New Machine...

**Geezer57** · 08-28-2006, 18:26

Originally Posted by Al Khalifah

I am right to assume then, that Intel is currently the way to go in the CPU stakes? When I was reviewing things, it certainly seemed to offer more speed per pound at the top end.

Intel Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Extreme are at the top of the performance pile right now, the rest of their range (especially any Pentium 4 based chips) is not.

Originally Posted by Al Khalifah

Is the GPU a bit over the top? Or would an ATI be better?

If you sacrificed a lot of money for a little bit less performance, you might consider the new ATI 1950 XTX (review here: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2821&p=1)

**Al Khalifah** · 08-28-2006, 20:56

My thought is whether I should get a 7950GX2 or an ATI 1900XTX.

Is it possible to have two 1900XTX's in Crossfire mode? The main game I want to play at first is Oblivion but obviously I will want to play more games in the future and I'm thinking about which card will be good longest into the future and also its potential to be doubled up/upgraded. I've heard ATI cards are better for Oblivion?

**DukeofSerbia** · 08-28-2006, 23:13

Originally Posted by Al Khalifah

My thought is whether I should get a 7950GX2 or an ATI 1900XTX.

7950GX2 is faster mostly even from the new RadeonX1950XTX.

http://www.benchmark.co.yu/vidito.ph...orm22=+Idi%21+

In 3d Mark 05 and 06 7950GX2 is faster.
In CoD2 7950GX2 is faster.
In Doom3 are equal mostly.
In Quacke4 RadeonX1950XTX is faster.
In Prey RadeonX1950XTX is faster.
In Chronicles of Riddick 7950GX2 is drasticlly faster.
In Splinter Cell Chaos Theory 7950GX2 is faster.
In Battlefield 2 RadeonX1950XTX is faster.
In Prince of Persia: Warrior Within are equal mostly.
In Halo: Combat Envolved are equal mostly.
In Far Cry 1.33 RadeonX1950XTX is faster (note: ATI can both HDR and SM 3.0).
In Half Life 2 RadeonX1950XTX is faster.
In F.E.A.R 1.3 7950GX2 is faster.

Originally Posted by Al Khalifah

Is it possible to have two 1900XTX's in Crossfire mode?

Yes, it is possible but you need to buy CrossFire edition of card. Waste of money, anyway.

**Geezer57** · 08-29-2006, 14:52

Originally Posted by Al Khalifah

My thought is whether I should get a 7950GX2 or an ATI 1900XTX.

Is it possible to have two 1900XTX's in Crossfire mode? The main game I want to play at first is Oblivion but obviously I will want to play more games in the future and I'm thinking about which card will be good longest into the future and also its potential to be doubled up/upgraded. I've heard ATI cards are better for Oblivion?

I would narrow it down to the 7950GX2 or the x1950XTX (not the x1900XTX). There's a good comparo here: http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/articl...50aHVzaWFzdA==

**Ice** · 08-30-2006, 07:36

Get another gig of ram and 10000 rpm hard drive. That video card is godly. 1 gig? Good god.

**_Martyr_** · 08-30-2006, 13:54

IMO you are going major overkill with that 7950GX2... Its disproportionatly powerful (and expensive) compared to the rest of your PC. The money would be better spent on a better CPU or more RAM. I would say get the E6600 instead of the E6300, it has a 4MB L2 cache which really does transform to better performance. Go for a 7900GT for your graphics card, its really where the sweetspot is atm for bang for buck. Sure there are better cards, but in a few months when DX10 cards are released even the beast you were looking at before will be obsolete... Then in 6-8 months time upgrade to what is then the best bang for buck DX10 card out.

**orangat** · 08-30-2006, 17:12

I see some really strange wacky recommendations here.

I'll never recommend a 10k rpm drive unless the user is an enthusiast with
a good cooling setup.

Originally Posted by _Martyr_

IMO you are going major overkill with that 7950GX2... Its disproportionatly powerful (and expensive) compared to the rest of your PC. The money would be better spent on a better CPU or more RAM. I would say get the E6600 instead of the E6300, it has a 4MB L2 cache which really does transform to better performance. Go for a 7900GT for your graphics card, its really where the sweetspot is atm for bang for buck. Sure there are better cards, but in a few months when DX10 cards are released even the beast you were looking at before will be obsolete... Then in 6-8 months time upgrade to what is then the best bang for buck DX10 card out.

Why is the 7950gx disproportionately powerful?
How do you know that the e6600+7900gt will give better performance especially when the e6300+7950gx2 is only $50 more?
And where did you get the idea that DX10 cards going to turn current models obsolete in a few months? DX10 is not going to be a factor for about at least 2 years.

**Al Khalifah** · 08-31-2006, 00:25

Re-thought idea - for the same price (weird no?):

CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E6600 CPU @ 2.4GHz 1066FSB 2x2MB L2 Cache
Motherboard: Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe nForce4 SLI Chipset LGA775 Supports Core 2 Duo CPU FSB1066 DDR2/800 Mainboard w/GbLAN, USB2.0, IEEE1394&7.1Audio
Memory: 1GB (2x512MB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair)
Video Card: NVIDIA Geforce 7950 GX2 1GB 16X PCI Express Video Card
Hard Drive: 300GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive
Optical Drive: SONY DUAL FORMAT 16X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
Optical Drive 2: SONY 16X DVD-ROM (BLACK COLOR)
Sound: ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
PSU: NZXT PF-500 500 Watt Power Supply

I like this. It has room for expansion, can increase memory to 2GB in the future, add a sound card, add another HD (possibly for some RAID) or (if I win the lottery) go to Quad-SLI.