New Computer

[DesertFox]

I will be getting a new computer within the next couple of weeks and I was wondering what you guy's thought about the

9800 GX2
Intel P45 (I think thats what they are called) and when they are coming out
DD3 ram, yay or nah

My budget is around 2,000.

Thanks.

[Long Bow]

Well a couple of questions first.

-What are your goals for this computer?
-Are you a person who likes to upgrade video cards etc. once a year?
-Does your budget include a monitor, operating system?
-What is your current set up?

My first gut reaction is a big no to the 9800GX2. In about a month or two there will be new next generation, full redesign, graphic cards out from both ATI and nVidia. All of which should beat the current cards. I would suggest waiting until they come out, compare benchmarks and then decide. I would say the same thing about the P45 motherboards, wait and see.

DDR3 currently is not needed unless you are planning on running a super high FSB. It is just to expensive currently when compared to the performance gains it gives (if any?).

Give us some feed back and we can help you pick some parts

[Raej]

The only problem with the upcoming GT2000 cards is there gonna be extremely hot, so without water cooling your fans are gonna be really loud.

[Bamboo]

Raej, where are you getting your info from?
There isn't any information out on temp for the GT200 yet, but considering it is built on a smaller die process than previous chips, it should run a bit more efficient than 8800 chips.

@ Desertfox

The P45 stuff will be out in a week or 2 and there are some previews out for the boards already.
MSI P45 Platinum probed
Asus launches P45 promotion site
Intel P45 Preview – GIGABYTE DS3R + DQ6
That last one is really good, and they still don't have a release quality BIOS to play with. They like the board and it's performance will only go up with better BIOS releases.

If I was about to build a rig right now I would put a p45 in, unless you were certain without a doubt that you were going to run a dual video card setup. Then you would have to decide between an x48 MB or one from Nvidia. Just not worth the hassles to me. I would rather have 1 good GFX card instead.
And want to talk about extremely hot, the 9800GX2 is the hottest around. If you do want to run one, better have an amazing PC case to keep the air flow at max.
The word leaked around is that Nvidia's new cards will be able to beat the GX2, and that is with just a single card, so you have less heat and less power needs. Both good. And will probably be cheaper too. Even better.
Chances are I will be getting one of these to replace my 8800GTS 640mb.
We will be finding out about all of these with complete details next week at the Computex show. Keep checking back at this forum because I will be posting all the top news to keep people up to date.

As far as the DDR3, I am still sitting on the fence. If I had to buy right now I don't know what I would pick. I hadn't looked at the prices on newegg in awhile, and they have certainly come down the last few months, at least for the lowest speeds. There is even some with decent low latency like 6.
You can easily get 4 gigs for under $250 for the slower speeds. I would keep an eye on the prices once the P45 MBs come out cause the $ should come down. Not going to take much more to make the DDR3 the thing to have.
Considering your budget is $2000, you should easily be able to afford any of the above, but it is wether you really want to spend the money on it now or wait a couple weeks and get something better.
If I remember Desertfox, don't you live somewhere other than USA? If so, what stores are you planning to use to buy?
Have you thought more about CPU? The prices on the q9450 are starting to drop back to where they should be
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115042
http://www.tankguys.com/product_info...d5bc0e8cb2e456

[Raej]

fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5519&Ite mid=1

Thats alot of power for a fan which makes me think its gonna be really hot.

[Bamboo]

Man, that link is all the way from the 1st week in Feb. They really had no idea about the card back then, and so much on the final product could have actually changed, I would even begin to believe that article any more.

[DesertFox]

-What are your goals for this computer? Gaming
-Are you a person who likes to upgrade video cards etc. once a year? Not really
-Does your budget include a monitor, operating system? Already have a monitor, need operating system
-What is your current set up? 3700+, 7800GT, 2GB of ram.

As for videocard im a bit confused, GX2 = what is out right now, and the ones that are coming out soon are GT2000? Also, any idea what month those card's are coming out?

[Bamboo]

See this thread I am running:
Latest news about next gen graf. cards

I am about to post some more stuff right now actually

Bottom line is we will know a lot more about final release dates next week, but a lot of the cards from both companies are supposed to be released 2-3 week of June.

And it is GT200. I think he put an extra 0 in by mistake above.

[DesertFox]

So in other words it would be within my best interests to wait and get the P45 and the 9800GT200 and then wait for DD3 ram to go down in price?

What about increase in performance/price between the 9800GX2 and the 9800GT200, not sure if I got the names right, so many different things since when I bought last :P

[Bamboo]

It is actually not called the 9800GT200. They are going with a completly new naming system from what people can tell. The names and numbers below may not be completly final, but we will know in less than a week

[Long Bow]

I would wait and see what the new cards do in benchmarks. The 9800GTX GX2 was touted as being insane etc. But in benchmarks it wasn't always all it was cracked up to be when you consider the price and power requirments for it. Partly the drivers are to blame as well which could be all sorted by now.

The other thing you need to watch with these benchmarks is the resolution. If they are running them really high the results will start to look bad for some cards. The reality is though that if you game at 1680x1050 you may not gain anything from the card that leads the pack at 2500x1600 (or whatever the higher res's are?) Yes it will be a faster card but it may mean the difference of 80fps or 100fps for you, something you won't notice. Now the high end card will last longer but there is a problem with that also. Take the 8800GTX for example if you bought that new in the $500-$600 dollar range it would and still is a solid card. However the 8800GT can run with it in most games and costs much less then that. In fact you could SLi the GT's for the price of your new GTX. In my opinion it's better to buy the card that is a solid performer for a good price, keep it for a year or a little more, sell it and get the new card that will do the same, rinse and repeat

If I were you, I would have probably dropped the 7800GT a little while ago and put in one of the 8800 cards. You would now be at a point where you could buy a whole new system, keep the 8800 card for a little while longer and buy what ever next gen card suits your needs and budget after the initial buzz has died down. That isn't the case but it demonstrates what I was on about

Just be sure to do your research from more then one source and try to be patient. Another thing that might help is buying from eVga for your card as they have the 90 day step up program for cards. That way if you do buy a 9800xx now you could (be sure before you buy) step up to one of the next gen cards in a month or two. It will be a pricier route to go but it gives you options.

Sorry for the lengthy post.

[=DdogG=]

wow. the 4870 looks SWEET!!!!

[DesertFox]

Alright so im going to wait for the P45 boards and the GTX280 to come out and look at benchmarks, what about these new intel CPU's, think they will be any good?

[Bamboo]

Actually, I think the current ones that are out are very good, just that the quads are still overpriced due to demand/supply. And the e8400 is still an awesome choice for the people that want to upgrade on a tight budget. The e8500 is a no go for me because it barley registers above the e8400, but the e8600 (new one), provides a nice bump.
If you are referring to the new stepping about to be released, we will know shortly, and of course as soon as someone hears, they will post it here.

[Steamers]

get amd dual cores not intel core duo's