Will use the x800xl till some next gen cards come out(new ati ones out in June apparently?)
Few questions, should I go for a dd3 motherboard and ram? or is it not worth it and can anyone recommend a better $250 give or take motherboard then the one listed. I'm looking at pci-e 2.0 just so they have two x16 slots and want to get the cpu easily to 3ghz so no motherboard that has gimped overclocking. Will the 620 watt psu be enough for one single upper mid/low high end card (maybe two)?
Also should I go for 4gb of ram. Main use of comp will probably be photoshop/other design tools, development tools and multimedia/games.
If price is a concern stick with DDR2 for now, the gain for ddr3 isn't really worth it atm.
And bugger 4 gigs, get 8, ram is so cheap right now it's not funny.
The X38 boards are rock solid, and gigabyte is a fantastic brand. If you can find the dough, cough up for the x48 as their overclocking is supposed to be leaps and bounds over the X38.
Yeah don't really want to spend the extra on dd3, mainly wanted to know the motherboard is good :), next question I'm currently still using xp 32bit is it worth upgrading to a 64bit os yet?
Go the Q6600, its FSB is lower but its multi is higher and thus it has much more headroom. Also it will do 1333FSB without any hassle on the stock cooler.
Agreed, I've been running XP-64 for ages and find its more stable than XP-32. Doesn't affect game compatibility either.
I think its probably prudent to wait for the net gen vid cards to see what their like, you can always get a run out model on sale if the new ones aren't that much chop.
I would say upgrading from a 500w to 620w PSU is a little silly honestly. Go for 800w, I got the Gigabyte Odin PSU and its rated at 80+ (84 according to reviewers) efficiency.
Unless you have Uber amounts of Optical / HDD drives dont bother going more than 600 watt. It is just pointless power consumtion / heat generation. 2x Cards in sli/crossfire + 2 -4 hdd + 2 Optical + Almost any intel processor will never use more than 600w peak.
In an effort to make my following people, I'd remind people that you can easily run a 8800GT with Core 2 Duo, 2GB DDR2, optical drive and a hard drive etc. on a 300w PSU.
Too many people spend too much money on power supplies. Just make sure you're buying a good unit at 500w (Seasonic, Silverstone, Neo HE) and you'll never have to worry about anything power related, even in crazy gaming setups (like the one metioned by Lothar).
Wait... you can run 4gb of RAM on a 32bit OS?!?!?! This would be a stunning revelation for me if it was indeed true...
With regards to P182 and PSU make sure its modular because its so much easier to manage and route cables. When I built my friend's C2D rig with a non modular PSU I swear to god it was the most annoying thing I'd ever done...
Quote from leonami;345303: Wait... you can run 4gb of RAM on a 32bit OS?!?!?! This would be a stunning revelation for me if it was indeed true...
With regards to P182 and PSU make sure its modular because its so much easier to manage and route cables. When I built my friend's C2D rig with a non modular PSU I swear to god it was the most annoying thing I'd ever done...
You can run 8gb of RAM with a 32bit OS if you really want. The OS can't address 4.5gb but hey :P I would say 99% of users would be fine with 2gb. Why spend the extra cash when you're never going to use it? If you're big on video/image manipulation, cad or some other resource hungry apps then sure, get more. If youre playing games and doing general windows (xp) shite then 2gb should be plenty.
Quote from jimmy;345332: You can run 8gb of RAM with a 32bit OS if you really want. The OS can't address 4.5gb but hey :P I would say 99% of users would be fine with 2gb. Why spend the extra cash when you're never going to use it? If you're big on video/image manipulation, cad or some other resource hungry apps then sure, get more. If youre playing games and doing general windows (xp) shite then 2gb should be plenty.
because these days 2gb of ram goes for under a hundred bucks, that's as good a reason as any to get more.
Paladin; 1x Raptor, 1x SATA storage, Intel E6600, 1x optical, 2GB DDR2, 7950GX2. 400w Antec PSU (not HE) - no issues at all. I ran an 8800GTX on the same system without issues.
Power-draw for the 7950GX2 is just under 150w. For the 9800GX2 it's just under 200w.
You can most certainly run a typical gaming system, even with a 9800GX2, on a 500w.
*edit* I know from benchmarks that the 2900XT 1GB (GDDR4) uses 16w less than the 2900 512 (GDDR3). This program thinks the 1GB models use more for some reason.
Quote from rec;345351: Paladin; 1x Raptor, 1x SATA storage, Intel E6600, 1x optical, 2GB DDR2, 7950GX2. 400w Antec PSU (not HE) - no issues at all. I ran an 8800GTX on the same system without issues.
Power-draw for the 7950GX2 is just under 150w. For the 9800GX2 it's just under 200w.
You can most certainly run a typical gaming system, even with a 9800GX2, on a 500w.
i'll take my practical experience over your theory craft, sorry :)
The problem isn't if the computer will run on the wattage quoted the problem is if the power supply spec is a marketing spec(or to normal people a lie)