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Moderate gaming PC -- how is this build?
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tankpower
Member
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17. December 2007 @ 00:29 |
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This is more or less what I'm looking at:
CoolMaster Centurion 5 Case
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16811119077
Intel P35 Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813128059
Intel Pentium E2160 Processor (overclocked to ~3ghz)
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819116036
XFX GeForce 8800 GT 512mb GPU
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDet...ctCode=10007125
2GB RAM
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231098
Seagate Barracuda 250GB HD
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16822148262
Antec 500W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817371007
Vista 64-bit Home Premium
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16832116204
Do any of those components have obvious better choices? I'm considering a faster processor, although I don't need anything cutting edge and I hear the E2160 is very OC friendly as is. As far as the 8800GT, I feel good about that choice but its availability makes things a bit more complicated -- is the one linked here a decent buy if I'm trying to purchase things sooner rather than later? (I already have a monitor, DVD drive, and keyboard/mouse, btw.)
My goal is to run games like CoD4, Oblivion, and Bioshock smoothly at high settings, and hopefully Crysis on medium (or whatever it lets me, haha). Does this seem like a good build for that purpose? I'd like to maximize price-vs-performance without getting too expensive (i.e. under $1000 ideally, which this easily is).
Also, please give me an idea of any extras I need to add, like fans or cooling or thermal paste. I don't really have a good feel for the power/heat management side of things.
Thanks a lot for your help.
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NAPALMA
Junior Member
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17. December 2007 @ 02:15 |
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I know these arent the same cpu's you were looking at but they are very similar. They are a little cheaper than what you looking to spend here at Tigerdirect. There is a bundle with a similar Mobo and an E2180 for 140. Hope that saves you a couple of bucks. Try tigerdirect for the same stuff you are looking at. I usually find stuff cheaper there than at newegg.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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17. December 2007 @ 04:31 |
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I personally prefer the Radeon HD3870 graphics card to the 8800GT. Almost as fast, but much better image quality, and new DX10.1 support.
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Member
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17. December 2007 @ 07:19 |
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Listed parts are looking good, but why not go for a processor with a bit more power and a higher FSB? Sure, it might cost a bit more, but its worth it. Ideally as you said its a moderate gaming system, so you might want to at least look at something like an E6750 later down the track for an upgrade. Oh and that HD3870 is probably another good choice =]
PC Specs:
E6750 C2D @ 2.66GHZ 1333FSB
1GB Corsair Value Ram 667MHZ/Transcend 2GB 800MHZ
EAH4650 512 Onboard
2x 250G Seagate SATA
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tankpower
Member
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17. December 2007 @ 13:38 |
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What do you mean by the HD3870 having much better image quality? Like, the motion or colors or what?
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Senior Member
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17. December 2007 @ 15:01 |
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Well in crysis, there is a good difference between the shadows/textures on the 8800GT vs the 3870. In short, Nvidia "cheated" their drivers to make Crysis look worse, but perform better and that's why its faster than the 3870.
I'd go with the 3870 though... Got 2 of them comin on Thursday...
Other than that, looks pretty good.
@ DedShadow, you can buy a cheap core 2 duo, and overclock it to be faster than the most expensive one out there. The C2Ds have amazing over clocking potential!
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REAM
Suspended permanently
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17. December 2007 @ 15:11 |
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He_Man
Senior Member
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17. December 2007 @ 15:34 |
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Cheers REAM, the 3870/3850 is looking like the card for me!
I just wanna see how well the 3870 does in Gears Of War.
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Senior Member
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17. December 2007 @ 15:50 |
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The 3870 will play it, no questions asked.
Also, REAM, I guess you get what you pay for... A 30fps increase is quite a bit, but I bet if you were to look at a 3870 review, then they would put the 3870 closer to the GT.
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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17. December 2007 @ 18:50 |
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Those 8800GTs are overclocked, while the HD 3870 isn't. Trust me it makes a big difference. Also there is noway in hell that a 8800GTS is about to beat a HD 3870! Hell my HD 3850 performs almost the same! Look at the other reviews, this one seems badly skewed.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 17. December 2007 @ 18:51
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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17. December 2007 @ 19:58 |
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Those tests were biased, the 8800GT is nowhere near that much faster than a 3870.
My X1900XT will run Gears of war at 1680x1050 on max with an acceptable frame rate of around 35-40fps. An HD3870 is twice as fast as my card.
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AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
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17. December 2007 @ 20:07 |
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I know that's what I'm saying. The other reviews have differences of maybe around 10 FPS, not THIRTY!
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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17. December 2007 @ 20:08 |
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Precisely.
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