Which PCI-Express...

KneHigHbOb · Post by **KneHigHbOb** » October 6th, 2005, 16:13

Hey guys, after what feels like years of not playing anything because my PC is too crap to play anything, I'm planning on splashing out. (not a lot mind, i'm quite poor)

Now I have been doing a bit o research and I think I will be buying the following

Mobo: Asus P5ND2-SLI/Deluxe nForce 4 Skt 775
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 640 3.2Ghz Socket 775
RAM: 1GB DDR2 PC2-4200 (Maybe 2GB if budget goes that far)

but then I am stuck. Which/what PCI-E graphics card do I buy?

Bearing in mind that I want to be able to play Quake 4, FEAR and HL2 (and CS:S again)

Any suggestions?

Cheers

Dave/Leumas

pixie pie · Post by **pixie pie** » October 6th, 2005, 16:19

Depends on your price bracket...

Low price bracket? 6600GT's. Can be picked up from as little as £120ish..

Medium? X800XL. £200ish or if you're an nvidia slag.. (as I am) 6800GT

High? 7800 *Drool*.. Damnit. Can't drool on expensive stuff, might have to pay for it..

Lee · Post by **Lee** » October 6th, 2005, 16:27

I'd reccomend you get an amd athlon 64 over a pentium 4, better for teh games.
I have a 6600gt, runs current games fine on high exept things like beef 2 so its a good buy if you dont want to spend loads.

Post by **deject** » October 6th, 2005, 20:31

Lee.H wrote:I'd reccomend you get an amd athlon 64 over a pentium 4, better for teh games.
I have a 6600gt, runs current games fine on high exept things like beef 2 so its a good buy if you dont want to spend loads.

I'd second this, but berk would then say that I'm just being an AMD fanboy.

but yes, AMD is better for gaming than Intel.

I'd recommend an Asus A8N-SLI motherboard paired with at least an Athlon 64 3000+ CPU.

also, as far as the GPU, I'd recommend a either a 6600GT if you'r going for cheap SLI upgradability or a X800GT for under $200. For up to $300 I recommend either a X800XL or an X800GTO. For over $300 something from the nVidia 7800 series is the only way to go.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » October 6th, 2005, 21:05

deject wrote:I'd second this, but berk would then say that I'm just being an AMD fanboy.

but yes, AMD is better for gaming than Intel.

Mostly i argue that if you have a choice, AMD is better, otherwise, stick with intel if you have old hardware you can reuse.

please note: i am very much an amd fanboy, but i also have a brain.

Post by **deject** » October 6th, 2005, 21:29

fairy muff Dr. Berk.

pixie pie · Post by **pixie pie** » October 7th, 2005, 19:01

deject wrote:For over $300 something from the nVidia 7800 series is the only way to go.

Actually m'friend, I've just seen that the ATI equivalent the X1800 is coming out like, in a week or so. I sawed it www.overclockers.co.uk They look pretty sweet (awaits reviews)

Post by **deject** » October 8th, 2005, 2:30

pixie pie wrote:Actually m'friend, I've just seen that the ATI equivalent the X1800 is coming out like, in a week or so. I sawed it www.overclockers.co.uk They look pretty sweet (awaits reviews)

quit talking like you know more than me, it's quite annoying.

they're obviously not out yet and there's no set pricing, AFAIK. Also the benchmarks I've seen have been mixed.

Post by **Dr. kitteny berk** » October 8th, 2005, 2:56

as always, i'd suggest waiting until the release on the R520 properly (next month) and seeing what the benchmarks say then

Post by **deject** » October 8th, 2005, 8:00

Dr. kitteny berk wrote:as always, i'd suggest waiting until the release on the R520 properly (next month) and seeing what the benchmarks say then

exactly.

pixie pie · Post by **pixie pie** » October 8th, 2005, 18:53

deject wrote:
pixie pie wrote:Actually m'friend, I've just seen that the ATI equivalent the X1800 is coming out like, in a week or so. I sawed it www.overclockers.co.uk They look pretty sweet (awaits reviews)
quit talking like you know more than me, it's quite annoying.

they're obviously not out yet and there's no set pricing, AFAIK. Also the benchmarks I've seen have been mixed.

You love me really, More than you'd like to let on anyway..

Post by **deject** » October 8th, 2005, 20:23

I LOVE EVERYBODY.

Anhamgrimmar · Post by **Anhamgrimmar** » October 8th, 2005, 21:42

pah! what you want is a pair of voodoo 2 PCI cards in SLI mode

/luddite blog

just read this months PCformat, and it does sound like its worth waiting for that R520 to hit the market. maybe not to purchase said R520 card, but to see what happens to the first batch of PCI-E cards; there are some good chipsets that will take a tumble in price very very soon