The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

my CM690 supported two front fans. Also it had a fan up top to get cool air DIRECTLY to the CPU cooler, and a side fan to get cooler air DIRECTLY to the video card.

Not something that Lian-Li case can do. And I did love my Armor(it's not Armour BTW, since it IS a brand name haha) but one of the main reasons for getting rid of it was the BRIGHT lights and clear side panel. I wouldn't buy one again as the cooling in that case isn't that great either. It's on par with that Lian Li though

 

In crossfire supported titles, the performance gain is a solid 2.4. Given that the HD4850 is only about 2.0-2.1 times as fast as the HD3850, it would win out, but as I say, Crossfire has to work to see those gains.

Rich: The P4 is such a bottleneck, you won't see any performance increase at all in games like Crysis, you do realise that right?

Oh and Spam is exactly right, three years ago we'd all be telling you to get an Athlon XP instead... haha, I would. Actually that'd be more like four years ago, three years ago and it'd be an Athlon64 3200+ instead...

As for the case, Lian-Li cases as a general rule aren't cooled as well as the average case, it's always been true, is still true now. However, Spam is using a Watercooled system, all these require is a decent path away from the radiator. With external watercooling, you're fine. With watercooling like he's using though, he will experience very hot passive components due to air stagnation. I know he likes his PCs quiet, so he won't have high speed fans in their to counteract the lack of room in the case. I have seen first hand what internal radiators do to cases without case fans - memory runs in the 70s (celsius) and graphics card voltage regs between 90 and 120 celsius during load, on a graphics card that uses a similar amount of power to the HD4870, if not less (an X1900XT-X). The southbridge also gets quite hot on modern boards too, so that may also suffer.

 

well we will see and i shall report my temps then. and yes i will have fans on the rad, and its not a small cramped case, its absolutely massive.

well we will see

and boozer, DAMN THE AMERICAN BRAND SPELLING

its why i always misspell the case when looking at prices in the UK lol

 

As it's a brand name, I don't have that issue...

 

I hear you guys, I am not even going to try crysis on the P4. The $200 will allow the P4 to limp along for a while, during which time the new build will slowly come together.

Yeah going back 3 years, or four, AMD 64 bit ruled over the P4. These days it looks like none of you guys are going to use AMD cpus - everybody's in the intel camp these days, is that right?

 

yep yep

 

Any machine worth its salt does at the moment, yes.

 

AMD CPUs are still quite potent in all of the latest games. I still keep one in my parents' PC.

Crysis is very playable on a 3GHz Athlon 64 X2 or 2.5GHz Phenom. As are Call of Duty 4, Oblivion, Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect and many other of the most intensive games. But many of the latest video cards are bottlenecked badly. The best cards you could use with a 6000+ are maybe a 3870 or an 8800GT.

Intel CPUs are so much faster and more overclockable. The Core 2 Duos that is. I'd like to see you get 3.4GHz out of a 2.4GHz Athlon 64! How about 37FPS average in Crysis in 1920 x 1200 at high? Do that with an Athlon 64...

So yeah, even Athlon 64 X2s aren't that fast. The Pentium 4 is so slow by today's standards that I feel bad for you

I would recommend:

Intel E7200 Wolfdale CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115052

Gigabyte EP35 DS3L Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128337

2 x 1GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 800 CL 4-4-4-12 RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145177

Zotac GeForce 8800GT OC 512MB Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500006

Corsair 520HX PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro HSF
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

This is a sweet system that can be OC'd fairly well and play Crysis formidably. You can make adjustments, better video card, HDDs of your own choosing, etc. But this is a good base to start with. Crysis would be fairly doable, all high at 1680 x 1050 with the Dx9 very high hack.

BTW, the shown components come out to about $560 after shipping. That leaves room for an even better video card and more upgrades.

 

id say drop down to an E5200 and get a 4850 ,and drop the PSU to 450W VX and get a p45 mobo, OR even a OCZ 600w, among others.

 

Yeah, Spamual(lol) is right on this time.

 

Agreed on the E5200 and HD4850, but I'd disagree about the OCZ 600W PSU. A VX 450 Corsair is fine, but for a build like that, even a 380 Earthwatts would do fine.

 

Yeah, you're probably right. An OCZ StealthXStream 600W is too much for that build, though I think it would work well all the same. Mine does just dandy with an OC'd Core 2 Duo and an 8800GTS G92. I think it's at least of a much higher quality than other 600W PSUs in that price range. Certainly capable of 600W+

But I think the 450VX is is about the perfect balance of wattage and quality for the price. They're under-speced too. I've seen them shut down at well over 500W. All Corsair PSUs don't even ramp the fan up until you reach the specified max power draw. But this is due to the built in sensor, not the temps. You can push them quite high above the "max power". My 620HX does about 750W on our local PC Shop's tester before it shuts down for safety with a temp of only 53*C. Though I don't think it's a good idea to do it all the time or depend on it. It's just really nice to know that the extra power is there

Nothing against Antec, but... 380W with an 8800GT... *shudder* lol

 

To be fair the 380 Earthwatts is actually pretty damn good.

 

I know, but I mean... 380W... It just doesn't seem right, lol

 

lol I know it doesn't seem right but the efficiency is right up there with the Corsair units

 

I'd use a 380W with an 8600GTS on a good day. But an 8800GT? I know it's well capable, but what about headroom for future upgrades and the like? I'd rather have the peace of mind by using an overkill PSU, especially because of the unqestionable quality of Corsair.

I have 2 Corsair PSUs and they both work flawlessly. Extremely high quality build and rock solid stable voltages.

The Enermax Liberty ran near 24/7 for 2 years before the fan controller went out. The PSU still works fine but wails like a banshee, lol.

As far as power for the price, though.. I'd have to say Corsair 450VX or OCZ StealthXStream. Both of them are solid, quiet, cool running, and cheap

 

Yeah, I would personally get a 450Vx, but I'm just playing the devils advocate

 

the earthwatts is made by seasonic, and is very efficient and very quiet.

IMO ranks as one of the best PSUs made, and for only £35

 

35 quid? blimey, I paid a lot less than that, only £27 for mine at ebuyer.
Don't forget I run a 520W with an overclocked Q6600 and an HD4870X2. 380W with an 8800GT? It's almost overkill! haha
Call me cynical, but I just don't trust the OCZ units enough given their big ripple.

 

ummm well i was doing todyas prices. look on ebuyer, about £35