ati vs nvidia

[aznkc730]

unless you really are a diehard amd supporter, get an intel cpu. from your sig, it shows that you don't upgrade that often, so i wouldn't worry about which socket has the most upgradability.

my suggestion is definitely get a quad core (for cpu intensive games like aion, a qc should really shine), and shoot for an i7 if you can afford it, or go with the more mainstream i5.

as for video, a 5850 will be more than enough at 1680x1050. ati currently has better power management than nvidia's aging gtx 200 series, which would help with your 610w psu. of course, play at whatever settings you enjoy, but i think what people are saying is that with an i5/i7 + 5850, you should be able to run aion fully maxed out.

 

[de_yogurt]

i guess im not so concerned now with the upgrade path. im just really wondering, since this is my first major upgrade in some years, if i will really notice the difference between and i7/i5 or a phenom II. i mean they seem like great cpu's either way, but the amd build is about $150 cheaper, and would allow me to get a top of the line ati card. so the main question is now. i5/i7 with a 5850/5870 or the phenom II with the 5870? thanks for all the great help so far. and also realize that Aion isnt the only game i will play. i just play it the most now. wouldnt mind getting back into cod:waw and would also like to pick up mw2, l4d2 and some others.

Yogurt

 

[aznkc730]

personally, I'd go with the i7 because I'm very performance oriented, and I think its money well spent.

having said that, do you only care about games? bc if you do any type of media encoding, then that i7 will clearly outshine the phenoms. However, if the most intensive thing you do with ur pc is gaming, then I would suggest the amd build route for you to save money. Yes the i7 setup will give u higher fps, but the way i see it, does it really matter that you are getting 100fps vs 117 fps?

anything above 60fps is smooth gaming, so i'd rather save that $150. Finally, COD5 shares the gfx engine of COD4 with some upgrades. MW2 does the same. They're not new engines, thus any run of the mill card today can play them with high settings. l4d2 is the same idea. valve really needs to overhaul their source engine, as every game has only made minor improvements from the original hl2 release of the engine.

 

[de_yogurt]

90% of the time i will be solely gaming. there might be an outside chance of some kind of video/photo/music editing. not to worried about that, last time i did anything like that, was in high school and we did it on PIII 1GHz machines, lol. anyway, its looking like i will go the amd route. thanks for all the input/help/advice! Have a good one!

Yogurt

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

Why you going the AMD route?

 

[de_yogurt]

not to sound like a jerk, but it is mentioned in the above replies.

 

[Neuromancer]

i understand more clearly now. so as far as amd vs intel, what is going to be the best cost/performance ratio? seems like amd is ahead of that race. also, will virtalization play a part in anything i will be doing? im also a tad confused on triple channel memory, is it essentially dual channel but better? have a good one!

Yogurt

IF yo uare going with AMD, grab the new GSkill ECO sticks

2x2GB DDR3 1600 MHz 7-7-7 and 1.35 volts!!!

Reviewer had a board that would not go lower than 1.54vdimm so instead he OCed to 2100 MHz 9-9-9 LOL on P55 chipset wait to see it on AMD though before buying of course
http://www.techreaction.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1321

Insane stuff

System looks good, as designed, 945 is a solid CPU, I would make sure and get a board that will not BUS limit you on overclocking (should you wish to) I have had my 920 up around 300 HTREF, and its Hella fast.

For vid card, you can pick up a used 4800 series GPU real cheap that will you run until the next gen nVidia comes out or ATI improves their drivers on the 5000 series. While ATI does have the performance crown once again, I will happier when prices are "normal" IE 5850 for $200 5870 for $300 and 5970 for $450

Although as mentioned the nVidia cards are better for folding and if rumour and conjecture is true the 300 series due out on March are goign to monster folders. The 4800 series GPUs should last you easily another year at 1680x1050 though

 

[de_yogurt]

not gonna get into to overclocking. the reason i want to go amd is because i can save around 150 bucks compared to the i7. that extra 150 would help me get a 5870. now im looking for a good mobo. im also probably going to with the phenom II x4 955 black edition, even though im not going to overclock it seems like a real solid cpu and i might want to oc a little bit, but nothing major if i do. is gskill the way to go with memory these days, it seems like not to long ago they were a nobody company. but that might be just me. seems last time i looked at memory it was ocz, corsair, mushkin, and patriot that were top performers. again thanks for all the help and advice, have a good one!

Yogurt

 

[vgta88]

with today's cpu's it's like they had overclocking in mind...

I'd get whatever system that has more resale value if you wanted to upgrade(trade-in the old stuff after you upgrade). that means maybe someone will look at an i7 one day and say oh, lets make a server out of this, price and performance seems right, especially with ht.

or this amd is extremely solid still great for future uses.

It really does seem like the amd system will save up some for a better graphics card but if you are doing 50 vs 50 pvp then I'm sure you'd want to oc some.

as for the graphics card, not only would i agree with the price normalizing but also the power requirements. If you could do it for me(really it's just for you), get the best one with the lower power consumption.