Your all talking about hardware that is new and high price and high performance

Um, new technology – no. High price – no. High performance – yes.

I built a Beast for my boss for $1800.

Had a Antec twelve hundred case(So cooling will never be a problem, eva)
2 x XFX ATI 4850 1GB DDR3(Crossfire)
Striker 2 board
4 gig DDR3
800 watt modular power supply
Raptor Drive(10,000rpm goodness)
Quaddy

This freak will play games on full for the next 3 years or so, then just add a couple more Vid cards and up the cpu and you’re good to go again.

Something like this from Dell, or Hardley Normal would be around $3000.

2 x XFX ATI 4850 1GB DDR3(Crossfire) ($350)
Striker 2 board ($400)
4 gig DDR3 ($100)
800 watt modular power supply ($200)
Raptor Drive(10,000rpm goodness) (Seagate SATA 1TB $120)
Quaddy (Q9400 $300)

…Thats already $1470…what about case, monitor, keyboard and mouse? Add another $400-600 for good items.

Good case ~$150
Good monitor (22″) ~$220
Decent keyborad+mouse ~$100

Thats already $1940 +/- $100.

All of that adds up to way above Bluskys budget. The three major items that blow his budget are motherboard, CPU and graphics card. IF he is not going to use this PC for more than casual-intermediate gaming its not worth it. He can get preety much the same results out of cheaper hardware units.
Striker motherboard is preety high up which means there is no point of getting it unless youre going to get a high end CPU, graphics card(s) and cooling/power system. You cant just look at one item…you want good then you get ALL good items…you want best then you get ALL best items.

In terms of performance/tweakability/overall system; SLI outperforms Crossffire now. Like i said AMD used to pawn intel when athlons were around. gamers could easily upgrade their system, tweak it, overclock it but now intel with its dual/quad cores is the better choice with SLI interface. This is my opinion on that matter.

The one major problem with ASUS motherboards is the crappy layout of the HDD plugs; most graphics card are long and cover half of the HDD pluging on the motherboard….why they dont make them facing sideways instead of upward…i dont know…it s**ts me up the wall lol.

Have a read of this [url] http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews … re_vs_sli/[/url] (April 27 2009)

Lol@death, G’s not suggesting blusky to go buy the beast he built for his boss.

That link to overclockers, well of course nVidia will win in that case since the test hardware was between 2xHD Ati cards in Crossfire Vs nVidia’s Quad SLi, 2 GPU’s Vs 4 GPU’s and it only barely beat it too.

As for bang for the buck, ATi wins hands down since 2xHD 4890 cards is about $600-$700 whilst the 2xGTX295 is around $1200+ depending on memory clock speed.

For 2 times the cost you’re only managing a what 10%-20% performance increase……… IMO, not worth the extra 10fps

just lol Death.

So Eggz, to summarise, beast = $1800, mid-range = $1300, pov-pack = >$1000.

Give me a yell with a rock solid budget and ill give you a parts list to suit, then go to Hicksy for some good deals.

You’ll be surprised what you can build for not much $’s these days.

I recommend saving a bit more cash, throw 2g at it and youll get a beast with 22″ Samsung and Razor/Logitech gaming keyboard/mouse.

Cheers

Cheers for all the comments.

My budget is about $1400 (at the moment). I want a gaming quality monitor, mouse, mousepad and keyboard(both razer) as well.

I’ll be buying from MSY probably and will be building the PC with my asian friend cos he knows how too.

I’m reading how to build PCs for dummies hahahaha.

Lol@death, G’s not suggesting blusky to go buy the beast he built for his boss.

That link to overclockers, well of course nVidia will win in that case since the test hardware was between 2xHD Ati cards in Crossfire Vs nVidia’s Quad SLi, 2 GPU’s Vs 4 GPU’s and it only barely beat it too.

As for bang for the buck, ATi wins hands down since 2xHD 4890 cards is about $600-$700 whilst the 2xGTX295 is around $1200+ depending on memory clock speed.

For 2 times the cost you’re only managing a what 10%-20% performance increase……… IMO, not worth the extra 10fps

I knew youd try that on me…

Were talking about performance and how SLI beats Crossfire when comparing similar graphic cards. I agree that AMD interface used to rule the computer market. I used to have an AMD based PC and loved the features on the ENTIRE package. NOW intel and nvidia SLi interface is better than AMD/crossfire but it costs more. Plus tweakability and functionality wise it also is better. This is what im getting at…the entire package.

On another topic if youre not considering to be a hardcore gamer or doing computer modelling then in all seriousness you do not need to have a multi GPU based motherboard since to have a overall great running PC you would also need to buy high end hardware to go with it and this costs alot, the only point would be that you can add things later on but we all know that computer become old in like 6months or so. Upgradability is another important factor and intel based motherboards have the edge as well atm. I was a long time AMD fan and so was my friend; we used to put computers together. Now I prefer intel/SLI interface to AMD/crossfire because i read and talked enough to get a fair idea if wehre im standing and what my needs are, im sure blusky is in the same boat as me, but having both would be the best but it costs money.

just lol Death.

So Eggz, to summarise, beast = $1800, mid-range = $1300, pov-pack = >$1000.

I recommend saving a bit more cash, throw 2g at it and youll get a beast with 22″ Samsung and Razor/Logitech gaming keyboard/mouse.

Cheers

Yeah that price range preety much sums it up based on that you buy the parts and put it together. As for saving 2g and getting the monitor and Key/Mous i agree.
That package is good value for a hardcore gamer i give you that, even though its crossfire (my opinion).

@blusky What would help is to know if:

– youre a hardcore gamer
– a casual gamer that wants to play recent games at good graphical level —>This is where i think you fit into with the budget you ahve given (or somewhere between this and the one below)
– a gamer that wants a decent PC to run recent games at nominal level and general PC user
– PC user and casual gamer that doesnt need his.her PC to be able to play most recent games
– PC user with minila gaming

Also do you really want multi GPU (graphical processor unit) attached to your motherboard. This will mean high power supply, preferably better CPU and motherboard=higher cost.

I’d say i’m very into gaming and would like a PC that could handle new games at decent settings. The games I know FOR CERTAIN that I will play will be wolfenstein 2 and WoW. I know WoW doesn’t need that flash of a system to play. With my current PC it feels like i’m at a direct disadvantage when I play just because I can’t get a solid 76-125-333 FPS – I still play very well, people can vouch for me :P. I dunno how much better i’d be with 125+ solid FPS…

I’d say i’m very into gaming and would like a PC that could handle new games at decent settings. The games I know FOR CERTAIN that I will play will be wolfenstein 2 and WoW. I know WoW doesn’t need that flash of a system to play. With my current PC it feels like i’m at a direct disadvantage when I play just because I can’t get a solid 76-125-333 FPS – I still play very well, people can vouch for me :P. I dunno how much better i’d be with 125+ solid FPS…

Something like what I have (see my avatar) can handle all of the recent games but I dont set it on high-extreme (with newest games); simply because the power supply is not where it should be and adding another graphics card would make it dangerous. I can add those things later on if I need to and I paid for the entire package $1200 from msy. That includes ASUS 22″ monitor, case, power supply and normal keyboard and mouse (basically everything except Operating System). If you want a better gaming mouse and keyboard you could get it within your budget.

Im not saying you should get this system but it seems to be in your budget range and I’m happy with it becasue it runs all new games and I can upgrade it easily later on.

I’d say i’m very into gaming and would like a PC that could handle new games at decent settings. The games I know FOR CERTAIN that I will play will be wolfenstein 2 and WoW. I know WoW doesn’t need that flash of a system to play. With my current PC it feels like i’m at a direct disadvantage when I play just because I can’t get a solid 76-125-333 FPS – I still play very well, people can vouch for me :P. I dunno how much better i’d be with 125+ solid FPS…

id hate to see you on a good computer, your hax may work better 😆 😆 😀

@Death, youve lost the plot, your example was of an nVidia rig thats in quad SLi Vs Crossfire. It only beat the crossfire by a small margin and requires twice the budget to purchase. Its like comparing a Porsche 911 turbo against a Holden commodore.

AMD or Intel cpu’s are not in discussion here since its all about the GPU’s performance in terms of SLi or Crossfire mode, so I have no idea why you keep saying intel/SLi + AMD/Crossfire.

In terms of upgradability, its easy across the board since majority of add-on components use PCi-E slots so preference towards AMD or Intel is irrelevant.
The only issue would be motherboards with sufficient PCi-E slots to accomodate such future upgrades.

@blusky – I suggest you save a little $$$ by buying a generic keyboard, IMO custom keyboards are the same ‘QWERTY’ crap with a few shortcut buttons that you’ll use once in a blue moon.

Trust butz, he has a kickass car and thus can easily compare porches and commodores if he wants to 😛
Oh he also knows about computers too, except when he bags out dells, even though he gets prawned by a guy with a dell 😉

Cheers

AMD or Intel cpu’s are not in discussion here since its all about the GPU’s performance in terms of SLi or Crossfire mode, so I have no idea why you keep saying intel/SLi + AMD/Crossfire.

In terms of upgradability, its easy across the board since majority of add-on components use PCi-E slots so preference towards AMD or Intel is irrelevant.
The only issue would be motherboards with sufficient PCi-E slots to accomodate such future upgrades.

I don’t understand. 🙁

@blusky – I suggest you save a little $$$ by buying a generic keyboard, IMO custom keyboards are the same ‘QWERTY’ crap with a few shortcut buttons that you’ll use once in a blue moon.

Haha but there’s a razer keyboard that has LIT UP KEYS. I’ll prob buy the PC, monitor and mouse then get the keyboard at a later date.

I don’t understand. 🙁

It means if you want to add sound cards, wireless cards or TV tuners or any other non-standard features into your computer in the near future you can as majority of motherboards these days come with enough slots for you to plug them into.
In general people who want to upgrade their computers will generally replace their CPU, Ram or add another video card to boost performance.

Haha but there’s a razer keyboard that has LIT UP KEYS. I’ll prob buy the PC, monitor and mouse then get the keyboard at a later date.

A few years back I got bored and ordered an optimus maximus keyboard, it was the coolest keyboard I’ve ever owned for 3days before the novelty wore off and I went back to the generic stuff.

His a demo of that beast : http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/demo/

@Death, youve lost the plot, your example was of an nVidia rig thats in quad SLi Vs Crossfire. It only beat the crossfire by a small margin and requires twice the budget to purchase.

Wasnt the whole debate on SLI vs Crossfire in the first place? High end performance hardware in particular? SLI vs Crossfire with their own graphical setup that is comparable…and it is AND SLI interface is better (from that article). It beat it fair and square and not only based on GPU but overall evn though its deare to buy SLI based graphical cards it beat it on many accounts.

AMD or Intel cpu’s are not in discussion here since its all about the GPU’s performance in terms of SLi or Crossfire mode, so I have no idea why you keep saying intel/SLi + AMD/Crossfire.

Motherboards untill recent times had you choosing and AMD or Intel based which meant choosing between SLI or crossfire. Now motherboards allow both SLI and crossfire interface. There two distnct technologies are are slowly being molded into one.

AND it is about the whole pakcage…CPU, GPU, motherboard, power suply….youre saying i can have a susuki swift and nitrous oxide to it and it will be a great car…no it wont…dont bother getting one dodgy part in your PC and the rest all top notch.

There were two topics which combine into one….SLI vs Crossfire was where we started off with but you cant compare just the multi GPU setup alone…you need to compare its performance based on overall PACKAGE. Intel offers a better overall package than AMD at the moment; both on CPU overclocking and mutli GPU interface known as SLI.

More questions.

What are crap brands?
What’s the ‘best’ brand of laptop? (cos I will be buying a laptop in the future, doesn’t have to be gaming quality)
Can you get a cracked version of vista like you can get for XP?
Anything I should know when i’m building/buying parts?

Ty.