1.2k build review

Can't you do that with any card?

 

Crossfire is an ATI proprietary technology, so only ATI cards can utilize crossfire.

SLI is the equivalent nvidia technology. I don't know if quad-SLI has been made yet but I've seen tri-SLI out for some time.

crossfire and SLI are somewhat early experimental technologies. Benchmark tests have found some cases where one card out performs two and so forth.

 

Rule number one: crossfire looks good only in benchmarks (so do SLI, not nVidia fanboy).
I wouldn't get more than 4GB of dual-channel RAM ( i have GEIL RAM, works uber fine, i played empires with warcraft 3 minimalised and didnt even know it)

You may also laught at me, but im not into quadcores processors (I strongly believe there is no real need for that)

Whats with those overpriced cases? i bought mine for something around 35$ and im

 

Ignore Brutos. He's really dumb.

PSU is just right, and Corsair are awesome.

Fuck buying your OS, just download it like a man. That $300 could be better spent elsewhere.

Brutos is however right about CPU. The system itself, i5 I wouldn't recommend.
Use the $300 saved on the OS and go up to i7. Way more future-proof.

Also, 4gb is fine, and stick with brands, they're "brands" for a reason, they've produced good shit for a long time. Although having gone back, I've never heard of that "Brand".

Go with Corsair/OCZ/Crucial/Kingston or something. Idk what you get over in America.

 

HAHA everyone saying different things :D

 

sli-crossfire is a good way to spend more for less performance

i can see from the suppliers, and forom building quite some pc's in my time

 

-Agree on do not have SLI/crossfire
-Agree on getting no name brand ram... UNLESS you're going to overclock it or something.
-iffy on PSU. People usually overbuy on that front, but with SLI/crossfire, you may need the extra ommph.

 

NEVER NEVER NEVER buy generic ram. Do you know what "generic" and "house brand" ram is? It's when a brand-name manufacturer fucks up on a large order and decides to resell it without its name on it to cut its losses. If a company isn't willing to put its name behind a product, you shouldn't be willing to buy it either.

 

I've never had a problem with no name brand ram.

And no, it isn't 'large manufacturer's defects', they couldn't sell that.

Its smaller companies getting in, and yes, they do generally make good products, otherwise they wouldn't sell very many.

 

Yes, I've read all about it. Thanks for assuming I'm an idiot. Fermi is meant as a GPGPU, hence the transistor count. The release date is unsure, nvidia is being very cryptic. Their memory is probably holding them back at the moment. Who knows about perf numbers, the 5800 series may beat it, but no one has numbers on Fermi, aside from nvidia. nVidia is really departing from the gaming world here and moving into the more profitable supercomputer realm (gee, can I say that I see signs of PC gaming dying enough times?)

No. It depends on the manufacturer. 450W for most means peak power, not sustained. Get 550W at least for this rig; anything above 600W is going to be overkill for the most part, but when you're foward looking, 750W isn't such a bad idea as it lets you expand pretty easily.

Fuck scumbags who steal software. People get paid to write it - if you steal it, that means that you're not giving the company the money it requires to continue paying people. Buy windows, buy AV software, buy games - etc.

I agree with name brand RAM. The non-name brand can be OK, but it's hit or miss. I swear by Corsair these days; before I got my 12GB corsair set, I had some cheapy Crucial DDR3 that did OK. Yes, most ram comes from Micron or Samsung, but customer service and extra quality standards really help.

 

Sorry android, I didn't mean to call you an idiot. I was just pointing out that nVidia's next-gen card isn't worth waiting for.

Not to mention there possibly won't be a low-end FERMI. There's a rebranded GT310 out now. That means that there's a possibility of multiple rebranded G200 chips, with Fermi being among the top.

 

Entirely possible, god knows what nVidia is doing with rebranding these days. Vive le G80! Or something like that.

I totally expect Fermi to be an awesome GPGPU...and be a total flop when it comes to gaming, but I say wait for Fermi, because that will at least drop ATI's prices.

 

Ok. I'm getting the i5. That is pretty much decided. It is way good for the price. Plus 1366 motherboards are moar expensive than 1156s.

I am going to crossfire 5770's. How is crossfire low performance?
All I heard is "crossfire only performs good in tests".
What the fuck do they test the cards on. They test the cards on benchmarks from the actual games which simulates video stress.


the 300 dollars is the OS + the GRAPHICS CARD READ GERBILS.
The OS is only 110 itself.

There is no way I'm running an i5 + 2 5770s using only a 450W. It should be around 650, but I got a 750 to be safe.

 

Having worked in the IT industry in the past, I know that large manufacturers can and do sell defective products under house brand names.

Small manufacturers are eager to make a name for themselves and it's extremely unlikely to find one that doesn't market a brand with their product.

 

The high end mainboards can use more than 100W, don't forget memory in there. Also, the wattage has no reliance on efficiency. It's a 400W PSU - that's 400W from the internals - the switching power supply. The efficiency only affects what it draws from the wall socket. If I'm drawing 300W from my PSU and it is 80% efficient, I'm drawing 375W from the wall. Moreover, don't forget that each rail can only sink so much power - you can't add up magical numbers and call it good. Some components use the +5V line, some the +12V line...some the +3.3 line (and the negative lines are used to bias.)

And again, I reiterate that MOST PSUs are rated in PEAK power. NOT continuous power. Peak can be sustained for a few milliseconds before you're dropped backt o what it can supply continuously...and you never, EVER want to be using a component at it's highest level. Go look at some of the National Semiconductor data on FETs - as you push them to their limits, they start to really heat up and not run as efficiently You're better staying clear of the maximum tolerances of the components.

Just because it's 80% efficient means NOTHING when it comes to what it is really capable of.

 

A good rule of thumb is 25W for each peripheral (DVD/HDD). 1W per fan (negligible).


100W for processor, more for MB (don't know how much), RAM, etc..

I still recommend waiting for the HD5850. The HD5770 xfire should be less performance than the HD5870 (4870zx2), because it's loss of perf due to imperfect scaling (HD5770=HD4870 in performance), therefore the HD5850 (4850x2) should have performance not-too-under the HD5770 xfire.

 

I've seen some MBs hit 100W power consumption, since the videocard will draw some power from the MB, as well as memory.