Predicament. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Simon]

Okay, my current system is:

Gigabyte socket 754 mobo
AMD 64 3000+
Radeon 9550
512mb Crucial ddr pc3200 ram
250mb maxtor IDE hdd
Pretty standard dvd/cdrom drives.

I'm looking to upgrade significantly, I'm a keen gamer and my current setup just isn't cutting it with the games I play,(halflife 2, doom 3 and World of Warcraft.)

First of all I was just going to buy extra ram to boost it up to 1gb and buy a Geforce 6800 GT, but then I thought of the future. Socket 754 has limited upgradability now (as far as I know) so I'm considering building a 939 system.

With the future in mind, I decided SLI would be the type of system I would build, starting off with one Graphics card, and then when the future demands, adding another one to boost performance, rather than having to spend loads building a completely new system over again.

I was thinking of this spec.

Asus nf4 SLI mobo
AMD 64 3500+ socket 939
1gb Crossair XMS pc3200
xfx Gf6800 gt pci-e
Keeping my current hard drive/disk drives.
New case (undecided)
New powersupply will probably be required too.

Another of my worries is the sheer sound output that this system will create, would it be possible to make this pc ridiculously quiet? I'm willing to pay extra for that privaledge but I really do require it to be as quiet as possible (within my budget of course.)

Any suggestions, input?

My budget will be £1000 for this project, but would prefer to spend around £800.

 

[Flinx]

Have no idea why you are running a 9550 on a nice machine like that if ur a gamer.

nless ur a real fanatic just get your 6800 Ultra. That should keep you happy for a year or more.

BTW..how do you like the 9550?

The loving are the daring!

 

[Simon]

The Radeon 9550 was a christmas present. Wasn't my choice. Why post if you're only going to ridicule my current computer.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Simon on 03/02/05 01:48 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[apesoccer]

If you're set on going with a sli formation, that's a pretty good setup. DFI and MSI are the manufactures to go with in regards to sli right now. I have pretty close to the same system you're wanting to go with. However, for what it's worth, i had to change from a 400watt antec smart pwr to a 535+ enermax, even tho everything i had read had said that the 400 would be all i needed. (received errors from the nvidia drivers saying that i needed more pwr, so it was down-clocking my gpu) I spent $110 on that enermax...but i figure i was able to go from 1 optical drives to 2, and 1 hd to 3, as well as enough overhead to OC and get a second 6800gt later on. I'm not planning on OC'n this system, but at least the overhead is there. Oh and that enermax is BTX...which is what all the new amd sli boards are. There is power that runs on the pci-e slots that is supplied by the extra 4 wires, that otherwise isn't there (which may not make a difference depending...).

I'm not sure SLI is going to be very cost efficient for me in the long run...As novel the idea is, probably inside the next year (which is when i plan on getting my second xfx card) there will be faster cards out there...and when that happens...whats going to happen to the manufacturing of my xfx 6800gt? Will they still have it? Maybe...It worries me a little. And for the performance increase right now...well, actually, there have been descent improvements specifically in doom3 and hl2 (and source) in regard to sli...but if you want it for other older games...or games that come out that nvidia doesn't support...we'll be screwed. They pretty much have to write the sli driver specifically taylored to each game...which is a lot of overhead for them, and if they don't come up with a better way...is going to leave them screwed in the end, because the overall quality of other drivers is going to come down, simply because they aren't going to have as much time to work on those drivers if they're spending all this time putting out updates for the sli. The obvious response to that, is that 'well, they'd just hire more programmers'. That costs money...Which effects their bottom line, which then effects what we pay again, since they'll need to raise prices. Which would counter act against prices coming down for the cards that we would be buying in the future.

Hrm...sorry bout that; that got kinda long...oh well, i'm too lazy to delete all that...=D


Current machines running F@H:
Athlons: [64 3500+][64 3000+][2500+][2000+][1.3x1][366]
Pentiums: [X 3.0][P4 2.4x5][P4 1.4]

It's not worth saying unless it takes a really long time to say!

 

[fishmahn]

Your SLI Setup sounds ok, however I'd look again at a simple upgrade of your existing system now. Why? a 3000+ is still a good CPU, and you can upgrade to a 20% faster CPU later (3700+). Further, you could possibly overclock your existing CPU to 3700+ speeds or higher, depending on mobo/ram/desire/etc. So, for the cost of a 6800GT and 512MB RAM you could have a darn nice system today that will do well for a year or so. Heck, you could even get a 6600GT for about half of a 6800gt. Less performance, but less cost, and still enough for today's games (unless you really want super-high resolution and super-high AA/AF).

Or you could do SLI as you suggest. That system will set you back what? And in a couple years, you'll have to upgrade again. Your upgrade will give you a 10% faster CPU (skt754 3000+ runs at 2.0ghz - umm, most of them at least - skt939 3500+ runs at 2.2ghz and 939's dual channel doesn't add much to performance - maybe 5% on a good day) for a lot more expense. I agree you get the future upgradeability, but right now SLI mobos are at a premium and SLI only works on some games that nVidia has written drivers for. Besides, at the current rate of GPU enhancement, the next big thing for GPU's is going to be faster than a current dual 6800 SLI setup, so it's not as future-proof as it may seem.

What I'm not saying very well (sorry about that) is that you can spend £300ish now and get a very nice system today, then in a year maybe spend another £300 to upgrade your CPU if needed, then in another year spend £1000 on a whole new system. Or, if you upgrade to an SLI today, you can spend £1000 on a not-so-sure-thing, and maybe not have to spend £300 next year (but you'll want to to get the second 6800 - well it won't be £300 any more but you get the point I think), and the year after you'll need something else upgraded (CPU to a 4000+ or faster?), and possibly find that even SLI'd 6800's don't cut it in 2 years.

Yah, I'm not much for SLI unless you have money to burn, no price limits, and you live for the games on your 40inch plasma display. (or something like that)

Mike.

PS: Flinx wasn't making fun of your video card - he was asking a valid question. The 9550 is really a low-end card if you're a gamer, taking into account the rest of your system.

 

[Rugger]

there will be faster cards out there...and when that happens...whats going to happen to the manufacturing of my xfx 6800gt? Will they still have it? Maybe...It worries me a little.

You can still find a GF2 GTS for sell in the retail market. I have one that I bought in mid-2001 - I think you can expect that the 6800GT will be available for a good time to come.

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[Simon]

Okay, so lets say I go for an XFX gf6800 gt and 1gb of ram.

Since I cant use dual channeling because my processor is socket 754, will i lose out a lot of performance, what ram should i buy for the best results?

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Simon on 03/02/05 10:00 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Ned_Flanders]

The Radeon 9550 was a christmas present. Wasn't my choice. Why post if you're only going to ridicule my current computer.

Becuase we can! Jeez, don't get so offended! :lol:

______________
Read the friggin FAQ, and use the search button or I'll kick yer face in!

 

[endyen]

will i lose out a lot of performance

Absolutely not. Best case senario would have the next higher PRed chip, with dual channel be almost as fast. In other words, your 3000+ is better for gaming than a winchester 3200+ with dual channel.
Since you will be going to dual channel some day, you should try to get a stick of ram that will work with your current piece.

 

[Cybercraig]

Ding dong, Billy Bong! I wonder what the problem is? Even a 6600GT would get you where you want to go with an extra 512mb of ram. The A64-3000+ will clock easily to 2.2ghz and hit Aquamark 50k+ scores. It will carve up Doom3 like butter. It's the GPU DooD!

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

 

[fishmahn]

Basically what everyone else said. Dual channel on A64's doesn't give you very much - a few % at most, under the right conditions (and that's if the clock speeds are the same - your Skt754 3000+, compared to a skt939 3200+ - the Skt939 3000+ runs slower, even with dual channel). I'd get another stick of PC3200 - trying to match your current stick as closely as possible.

Mike.

 

[Simon]

thanks for all your help guys, I appreciate it. Saved me wasting a lot of money.

I'm gonna go for the XFX GF 6800 GT

I've decided that I'm going to get a completely new set of Dimm's since I really have no idea what the current ram I have is (as it was a present) and I feel like treating myself.

I'm currently looking at these:
Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200XL Platinum TwinX (2x512MB) CAS2 (MY-049-CS)

What do you reckon?<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Simon on 03/03/05 12:45 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[apesoccer]

Yea...i'm sure there will be cards still out there...that are 6800 gts...but will there be xfx 6800 gts that are still the same um build/revision as mine...since that is a requirement for sli... =/

Current machines running F@H:
Athlons: [64 3500+][64 3000+][2500+][2000+][1.3x1][366]
Pentiums: [X 3.0][P4 2.4x5][P4 1.4]

It's not worth saying unless it takes a really long time to say!

 

[Rugger]

Uhhh...maybe? That's one of the disadvantages of going SLI and not getting the cards at the same time. I think it might be difficult... HEY look at the bright side - trials/tribulations build character!








































I didn't buy it when I was told that, either. =/ Good luck hunting!

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[apesoccer]

Roight Roight

"...and i am not gay" RX8
Best quote ever!

Current machines running F@H:
Athlons: [64 3500+][64 3000+][2500+][2000+][1.3x1][366]
Pentiums: [X 3.0][P4 2.4x5][P4 1.4]

It's not worth saying unless it takes a really long time to say!

 

[Rugger]

:lol:

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