$700 upgrade.- E8500/4870/?

[yourhead]

So this is my first upgrade in a long time. I'll list my components real fast and see if anyone sees anything glaringly obvious that I overlooked.

I already own:

Lian Li PC-65
Thermaltake Black Widow 750w Quad 12V Rail 80+
2 x WD Raptors that will be in raid 0 for O/S and programs

I am about to purchase the following:

E8500
Gigabyte 1GB 4870
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
2x2 GB Corsair Dominator 1066 5-5-5-15 2T
OCZ Vendetta 2
Scythe S-Flex 120mm 1600RPM
Scythe Screw on backing plate
Arctic Silver 5 for CPU / GPU
LG Sata 22X CD/DVD burner

$690 + shipping = $713 to my door by this weekend

I'm gaming on a Samsung T240HD in 1920x1200 Res. What O/S as well? I was looking at the Vista 32-bit because my friends say Vista 64 still has driver issues.

 

[xthekidx]

I have had no issues with Vista 64bit. 64bit will allow you to use more ram and I would recommend it.

Your build looks pretty good for a gaming rig, however you might want a bit more GPU power for gaming on that resolution...depends on what games you play though, some are more demanding than others.

 

[Why_Me]

I run Vista 64 bit on two laptops and a desktop and have yet to have a driver issue. In fact just about all of us that post on here run Vista 64 bit and for good reason. It more than 3 gigs of memory... 32 bit is limited to reading 3 gigs max. Vista 64 Home Premium ftw.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488 $99.99 Free Shipping*
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

I would switch out heatsinks with the one down below. It comes with the backing plate and screws....no dealing with push pins and it's a good one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029 $39.99
XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail

 

[yourhead]

I have had no issues with Vista 64bit. 64bit will allow you to use more ram and I would recommend it.

Your build looks pretty good for a gaming rig, however you might want a bit more GPU power for gaming on that resolution...depends on what games you play though, some are more demanding than others.

I'm in on Vista 64bit. I'll just toss that in for the extra $100. Think that 4870 will struggle at 1920x1200? Hmmm... I'm pretty limited on $700-750 and that 4870 for $169 is a steal so I suppose I could add a second one down the road. My buddy is buying my current PC for $450 and I have about $300 extra to spend. The Xigmatek looks decent. I'll spring and put the extra money saved towards the O/S.

I forgot but I also have $70 worth of rebates. That makes it even easier to pull the trigger. I don't know how I could make it much better for the price though.

Regards,

Brian

 

[xthekidx]

For 19x12 res I would want a GTX 285 or 4850x2 or better, but then again I like fairly demanding games like crysis and other FPS games with all they eye-candy turned up, if you are ok playing at high settings with no AA as opposed to highest/8xAA then a 4870 would do alright, but make sure its the 1gb version, the 512 will struggle. Those larger resolutions want more video ram.

 

[Why_Me]

I'm in on Vista 64bit. I'll just toss that in for the extra $100. Think that 4870 will struggle at 1920x1200? Hmmm... I'm pretty limited on $700-750 and that 4870 for $169 is a steal so I suppose I could add a second one down the road. My buddy is buying my current PC for $450 and I have about $300 extra to spend. The Xigmatek looks decent. I'll spring and put the extra money saved towards the O/S.

I forgot but I also have $70 worth of rebates. That makes it even easier to pull the trigger. I don't know how I could make it much better for the price though.

Regards,

Brian

You could also switch out cpu's to save a few dollars. The E8400 is cheaper, and clocks just as high as the E8500. In fact a nice bump with the E8400 to 3.6GHz @ 1600 fsb (9x400) is a nice mild over clock and it's easy as pie.

 

[yourhead]

That mobo supports crossfire so I can always add another 4870 down the road. That will probably be my best option for now.

Regards,

Brian

 

[yourhead]

You could also switch out cpu's to save a few dollars. The E8400 is cheaper, and clocks just as high as the E8500. In fact a nice bump with the E8400 to 3.6GHz @ 1600 fsb (9x400) is a nice mild over clock and it's easy as pie.

I'm getting a combo on the mobo/cpu so it only cost me $10 more. I'm going to aim for 4.0ghz at least. This mobo and memory have been hitting great numbers at fairly low volts if you setup everything properly. Obviously I'm aiming for an OC with the 1066 memory and the massive heatsink/fan combo. 3.6 is easy on a stock cooler

Regards,

Brian

 

[jonpaul37]

i had the same issue and i eventually went with XP-64. I am SO glad i made that decision, Vista is ok, but nothing compared to Windows 7. so i will just stick with XP-64 as it is both familiar and stable, and go with Windows 7 when it comes out.

 

[MykC]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.165047
Phenom II 940BE with Gigabyte 790GX combo $290.

Supports crossfire, $20 cheaper, more future proof, quad core, as good if not better perfomance in games and a good overclocker.

 

[yourhead]

Appreciate the input but I can't justify price/performance with AMD. A Conroe was wiping them in a lot of benches... the wolfy wasn't even on there to make AMD's newest processors look respectable. Maybe someday they will take that reign back but for what I do, I'd rather have the high clock and performance out of the C2D. Not impressed with AMD lately but have supported them in the past.

 

[Why_Me]

i had the same issue and i eventually went with XP-64. I am SO glad i made that decision, Vista is ok, but nothing compared to Windows 7. so i will just stick with XP-64 as it is both familiar and stable, and go with Windows 7 when it comes out.

Are you serious? XP 64 has to be about the biggest piece of crap period. Lack of support being #1.

 

[yourhead]

Updated the list below. I am clicking order in the next few hours after I deposit the cash into my checking account. Any last minute issues?

I already own:

Lian Li PC-65
Thermaltake Black Widow 750w Quad 12V Rail 80+
2 x WD Raptors that will be in raid 0 for O/S and programs

I am about to purchase the following:

E8500
Gigabyte 1GB 4870
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
2x2 GB Corsair Dominator 1066 5-5-5-15 2T
Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283V
Arctic Silver 5 for CPU / GPU
LG Sata 22X CD/DVD burner
Microsoft Vista 64-bit

$794 to my door by this weekend

 

[royalcrown]

Looks good and most of the 8500's from newegg are the E0 stepping (good), just got mine a cpl weeks ago. That board is easy to oc too Just dont install the gigabyte driver update utility, pretty useless and slows your boot !

 

[japps2]

Don't worry about the 4870 1gb...I'm running 1920x1200 res and have no problems. Yeah Crysis on ultra high slows, but only for intense battle scenes and anything short of multi-GPU's this will be the case. Lots of other games will be fine on highest settings. And you do have the option of adding a second card down the line. And Vista 64 is fine...not a problem at all for the past 7 months.

 

[geofelt]

Updated the list below. I am clicking order in the next few hours after I deposit the cash into my checking account. Any last minute issues?

I already own:

Lian Li PC-65
Thermaltake Black Widow 750w Quad 12V Rail 80+
2 x WD Raptors that will be in raid 0 for O/S and programs

I am about to purchase the following:

E8500
Gigabyte 1GB 4870
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P
2x2 GB Corsair Dominator 1066 5-5-5-15 2T
Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283V
Arctic Silver 5 for CPU / GPU
LG Sata 22X CD/DVD burner
Microsoft Vista 64-bit

$794 to my door by this weekend

Looks good.
If you are a student, check into academic pricing for vista.

 

[yourhead]

Thanks for the words and advice. I appreciate the replies. I clicked order a few minutes ago. It ended up exactly as described but I added 4 x Thermaltake 80mm case fans to put into my Lian-Li.

Kind Regards,

Brian