Hardware mix 'n' match

azcn2503 · 9 Aug 2007 at 15:18

I'm buying a new top spec PC, and I'm wondering.. if possible, is it better to get most of my components from one company, rather than mixing and matching the best of various companies?

For example, I was going to purchase an Abit IN9 (Nforce 680i SLI) motherboard, 2 x EVGA 8800 Ultra Superclocked and an Asus P1 PhysX in my new system.

Now I'm thinking that I should go with a BFG Nforce 680i SLI motherboard, BFG 8800 Ultra OC graphics and a BFG PhysX. Because, surely this would be more reliable, right?

Saying that, I've never gone with a BFG component before. How do you guys find using them?

mattyrigby00 · 9 Aug 2007 at 15:19

just buy whats the best value, an 8800gtx is an 8800gtx lol, except maybe the cooler changes between brands, although on motherboards the bios features change between brands.

azcn2503 · 9 Aug 2007 at 18:31

Smells good. I'll just go for the most extreme parts I can find. I have no budget.

Paul11 · 9 Aug 2007 at 18:51

2 x ultras ?

what kind of monitor you running ?

sounds like a bit overkill to me.

edit: to answer your quesion though, no , it makes no difference if you mix components from different manufactures.

azcn2503 · 9 Aug 2007 at 21:44

I just received my Dell 3007WFP-HC (Rev. A03) last Friday, so it seems justified

Just for good measure, I have attached some pictures.

It's currently running on my parents PC, which is an Athlon 64 3700+, 1GB RAM, Radeon X850XT-PE, so it can only achieve a 1280x800 resolution (it's the maximum reported by the monitor, apparently).

stickroad · 9 Aug 2007 at 21:46

Let me guess your looking at buying a QX6850?

azcn2503 · 9 Aug 2007 at 21:54

Well, I'm still considering that one... I mean the E6850 is the same clock speed with half the cache and minus 2 cores, but there's a £400 saving to be made. I might just wait until a little later on this year to get a quad-core. Even though I really want one, and can afford one, I feel that it would be the worst value-for-money component in my system. Perhaps after I see some UT3 and Crysis benchmarks showing some multi-core taking-advantageness will I get a quad-core processor.

allllec · 9 Aug 2007 at 21:55

stickroad said:
Let me guess your looking at buying a QX6850?

Oi. I've warned you !

lol but seriously..

bud even if you dont have a budget as such there is no point just spending for the sake of it.

id say either make a budget and stick to it.. or do a "spec me" thread

azcn2503 · 9 Aug 2007 at 21:59

I'll let you know how it turned out in a couple of months.

Anyway, thanks for the advice.

Megahurtz400 · 9 Aug 2007 at 22:46

azcn2503 said:
Smells good. I'll just go for the most extreme parts I can find. I have no budget.

Lucky, wish i could do that

And on topic:

I dont think it matters that much, if at all

azcn2503 · 21 Sep 2007 at 09:06

Just thought I'd let you guys know that I've got absolutely nowhere with this PC... bought a Lian-Li PC-S80B, an EVGA GeForce 8800 Ultra Superclocked and a Tagan Turbojet 1100W... and have since sold the S80 in favour of the V1000. That's it so far. I'm trying to balance new computer building with going out with my girlfriend and they seem to cost about the same, so it's going slowly... I am thinking of just purchasing some lower end components to finish off the build without going bankrupt, then purchasing the high end components next month (and sell off the lower end components on Ebay?).. i.e: a Q6600, 2GB instead of 4GB of RAM, 1 HDD instead of 2 HDD's in RAID 0. I'll let you know how it goes.