Gaming Systems - need opinions

C

CelestialAlchemist

New Member
Hey guys. As some of you know im in the middle of building a new pc, lol and having trouble deciding between nvidia and radeon after all the new cards that have been released. So i thought the best thing to do would be to post a couple specs, one for radeon, the other for geforce, and get some opinions on them. One thing i am after for them are the pros and cons for each system, and of course which one seems best:P


Nvidia Gaming System

Case: Coolermaster Cosmos S
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
HDD: Western Digital 500gb HDD
Optical: Asus CD/DVD writer/drive
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2g (2x1gb) kit 5-5-5-15
Motherboard: XFX 780i
GPU: Galaxy 9800gtx x2 SLI
PSU: Coolermaster 850w Real Power

Radeon Gaming Syste,:
Case: Coolermaster Cosmos S
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
HDD: Western Digital 500gb HDD
Optical: Asus CD/DVD writer/drive
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 2g (2x1gb) kit 5-5-5-15
Motherboard: Gigabyte X48-DQ6 Motherboard
GPU: 2 x 4870 Crossfire
PSU: Coolermaster 850w Real Power

These are the two systems im trying to choose between at the moment. If anything else new comes out *shakes fist at Geforce and Radeon* Ill change the specs. What i wanna know is how hot would this system run? Will the whopping 25cm fan on the site of the Cosos S cool both setups down a fair bit? And any other opinions on either system would be greatly appreciated, not to mention pros and cons for each one
 
go with the ATI. It will match and/or outperform the nvidia system AND use less power. Also SLI/Crossifre IMO is a waste of mney as you most times don't even get a 50% incrase much less a 100% increase.
 
I have had a few problems with Crucial RAM, and also with Kingston. I always use Corsair, and have never had any problems. I have had no experience with XFX motherboards, but their video cards work fine. The only problem I see is that the new Intel chips will not work in the XFX board for future upgrades. I am not sure about the Gigabyte board. I would check both manufacturers websites on what chips they support, but seeing as you are using DDR2 it will limit your options later on down the road. I too would stay with DDR2 for the price/performance right now. Make sure you order the right Gigabyte MoBo since the DDR2 board and the DDR3 board only have 1 letter different in their model numbers. What resolution are you planning on running at?
 
I say go Nvidia. Got an 8600gt and it pulls its weight when it comes to gaming. Now if my 1.8ghz Sempron would do the same...
 
Im actually having second thoughts about my system being multi-gpu, whether i go ati or nvidia. From what ive seen the only game that really requires sli/xfire is Crysis, most other games ive seen run fine with just a single decent graphics card. Plus im thinking of getting either a 19" or 22" monitor, so i dont believe i'd get much performance increase in those resolutions, though I may be wrong. And yeah, every review ive read about the new Radeon cards is that they do run pretty hot. Plus if what ive heard is correct, the 9800gtx is being dropped in price to match the radeon 4850, which makes geforce seem all the more tempting. I guess ill have to see what the ati drivers are like ina couple weeks time and see if they fix up the fan speed issues.

Also, i forgot to mention the games im gonna be playing most of the time, figured they may help when deciding between systems.

Unreal Tournament 3, Call fo Duty 4, Half Life 2/Counterstrike Source, Supreme Commander, World of Warcraft (of course:-P), Warhammer online, Battlefield 2 and 2142, Dawn of War.

And also, I'm looking at getting into 3D graphics and animation, and possibly some movie editing as a hobby, and ive had a few people tell me that i wont get much, if any extra performance from multi-gpu setups compared to a single graphics card, si that correct?

And i guess the main thing is waht i mentioned earlier in this post, I'll probably be going no bigger than a 22" monitor, as anything else bigger would blow my budget out of the water
 
Dual Monitors FTW! If you can get 2 19" monitors or 1 19" and 1 22", that would be a good way to go with animation and editing. It really helps alot.
 
I agree with the Nvidia option. I have always had much better luck with Nvidia drivers and boards. If you get any board on the 780 nvidia chipset, its even better to use nvidia card. If you ever want to use dual monitors, the multi vid cards don't support that. I play CoD4 at 1680 by 1050 all the time and usually it runs around 40-50 with an 88gt, so your scores should be higher. Supreme Commander is very hard on systems too, but it likes faster CPU along with vid card, especially if you are using 2 monitors. As for doing video editing and the like, you may want to get 4 gigs of ram. The graphics and animation programs love ram. They also like more cpu cores, so if you want to get into it big time, look into getting the quad core cpu instead. Two monitors is a lot of fun to have, and is proven to increase productivity. I have a 22" Samsung, and a old Dell 19" that I use. Its really nice playing WoW with vent up, and being able to look at who is talking, or adjust the volume levels of people while playing the game, or having wowwiki up in the other monitor. You only need 1 new monitor just use whatever you are on now as the secondary.
 
If you ever want to use dual monitors, the multi vid cards don't support that.
Click to expand...

???

i've run all of my systems like that in the past, save this one, which has a lone 9800 gtx in it (btw, which is plenty fine to run 2x24" while 1 is running wow).

personally, i'd throw out the 2nd video card and opt for 2xWD raptors in raid 0 over a single hd...at the very least, get a small hd to throw your data on as well as your swap file - 2x smaller drives >>> 1x large drive...it's all about the spindles
 
if you're using SLI - correct, but you can still use 2 vid cards, one to drive support monitors and one to drive your main monitor just fine
 
funny-pictures-never-trust-a-feline-technician.jpg
 
ive used a few different types of video cards and ati ive found is one of teh best . my pc is a media center pc but i still play wow on it and i runs fairly well except ivenow got to find a way to make it run smoother
 
This thread reminded me of a way to find out what system you should buy... its kinda funny too.

Do you enjoy playing games?

  • If "Yes", buy a PC.
  • If "No", continue on.
Do you have Real Life friends?

  • If "Yes", buy a Wii.
  • If "No", continue on.
Do you have Internet friends?

  • If "Yes", buy an Xbox 360.
  • If "No" continue on.
Do you have any friends?

  • If "Yes" then you're lying and need to retake the questionairre.
  • If "No" then you need to buy a PS3.
 
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