[Arkangel]

I'm investing in a new pc, primarily for gaming, and was wondering which CPU to get for it. 1st her are the basic components

Seagate SATA 500G
G-B EP45T-UD3RL
1GB 4870 ASUS
2G Kit(2x1G) DDR3 1333 ASUS
LG SATA Blu-Ray Combo Player
Thermaltake Blue Orb II Typhoon VX

Now im unsure what CPU to go for: E8400 or Q8200      PLEASE DONT SUGGEST OTHERS THEYRE MY ONLY OPTIONS 
I know that for gaming right now the E8400 is considered better but the latest games are shouting 'I EAT CORES NOM NOM NOM!' like GTA IV so the quad would be better there. Im not looking to overclock i just want a nice, reliable pc for the next 2-3 years.

Cheers

[pecenipicek]

since you're going  with the lame options

Take the cheaper one and throw in two more gigs of ram.


2 gigs is rather low nowadays

[Arkangel]

Its DDR3 but the plan was to get another 2 in a couple of months when i can afford it.
They're both the same price, anyother detail you can offer me?

[pecenipicek]

yeah, buy a 9800 GX2. better performance for less monies. also, no problems with fso.


as for dd3 and any memory above 1ghz, you need at least a phenom 9500 (in other words, ddr3 is massive overkill for a dual core...)



also, ASUS as a memory stick manufacturer? hmmm... i'll give it a benefit of a doubt but if you get problems, you've been warned

[Hellstryker]

Go with EVGA for the card, not ASUS. lifetime warranty ftw. 

[Fury]

2G Kit(2x1G) DDR3 1333 ASUS

You're wasting your RAM slots with 1GB sticks. Buy 2GB sticks, two of them.

Now im unsure what CPU to go for: E8400 or Q8200      PLEASE DONT SUGGEST OTHERS THEYRE MY ONLY OPTIONS 

E8400.

LG SATA Blu-Ray Combo Player

Are you certain you want to waste your money on overpriced blu-ray?

[Vidmaster]

seriously, the blue ray player is not necessary at all.

[Arkangel]

(the blu ray is for free, it was that or pay $30 AUS for a CD-RW)

Okay things have changed
I can now get the Q9400, the GFX card is a 1Gb 4870
Would a 430W PSU cope with all these components or is the dealer tryin to screw me over?

[pecenipicek]

BWAHHHAHAHA!!!


yes. he's screwing you over hard. dump the 4870 and take a 9800GX2.

[Arkangel]

Nah, other than the case & power supply i get the rest for free, ill take what i can

[Dark RevenantX]

My HD 4870 is more than enough to max out fs2 without any problems at all.  And it can run GTA4 acceptably (nothing can run it well), as well as run Crysis at very good settings very smoothly.

[General Battuta]

I really like my 4870.

[Arkangel]

Yay, pleasant, heart warming comments

Okay so what wattage do you think my PSU should be, i was hoping for around 550W from coolermaster

[Fury]

A good quality 430W power supply can beat a 600W crappy power supply. I don't know much about coolermasters though. Personally I prefer Antec EarthWatts, it's always been a safe choice when it comes to quality for good price. The 500W and 650W EarthWatts are a good buy.

yes. he's screwing you over hard. dump the 4870 and take a 9800GX2.

This is gotta be poor sarcasm.
The only think I don't like about my Sapphire 4870 1GB, is how noisy the cooler gets when the card is under load. But then again, it's Sapphire. Other manufacturers may (and usually have) better coolers.

[pecenipicek]

it isnt. i dislike ati's stuff.


in any case, as far as psu's go, i have a chieftec 550W which i paid some $100 about a year ago. so far soooo gooood


in any case, chieftecs are a rather good choice.  but a 430W psu, wont be able to give enough power, due to the quad core thats now in the game, together with the 4870. say what you want, those cards arent power savers....

[Dark RevenantX]

High-end cards do not handle power efficiently.  It's just the truth.  550W is a safe minimum for you - I'd go with 800W if you want to go crossfire sometime.

[Fury]

High-end cards do not handle power efficiently.  It's just the truth.  550W is a safe minimum for you - I'd go with 800W if you want to go crossfire sometime.

Erh, while high-end cards do eat power. You do not need a monster 800W if you buy a good quality power supply with proper voltages on its rails. If you only look at wattages, you end up buying garbage.

I have Antec EarthWatts 500W, and it powers my 1GB Radeon 4870 along with everything else just fine. It'd be fine even if I buy a second 4870. It's about rail voltages, not watts.

it isnt. i dislike ati's stuff.

Go ahead. 4870 eats 9800GX2 for lunch when it comes to price/performance/power consumption ratio. And the GX2 is a dual-GPU card and they inherently suck balls regardless of whether they are ATI or NVIDIA. Now, GTX260 or 280 I might consider getting instead. Though 4870 usually outperforms GTX260 for less price...

[General Battuta]

The 4870 has a really good performance-to-price ratio.

[CP5670]

The 4870 is a good choice. The 512MB version is under $150 these days.

Erh, while high-end cards do eat power. You do not need a monster 800W if you buy a good quality power supply with proper voltages on its rails. If you only look at wattages, you end up buying garbage.

I have Antec EarthWatts 500W, and it powers my 1GB Radeon 4870 along with everything else just fine. It'd be fine even if I buy a second 4870. It's about rail voltages, not watts.

It's interesting to note that the total power usage of the whole system is much lower than people often think. I have measured my machine with a GTX 280 to use around 290W on load, after the PSU's efficiency is taken into account. A high quality unit in the 500-600W range will handle almost any consumer system.

It also shows just how bad the low quality units are, if they blow up on loads that are half their rated maximums.

the GX2 is a dual-GPU card and they inherently suck balls regardless of whether they are ATI or NVIDIA.

[pecenipicek]

eh, its still a better buy if you know where to buy em


on forums here you can get a packaged 9800gx2 for somewhere around $150-ish... werent very popular here so when people sell em prices drop rapidly since nobody is paying much


also, we arent exactly the best off standing country with our currency at the moment


also, a 4870 here retails at... $240-ish... at the cheapest....

and a gx2 at $400... yay for overinflated prices...

cheapest 280 gtx retails at about the same price.



my 9600gt retails at $110-ish but you can get it on the forums for 20-30 bucks


i love buying off of forums XD