Buying a new computer, and scared pants-less.

D

Dal Gurak

Well, I've had my desktop for almost five years now, and it's finally time to upgrade. Looking at processors (and looking extra carefully since that's the part that's hardest to replace after you've got the computer), I see this one here what looks good:
AMD® Athlon™ X2 5800+ 3.0GHz Dual Core 2 x 1MB L2 Cache
Now, I don't know what a lot of that means, but I do know that 3.0 GHz is the highest number I've seen on the "recommended" section of system requirements for any game I've looked at (even the infamous Crysis.) However, I'm afraid that as soon as I buy it, somethings going to come out that requires 3.01 GHz and I'll be in the toilet. I know this is a risk with computers in general, but my current comp lasted me so long because I got a 2.08 processor back in 2003, which was well above any "recommendeds" that I could find. Will 3.0 be okay, or should I dig deeper and find something faster? I know it's a tough thing to guess, but perhaps someone's got an estimate on how long it will be before a game comes out with a minimum required processor speed of higher than 3.0? I don't want to plunk down a huge chunk of cash then have the thing become inadequate within a year. I'm not makin' the big bucks.

P.S. I looked through the previous posts for this sort of question, but couldn't find it. If I missed it, and someone's already answered this question for someone else, I apologize in advance.
 
Well, it's a decent CPU, but you need to make sure it even compatible with your current computer/motherboard. What do you have right now?
 
Currently right now, as far as gaming and from my experience, that CPU should be plenty for a while. It's the graphics card that will do most of the work as far as video games go.

From what I've been seeing is that the current high end ATI cards are just as good if not better than the high nVidia graphics cards and cheaper.
 
Dal Gurak said:
Oh, I'm buying a whole new computer. Sorry, I didn't mean to leave that out.
Click to expand...

Oh, lol...well that certainly makes thing easier! That being the case, I guess it just depends on what you will use the PC for. For just web browsing, light multimedia and gaming use, that CPU will be decent enough. However, and I think most would agree, that Intel is the way to go at this point. You should be looking for a Core 2 Duo system that has plenty of room for upgrading. I think this would be your best bet if you don't plan to upgrade for a while. I have been "out of the loop" for a while on PC stuff, but tomorrow I can do some more research for you when I can actually think straight {3am here lol}.

EDIT: I agree with Creepin, ATI has some great cards right now that are very competitively priced.
 
That's a good enough processor (and it's a dual-core so it's two 3.0 mb processors working in tandem), and it'll probably last you awhile, but I also prefer Intel to AMD. They usually have much better performance when it comes to higher end processors.
CreepinDeth said:
From what I've been seeing is that the current high end ATI cards are just as good if not better than the high nVidia graphics cards and cheaper.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Nvidia was really the clear choice for a while with the 8 series, but now things are pretty much even. Both are good options.
 
AMD if you're on a tight budget, Intel if you want all out performance. As for nVidia and ATi. Buy whichever. Right now they are pretty even with the new cards. If you're looking at an older card then go with nVidia. Also, right now ATI will cost you a little less.
 
I'm surprised to see that the consensus is that Intel is the way to go for a processor. I'd always heard AMD was the top one, but then again, I've been out of the loop on computer stuff for a couple of years now. I'll take your words for it and look for an Intel CPU instead. Thanks for all the responses!
 
Dal Gurak said:
I'm surprised to see that the consensus is that Intel is the way to go for a processor. I'd always heard AMD was the top one, but then again, I've been out of the loop on computer stuff for a couple of years now. I'll take your words for it and look for an Intel CPU instead. Thanks for all the responses!
Click to expand...

As of now, yes, Intel is king for processors. AMD was king in the socket 939 days and earlier, but not anymore.
 
Okay, so, after everyone's input, I've re-assessed my options. Here's the loadout I'm thinking about right now:

CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8400 CPU @ 3.0GHz 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache 64-bit

MOTHERBOARD: MSI P7N SLI-FI 750i SLI Chipset LGA775 Supports LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2/800 Mainboard w/GbLAN, USB2.0, &7.1Audio

MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)4GB (4x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)

VIDEO CARD: ATI Radeon HD 3850 PCI-E 16X 1GB Video Card (Major Brand Powered by ATI)

Any red flags? It's an Intel processor and ATI video card, which looks good (I agree with everyone on ATI's superiority). I don't know diddly-squat about motherboards, but this was the default choice. How will this fly?

P.S. The site I'm looking at to order this thing is http://www.cyberpowerpc.com. Are they alright?
 
It would probably be better if the motherboard had an ATI chipset rather than an nVidia one. The motherboard you posted has the SLI chipset, you should be looking for a Crossfire chipset.

Socket 775 is good though and very versatile. You can eventually upgrade to a quad core with that and really have Crysis on high settings.

Also, I would recommend the ATI HD 4850. I looked around and it seems to be a better card for the same price. Although, I haven't researched it completely, but I have been hearing very good things about the 4850.
 
Okay, here's the new motherboard picked out:

MOTHERBOARD: MSI P45 Neo2-FR Intel P45 CrossFire Chipset LGA775 FSB1600 DDR2/1066 Mainboard w/GbLAN, USB2.0, & 7.1Audio

But, the 4850 they have listed is this:

ATI Radeon HD 4850 PCI-E 16X 512MB Video Card

But, it's only got half the memory (512MB < 1GB) and it's $50 more. Huh?
 
It's not necessarily the amount of memory that makes a difference, I believe it's the type and the way it's used. Memory on a graphics card is quite a doozy, so I'll let someone else handle the explanation on that one, since I myself do not fully understand it. But just because it has less memory, does not necessarily mean it's a less powerful card.

I pulled some benchmarks, but this is against the 3870, which is apparently considered ATI's best card right now in it's price point.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2320906,00.asp
 
For video card RAM the general rule of thumb is that the interface should either match, or halve the amount of video RAM. So, for example if you bought a 512mb card you'd want either a 512mb or 256mb bit interface. This yields best performance from what I understand. Also, I'd step the card up to DDR4 such as this- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102719. If you can spend more go for the 512mb interface version. Lastly, do a TON of research on the place you're going to buy the PC from as they vary greatly. Just do a search and see what people say.
 
Polygon said:
Regardless, you don't want any card lower than 256bit. That is more important than the memory.
Click to expand...
How is that? please elaborate :)

ATI (AMD) is owning the scene right now.

The part I question is... what significance will Physx play now that Nvidea bought the technology out. There is a lot that can be done with Physx... but it's not widely used yet. The other half of that question is ... what will be ATI's call.

Somehow, all card makers need to figure out how to use less power on their cards and get them to shoot off less heat.

†B†V†:hat
 
What I meant was that you don't want a 128bit card with 512MB of memory. Personally I wouldn't buy anything lower than 256MB @ 256bit. There's no excuse unless all you do is e-mail, documents, and browse the internet with your most tasking game being Bejewled.

I know what you mean about ATi. I haven't looked at cards in sometime and I must say that ATi is the way to go. Get a 4850 or 4870. The 4850 will beat a 9800GTX+ at a fraction of the cost. In fact it's priced around the 8800 series right now.
 
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