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General discussion

Is This system solid....

Apr 24, 2005 2:45AM PDT

I need to buy a new computer sometime and I don't want to wait till 2006 when Longhorn comes out so I want to know if this system will last for like 3 or 4 years and be able to play most games on medium settings:

Athlon 64 3500+
ASUS SLI motherboard (haven't chosen one yet)
2x Nvidia 6600 GT video cards

those are basically the main parts...will that be fine for the Unreal3 engine or whatever that new one is?

should I just wait till 2006?

Discussion is locked

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also....
Apr 24, 2005 2:46AM PDT

with SLI, can I buy one of the video cards first, put that in and then in a couple months buy the other one?

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don't get 6600GT's
Apr 25, 2005 12:13PM PDT

they'll be like a 6800U, except at high res the 6800U would be faster
and yeah, with SLI, you can have 2 cards and only buy 1 at a time
as long as their idnetical (Same manufactuere/RAM size)

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what should I do then?
Apr 26, 2005 9:47AM PDT

I can either:

1) get 1 x 6800 GT
2) wait for ATi's SLI technology

or would it be worth spending the extra $150 and get 2 6800 (non ultras)

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RE:
Apr 26, 2005 2:18PM PDT

Get 1 6800GT for now and save to get another 1. Currently ATI's cards don't support FPS 3, or what Ozos tolde me. The newer ATI card that is yet to be released however will and with Intel's SLI technology, it'll probably smoke an AMD with SLI. But, it would come out with a new chipset and new dual-core processors for intel, which would probably be out of your price range for another year or more. So just stick with AMDs, the dual-core barely beat the Fx-55, so AMD is still number 1, it will last a long time too. YOu can either choose to wait and pay a lot for technology that is most current, or buy now and pay less for technology that will probably last you just as long, but will not be able to play future ultra-extreme games at the highest setting. My suggestion:

ASPIRE X-Dreamer II ATXB4KLW-AL Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply-56
Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-400 ATX12V 400W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL-59
ASUS A8V-E Deluxe Socket 939 VIA K8T890 ATX AMD Motherboard-177
AMD Athlon 64 3500+512k 0.13micron (939) (Retail Box-w-Fan)-267
2 of THERMALTAKE A2016 80mm 1 Ball 1 Sleeve Blue LED Light Cooling Fan-2x14
CORSAIR XMS 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) System Memory Model CMX1024RE-283
Maxtor 250GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model 7Y250M0, OEM Drive Only + Thermaltake SATA Cable-142(limited-time offer)-142
Rosewill RB-321 White IDE Combo DVD-CDRW Drive-28
Microsoft Windows XP Home w/Service Pack 2-93
eVGA 6800 GT 128MB DDR3/PCI-E/TV-Out/Dual-DVI-359
Mitsumi USB2.0 Digital Card Reader/Writer W/FD INTERNAL, Model FA404A/404M-24
Logitech X-230-30
COOLER MASTER KHC-L91-U1 92mm Ball Cooling Fan/Heatsink-50
Arctic SIlver Premium Photosynthetic SIlver Thermal Compound Arctic Silver 5-8
Creative Blaster Modem-19
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS-89
Logitech Logitech Cordless Desktop EX100 Black 102 Normal Keys 7 Function Keys PS/2 Wireless Type Standard Keyboard Mouse Included-38

for a total of $1606 without a monitor. If you already have speakers and a keyboard, you can decrease the price to $1500. ALso a modem is not necessary so like $1480. Case and psu can be changed accordingly, you may also add case lights, etc. All prices are newegg prices.
Roger

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it's...
Apr 27, 2005 8:47AM PDT

it's FP32
FPS 3 is um...???

also
ATI won't have SLI, they will have AMR

Intel has dual cored CPU's, and SLI support (all you need is 2 PCIE x16 slots)

i'd say if you want bleeding edge, get dual 6800GT's and FX-55 (They still beat the dual cored chips (Intel's current ones) at gaming)

think of the new dual cored Intel like a pair of Xeon's
so it's not amazingly fast at gaming

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RE:
Apr 27, 2005 9:33AM PDT

can't go bleeding edge bro..I am a grade 10 student with a big budget...I will probly have enuf to get a 6800 GT now and possibly one later but can't go FX-55

also, I knew that ATI wouldn't have SLI, I just forgot the name of their thing...

so say I built a comp that was:

CPU- Athlon 64 3500+ (skt.939)
Mobo- DFI Lanparty SLI
RAM- 1 GB Kingston PC3200 400MHz (2 x 512)
GFX- Nvidia 6800 GT (add another one later)
HDD- Seagate 120 GB SATA 7200 RPM 8MB cache
Sound Card- Sound Blaster Audigy Value (cheap but good enough)
Case- NZXT Nemesis
Power Supply- Enermax 500 Watt
Mods-cold cathode lighting
-extra cooling fans
-plates for RAM (too look cooler with case window)
-maybe a PCI slot fan and a 5.25 bay cooling system


does that sound good enough to be just behind the technology and be able to play the games on atleast medium settings for like 4 years or so?

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just so u no...
Apr 27, 2005 11:48AM PDT

when I said big budget I meant it to mean like tight...like on a big-time budget

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RE:
Apr 27, 2005 12:28PM PDT

What motherboard? I recommend ASUS A8V-E Deluxe Socket 939 VIA K8T890 ATX AMD Motherboard.
Noticed you didn't have a optical disk drive. Here's a cheap one Rosewill RB-321 White IDE Combo Drive-$28
Windows XP?
PSU supports SLI?
Also get COOLER MASTER KHC-L91-U1 92mm Ball Cooling Fan/Heatsink-$50 from newegg.
Arctic SIlver Premium Photosynthetic SIlver Thermal Compound Arctic Silver 5-$8 from newegg.

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RE:
Apr 27, 2005 9:06PM PDT

You have never heard of the DFI lanparty mobos?

anyway, I already have 2 optical drives so don't need those or a mouse, keyboard, speakers or monitor

also, I just put that power supply in because it is the first solid one I could think of...when I actually go to get one, I will make sure it is SLI compatible

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RE:
Apr 28, 2005 11:53AM PDT

I know what DFI MOBOs are, im wondering which model specifically Happy
Roger

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Sorry...
Apr 29, 2005 10:17AM PDT

I thought u would know what they are, wasn't sure..anyway, not sure which specific one...whichever one is SLI, has 4 DIMM slots and works with athlon 64 skt.939 processors Happy

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Ok...
Apr 29, 2005 1:57PM PDT

Just so you know the LANPARTY nF4 SLI-DR is better than the LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR, but its price is also higher. If you're going with the the LANPARTY UT nF4 SLI-DR, i would rather go for the ASUS A8V-E Deluxe Socket 939 VIA K8T890 ATX AMD Motherboard because i believe pci-e (x4) slot is just useless for my needs.
Roger

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ok...
Apr 29, 2005 9:36PM PDT

i will simplify this for myself...say I want to get SLI with either dual 6600 GTs or Dual 6800 GTs (I no I should go with 6800 GTs,not the point)...anyway, if I am gonna go SLI, which motherbaord should I get?