Jeff Lawson
Baseband Member
- Messages
- 49
IMO way too many people have incompatible PC specs for games.
It's important to do a number of things when buying a gaming box{less important when buying a email/net box}, you need to build a machine to meet your expectations, and you "should" do this by matching your components so that their power compliments each other.
Example of a poorly specified gamers box is...AMD 3500, 512 ram, X800XT...in this case the quantity of ram is too low, another example is...AMD 3500, 2 gig ram, 9600pro/XT....this time the problem is with the GPU.
This is what I consider a entry level gamers box: AMD 3000/1 gig ram, 6600GT, and better one would be AMD 3500, 2 gig ram, 6800GT/X800XL, this box would be viable for 2-2.5 yrs as a gaming box without upgrading, 4-5 yrs as a email/net box, and could be upgraded to a R520+AMD 4200 later on giving it another lease on life.
When buying each component, look for value, IOW, at some price point your performance returns diminish, eg, AMD 3500 is the highest CPU you want atm, as the 3800 gives minimal gains for a heavy price penalty.
Same with the GPU, atm the 6600GT is the ideal mid range card, and IMO, the entry level for a gamers box, of course 6800GT/X800XL are much more powerful than the 6600GT and arguably offer value for money, but the X800XT/X850XT/6800ULTRA do not offer value for money as you pay as much as $200AUD for 10-15% more power, whereas going from 6600GT to 6800GT realizes approx 70-80% more power and will allow you to max out some games{1600x1200}.
Btw, SLI is a complete joke in all configurations, is hopelessly overpriced and to boot has compatibility/heat issues.
It's important to do a number of things when buying a gaming box{less important when buying a email/net box}, you need to build a machine to meet your expectations, and you "should" do this by matching your components so that their power compliments each other.
Example of a poorly specified gamers box is...AMD 3500, 512 ram, X800XT...in this case the quantity of ram is too low, another example is...AMD 3500, 2 gig ram, 9600pro/XT....this time the problem is with the GPU.
This is what I consider a entry level gamers box: AMD 3000/1 gig ram, 6600GT, and better one would be AMD 3500, 2 gig ram, 6800GT/X800XL, this box would be viable for 2-2.5 yrs as a gaming box without upgrading, 4-5 yrs as a email/net box, and could be upgraded to a R520+AMD 4200 later on giving it another lease on life.
When buying each component, look for value, IOW, at some price point your performance returns diminish, eg, AMD 3500 is the highest CPU you want atm, as the 3800 gives minimal gains for a heavy price penalty.
Same with the GPU, atm the 6600GT is the ideal mid range card, and IMO, the entry level for a gamers box, of course 6800GT/X800XL are much more powerful than the 6600GT and arguably offer value for money, but the X800XT/X850XT/6800ULTRA do not offer value for money as you pay as much as $200AUD for 10-15% more power, whereas going from 6600GT to 6800GT realizes approx 70-80% more power and will allow you to max out some games{1600x1200}.
Btw, SLI is a complete joke in all configurations, is hopelessly overpriced and to boot has compatibility/heat issues.