HD6970 - Will my system bottleneck it ?

[jyjjy]

Well those suggestions were just an example for going as cheap as possible based on US prices. There are certainly better motherboards. Ideally I would recommend a full ATX board with crossfire capability along with USB 3.0 and SATA 6 g/s but that will likely cost at least twice as much. As for the processor like I said earlier the unlocked multipliers on the black edition chips isn't too big of a deal. Unlocked multipliers are nice but I wouldn't make it a big priority when deciding.
As for the different brands of the HD6950 all of the cards available right now are the reference model and basically identical. So decide based on other factors like price and warranty. All of them use a dual slot cooler which will cover the slot below the PCI-E x16 port. For example on the board I linked one of the PCI slots would be covered but you would still have the other one available along with the PCI-E x1 slot when the card is installed.

 

[pining]

Sadly , I can't find the motherboard on any website that ships in europe .. could you give me a few other options ? 😀

I could find the PSU, the CPU (obviously) and more obvious the GPU

I am probably going to buy it all in like a week .. as I still have to receive some money ghehehe 😛

Thanks !,

Bobbie ~

 

[ionut19]

Can you post here the websites that can ship to your country and you want to buy from?
And if you really do not want to wait i guess that an AMD system would be the best option for a budget PC.

 

[pining]

Can you post here the websites that can ship to your country and you want to buy from?

Err .. well I mostly use tweakers.net it's search function .. if I search a product there .. it will immediatly show me like multiple prices.. but it's dutch xD (to search = "zoeken" in the upper right)

I also look at Zercom but the problem with that is that it's hard to link to a product .. though just giving me the name works..

err .. I have found another website .. also dutch sadly .. idk for zercom that .eu but this website it .nl Azerty

another dutch website which I merely use Alternate

problem is .. most or all of these websites are dutch .. but on the other hand have a search function hehe 😛 (easily found if you look for the word "zoeken" or obviously look for a white cell with a magnifier near it XD)

if this doesn't work .. and you know a website that ships in europe yourself .. then that'd be great too 😀

Thanks !!,

Bobbie ~

 

[ionut19]

Motherboard: http://zercom.eu/index.php?p=35&f=1&s=1&a=205848
it has 2 PCI-E slots witch are 2 spaces apart so cooling should not be a problem for 2 cards. € 121,60

RAM(4 Gb kit 2x2Gb at 1330Mhz CL7): http://zercom.eu/index.php?p=35&f=1&s=1&a=207173 € 62,40

PSU: http://zercom.eu/index.php?p=35&f=1&s=1&a=231056 This are the new series from corsair gold class, the best energy saver and highest quality. Here we can reduce the price up to 40 euro for a cheaper model from them. € 166,10

CPU: http://zercom.eu/index.php?p=35&f=1&s=1&a=168484 AMD PII 955 black edition 3.2Ghz . The difference from the 2.8Ghz model is 10 euro so for 10 euro it is worth it to buy this one. € 128,50

Video card: Sapphire 6950 http://zercom.eu/index.php?p=35&f=1&s=1&a=267281
€ 259,00

I have no idea what this means, you understand i think:

Product totaal (inc BTW): € 737,60
Exclusief BTW: € 619,83
BTW: € 117,77

Vaste verzendkosten: € 5,95
Totaal: € 743,55

I have chosen the components based on reviews from newegg.com and found them to be quality ones. You said you will receive some money these days, no? You only buy once a new PC. let me know if you want to buy a cheaper PSu because i can replace the one i chose. Also the PSU wattage was chosen to accommodate a second 6850 in the future.

 

[pining]

Haha nice .. though problem is .. the money I will receive are actually part of the 600 which I don't have at this moment but receive later xd.

Btw , BTW = VAT ghehe xd

And I ain't planning on spending it all in one go obv.

Still thanks for looking them up .. but if you care to look for cheaper components then that'd be great 😀

Oh btw why did you link the RAM too ? is the mobo DDR3 or something ? doesn't that mean I would have to get a different HDD too ?

Not sure which DDR things my system has .. could check that tomorrow .. gonna sleep soon lol it's like 3:42 over here :S

Thanks !!,

Bobbie ~

 

[purple stain]

Yea it would be best to physically look at the RAM sticks in the mobo and tell us what it says on it...

 

[jyjjy]

Why physically look at the ram? Use CPU-Z;
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
I think it is fairly safe to say you are using DDR2 however if you are really using a 1.6ghz dual core Intel processor.
For a cheap motherboard this would be alright;
http://zercom.eu/index.php?p=35&f=1&a=187269
or for a full ATX board with crossfire this one isn't too much more;
http://zercom.eu/index.php?p=35&f=1&s=1&a=185346
They both use DDR2 ram. For the processor you might as well go for the 955 like ionut suggested considering the prices. That PSU though is extremely expensive, I think he went for the absolute best quality for a PSU that will work when/if you do crossfire some day. If you would prefer something good enough for a single card and is decent quality this unit would be fine;
http://zercom.eu/index.php?p=35&f=1&a=260807

 

[pining]

I physically looked at the ram and googled it .. it's ddr2 but it's like 2 gb in total :/ (while I actually had windows 7 x64 on it XD)

so I guess that means I'll have to buy ram too (darn)

Thanks !,

Bobbie ~

 

[jyjjy]

Well, you can either get 2 more gigs of DDR2 or just ditch it and get 4 gigs of DDR3(and a motherboard that uses it.) DDR2 is actually a bit more expensive than DDR3 so just upgrading it altogether may be for the best.

 

[purple stain]

Would be better off with DDR3.
More combo/bundle deals with prossesor and mobo's that use DDR3.

 

[pining]

Is there a big difference between ddr2 and 3 ? and this does mean I would have to buy a new HDD too right ?

Thanks !!,

Bobbie ~

 

[jyjjy]

The performance difference isn't huge between DDR2 and DDR3 but it is nice to have. Ram has nothing to do with your hard drive.

 

[pining]

oh lol thats good to know .. you said ddr3 is actually less expensive than ddr2 ? 😀 thats also good to know gheheh 😛

If I'd go for DDR3 .. that'd mean I'd have to buy a different motherboard than what you linked , right ?
Do you know a (cheap) motherboard that supports ddr3 or something ? 😀

Thanks !!,

Bobbie ~

 

[jyjjy]

Yes, the DDR3 is cheaper but you will have to buy twice as much. These are decent and cheap AM3/DDR3 motherboards.
microATX;
http://zercom.eu/index.php?p=35&f=1&s=1&a=260521
ATX with crossfire;
http://zercom.eu/index.php?p=35&f=1&s=1&a=178733

This ram would be a good choice.
http://zercom.eu/index.php?p=35&f=1&s=1&a=187334

 

[pining]

Nice ! a phenom x4 955 does fit in that mobo right ? 😛

also , the 2 links bring me to the same page lol xD,,

Thanks !!,

Bobbie ~

 

[mdd1963]

The assorted i5 mainboards and cpus outframe like clocked X4 cpus at nearly all resolutions; they also defeat X4's running 300-400 Mhz faster. X4 at 3.4 Ghz does not equal the i5 running at 3 Ghz.....once you OC the i5, ....it's just no contest.

If you are running at 1920x1200 or above, the differences are progressively smaller due to the gpu bottleneck....

 

[jyjjy]

Nice ! a phenom x4 955 does fit in that mobo right ? 😛

also , the 2 links bring me to the same page lol xD,,

Thanks !!,

Bobbie ~

Yes, the 955 will work on any of these motherboards.
All the links are working fine over here... try again and if that doesn't work just copy and paste the product number at the end. That is the only difference between all the links.

 

[jyjjy]

The assorted i5 mainboards and cpus outframe like clocked X4 cpus at nearly all resolutions; they also defeat X4's running 300-400 Mhz faster. X4 at 3.4 Ghz does not equal the i5 running at 3 Ghz.....once you OC the i5, ....it's just no contest.

If you are running at 1920x1200 or above, the differences are progressively smaller due to the gpu bottleneck....

An i5 is certainly a better processor but it will also cost about $100 more to build an i5 system.

 

[pining]

Yep the links are working now 😀
...

Now all I have to do is wait till I received all of my money .. and then I'll be able to buy it and build it ghehe

Thanks guys !,

Bobbie ~

 

[ionut19]

Happy you found help on these forums. If you need more help just ask .

 

[pining]

Hehe 😛

As I will slowly receive all of my money .. I can start buying parts slowly ..

What would you recommend me buying first ? ( might sound kinda weird )

Like .. I could buy the gpu first .. and just put it in my pc .. but that I think would be bottlenecked big time by my processor..

Or I could buy the processor .. mobo ram and psu first .. so the 9600GT ain't bottlenecked while I wait till I can buy my gpu ? 😀

Tell me what you think is the best order to buy it

Thanks !!,

Bobbie ~

 

[ionut19]

Whatever you like. If you buy the video card buy the PSU with it also. If not buy the rest and the video card last.

 

[jyjjy]

I guess it makes more sense to build the rest of the system before getting the card. The card would help a bit on your current system but not much and you would also need to install the new PSU to use it. Video cards tend to be the most likely to go down in price over time so you may end up with a slightly cheaper card as well if you wait a bit. How long will it take before you can buy everything?

 

[pining]

I'm not entirely sure when I can buy everything .. but I now have enough money to get everything except the except the card .. ( got around 500 euros )

I will probably receive some more money this week .. or the week after this one .. so I don't think the price will change (much) 😛.

I guess I'll just build the system first .. without the card as I still have my 9600GT here ghehe 😀 and then just use it till I have enough money for the card .

Unless someone knows a better order lol xd.

Thanks !,

Bobbie ~