£1200 to spend, need a decision !

[curvey]

Hi,

Theres a lot out there, and its hard to decide upon what you want.

Atm im running an intel 3.2EE on a ic7 max3 mobo with a 6600gt card, and some 1gb memory.

Going by my specs i definatly need a new build.

I'd prefer to go AMD (dunno why) maybe because there cheaper and seem to aim more towards the desktop home users?

So i was thinking:
- A8N32 SLI Deluxe NForce 4 x16
- XFX 7900 GTX (Single for now)
- 4800+ 64 x2 cpu

Is it important to buy a crossfire gfx when buying a crossfire mobo?

Could you recommend me to a better 3-way build ?

I'd like to avoid intel if possible. I play a lot of gaming and a lot of music and video encoding.

Cheers

 

[ACESHIGH]

Wouldnt recommend anything different actually.

Keep the ..
Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+
Asus A8R-MVP or if have the extra budget the A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire
ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
(Sapphire cards appear to be the best overclockers so maybe go for them)

 

[Eliminos]

Yeah, I'd recommend the Sapphire XTX too. They come in the best pack too. You get a lot of stuff with it.

 

[semi-pro waster]

Welcome to the forums. Would you be overclocking or at least willing to try? If so I'd suggest you get either an X2 4400 and save ~£120 to put towards 2gb of Ram, the system won't be much slower if any at stock and the extra gb of Ram will make a difference to compensate. You could also look at the dual core Opterons 165, 170, 175 depending on your budget and overclock them because they have 2mb L2 cache and overclock very nicely apparantly.

 

[curvey]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies, and im glad to be here

I will definatly be overclocking my system without a doubt. The mobo and cpu must be a good OC with its multipliers unlocked. My intel atm i cant unlock but can only up the fsb

Is it really worth saving money and to go for a 4400+ ? and then buying the A8N32 SLI board ? Ive heard that SLI is a better system over the Crossfire (software vs Hardwre) so id prefer SLI once i have my 2 cards

Also, about the Opterons arnt they more server and business based processors ? How much of a significant impact do they have over the 4400 or 4800+ amd's, for gaming and oc ?

Thanks.

 

[amx]

Well the 4400 and 4800+ both have 2mb of cache aswell.
The 4400+ could probably be overclocked to 4800+ speeds as there is only 200Mhz in it.
All AMD chips have their multiplyers locked apart from the FX series chips, so all you'll be able to do is up the FSB (or HTT).
Opteron's are server processors, but they work equally well on home systems (they have better cores that run at lower voltages I believe), and over clock well.

 

[Turbanation]

Damn, you're going to have a solid set-up.

 

[curvey]

Therefore, if i was to go for:

AMD Opteron UP 175 Dual Core San Diego 2.2GHz 2MB Cache -£387

over an:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+ £458

I will have an extra 1mb of L2 cache (better overclock), i will also be saving myself an extra £70.

However, the 4800+ has an extra 0.2ghz but im assuming i can make up for that loss when overclocking the Opteron to a high protetial. And the end Ghz will be roughly the same?


IMO, the Opteron above is a better cpu then the 4400+ but compariable with the 4800+

What do u guys think ?

Cheers

p.s AMX: i believe the 4400 and 4800 both have 1mb in L2 cache.

 

[Naffa]

Therefore, if i was to go for:

AMD Opteron UP 175 Dual Core San Diego 2.2GHz 2MB Cache -£387

over an:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+ £458

I will have an extra 1mb of L2 cache (better overclock), i will also be saving myself an extra £70.

both the Opteron and 4800+X2 feature 1MB of L2 CACHE per core. the Opteron CPU was designed to run in servers so feature cherry picked cores to run at super low voltages and give off less heat.

go for Opteron imo.

SLi > Crossfire atm as the mobo crossfire chipsets are rubbish. but with the release of the R580 Crossfire chipset i believe it will be a lot better. but if you want to order soon and dual cards are your intention then a 7900 sounds good to me

 

[ACESHIGH]

Well RD580, ATI's newest crossfire chipset is out. Great performance.
This mobo is using the RD580 chipset ..
Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-131-AS)
£146.82*Including VAT

Considering you can get the PowerColor ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-060-PC) for £317.19*Including VAT, which perform the same as the 7900GTX, i would go for the cheaper ATI solution, unless you have wads of cash lying arround.

 

[Naffa]

ok.. i need to stop being an uber n00b