Warning: I am not of English origen so if the grammar is bad please forgive me! Hey I am looking at parts for a new computer but I am unsure of what hardware runs best with other brands eg AMD vs Intel CPU's for a Crossfire Radeon card on X motherboard etc... I planned to spend around +-400 of my current $2000 (not interested in monitor/keyboard, just case and parts). I want it to be a gaming PC and I know how to put my PC together and what kinds of specs are important to look for such as CPU Bus, memory speed etc. Anyway, I would preferably buy all my parts from here ==> http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf well so far here is what I kinda wanna get Graphics card - Radeon 2GB 4870x2 GIGABYTE or ASUS (not sure of Manufacturer I guess it depends if I get a Gigabyte or Asus motherboard right? Not too sure). The graphics card is the main item. I want the rest of the hardware to work as good as it can WITH THE GRAPHICS CARD as ATIs website recommend you use "certified components" with the card I was reading minimum requirements and they recommend 600W or higher power supply etc, here is a link to the certified components site ATI CrossFireXâ„¢ | GAME.AMD.COM. Hardrive - Seagate, 750GB I was thinking SATA if you guys recon IDE or W.A is better please comment as a increase in the hardrive speed for X amount of money doesn’t bother me because the prices are relatively close. Memory DDR3 (quickest right out of that sites list) - 2G Kit (2x1G) DDR3 1333 G.Skill-NQ/ASUS vs 4G Kit (2x2G) DDR3 1333 G.Skill NQ / PI (once again money is not an issue with the memory, I want the comp to have 4G and I prefer 2x2G but maybe 4x1G would be better then the 2x2G because of the ASUS product as opposed to the 2x2G PI). CPU – no clue, I want a quadcore on a pricerange of 250-350. Motherboard - NO IDEA could probably spend the same amount as the CPU. Powersupplie - NO IDEA really need help on this one the only brand that seems to be on both the certified list and MSYs list is Thermaltake. Case - Finally the case I am probably just going to pick up the most quiet one but if you guys have any recommendations on one because it releases more heat while at the same time is relatively quiet please comment. Sorry for leaving it so messy it does look like a big shopping list but just work with the MSY products to the best of their ability and it should quickly narrow down. Thank you so much for taking your time in commenting even if its only 1 or 2parts of the whole computer as I really need help with getting the CORRECT parts for this computer/graphics card and I dont know jack.
The asus P5Q Delux is a good board that supports crossfire. I'm not sure you need to worry about getting an ASUS board and Card Someone will correct me if i'm wrong but they are intercompatible. I really don't think many people stick by the recomended list from the manufacturers. I would say for your set up with crissfire and a decent processor you need 750w minimum using a good make like Corsair so you actually get 750w reliably not under optimal conditions only. You will need 4gb of ram and a 32bit OS to get the best from your card, if you can get 1066 or 1333 than all the better. I'm Most people are sticking with DDR2 memory at the cost difference outweighs the performance difference. The P5Q is a DDR2 mobo you will need something like a Asus P5E3 X38 if you are stuck on getting DDR3. Processor wise just spend as much as you can justify if the $ £ eXchange is 2/1 then you are limited to a Q9300 and below. I'm not sure sacraficing a lower processor for a 2x4870 is worth while financially when you could get a GTX 280 and still save money for a better procesor or even a GTX260 without losing a great deal of graphics performance. Thes are just some thoughts from someone who is far from expert but had done a shed load of reading before getting a new rig recently. Look on Tomshardware website (USA) for excellent info or on Overclockers.co.uk which has good reveiws from experiances gamers. Just try looking at what peole like overclockers put together to sell as a system for a similar price range and you will not go far wrong. After all my research I ended up getting a prebuilt overclockers system on offer and its a good rig considering my price bracket.
The Certified Hardware lists are usually stuff that has been tested by the manufacturer but other components will work just as well. Also as far as graphics card goes the motheroard manufacturer makes no difference as hardware wise all their specs come from which ever manufacturer makes the chipset ie. Intel and AMD and chipset like the Intel P45 chipset. For crossfire i would use the X48 chipset because unlike the P45 it run both PCIe ports at x16 when using two cards. CPU i would recomend Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 or Q9550. For Hard drive 750GB SATAII should do RAM diffinately go for 4GB DDR3 if this is for gaming also if you go 4GB you should get a 64Bit OS For Power i would recomend an 850W power supply Graphics card is good. Hope that helps you out Cheers Matt
Ok so far the parts I am getting are... ATI Crossfire Processor - Q9550 DDR3 - 4G Kit (2x2G) 1333 G.Skill PI Harddrive - 2x500G Seagate SATA or Seagate IDE (bit of help here what is better?) Motherboard - Not so sure might just get the best "GB-X48T-DQ6" but I dont really know what this X48chipset stuf means and if I need a special type of processor for it I dont see intel mentioning anything about X48 on their intel Q9550 but I have to say I am a computer noob when it comes to this, personaly I think this motherboard is a bit expensive so if there are any other options for good X48's from MSY.com.au then plz tell me. Powersupply - Still no clue I would probably go for a good 750W rather then a bad 850W as the 850W are extremely expensive. (Also I have been reading up and compareing a lot of powersuplys some support PCI 4, 6 etc or something like that how important is that in a supply??? I really have no idea what I am looking for in the specs of powersupplys other than efficiency and noise levels. other... DVD drive - any of these... ASUS Retail IDE / SATA DL DVD-RW, 20x SATA Samsung /LG /SONY /Pioneer 216, 20x IDE LG /SONY bit of help here please picking the best one as the price range is so minimal I dont really care. Ill keep editing this list when I find out exactly what part I want for X slot. Thank you guys! Been a great help so far keep up the good work!
