quality then get a better ps, thermaltake is very popular.

 

[retherfordaehs]

sry for the confusion

why would i call you a noob? you gave great benchmarks (that even i was fascinated with)

i was referring to the original poster in my last post (just look at his setup on the first post of this thread and the title of this thread)

No problem. I apologize again for my mistake. I wont claim the dude a "noob", just mis-informed. But I do agree that he has too much $, he could be a real gentleman and send some my way! ;-)

Well, since he has the cash-

Go with the A64 4200, it'll be 90nm- oc to your heart's content!

For the mobo- I'd wait until ASUS releases thier A8N SLi Premium and see what the reviews say and then start asking people that own them how they like them.

If the A8N SLi Premium is everything the A8N SLi Dlx was supposed to be, then get that.

If not, don't over look the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum SLi- I've heard MOSTLY good things about it. It oc's well, has a CMOS reset BUTTON which could come in handy if you OC and "tweak" a lot. And also comes with a SB Live! on board audio with 5.1ch anologue out and digital via S/PDIF out.

Then again, DFI's SLi board rocks as well- I hear it is the BEST in terms of OC'ing.

For video cards, this IS a tough decision. Here is why I say that:

If ATI's SLi works, 2x X850XT PEs will KILL dual Ultras hands down. Dual X950XT PEs will down-right annihilate dual Ultras- especially in the 512mb flavour.

BUT...

nVidia knows this and is probably already working on the GF7. The 512mb Ultras, in my opinion, is to buy time but not crank up performance- we'd only see a small speed bump if any. I imagine that ATI will reign for a while with THIER SLi and X8xx and X9xx series of cards- single and SLi. But, maybe a few months after thier release I imagine nVidia will be out with their GF7 series of cards. Those are said to be natively PCI-e which means that they will use that extra bandwidth fully, so you'll then be able to see PCI-e's advantage over AGP. Also, these cards will be made with SLi in mind. The majority will sport either 256 or 512mb I assume. 512mb being the "norm" for their high end cards I'd assume. This is where nVidia, once again, could steal that crown from ATI. Remember the main battle now is with SLi performance.

So, I'd say that if you waited and got a board with that ATI SLi chipset (I forget what they are calling it), and dual X8 or X950 XT PEs w/ 512mb of ram- you'd be in the lead for a while in terms of performance. But that lead might be "dwarfed" incredibly by the GF7. Who knows how that generation will perform. On the other hand, the GF7 could wind up being another GFFX, though I'm sure we're all hoping not.

For ram, go 2gigs Dual Channel, DDR400 with CAS2. You don't need ram any faster for the A64. Either 4x512mb sticks, or 2x1024mb sticks. Either way you'd be happy. With your $ I'd go for 2x1024 as that'd leave another 2 slots free in which you could add another 2Gb if you ever needed to.



About Intel's EM64T, Keep in mind that you will not see much of a speed increase when comparing 32 to 64bit apps. It doesn't allow for "TRUE" 64bit performance. All Intel did was extend the P4's 32 registers to 48. Thus, it actually falls short abit.

With the A64, it is NATIVELY 64bit, but BACKWARDS compatible with 32bit. We WILL see any where from a 30% to a 50% speed increase when going from 32 to 64bits on the A64. This is because the A64 has a full 64 registers and is designed, from the ground up, to be a 64 bit processor. The P4 was not.

Also, AMD still has headroom with their 130nm process- this is why the FX-57 will be 130nm. They aren't running into the problems that the P4 did. But, I imagine that the FX-57 will be thier LAST cpu made from the 130nm process.

They have PLENTY of room on the 90nm process, the P4 DOES NOT.

Intel is stressing their transition to 65nm only because that smaller process generates less heat allowing for a bump in clock speeds. The current P4 is a space heater, even on 90nm. That is why the only safe route to oc the P4 is water cooling or its equivalent.

But when Intel moves to 65nm, they can then produce that 4GHz P4 they failed to produce on 90nm. That also means that the slower P4s on the 65nm will be a bit cooler aswell, possibly more oc friendly to.

So yes, Intel will be going to 65nm before AMD- but because they HAVE to. They can't keep the P4 alive as it is if they don't.

The A64 on the other hand, is still doing good at the 130nm process, and even better at the 90nm process. AMD is only preparing for 65nm so as to not be "left in the dust".



So, from that you can easily conclude that- atleast for the next 2 years- AMD is the safer road if you are conscerned with performance. They are also cheaper more often than not. ;-)

 

[Sport1031]

definatly go with an AMD. Also I would recomment PCI-Express fro fuure upgradability. Get either one 6800 Ultra or 2 6600GTs and SLI them. But definently go with AMD and PCI-E.

 

[20mm]

amd fx 53 or since your using so much money try out the fx 55. prices went down a 100 bucks on em.

x850pe pci-e 16

two 36 gig raptors in raid 0 then a large sata drive for you info and stuff. put programs on the raptors.

mobo just make sure it supports pci-e 16. i would say i nice dfi or an abit.

get a case with good coolingl, you could also check out water cooling

a gig of nice good ram.

 

[retherfordaehs]

x850pe pci-e 16

The reason you go with dual 6800GTs or Ultras instead of a single x850XT PE is that the dual Ultras will last longer in terms of performance.

Here's how:

In Doom3 on that X850XT PE you could play it with the visuals maxxed @ 1600x1200 w/ 8xaa/16xaf and still get around 80fps. Not bad huh? I sure wouldn't mind it.

Now...

With the dual GTs, or Ultras (referring to the 6800s, NOT the 6600s), at the same settings you get anywhere from 160 to 200fps.

Ok, that 160 to 200fps wont be noticable to the human eye, there for you don't get it for that. If you are only getting 80fps on that Radeon, those fps will continue to drop as the games released continue to have increased visuals.

If he were to get that Radeon, he'd enjoy 80fps in today's current games with the visuals maxxed. BUT... by this time next year, he might be getting only 60fps on THOSE current games. Still not bad at all.

Then again on the SLi with dual 6800GTs or Ultras, he'd be getting 120 to 160fps by this time next year.

Ok, now add another year.

That Radeon now only gets 40fps and maxxed visuals, the dual 6800GTs or Ultras still gets around 100fps.

Hmm... you could notice the difference I'd imagine.

Add another year, that Radeon with maxed visuals slugs along at a mere 20fps while those dual 6800GTs or Ultras could be getting him an honest 40 to 60fps still.

Now, it is obvious that my numbers are going to be off, I'm not a prophet. But... the concept is accurate. As time goes on the games will come out with better and better graphics. As such, the vcard(s) will get stressed more and more as the graphics continue to increase. Thus, the frame rates will slowly drop. That 80fps wont last forever, just like that 160 to 200 fps on the dual 6800GTs or Ultras wont last forever, but the high frame rates will last longer on the dual 6800GTs or Ultras than the single Radeon.

Keep in mind- this goes for both ATI and nVidia as both offer an SLi solution, just nVidia's is already on the market and has been for some time.

Games will be comming out with SLi in mind, for BOTH nVidia and ATI. But untill ATI has thier SLi in the Market and on shelves, those games will be aimed at nVidia. We don't see SLi's full potential becuase current games were not made with SLi in mind. They were made with single card rigs in mind. That will slowly change. As time wears on more and more games will be made with SLi support, thus game devs will fully exploit its potential- just not yet.

With that said, one X850XT PE will offer approx. half the performance of dual 6800Ultras when each card is compared when visuals and res. are both maxed.

So, ATI's SLi might offer more than nVidia's- but nobody knows yet. Only time will tell. You may get a rig with dual Ultras just to find out that a month later ATI's SLi is out and offers a 30 to 50% performance increase OVER your dual Ultras. Boy would that suck.

Then again, by that time nVidia will be close to releasing the GF7. That gpu could be a BEAST. Nobody knows how the NV50 series of gpus will stack up compared to the NV40s nor the R520s or R6xx. Only time will tell. The NV50s will be natively PCI-e, that is known. They will fully utilize that extra bandwidth dwarfing AGP cards in tems of bandwidth. They will also be made with SLi as the main focus (the high end cards will be, not so much the low end- not yet anyways). As such, it will be safe to say that dual NV5x's will SPANK dual X850XT PEs- or atleast they should. The GF7 might end up another GFFX for all we know.

If I were to be in this situation I'd look at this:

nVidia already has SLi out and is in the process of perfecting it. ATI does not have SLi out and will have to perfect it over time. As such, nVidia- theoretically- has the advantage since they got the head start. I would then think that if I got dual 6800GTs or Ultras now, I might be surpassed by the dual Radeons for a short while. But when the GF7 is released, I could very well retake the lead leaving the Radeons behind yet again.

After that- both nVidia and ATI may become "tied" (referring to after the GF7 and Radeon XX00 series). Those cards are two generations away and by that time ATI may once again be in the lead.

But, for now it is clear that nVidia has the performance advantage, and their drivers ARE less buggy.

Get either one 6800 Ultra or 2 6600GTs and SLI them.

Yes, but then no. Okay, you say 2 6600GTs and SLi them? Why? One 6800GT can more than double that performance for the same price, if not less.

Okay, 2x 6600GTs is about $400. One 6800GT is only $350 to $400. So, you could say that the price for 2x6600GTs is roughly the same as that for ONE 6800GT. Also, that ONE 6800GT provides the same performance as 2x6600GT- with the cards at stock settings. Now OC that 6800GT to say 500clock/ 1300mem. You have now paid only $400 but are going to get MUCH more performance than the dual 6600GTs could ever offer- even if they were oc'd. The 6600GTs just don't pack the performance punch of the 6800GT. That is why 2x6600GT= 1x6800GT. Now, I say get the one 6800GT becuase it is on average $150 to $200 cheaper than the Ultra, but can offer JUST as much performance with a little OC.

Definitely 6800GT or Ultra if you go SLi. If you go with Dual Ultras, the only reason should be for the 512mb version as a oc'd 6800GT can provide just as many fps as the 256mb Ultras.

 

[retherfordaehs]

you could also check out water cooling

Though that wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea, with the A64 you can get pretty good OC's on just air- especially with the 90nm A64s. That A64 4200 should easily hit 3Ghz on air, now if you get a good HSF like a Thermaltake Volcano12 or better with good thermal grease (AC5 or Shin Etsu), you might just make it to 3.2 if you drop your HTT link a bit. Not bad at all. With water cooling you could probably crank it up to 4GHz, but that will offer nothing more than bragging rights as your games wont see much of a boost beyond an oc of 3.2GHz.

 

[HAVOC]

LOL - Yeah, there is no way in hell a floppy drive will cost $40.00
UNless it's a Floppydrive with a 16 in 1 media card reader. THose are tight.

Well, if you like intel, "I do" i'd spend another $100.00 and go with the P4 EE 3.73GHz with FSB 1066MHz.