Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Tyrian on November 07, 2008, 07:10:25 pm
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I'm looking at building a new computer (for myself, this time) and I'm in a sort of toss-up as to what CPU to put in it. (It's for gaming.) I can't decide between the Q9550 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115041) or the E8600 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115054). I've done some looking around the Internet but have found mixed responses as to which is better for this purpose.
If I went quad-core, I'd have some degree of future-proofing, but there is currently no single program that uses all four cores simultaneously. It only really seems beneficial if I multitask or do video encoding (the latter I don't do).
If I go dual-core, then I get maximum usage out of the cores, but seem to lose some future-proofing. The E8600 has Wolfdale cores, which to my understanding, are the best out there.
Also, Intel's i7 architecture is due out soon, from what I've read it's going to blow away current chip technologies, but if it's hugely expensive, then I don't really want to shell out for it, as I want to keep this machine under $2000.
So, given these options, what is my best choice?
I've already got specs drawn up; if you'd like to see, I can post them.
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my Q6600 overclocks to 3.6 ghz on stock cooling with no problems.
having 4 cores is nice because I can render things with 2 of them and yet still be surfing the web and listening to music without having my renders go any slower.
Multitasking really is nice to have the ability to do.
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I'd do research on a slightly older chip that overclocks very well, and get your money's worth that way. If you get such a product you get far more bang for buck since the processor usually doesn't burn out before you need to upgrade for new games/etc.
I bought my E4500 a little more than a year ago, and overclocked it to 3.2ghz on regular voltage and it's perfectly stable. I'm not even thinking of upgrading for quite awhile, so I think I got my $120 worth(when I bought it). I can still run any game currently out on it wonderfully so honestly I don't know why you'd pay full price on a newer processor, since GPUs are the bottleneck these days(resolution++ while game state complexity == same). If you're doing encoding, rendering, etc then I can see that but top of the line in the processor department really isn't necessary anymore imo.
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E5200--and upgrade to Core i7 (much) later. Overclocking is pretty good--and you can cheap on RAM. Other than that, if you're building now, look to buy a LGA775 & LGA1366 heatsink--there are a few floating around. I've been talking a bit to a guy who has a Nehalem setup, and he has been able to get 3.7GHz out it on air. i7 965, the Smackover X58 board, and 3GB DDR3 1600. He says its claimed credit crunching is about 80% that of his Harpertowns at similar clock--which means that it's high on the raw power scale. With SMT enabled, that is. And by the way--SMT on those quad-cores gave him about a 10% boost overall on heavy workloads.
Anyways--the E5200 has effectively replaced the E2000 series and the E4000 series, and the only advantage of an E7200 over an E5200 is 1MB more L2 cache. I bought my E2140 over a year ago, with the intent of running it until I could get a quad-core, be it Kentsfield, Yorkfield, or Nehalem.
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I wouldn't get a Nehalem until DDR3 prices reach a reasonable level. The architecture is pretty impressive though. It continually amazes me that Intel manage to get increased performance out of the x86.
That said, I'm quite happy with my Q9450, despite it just being two dual cores stuck together.
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I wouldn't get a Nehalem until DDR3 prices reach a reasonable level. The architecture is pretty impressive though. It continually amazes me that Intel manage to get increased performance out of the x86.
That said, I'm quite happy with my Q9450, despite it just being two dual cores stuck together.
DDR3 prices much are lower than DDR2 prices two years ago. I remember shopping for a computer back then--$80 for 1GB DDR2 533 or 667. Looking at lower-end DDR3 1333, Kingston and Crucial have 2GB sticks for $60-70. About twice that of current DDR2, though.
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I love having the quad core. Come back to this machine (it's older but still a 3.06 and shows 2 processors even thought it's not a Pentium D) and hate the slow downs trying to run FRED and TBP in debug mode at the same time while doing some browsing and opening up a few other small apps (notepad, infanview, etc). Core 2's are better and I don't notice a slow down running FRED and FS2 but having those extra cores for the occasional big process is very nice. Of course having the extra computers to do all that is even better. :D
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I'm pretty computer literate, but I'm not really looking to overclock this system. If I build it, I'm going to do it over my university break, and because of time constraints, I need it to work with a minimum of troubleshooting. So, I'm willing to spend a little more to get more stock power.
If I were to overclock, then I probably would buy a much cheaper system, so that if I blow up something, it's doesn't involve a huge amount of pain to replace.
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Wait a few years until magnetic currents are used for CPU's. Have fun with 100ghz without even using a cpu fan.
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While we're on the subject, I also find myself conflicted in terms of potential CPUs for my machine. As mentioned here (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,53623.msg1163353.html#msg1163353), I'm building a new machine but now I find myself divided on two different CPUs.
The first is this one (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1645065), a 3.2 GHz Intel Pentium D 940 Dual Core Processor with 4 MB cache memory and and an 800 Mhz FSB. True, it is a somewhat older processor, but very fast for the price and that's what makes it appeal to me.
The second is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4148715) dual core processor, which clocks in at 2.80 GHz but has a 1000 Mhz FSB and 1 MB of cache.
Help...?
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While we're on the subject, I also find myself conflicted in terms of potential CPUs for my machine. As mentioned here (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,53623.msg1163353.html#msg1163353), I'm building a new machine but now I find myself divided on two different CPUs.
The first is this one (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1645065), a 3.2 GHz Intel Pentium D 940 Dual Core Processor with 4 MB cache memory and and an 800 Mhz FSB. True, it is a somewhat older processor, but very fast for the price and that's what makes it appeal to me.
The second is an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ (http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4148715) dual core processor, which clocks in at 2.80 GHz but has a 1000 Mhz FSB and 1 MB of cache.
Help...?
No and no. You don't understand the differences in architectures. The Pentium D is a Netburst uArch chip--basically the high clockspeed is a lie--it's not particularly fast (About as fast as current Pentium Dual-Core E2140 or Celeron E1400), runs rather hot, and is a few generations old. Don't get it--it's a bad chip compared to modern chips.
The Athlon X2 is incompatible, of course, with LGA775 which is the predominant desktop socket for Intel processors. It's a generation behind so far as AMDs go as well--though the Phenom uArch has only seen 1-2 dual-core variations, there should be cheaper for a quad-core.
Anyways--better source for your parts is Newegg (http://www.newegg.ca). Taking a second look at what you had in the other thread, I spotted that you picked out DDR3 800 memory (which I've never seen on-market. Slowest I've seen is DDR3 1066) and a DDR2 board--so you need DDR2 memory.
Gigabyte EP43-DS3L (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128347)
Intel E5200 (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072)
Two 2GB DDR2 800 (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231203) sticks
ATI Radeon HD4830 512MB (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131129) or HD4670 512MB (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161249)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134), Xigmatek S1824EE (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233023), or ZeroTherm Nirvana (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887011)
Seagate 7200.11 500GB (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148288)
Antec 300 (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042) or something decent
Corsair 650TX (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005) (expensive) or Seasonic SS-500ES (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151040) (less expensive)
22x DVD+/-R Burner SATA (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152)
Arctic Cooling MX-2, Arctic Silver ArctiClean, and Molex-to-SATA power adapter (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812119024)
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Get a Q6600 quad core and overclock it after getting good cooling. If you have the extra money laying around, use DDR3. Also, I'd suggest getting a 4850 or 4870 if you want to run newer games at the highest settings (but if you REALLY have the money laying around, the nVidia GTX 280 is better than all other single-chip cards). I agree with getting the Antec 300; I have it, it was cheap, it is very well built and designed, and it looks nice (but fairly plain).
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Get a Q6600 quad core and overclock it after getting good cooling. If you have the extra money laying around, use DDR3. Also, I'd suggest getting a 4850 or 4870 if you want to run newer games at the highest settings (but if you REALLY have the money laying around, the nVidia GTX 280 is better than all other single-chip cards). I agree with getting the Antec 300; I have it, it was cheap, it is very well built and designed, and it looks nice (but fairly plain).
DDR3 does him no good whatsoever in a DDR2 motherboard. Most LGA775 DDR3 boards are overpriced or under-able. Anyways--the nVidia GeForce GTX 280 is flat-out overpriced. Considering a single HD4870 goes most of the distance to GTX 280 and is slimly beat by what should be called the GTX265 (GTX 260 "216"), two HD4850's in CF would wipe the floor with any nVidia setup, and at $300-350.
By the way, do note that more recent Q6600s have been lackluster for overclocking.
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If you don't already have a Core 2, you might as well wait and see what the new stuff is priced at. Since you have $2000 for the whole machine, you should be able to fit an i7 in there easily.
I will get one once they become widely available. I don't really need it right away, but my brother wants to upgrade, so I might as well buy it now rather than later and give him my existing 3.6ghz E6750. I don't care about the extra cores, but the single-threaded performance boosts in Matlab and Mathematica are impressive, and it may also do something for the emulators and VMs that I often use. Hopefully we'll see some good motherboards at $150 or less, instead of the useless $400+ ones that the hardware sites tend to review first.
Also, I like how they're calling the auto overclocking feature "Turbo mode." Anyone remember those buttons on computers in the 80s that made the CPU timer go at double speed? :D
Also, Intel's i7 architecture is due out soon, from what I've read it's going to blow away current chip technologies
It won't really "blow away" the Core 2 except in some specific types of programs. Games seem to perform mostly the same in the initial reviews, even ones that are known to be CPU intensive. It's still a reasonable improvement overall though and is worth checking out if you don't have a Core 2.
DDR3 prices much are lower than DDR2 prices two years ago. I remember shopping for a computer back then--$80 for 1GB DDR2 533 or 667. Looking at lower-end DDR3 1333, Kingston and Crucial have 2GB sticks for $60-70. About twice that of current DDR2, though.
I got a 2GB DDR2 800 pack two years ago for $80. :p
But yeah, DDR3 prices are fairly reasonable now, with pretty decent 4GB sets for $130-150. The main contributing factor to the prices is the 4GB size, which is increasingly becoming standard over 2GB.
two HD4850's in CF would wipe the floor with any nVidia setup, and at $300-350.
CF and SLI have a range of caveats though and are not directly comparable to a single GPU.
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If you don't already have a Core 2, you might as well wait and see what the new stuff is priced at. Since you have $2000 for the whole machine, you should be able to fit an i7 in there easily.
I will get one once they become widely available. I don't really need it right away, but my brother wants to upgrade, so I might as well buy it now rather than later and give him my existing 3.6ghz E6750. I don't care about the extra cores, but the single-threaded performance boosts in Matlab and Mathematica are impressive, and it may also do something for the emulators and VMs that I often use. Hopefully we'll see some good motherboards at $150 or less, instead of the useless $400+ ones that the hardware sites tend to review first.
Also, I like how they're calling the auto overclocking feature "Turbo mode." Anyone remember those buttons on computers in the 80s that made the CPU timer go at double speed? :D
Also, Intel's i7 architecture is due out soon, from what I've read it's going to blow away current chip technologies
It won't really "blow away" the Core 2 except in some specific types of programs. Games seem to perform mostly the same in the initial reviews, even ones that are known to be CPU intensive. It's still a reasonable improvement overall though and is worth checking out if you don't have a Core 2.
DDR3 prices much are lower than DDR2 prices two years ago. I remember shopping for a computer back then--$80 for 1GB DDR2 533 or 667. Looking at lower-end DDR3 1333, Kingston and Crucial have 2GB sticks for $60-70. About twice that of current DDR2, though.
I got a 2GB DDR2 800 pack two years ago for $80. :p
But yeah, DDR3 prices are fairly reasonable now, with pretty decent 4GB sets for $130-150. The main contributing factor to the prices is the 4GB size, which is increasingly becoming standard over 2GB.
two HD4850's in CF would wipe the floor with any nVidia setup, and at $300-350.
CF and SLI have a range of caveats though and are not directly comparable to a single GPU.
A friend of mine has a Core i7 rig--one of the press kits. Pretty good improvements, absolutely wipes the floor with a Q6600. Here's his review thread.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=206572
Anyways--maybe it was 3 years ago--I don't remember THAT well. And to the CF setup: in most newer and demanding games it'll work, perhaps with drivers or a hotfix for a missing profile. Most older games it won't work on, and that's true. There are problems with both CF and SLI, but if you're looking for raw performance or top performance on new and heavy games, they're alright.
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A friend of mine has a Core i7 rig--one of the press kits. Pretty good improvements, absolutely wipes the floor with a Q6600. Here's his review thread.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=206572
It looks like he is just running SuperPI and other benchmark programs. Those are more indicative of what you will see in numerical math packages than games. Xbit tested some real-world programs like that though and I definitely liked what I saw there. :yes:
Anyways--maybe it was 3 years ago--I don't remember THAT well. And to the CF setup: in most newer and demanding games it'll work, perhaps with drivers or a hotfix for a missing profile. Most older games it won't work on, and that's true. There are problems with both CF and SLI, but if you're looking for raw performance or top performance on new and heavy games, they're alright.
Well, that is one issue, but there is more to it than that. I posted some comments on these setups here (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,55688.20.html) a while ago.
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You know...
The E8400 Core2Duo has dropped in price so much recently that it's a really great bargain, and with an aftermarket fan people are regularly overclocking it in the range of 4 Ghz. The thing is a performance star anyway, for that matter.
Worth considering - the price:performance ratio on the new stuff is so poor that you'd almost be better to buy something a little older and get a lot more bang for your buck. Not to mention, you can then easily afford an upgrade in a few years time.
Quad-core, while the way of the future (presumably), really isn't worth it right now.
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A friend of mine has a Core i7 rig--one of the press kits. Pretty good improvements, absolutely wipes the floor with a Q6600. Here's his review thread.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=206572
It looks like he is just running SuperPI and other benchmark programs. Those are more indicative of what you will see in numerical math packages than games. Xbit tested some real-world programs like that though and I definitely liked what I saw there. :yes:
Anyways--maybe it was 3 years ago--I don't remember THAT well. And to the CF setup: in most newer and demanding games it'll work, perhaps with drivers or a hotfix for a missing profile. Most older games it won't work on, and that's true. There are problems with both CF and SLI, but if you're looking for raw performance or top performance on new and heavy games, they're alright.
Well, that is one issue, but there is more to it than that. I posted some comments on these setups here (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,55688.20.html) a while ago.
WCG & F@H are two real-world applications that I definitely like. Anyways--I spoke to him two days ago. All he has right now is the TRUE LGA1366 for cooling. You already saw a >4.2GHz shot in there, and from what he told me then, water will make things even better. Most Yorkfields (the direct comparison for these) on air will top about 4GHz on air. Anyways--the Nehalem uArch really does seem to be doing well. It's beating the Clovers he ran for 2 years, which is pretty darn good. And yes, I know about microshuttering and the numerous other problems with CF/SLI. It's not a perfect solution, but the new generation of graphics chips seems to be doing very well.
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I'd say wait for the Core i7 if you can. Unlike in the past its likely to have a full range top to bottom of Core i7 chips soon after release as thats what AMD and Intel have been doing for a few years now. The top level technology comes out with a range of models priced from high to low.
Best to look at the benchmarks and see if the price performance difference isn't huge in certain areas...usually as soon as something new comes out the best of the old stuff drops enough that you can start comparing it versus a mid range of the new stuff and see which works best for you.
Either way...waiting for the i7 to arrive means either you can get an awesome new CPU or a very well priced slightly older Core 2.
AMD's Phenom CPUs aren't really on my radar right now so there may be some good pricing there too.
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Also, Intel's i7 architecture is due out soon, from what I've read it's going to blow away current chip technologies, but if it's hugely expensive, then I don't really want to shell out for it, as I want to keep this machine under $2000.
Initially it will be hugely expensive, but it will push the price of the Core 2 (still an awesome chip) down significantly, especially on the upper end, so you can get a better Core 2 with the same amount of money.
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The lowest end one is supposed to be $280, which is comparable to the cheaper Core 2 Quads. A lot will depend on how much the initial round of motherboards cost though.
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The lowest end one is supposed to be $280, which is comparable to the cheaper Core 2 Quads. A lot will depend on how much the initial round of motherboards cost though.
Quite a bit, unfortunately. My suggestion is still an inexpensive P43 motherboard and an Intel E5200--it's not the fastest, but can be overclocked quite well on air. Get a machine that'll last you about 3-12 months and then upgrade when it's all actually worthwhile. Newer revisions tend to improve overclocking, so I'd say wait for round 2 of Core i7. Right now, an OC'd E5200 is a kick-arse processor and the next generation of GPUs are a bit... far. Again, E5200 + 2-4GB DDR2 + HD4830 or similar would be a nice setup, and it won't immediately become useless. All the hard drives you buy can be reused, a decent PSU can be reused, the chassis can be reused, and optical drives can be reused.
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Q6600 wins on price and performance. It only jumps over two percent when i render in max. Even with red alert 3 there's minimal use.
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My basic reason for not saying Q6600, while it's a decent chip, is because a dual-core is all that's necessary. Save the budget--save $600-700 for a better upgrade months down the line. A Q6600 won't be utilized by much, unless you're using professional programs. Even so, an E5200 at 4.4GHz will do VERY well in most of these programs as well, as do much better in single-threaded and dual-threaded applications. Managing your actual load can make or break your experiences. I have my computer running at 100% 24/7--the CPU (E2140) and GPU (HD3850) are crunching (WCG) and folding (F@H) all the time. The way I get by and still use the computer regularly is keeping those heavy-load applications on the lowest priorities. It lets everything else run smoother, and lets them get most of the work done pretty darn well.
Anyways--there ARE more and more games coming out for quad-cores, but IMO there's not enough right now. Save your money, and get an upgrade when it's more necessary and there's nothing much on the horizon. LGA775 will still be the socket of choice for low and medium priced computers--it's not going to disappear overnight, though P45 is the last Intel chipset for it. It's not going to get much better for Conroe or Penryn, so now's the time.
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Hmm...Based on these opinions of Core i7 and some more research I've done on my own, I think I'm going to wait to buy a new system so that I can base it around i7 instead of Core 2 Duo. Hopefully, the motherboard prices won't kill my budget. Plus, the GTX 280 might come down in price by then...
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Plus, the GTX 280 might come down in price by then...
The 280 prices have stayed around $380 for several months now. I like mine, but it's not worth more than $330 or so given the 4870 and 260/216 prices. It's faster than them (by more than many benchmarks suggest, since it's stronger on minimums), but not by enough to justify more than a $60-70 premium.
My basic reason for not saying Q6600, while it's a decent chip, is because a dual-core is all that's necessary. Save the budget--save $600-700 for a better upgrade months down the line. A Q6600 won't be utilized by much, unless you're using professional programs.
I agree with this as far as the dual/quad question goes. There are still only two games that show a clear benefit from a quad, Supreme Commander and FSX. People often talk about multitasking with browsers, IM and other basic programs, but the reality is that these kinds of things will not stress even one core. It only makes sense to get one if you play those games or use 3D rendering or graphics software, which does benefit from them a lot.
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Plus, the GTX 280 might come down in price by then...
The 280 prices have stayed around $380 for several months now. I like mine, but it's not worth more than $330 or so given the 4870 and 260/216 prices. It's faster than them (by more than many benchmarks suggest, since it's stronger on minimums), but not by enough to justify more than a $60-70 premium.
My basic reason for not saying Q6600, while it's a decent chip, is because a dual-core is all that's necessary. Save the budget--save $600-700 for a better upgrade months down the line. A Q6600 won't be utilized by much, unless you're using professional programs.
I agree with this as far as the dual/quad question goes. There are still only two games that show a clear benefit from a quad, Supreme Commander and FSX. People often talk about multitasking with browsers, IM and other basic programs, but the reality is that these kinds of things will not stress even one core. It only makes sense to get one if you play those games or use 3D rendering or graphics software, which does benefit from them a lot.
It's all about load management. Anyways--waiting IS the best choice, especially if you can still play your games on your current system. GTX 280 prices aren't going anywhere, though GTX 290 (which is JUST a core-shrunk GT200 from what I hear) may drop the price a bit. Still, HD4870 or GTX 260 216 are better choices for the money. I'd personally say HD4830 CF or HD4850 CF would still be the better solution, but that's only in select places and if you don't mind some difficulties to start.
As I said--my PC runs at 100% 24/7 basically no matter what I do. Crunching keeps the CPU at 100%, and folding does similar for my HD3850.
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I have Supreme commander and it's still alittle shaky in the later stages of combat. Forged Alliance runs like crap. Crysis runs fine but SC:FA runs awful, i just don't get it.....
Graffix upgrade time mebbe.........
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You know...
The E8400 Core2Duo has dropped in price so much recently that it's a really great bargain, and with an aftermarket fan people are regularly overclocking it in the range of 4 Ghz. The thing is a performance star anyway, for that matter.
Worth considering - the price:performance ratio on the new stuff is so poor that you'd almost be better to buy something a little older and get a lot more bang for your buck. Not to mention, you can then easily afford an upgrade in a few years time.
Quad-core, while the way of the future (presumably), really isn't worth it right now.
I've got that chip, I kicks butt. I've over clocked it to 3.4ghz with my stock fan and it ran fine, but lowered it back to stock 3ghz because I didn't need the extra power for anything. Bought it for $149 off Amazon, great bargain.
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I have Supreme commander and it's still alittle shaky in the later stages of combat. Forged Alliance runs like crap. Crysis runs fine but SC:FA runs awful, i just don't get it.....
Graffix upgrade time mebbe.........
Supreme Commander is heavy on both graphics and CPU. As I said earlier, it's one of the very few games that gets a substantial improvement with a quad core. (although it's not really doing anything special with that extra power; the engine is just bloated)
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My two cents:
I just traded my dad my crappy E4500(or some number similar to that; it was a 2.00 ghz duo core) CPU Chip for his E6750. I was thinkijng of getting This E7300 (http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX22401(ME).aspx), but figured i can just trade him for something that's pretty much the same, just with a higher FSB (1333 compared to 1066) and cache (4MB to 3MB). One thing I don't understand is how the E6750 is a lower number than the one I considered buying. Isn't a higher number supposed to indicate better performance? :wtf:
I'm getting new RAM today to match the CPU, as the RAM I have right now is a single 1GB stick of crappy 335 RAM, which I need at least 500 MHz RAM to be able to coup with the CPU FSB speed (as noted in my motherboard manual)
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DDR2 800 Mhz is pretty cheap nowadays. I thought noone sold below 667 anymore.
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They don't. My RAM, anyways, is at least 3 years old :P
The RAM I'm getting, if anybody cares, is two sticks of This. (http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX10790(ME).aspx)
Call me cheep, my dad just won't let me spend a lot of money, even if it's my own.
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E4500 is a 2.2ghz so you didn't have that. I would have had to shoot you if you did though -- one of the best OCing processors in its generation(some ppl getting 40% overclock--close to 3.1ghz-- on stock air cooling and voltage)
The numbers don't necessarily have to do with speed -- they're mostly just indicative of the features on the chip.
this site will explain better than I can
http://www.intel.com/products/processor_number/
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Been thinking about building a computer. Not all into the building a computer business but I'm pretty computer literate.
Basically all I've been doing is toying around with velocity micro. I assume it would be cheaper to buy the parts, assemble it yourself?
Been looking at this btw config btw.
GX2-W Silver - Velocity Micro Classic Aluminum Case - Full Sized chassis with side window
Wheel Kit None
Power Supply 850 Watt Velocity Micro® Power Supply - Nvidia® SLI™ Certified
Case Lights None
Motherboard MSI® K9N2 SLI Platinum nForce 750a based chipset, DDR2, PCI-express, AM2+
AMD® Processor AMD® Phenom 9550 X4, 2.2GHz with Quad Core Technology, Socket AM2+ (+$65.00)
CPU Cooling Arctic Cooling® Freezer 64 Pro Heatsink, Ultra Quiet Fan, Copper Heat Pipes (+$25.00)
DDR2 Memory 4096MB Corsair™ XMS2 DDR2-800 Low Latency Extreme Memory with Heat Spreader (2x2048) (+$60.00)
PCX Video 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 9800 GT Velocity Micro Performance Edition (+$25.00)
Video Cooling None
Video Tuning Basic 3D Video Performance Tuning & Optimization
Monitor None
Audio Integrated Realtek Audio, 7.1 Channel Support
Speakers None
annnddd that comes to
Gaming Computer & Gaming PC : Edge™ M40
Base Price: 1699.00 Your Price: 1874
I'm guessing it's worth it to just buy the parts yourself. Amirite?
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They don't. My RAM, anyways, is at least 3 years old :P
The RAM I'm getting, if anybody cares, is two sticks of This. (http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX10790(ME).aspx)
Call me cheep, my dad just won't let me spend a lot of money, even if it's my own.
Uh..................................................
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134636
Been thinking about building a computer. Not all into the building a computer business but I'm pretty computer literate.
Basically all I've been doing is toying around with velocity micro. I assume it would be cheaper to buy the parts, assemble it yourself?
Been looking at this btw config btw.
GX2-W Silver - Velocity Micro Classic Aluminum Case - Full Sized chassis with side window
Wheel Kit None
Power Supply 850 Watt Velocity Micro® Power Supply - Nvidia® SLI™ Certified
Case Lights None
Motherboard MSI® K9N2 SLI Platinum nForce 750a based chipset, DDR2, PCI-express, AM2+
AMD® Processor AMD® Phenom 9550 X4, 2.2GHz with Quad Core Technology, Socket AM2+ (+$65.00)
CPU Cooling Arctic Cooling® Freezer 64 Pro Heatsink, Ultra Quiet Fan, Copper Heat Pipes (+$25.00)
DDR2 Memory 4096MB Corsair™ XMS2 DDR2-800 Low Latency Extreme Memory with Heat Spreader (2x2048) (+$60.00)
PCX Video 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 9800 GT Velocity Micro Performance Edition (+$25.00)
Video Cooling None
Video Tuning Basic 3D Video Performance Tuning & Optimization
Monitor None
Audio Integrated Realtek Audio, 7.1 Channel Support
Speakers None
annnddd that comes to
Gaming Computer & Gaming PC : Edge™ M40
Base Price: 1699.00 Your Price: 1874
I'm guessing it's worth it to just buy the parts yourself. Amirite?
Rrrrip-offffffffffffffffffffff.You can get much better for much less. Anyways--look at the OTHER side of the road: Intel. Or, if you are willing to wait, Deneb is coming and seems to be much more competitive with Intel's offerings.
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Haha yea I thought so. :P
But mainly my question was are the parts themselves good, or not? Main things I've seen thrown around was DDR2 vs. DDR3. Obviously you don't like the processor, I tend to like AMD more even though my current comp has an intel core, so basically, wait for Deneb to come out and be actually competitive with the i7 core? And heh, that's the thing with upgrading, there's always new stuff coming out.
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They don't. My RAM, anyways, is at least 3 years old :P
The RAM I'm getting, if anybody cares, is two sticks of This. (http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX10790(ME).aspx)
Call me cheep, my dad just won't let me spend a lot of money, even if it's my own.
Uh..................................................
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134636
:wtf:
What about it?
Oh, the speed.
I'd rather go drive into town then wait for mine to come in the mail, thanks :P
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They don't. My RAM, anyways, is at least 3 years old :P
The RAM I'm getting, if anybody cares, is two sticks of This. (http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX10790(ME).aspx)
Call me cheep, my dad just won't let me spend a lot of money, even if it's my own.
Uh..................................................
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134636
:wtf:
What about it?
Oh, the speed.
I'd rather go drive into town then wait for mine to come in the mail, thanks :P
$22 free shipping for 2GB RAM, instead of $40 for 2GB RAM.