Computer Geeks

[pauldun170]

Originally Posted by t-rock

I like first person shooters more than anything. Far Cry 2, Counter Strike: Source, and Left 4 Dead are the three I've been playing the most on friends computers. I originally looked at getting the Intel E8500 and motherboard to go along with it. A few other friends have told me to look at spending more on a power supply, also.

CPU questions.

1) Does anyone have a legitimate debate for AMD v. Intel? Everyone seems to have a preference, but can't explain why one is better than the other.

2) Should I go with a 3.0 GHz dual core or 2.5 GHz quad core? Which will be faster for first person shooter and driving games on max settings.

Intel has a superior lineup with the Core2 line, and recently released I7.
AMD fell behind and tried to rely on low price points. The Phenom series are slower clock per clock against Intel but AMD tried to attract people with price. The PhenomII series is a lot better. Perhaps offering 95% -99% of comparable Intel offerings at an attractive price.

Going with an AMD isn't the worst decision, if you have strict price points. However overall peak performance goes to Intel. Benchmarks showing this are widespread. Once again, I'm going to say that the Phenom II 940 is a great buy at $220 and competes well with Q9400-Q9550. However, be mindful that a lot of the mobo's out right now need a bios update to support it....kind hard to update a bios when you don't have a CPU that works in the board (early adopter had to buy cheapo AMD processors in addition to 940 just to update the board)


As for Quad vs Dual.
A lot of titles prefer clock speed and a 3.0 or 3.1 Dual core will keep up or slightly edge out a lower clocked Quad core (at say 2.66 ghz). However, more and more titles are coming out optimized for 4 cores and will take advantage (FarCry 2 being an example).

If you decide to go Dual don't bother with an E8600. E8500 is the most you should get on dual. Anything more expensive better be a Quad Core.

[pauldun170]

Originally Posted by t-rock

Oh for operating systems, XP at first. Probably partition the hard drive and put Linux on one part just to play around with. When Windows 7 comes out, I'll probably move up to it.

Remember that XP will not recognize all 4 gigs. You need a 64bit OS for that.
(DO NOT INSTALL XP 64BIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

[t-homo]

Originally Posted by pauldun170

Remember that XP will not recognize all 4 gigs. You need a 64bit OS for that.
(DO NOT INSTALL XP 64BIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Yeah I know this. I figured it would be cheaper to get 4 now instead of 2 now and 2 later.

It will probably be summer before I get to build this, and I have heard that Intel is going to be releasing a new line in March or so. That should lower the price of the lower ones a little bit I am guessing, so I could probably get a quad intel for not much different than a quad amd. Is DDR2 1066 going to be a fair bit faster than DDR2 800, or not notice a big difference?

[Lamnidae]

Originally Posted by pauldun170

Remember that XP will not recognize all 4 gigs. You need a 64bit OS for that.
(DO NOT INSTALL XP 64BIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I personally wouldn't agree w/ that statement (the do not install xp64bit).


Yeah the big issue you're going to run into is the memory allocation (btw, what memory are you going for?) on 32bit OS's.... *shrugs* That's just the timie we're in right now...

Not a lot of apps are writen to A) take advantage of multi-core processors or B) 64 bit architecture....

So I would go w/ the advice earlier. Spend the $ to go w/ a higher end clock speed on a DualCore or whatever compared to a quad core solution......

Also, make sure your power supply is modular.


As for AMD/Intel, what was stated earlier, I agree w/... the new i7 920 smokes brother, and has done quite well w/ overclocking. now w/ that being said, here's my setup, I paid for it about three hours ago, should be here on Monday I think.....



Zalman ZM850-HP 850w Power Supply

Mushkin 3gb DDR3 1600 RAM (trichannel)

Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB HD (32mb cache)

Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Gamer 7.1

Vigor Monsoon III LT Dual 120mm Fan CPU Cooler (btw, if you roll w/ the i7 920, this ispretty much the fan to get)


Case.... Cooler Master Stacker 830 Evo RC830.

XFX GTX 260 Black Edition 896mb


BIOStar Tpowerx58 mobo.

and of course the i7 920 Nehalem processor.

[Lamnidae]

ahhhh and if you're wondering why only 3gb for that system memory...

I'm just tossin' XP32bit on it... Sides, memory is so cheap now-a-days it's really nothing to bump up and add a 6gb trichannel kit.

[Adeptus_Minor]

I just skimmed the responses, but in reference to your initial system configuration, I would say you should look for a faster hard drive rather than a higher capacity drive.
I would go with 7200 RPM or better and at least 16mb cache, preferably 32mb for a gaming drive.
If you want to download every song and pr0n move on the internet, you can always add another high cap drive later for storage.

[pauldun170]

Originally Posted by Amblyopic

I personally wouldn't agree w/ that statement (the do not install xp64bit).


Yeah the big issue you're going to run into is the memory allocation (btw, what memory are you going for?) on 32bit OS's.... *shrugs* That's just the timie we're in right now...

Not a lot of apps are writen to A) take advantage of multi-core processors or B) 64 bit architecture....

So I would go w/ the advice earlier. Spend the $ to go w/ a higher end clock speed on a DualCore or whatever compared to a quad core solution......

Also, make sure your power supply is modular.


As for AMD/Intel, what was stated earlier, I agree w/... the new i7 920 smokes brother, and has done quite well w/ overclocking. now w/ that being said, here's my setup, I paid for it about three hours ago, should be here on Monday I think.....



Zalman ZM850-HP 850w Power Supply

Mushkin 3gb DDR3 1600 RAM (trichannel)

Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB HD (32mb cache)

Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Gamer 7.1

Vigor Monsoon III LT Dual 120mm Fan CPU Cooler (btw, if you roll w/ the i7 920, this ispretty much the fan to get)


Case.... Cooler Master Stacker 830 Evo RC830.

XFX GTX 260 Black Edition 896mb


BIOStar Tpowerx58 mobo.

and of course the i7 920 Nehalem processor.

I left out the I7 since that would drive his cost up without a minimal impact on game play. I7 shines in other areas but it's not a huge jump in gaming performance to justify the cost.
i7 920 Nehalem is nice and all, but good boards are still in 250 range (on top of the 280 asking price for the 920), and the when it comes to games the performance benefit isn't a huge leap over a Phenom II 940 or Q9550.

If he's just running at 16xxx X 12xxx then 260 isn't worth it.


I'd hold off of the I7 until boards come down in price or even until the mainstream Nehalems come out later this year(which will be a different socket and chipset)

He can probably get by with onboard. The new Realtec codec is pretty good.

Unless he wants to spend a ton $$$. If that's a case he needs to get a better monitor that pushes some resolution to put the high end stuff to use.

Hard drive....7200rpm WD with 32mb should do the trick. They're quiet aand cool.

[t-homo]

I went back through and switched some things out to see what prices would be for a set up according to some recommendations from here. Price Came out to a little above 1100 dollars.

Switched out the monitor for this one. Acer 21.5" 1920x1080

AMD Phenom II X3 2.8 GHz

Asus 790GX AM3 MoBo

Corsair 2x2GB DDR3 1600 RAM

Antec 650W PSU

[Porkchop]

The only thing I would add is look into NEC monitors..... the old man has one and its kick ass....

As far as what model.... im not sure. And their asleep, sorry.

[Riceaholic]

Originally Posted by Adeptus_Minor

I just skimmed the responses, but in reference to your initial system configuration, I would say you should look for a faster hard drive rather than a higher capacity drive.
I would go with 7200 RPM or better and at least 16mb cache, preferably 32mb for a gaming drive.
If you want to download every song and pr0n move on the internet, you can always add another high cap drive later for storage.

No doubt. I have 2-74 gig raptors configured in raid 0 and program starts and load times are like changing a channel on TV. Windows is on one and all my programs are on the other.