• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Graphic card to suit system

phileeny

phileeny

phileeny

Associate
Joined
23 Feb 2006
Posts
43
I'm going to buy the following, [opinion please] and which single graphics card work the best

£176.19 Asus P5WD2-E Premium Intel 975X (LGA775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-130-AS)
£323.07 Intel Pentium 4 940 Dual Core "LGA775 Presler" 3.2GHz (800FSB) - Retail (CP-113-IN)
£035.19 Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower (Socket 939/754/478/775) CPU Cooler (HS-015-ZA)
£211.44 Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400 TwinX (2x1GB) (MY-092-CS)
£745.89 Total

Graphics, do I go for
Nvidia 7900 GT,GTX
Ati X1900 XT, XTX
I like the "look" of the HIS Excalibur, but you don't buy a top end card because it looks nice, should i go for the asus to match the board, which manufacturer gives the best option as the ATI X1900XTX's all seem the same, and with the Nvidia XFX GeForce 7900 GTX Core running at 700MHz is it worth the £500, I would like it to run cool and quiet

Budget not a problem yet
 
Mmm interesting spec, you'll get the usually 'why intel' questions though for what, given the graphics, appears to be a gaming system.

As for your question, definatly a X1900XT.. no question, any brand will do.
 
You would be better of with an AMD rig.
For a lower price you could get a much better system imo.
Something like this ....

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£326.59 Including VAT

Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-131-AS)
£123.32 Including VAT **This Week Only**

Corsair 2GB DDR XMS4000PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS3 (MY-094-CS)
£152.69 Including VAT

Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower (Socket 939/754/478/775) CPU Cooler (HS-015-ZA)
£35.19 Including VAT

Total = £637.79 Including VAT

-----

As for graphics with the "This week only" prices definitely get an ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X. Same speed as the 7900GTX, but much cheaper.

Personally i would get the Connect3D ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (3055) (GX-046-CO)
£311.32 Including VAT **This Week Only**

However if you really want to get the HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-047-HT)
£323.07 Including VAT **This Week Only**

Though these cards are essentailly the same.
 
Last edited:
Why Intel
CPU: The above is faster then the AMD 64x2 for the same price
Mobo: Faster FSB, 8 sata II
Memory: DDR2 Faster clock speed
Graphics: PCI-E x16 [x16-x16 crossfire] not much faster than [x8-x8 crossfire]

Am I not right?
 
phileeny said:
Why Intel
CPU: The above is faster then the AMD 64x2 for the same price
Mobo: Faster FSB, 8 sata II
Memory: DDR2 Faster clock speed
Graphics: PCI-E x16 [x16-x16 crossfire] not much faster than [x8-x8 crossfire]

Am I not right?
Click to expand...

No, No, No... You definitely aren't right!

Instruction sets and chip architecture are more important than mere speed. Do a google search for Toms Hardware and you will see benchmarks that show a 2.4ghz AMD X2 chip outperforming an Intel D 3.2ghz.

The main differences are:

AMD X2:
256k L1 Cache
1mb or 2mb L2 Cache
2000mhz Hypertransport (up to 8gb/s)
400mhz FSB (up to 6.4gb/s)
Total Memory Bandwidth (up to 14.4gb/s)
3DNow!(TM) technology, SSE2, SSE3
89W or 110W

Intel D:
56k L1 Cache
2mb or 4mb L2 Cache
800mhz FSB (up to 6.4gb/s)
SSE2, SSE3
95W or 130W

The intel uses more power and has half the memory bandwidth of the AMD, not to mention that you could have as much L2 cache as you want but if you've only got 56k of L1 cache it doesn't really make any difference as all instructions pass from Ram to L2 cache to L1 cache to CPU.

Total Memory Bandwidth (up to 6.4gb/s)

The same applies with the gfx card the 7900gtx is technically faster than the x1900xtx but that doesn't really matter either.

Plus DDR2 isn't all it's cracked up to be, a lot of people will tell you that a good quality std DDR ram will outperform it because of the high latencies.
 
Last edited:
OK What about this then,
£117.44 Asus A8N-SLi Premium nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-111-AS)
£326.59 AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£035.19 Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower (Socket 939/754/478/775) CPU Cooler (HS-015-ZA)
£152.69 Corsair 2GB DDR XMS4000PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS3 (MY-094-CS)
£093.94 Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (ZAT-00054) (SW-022-MS)

£725.85 Total

£323.07 HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-047-HT)

So what you are saying is that the above would out perform my Intel spec?

Note: Video/Graphic editing first, top end gaming [FPS] second

Would the above work together, I was going to install 4GB ram, but been told 4GB is overkill as the memory would run slower
 
Yes the above would outperform your Intel spec!
The X2 CPU is a great multitasking & gaming CPU.

That combo of mobo, CPU, ram & graphics is pretty common & will run very nicely.

2 gig ram will be good.
 
phileeny said:
£093.94 Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (ZAT-00054) (SW-022-MS)
Click to expand...

Any reason for getting XP64? I would go for normal XP Pro myself.
 
Reasonable spec but with a ATI card, SLI is pointless. The new RD580 boards are looking promissing too so IMO you would be better off with the new Asus Crossfire board.
 
AMDX23800+ said:
Geforce 7800GT all the way !!!! :D
Click to expand...

What has that got to do with the spec.... Are you just spamming?


EDIT: Just noticed you have done Exactly the same in another spec thread... just out of the blue :rolleyes:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

As for the AMD X2 spec. The X2 CPU's are very good for encoding etc aswell as for gaming.

I would change the RAM to some G-Skill 2GB DDR HZ PC4000 :)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

BigDom said:
Reasonable spec but with a ATI card, SLI is pointless. The new RD580 boards are looking promissing too so IMO you would be better off with the new Asus Crossfire board.
Click to expand...

I would agree with that... SLI is pointless with an ATI card.. its just common sence to buy a crossfire board when your buying a 1900XTX :)
 
Last edited:
I will look in to the G-Skill 2GB DDR HZ PC4000, as it's the same price as the Corsair 2GB DDR XMS4000PT whats the deference.

does the asus RD580 crossfire board have 8 SATA's, I am only going to use one graphics card so what is the advantage.
 
Last edited:
Are you going to be overclocking?

If not then definatly get some low latency ram (2.3.2.5 ocz platinum looks good)
 
phileeny said:
OK What about this then,
£117.44 Asus A8N-SLi Premium nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-111-AS)
£326.59 AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£035.19 Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower (Socket 939/754/478/775) CPU Cooler (HS-015-ZA)
£152.69 Corsair 2GB DDR XMS4000PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS3 (MY-094-CS)
£093.94 Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (ZAT-00054) (SW-022-MS)

£725.85 Total

£323.07 HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-047-HT)

So what you are saying is that the above would out perform my Intel spec?

Note: Video/Graphic editing first, top end gaming [FPS] second

Would the above work together, I was going to install 4GB ram, but been told 4GB is overkill as the memory would run slower
Click to expand...

Go for the above rig, it will peform very well.


BTW the RD580 has 6 x SATA
 
lol, i didnt actually think there was anyone still around who thinks that things with higher mhz or ghz = better

amd low mhz cpu's have outperformed intel rubbish for years now

and comparing mhz in ddr and ddr 2 and ati n nvidia doesnt work like that either, go read some reviews, itl explain what actually effects performance more than just "well it has more mhz....its got to be better"

surely a 2ghz sempron is exactly the same as a 2ghz amd 64 then? if this is the case? which is obviously why the latter is about £100 more expensive

rofl
 
phileeny said:
OK What about this then,
£117.44 Asus A8N-SLi Premium nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-111-AS)
£326.59 AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£035.19 Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower (Socket 939/754/478/775) CPU Cooler (HS-015-ZA)
£152.69 Corsair 2GB DDR XMS4000PT TwinX (2x1GB) CAS3 (MY-094-CS)
£093.94 Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (ZAT-00054) (SW-022-MS)

£725.85 Total

£323.07 HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-047-HT)

So what you are saying is that the above would out perform my Intel spec?

Note: Video/Graphic editing first, top end gaming [FPS] second

Would the above work together, I was going to install 4GB ram, but been told 4GB is overkill as the memory would run slower
Click to expand...

It's pretty much what I would build today ;)
It's my CPU of choice, if I had a bit more cash :(
Don't forget the Seasonic S12 PSU :D Ok I'm biased but realy don't forget a decent PSU :rolleyes:
 
PSU I'm going to be running two Hiper Type R 580w, one for main system, the other for HDD's going to be using 9 HDD's, two CD/DVD's and one fan/temp controller
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom