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No Brainer?

-Aura-

-Aura-

-Aura-

Associate
Joined
26 Jan 2007
Posts
901
Location
Newcastle
I have an 8600GT and was looking at an upgrade. As I have an x38 X-fire ready board, I was contemplating 2 x HD4650s in X-fire config., however, I spotted this 8800GT for under 50 notes.

That`s a canny upgrade for not a lot of cash really, isn`t it?

My only fear is the fan noise, are there any PNY owners out there could confirm whether or not the fan noise could be an issue, as my 8600GT is passive and therefore aids for a quiet case?

As always, any help appreciated and I still can`t believe the price of that card!! :D

Thanks, Jeff.
 
auraindigo said:
I have an 8600GT and was looking at an upgrade. As I have an x38 X-fire ready board, I was contemplating 2 x HD4650s in X-fire config., however, I spotted this 8800GT for under 50 notes.

That`s a canny upgrade for not a lot of cash really, isn`t it?

My only fear is the fan noise, are there any PNY owners out there could confirm whether or not the fan noise could be an issue, as my 8600GT is passive and therefore aids for a quiet case?

As always, any help appreciated and I still can`t believe the price of that card!! :D

Thanks, Jeff.
Click to expand...

256mb lol :D
 
auraindigo said:
Res is 1680 x 1050, mmm, a new option. What about 2 of those in X-fire? I don`t seem to feel the love regarding X-fire though but I have seen plenty benchmarks to know that the 3850 has a good reputation. Never had an ATI card, no particular reason. :)
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in xfire im sure 2x4650 would be faster than one 3850 but for the same price you can get 2x3850 512 mb ;)
 
auraindigo said:
I was contemplating
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Hi Jeff,

got a full quid to spend have we? :)

How about you buy this . . .

auraindigopc9.jpg


And then sell your INTEL® X38 Express motherboard and the NVIDIA® 8600GT

Depending on your selling skills I would expect the whole upgrade would cost you £100 (ish) and you will be sorted for 1680 x 1050 gaming and be running a pretty power efficient machine! :cool:
 
That`s what I`m saying grudas, 2 x 3850s ... that would be a pretty impressive option m8, wouldn`t it?

mmm, toss up between the 8800GT and the HD3850 it seems. At least with the latter option, I could X-fire later on. At least my chipset supports both 16x lanes for full enjoyment ;)

Thanx grudas, you`re putting some good suggestions forward, much appreciated :)
 
auraindigo said:
That`s what I`m saying grudas, 2 x 3850s ... that would be a pretty impressive option m8, wouldn`t it?

mmm, toss up between the 8800GT and the HD3850 it seems. At least with the latter option, I could X-fire later on. At least my chipset supports both 16x lanes for full enjoyment ;)

Thanx grudas, you`re putting some good suggestions forward, much appreciated :)
Click to expand...

well you can add 5quid more and get 4850 512mb :rolleyes: :)
 
Big.Wayne said:
Hi Jeff,

got a full quid to spend have we? :)
Click to expand...

Aye, and I expect some change :D

Can`t see the point in that mobo. I have a P5E. Fair point with the card, but double the price of the 8800GT or the HD3850? Fifty notes could be spent here for a decent upgrade .... which is the same price I paid for my 5200 Ultra a while back :D
 
auraindigo said:
Aye, and I expect some change :D

Can`t see the point in that mobo. I have a P5E
Click to expand...
The P5E has one trump card and that is standard x16/x16 Crossfire support, apart from that the newer INTEL® P45 Express is superior in everyway. If you are not using CROSSFIRE than there is no reason to *cling* to your old board and sell it on while the price is good.

The newer INTEL chipsets are better overclockers, use less electricty and are priced extremely well. In your scenario I could probably sell the X38 and bag a nice P45 and still have some money to put towards the new GPU. On the other hand your GPU is not worth a great deal.

For £100 spent and a bit of hustling of your old kit (Mobo&GPU) I think you would be very happy running an INTEL® P45 Express combined with the budget champion HD4850.

What I am suggesting may involve a little extra budget than your original £50 but for the extra £50 you would get a state-of-the-art system to die for and power efficient to boot!

Think about it and good luck! :cool:
 
Wayne, thank you for your advice man :)

Still however can`t see the point in upgrading my mobo. Absolutely nowt wrong with it! :)

I challenge you this ;) If I stuck an HD4850 in my P5E, then you played a game on it, then if I replaced it with a P45 board, same card and you played a game on it, I guarantee you wouldn`t know which board was which until you run a benchmark. :)

I don`t need a state of the art setup. Your suggestion of a new mobo perfectly demonstrates this, my P5E was top of the tree only a few months ago so I`ve learned to just make small upgrades when I can feel that my current system is letting me down. In this case, I just thought that 50 spons was a little lolly for a canny increase in performance :)
 
auraindigo said:
I challenge you this
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Excellent! I do like a rational challenge! :)

By virtue of the fact you are posting on OcUK forums it is safe to assume you are part power-user part uBer-Geek, hopefully I got that bit right!

Now if my assumptions are correct you do indeed like to get the best value from your purchases but are not 100% up to date with the latest silicon hence why this thread exists!

For your information the Chipset you are using is nearly one year (born Oct 2007 I think?) and I believe was outmoded in record time by the Intel® X48 Express chipset a few months later. As already stated the *only* good reason to be running an X38 now is to provide a good platform for a CROSSFIRE gaming system (not a single 8600GT!).

Personally I feel dual card set-ups are not for everyone, Pro-Gamers yes, Pro-Benchers yes, Pro-ePennies yes, but for the average Real-Life-Gamer you should always use the best single card you can afford.

As it appears you haven't taken advantage of your boards key strength (Crossfire) there is no reason not to sell it, the Intel® P45 Express chipset is a much better motherboard for someone using a single beastly graphics card so apart from severe lethergy why would anyone not pull their finger out and get an effectively *free* motherboard swap and end up with a more power efficient and better overclocking platform? :confused:

Now motherboard aside we talk about the graphics card, you been using an 8600GT connected to a 1680x1050 monitor? :eek: seriously that is really sheet! :D

A 256MB 8800GT for £50 would deffo be an upgrade for you, but double the budget to £100 (+selling your old mobo and GPU) and you end up with an uber gaming system(P45+HD4850) that will last a lot longer than an 256MB 8800GT shoved in an Intel® X38 Express chipset motherboard! :o

Lol I hope this is helping you! :)
 
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