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Need expert advice...

Post Date: 2008-07-16
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sitania View Drop Down
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Posts: 3 		  Quote sitania Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: Need expert advice...
    Posted: 16 Jul 2008 at 2:14am
Hi All,

Is this a good configuration? It's the first time buying a gaming computer
and I need some advice. I'm not a gamer but would like to future proof.
 
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=167695

Better to go with DDR3 board or DDR2 and which memory (1333 / 1600)?
Which graphics card, dual drives or not?

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!
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Tyler Lowe View Drop Down
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Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Jul 2008 at 2:30am
Everyone has their own opinions, but I will offer mine:
DDR3 will not do anything to future proof your system. You would be better off buying a faster CPU than to spend the money on support for system RAM that will provide more bandwidth than any current CPU can actually make proper use of. The CPU's that will be able to use that bandwidth have not yet been released, and will not work with the motherboards out now once they are released.
 
I like having dual drives. I have re-installed my operating system 4 times in the last 6 months either due to misfortune or the need to re-organize. Having your operating system on a seperate HDD makes this as painless as possible. I will also say that it is not neccesary, as a partition can be created in a larger hard drive to create a very similar effect and for less money.
 
I would happily offer a build suggestion, but without knowing what the computer will be used for (you said not for gaming) or what monitor size it will be paired with, any such advice would be of fairly limited value.


Edited by Tyler Lowe - 16 Jul 2008 at 2:32am
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Bismark View Drop Down
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Posts: 120 		  Quote Bismark Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Jul 2008 at 7:11am
Take a read through this Posting Guide

We need to know your useage for the computer, you say you want a game computer but your not a gamer, so I'm a little confused. If you play games what games, if not what applications? Do you have a budget? Let everyone know these things and we can assist you better.

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!ender_ View Drop Down
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Posts: 4219 		  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Jul 2008 at 7:54am
as is seeming to happen more often im going to respectfully disagree with tyler on the ram. what he said is correct, im not debating it. but when you get down to it, this system1 and this system2 are different by a matter of $6 and when people are constantly dropping 2 and 300 into SLI and new GPUs for a couple FPS, it seems worth it to me.
 
while us knowing some more specifics about your needs would certainly help, im going to assume for now that you are looking for a gaming machine that can multitask, is a little future proof, and your monitor is 20-24", since these seem to be the average answers. In that price range, id suggest
 
 
*up to a 4870 as youll be paying less for a consistantly stronger card. I'm an nvidia fanboi myself, but where the market stands right now radeon is simply doing better.
 
*$22 more for 140gb of HD space, even though i would personally go with a single 500 unless you have a very specific need for 2. And i would also not suggest raid, unless you again, have a very specific need for it
 
*up to vista64 so you wont be newly purchasing a discontinued operating system
 
*dropped off the keyboard because i think it would be a real shame to put civic tires on this saleen
 
now, i noticed that you did not have any overclocking selected, and that you went with stage two. If you plan to OC on your own, at least get stage3 air. If you dont plan to, i would highly reccomend you get DSO to do it. I left you some cash to pick up a good mouse and keyboard, but if you have a spare 100 or so, i think you would be very pleased with the results:
 
*edit* to fix my links


Edited by !ender_ - 16 Jul 2008 at 9:01am
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sitania View Drop Down
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Posts: 3 		  Quote sitania Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Jul 2008 at 8:47am
My apologies; I didn't mention what the system was to be used for;

* mostly home office stuff (applications) with very *minor* gaming
* DSO has better top end systems than any other competitor and
   wanted to build something that would last.

I thought DDR3 memory would only work with a DDR3 mobo... ?
Also, was looking at the GTX260 or 8800GTS instead of Radeon cards...
I know SLI is only for gaming so probably won't apply in my case.

Hope this helps in the details!

Thank you!!
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!ender_ View Drop Down
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Posts: 4219 		  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Jul 2008 at 8:56am
* mostly home office stuff (applications) with very *minor* gaming
when you say minor gaming, do you mean not top end games like COD4, crysis, conan, etc? or just not a lot as in hours of playing?

I thought DDR3 memory would only work with a DDR3 mobo... ?
and that is correct

Also, was looking at the GTX260 or 8800GTS instead of Radeon cards...
I know SLI is only for gaming so probably won't apply in my case.
the radeon card simply performs better and is cheaper than both of those cards. if you wish to remain brand-loyal, you will have to pay the price in both cash and performance. obviously, this is your decision.
 
edit - fixed my links in the top post


Edited by !ender_ - 16 Jul 2008 at 9:02am
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jonbeard View Drop Down
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Posts: 29 		  Quote jonbeard Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Jul 2008 at 9:07am
I think you will be very pleased with it...

However:

If you wish to do gaming on your PC, and you love smooth frags, I would highly suggest overclocking your CPU. Trust me, it is worth the extra 45 bucks, and you will notice the difference without a doubt.

You will need a DDR3 mobo though. So make sure you do this...

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!!


Edited by jonbeard - 16 Jul 2008 at 11:42am
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Doc View Drop Down
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Posts: 355 		  Quote Doc Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Jul 2008 at 10:41am
Originally posted by !ender_

as is seeming to happen more often im going to respectfully disagree with tyler on the ram. what he said is correct, im not debating it. but when you get down to it, this system1 and this system2 are different by a matter of $6 and when people are constantly dropping 2 and 300 into SLI and new GPUs for a couple FPS, it seems worth it to me. 
 
 
Not sure I understand this. If Tyler is correct that current CPU's can't utilize the DDR3 RAM, what part do you disagree with? Do you still believe there is benefit to the DDR3 or that the price difference is insignificant?
 
Thanks.
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sitania View Drop Down
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Posts: 3 		  Quote sitania Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Jul 2008 at 11:42am
Tyler et al..
Why would I (someone) get a DDR2 mobo with DDR3 memory?
I'm not disagreeing with any of you; just want to know the best config
Looking at the following: Q9450, 790i, 4gb @1333, GTX260. as a
solid system.

I suppose I could go with DDR2 mobo & memory but may not last
for the long term.
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Tyler Lowe View Drop Down
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Posts: 0 		  Quote Tyler Lowe Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Jul 2008 at 12:48pm
Alright, I'll set this straight, at least from my side of things.
I haven't yet suggested a configuration, but will, now that I have a better understanding of your needs.
 
1.You do need the RAM to match the motherboard type.
 
2.DDR3 does not provide *any* future proofing over DDR2 for any socket LGA775 based CPU. That means all current Intel processors.
 
What I mean by this, is you could increase the RAM bandwidth to near infinite, and the limitations of the CPU's architecture will still cause you to face the same performance barriers.
 
3.You will need a 64 bit operating system to make use of 4GB of RAM. You can use 2GB of system RAM with Windows XP Professional, but cannot make use of more than roughly 3GB without moving to a 64 Bit OS. This is a physical limitation of a 32 bit address system, not a failure of the OS or a bug.
 
4.For "home office" applications, I suggest going with RAID 1 over RAID 0 for data integrity, so I selected two larger drives in mirror configuration rather than going for a slight increase in seek times at a greater risk of data loss or corruption.
 
If you are going with an nVidia chipset, your choice would be between the 750i, the 780i and the 790i motherboards. The system you have listed is a very nice one, but what I am saying is, you can do better for $2500, given what you plan to do with it.
 
This is one possible configuration:
 
I selected Vista Ultimate for the 64 bit operating system, as it includes the business edition of Windows and provides it's own hard backup capabilities. There is actually room left in that budget for 8GB of RAM if you wanted it, and the operating system does support it. For "minor gaming" and mostly home office work, this system should suit you very well for years to come. Overclocking is a great way to gain some performance, but from the look of your intended uses, is also not neccesary. Personally, I would overclock any system if I had adequate cooling to do so, but it is not something everyone is comfortable with.
 


Edited by Tyler Lowe - 16 Jul 2008 at 12:52pm
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skyR View Drop Down
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Posts: 2220 		  Quote skyR Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 16 Jul 2008 at 12:54pm
The current processors on the market does not need the bandwidth DDR3 provides. The only reasons you buy DDR3 is for labtops, nehalem builds, and showing off how much money you can waste.

Anything you buy will last you until you decide "OMGZ ITS TOO SLOW".

But if you're talking about longterm upgradability. That's unfortunate since Intel is releasing two new sockets at the end of this year.
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