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I Plan to Upgrade Computer Soon.

Mobius One

Grizzled Veteran
Jun 10, 2006
351
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I've selected my motherboard, processor (I'm done with single-core chips now, time for true multi-tasking, which I do all the time, btw), RAM, and the other accessories.

The snag lies within the graphics cards and the arms race between nVidia and ATI. I plan to work more often, getting a higher pay with that, so in the future, I intend to dual card my system eventually.

I've read up a bit about nVidia's STI and nForce technology, and ATI's Crossfire and ATI Express stuff, as well. It seems to me that you'll need a specific motherboard that caters either to nVidia or ATI in order to dual card effectively.

I've always been an ATI guy, due to bad experiences with nVidia drivers, and for my video card, I'm considering the ATI X1800XT card. My budget is not unlimited here, but I need good pointers in which cards will do good for the time being while I earn up some dough for dualing up video cards for the future.
 
Which Motherboard and processor have you selected?

I would go ahead and get the 7900GT:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127218

The link above in a MSI for $270 US.

This card is SLI Ready so you could buy one now. Then pick the other up later. Honestly, I'd spend the money on one really good single card system than SLI right now.
 
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Well, I'm leaning towards the "ABIT AT8 32X Socket 939 ATI CrossFire Radeon XPRESS 3200 ATX AMD Motherboard" (Newegg copy/paste) with the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor. Pretty good price for $300 for processor and motherboard, and with 184-pin RAM that I already have 2GB worth, it should come out to be about $800 with everything (shipping and tax included).
 
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Mobius One said:
Well, I'm leaning towards the "ABIT AT8 32X Socket 939 ATI CrossFire Radeon XPRESS 3200 ATX AMD Motherboard" (Newegg copy/paste) with the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Processor. Pretty good price for $300 for processor and motherboard, and with 184-pin RAM that I already have 2GB worth, it should come out to be about $800 with everything (shipping and tax included).

Here's an ATI X1800XT for $250: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814195019
 
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Right. Direct X 10 cards are not going to be release until sometime next year. Vista needs work. I've been messing around with the latest beta and while I got everything to install okay, I have a friend who couldn't get any of his hardware to work and his computer is a little newer than mine. Last night I played Oblivion on it. It runs pretty much the same under Vista as XP. I'd stear clear of Vista until the first Service Pack is released. There won't be many games utilizing DX10 for a while anyway.
 
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I stay clear of new technologies for at least half a year, I don't want to be one of those poor saps who spends $500 on a DirectX 10 card only for it to not be used for a half a year to a year. I'd rather wait until Vista's actually released and DX10 cards actually become affordable.

And besides, plenty of DX9 games look drop dead gorgeous, anyways. I don't need a marketing fluke called DX10 to convince me otherwise.
 
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Mobius One said:
Yeah, I have decided to go with AMD, it's a Socket AM2. One question, is the motherboard I've selected compatible with this processor?

Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103747

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813127234

That's a 939 board. You need and AM2. I can't find any AM2 boards on newegg with an ATI chipset. Here's an Abit (NVIDIA chipset):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127236

OR

If you want to stick with the ATI Chipset, here's a 939 Dual Core:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103547
 
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Mobius One said:
Which is better: Socket 932 Processors or Socket AM2 Processors?

At this time, there's not much of a difference:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/02/21/a_look_at_amds_socket_am2_platform/page12.html

939 uses DDR and AM2 uses DDR2. Still, not much difference:
11600.png


11602.png


However, I'd be more inclined going with the AM2 IF you plan on upgrading the processor later and don't want to buy a new board. The AM2 socket is the replacement for the 939. Who knows, with the ATI acquisition, AMD may come out with yet another socket anyway.

Go with what you want to afford.
 
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There was a rumour that AMD was lowering its prices by upto 50% on all 939 chips (not sure if this includes AM2 chips),this is to compete with intels Conroe line.

If this comes to fruition a half price FX60 would be desirable,but if you plan to go 2x GFX cards you will need a beast of a CPU.

I'm looking at upgrading my CPU/Mobo around Sept/Oct,these factors will influence it.

1/AMD price drop will lead me to get an FX60-to be o/c and put under water.

2/No price drop for AMD will lead me to get a Conroe Extreme Edition Dual Core with a new 775 x-fire mobo.

I currently have dual x1900's but my cpu is bottleknecking things.

AM2 seems a damp squib a.t.m-and is no way a contender with Conroe-the only thing in my mind that is ,is reduced price AMD chips.

ps. theres also a rumour of QUAD core AMD chips at Xmas.:confused:
 
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