[Demagogue]

Its time to replace the fantastic but ageing system the good users of PCreview.co.uk helped me build a few years ago.

I'm looking at spending less than £600 on a gaming PC and I am currently looking at the Intel E8400 with the following Graphics Cards:

Nvidia 9800GT 512mb

ATI HD 4850 512mb

Nvidia 8800GTS 512mb

Which do you guys think is the better option, which motherboard would you plug these into and any advice to give on alternatives to the above CPU/Graphics Cards?

Comments are very welcome!

Cheers

Tim

[Waynos_Face]

Hi Tim,

Things to consider,

Is DDR3 better than DDR2 for price/performance, personally no way, a good set of DDR2 800Mhz at 4-4-4-12 timings is perfect.

With PCI-E 2.0 out should i get a card that supports it?? YES. Again personally i would go with a double slot 4850 as they need the better cooler, or a 4870 with a decent cooler.

ARIA has an overclocked hd4870 on the superspecials with a zalman cooler, my choice.

Oh what resolution do you game at??? Thats important, over 1600 x whatever then get a 1GB card.

So i would buy,

E8400 (With aftermarket Cooler)
ASUS P5Q or P5Q Pro
4GB DDR2 800Mhz Memory at CAS4 timings
either 4850 1GB or 4870 512Mb

With Nvidias new drivers the 9800GTX is starting to beat the 4850 so is it a good buy? Well the drivers are released in January for ATI so upto you.

Edit: If you want a 9800GT get a 8800GT same card.
8800GTS, no point get a 9800GTX+.

[Abarbarian]

The 4870 with its better memory GDDR 5 is a very good card the temp problems taht have been its nemesis have been rectified with the latest drivers, though an aftermarket cooler is a good idea. It is always best to read up on lots of reviews as that gives you plenty of info to make the right choice for yourself.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/768/4/

http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/.../index_8.shtml

As to the cpu I have no experience of Intels but are not the Q6600's the best value at the moment ?

http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi...l_e8400/11.htm

http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi...l_e8400/16.htm

[Demagogue]

Cheers guys,

Club 3D ATI Radeon HD 4870 Overclocked 512MB PCI-E2.0
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz (Retail 775)
4GB PC2-6400 CL4 (2x2GB)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64 OEM
Asus P5Q PRO iP45 Socket 775 Motherboard

Ordered the following under your advice. With a couple of replacement case fans (my current ones are making some odd noises) it came to £532 which was below budget and will hopefully last me as long as my previous system.

Final question. Should I be thinking about upgrading my power supply to handle this hardware? I'm working with a Coolermaster 430w at the moment.


Thanks again to you both.


Tim

[Waynos_Face]

Hi,

Err yeah, Will be touch and go i think, try it you never know.

Personally would have a 600W in there, recommended on here, Corsair, OCZ, PC Power & Cooling, personally i am starting to like the Xilence PSU range, cheap, virtually silent and good, have used 420W, 480W, 600W & 800W versions in builds for other people and am very impressed.

By the way, hope you are happy with your new purchases as its gonna be an awesome machine.

[floppybootstomp]

You're right on the limit with that power supply.

So it really depends on how good the PSU is.

I'd say try it. If you start getting quirks, problems, anomolies, upgrade.

[Abarbarian]

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=27954

Something like this or get a higher wattage one if you are thinking of crossfire in the future.