Advice please :)

 So, I'm an avid gamer, WarcraftIII & StarcraftII being the main ones atm. My budget is around 1500.oo though I'm willing to go up or down a bit. Looking for something with a couple of musts: 1)Must have quad core processor or better 2) Must have a great graphics card (I'm a fan of Nvidia.) I've thought about doing one of those bare-bone kits but I haven't the time or the patience to put it together myself. Any suggestions will be most welcome

What is your current monitor's maximum resolution?

Edited by Alex - 14 Aug 2010 at 3:55am

no its ok go ahead, for someone on a budget who wants to build a gaming rig, why should they go to 1336

Edited by !ender_ - 13 Aug 2010 at 10:10pm

I think I'd rather pay the 110 and get the better system I'm currently running at 1440x900 but I'm sure I'll be able to run it higher once I get a newer graphics card. Got a giggle out of your little "debate", nice to know you guys come with entertainment  btw I would love it if it could come in an awesome looking package (I'm a big fan of red) Lets see what you boys come up with...Can't wait!

Known by the codename Lynnfield and presented on an LGA1156 form factor - which means they won't work in present X58 chipset-based boards - the incumbent Bloomfield (LGA1366) architecture is kept intact, for the most part. All chips are based on a monolithic quad-core design, manufactured on a 45nm process, and ship with 1MB L2 and 8MB of shared L3 cache. Further similarities extend to the feature-set, which includes SSE4.2 support, Intel SpeedStep Technology and 64-bit operation. Hyperthreading, too, is present on all chips bar the entry-level Lynnfield.

From an architecture point of view, Lynnfield chips will interface with the system via a DMI (Direct Media Interface) conduit rather than QPI found on Bloomfield. QPI has greater bandwidth and provides processor-to-processor support in a multi-socketed system. Lynnfield is aimed squarely at the client market and the substituting of DMI for QPI should make little performance difference.

Adding in a neat trick, Intel is plumbing 16 PCI-Express lanes - used primarily for graphics - right into the new chips, rather than have a separate bridge handle the duties. What this means is that the chips' supporting core-logic, P55, doesn't require an IOH bridge, as found on X58 boards.

Current Bloomfield chips use a tri-channel memory-controller that provides excellent bandwidth.  testing has shown that the processors are relatively memory-agnostic, working almost as well in dual-channel mode - helped on, no doubt, by the large 8MB of L3 cache. Lynnfield drops the third memory channel and runs a regular dual-channel memory setup.

The Turbo Boost feature has been enhanced for Lynnfield. The premise behind it is to ensure that compute power is kept to a maximum as long as it fits inside the chip's TDP.  Bloomfield chips can increase their frequency by one 'multiplier' (133MHz) if running all four cores, and by two for applications taking advantage of one or two cores. Lynnfield increases four-core load by two steps (266MHz), dual-core processing by four steps (533MHz) and single-core usage by five steps (666MHz). That's impressive overclocks considering the 95W TDP.

Evaluated on a clock-for-clock basis, Lynnfield chips lose a little speed, due to a lack of a third memory channel and QPI, but introduce a more-robust Turbo Boost feature that's inextricably allied to a lower power-draw.

happy

also ty to hexus .net


Edited by Raif - 14 Aug 2010 at 1:48am

Thanks very much, I'm very sorry that this discussion started any sort of turbulence for lack of a better word between users, wish I could have gotten a better of idea of what to get in terms of a graphics card but perhaps contacting a sales manager is a better choice then a forum. Thanks again for any and all help provided from everyone on here, it was greatly appreciated, also wish I knew enough about platforms to follow alot of the discussion, I have alot more to learn to be able to comprehend a lot of that LOL.