System Specs Please comment and suggest!!

[BULLZI]

Hi guyz,

I have decided on the following proccy, motherboard and graphics card :

1. Proccy - Rite now I will use my old proccy. I will change it with 45nm
quadcore when it will be available.

2. Mobo - I am preferring Asus Maximus Formula that is not so costly as
Asus Striker II and also X38 chipset is gr8 for overclocking.The
board has also two true PCI-E X16 slots. It also comes with a
sound card.

3. VGA - HD3870X2. I may add another one after a couple of months when
price comes down.

Now as I hv also told previously, I dont wanna upgrade for at least 3 yrs.
Will this machine be future-proof for 3 yrs?

Any suggestions abt ny other options are most welcome.Thanx.

[Pathik]

What is your current config?

[BULLZI]

C2D E6400
P5B Deluxe
7900 GT 256 MB
2 GB Ram

[Pathik]

And what is your budget?
IMO Now is not the time to make any significant upgrades..
Almost every component is on the brink of being replaced by a newer technology.
You should wait for x48, g96/g100 proccys and 45nm quads availability..
And maybe DDR3.
Anyways your config isn't that bad. You should sail thru 2008 without major hiccups.

[keith_j_snyder2]

Dude 2GB Video RAM will be a kill for another 2 years. But technology changing every second....no one knows what future will bring!
But 2GB video RAM.....phew! Thats lot of horse power!!!!

[BULLZI]

I know my config is a good one. But i wanna make it better.
I cant play Crysis at full glory even at 1240 * 768.
I need at least the gfx card as soon as possible.
Budget abt 50-55K.

[amitash]

for a budget of 55k u can get an 8800GT or GTX and the maximus formula...or if u want sli go for the striker extreme and 2 8800GTs

[BULLZI]

Why to go for GTX with such high price and poor VFM??
Rather will get twoo 8800GTS 512 MB in sli than the GTX .
I am waiting for the upcoming launch of NVIDIA 9800GT/GTX.
I am totally confused.
If NVIDIA cards dont perform well, HD3870X2 will do.

[nvidia]

^^Dont get the 9800GX2. Its 8800GT in SLI with lower clock speeds. And its performance is lower than two 8800GT in SLI.

[Tech_Wiz]

Wait till March end and check for new nvidia 9 Series for details. It will be better if You get a 9 series card for future proofing. If you are going to use the comp for High end gaming then rest assured it will be outdated in 1.5 year tops.

My PC is future proof for rest of my life as I only use it for Internet Browsring and chatting and oNly one game I play is AoC for which My Config is a way too overkill

[BULLZI]

Originally Posted by nvidia

^^Dont get the 9800GX2. Its 8800GT in SLI with lower clock speeds. And its performance is lower than two 8800GT in SLI.

Thnx for the info, mate. I wont buy that if its really two 8800GTs.

@Techwiz

I will only get 9 series cards in SLI if they hv got DX10.1
Otherwise I am in real confusion.
I also hv in mind abt dual 8800GTS/HD3870x2.

I will get a mobo according to it.
Processor as told earlier, 45nm quad.

[nvidia]

The 9 series cards wont support DX10.1. Im sure about that.

[BULLZI]

Then I just cant understand why NVIDIA is releasing 9 series cards

[nish_higher]

^ thats because ATI just launched new cards
there was no need of this crappy 9600GT
they could have done something to mobile graphics and some new motherboard chipset.
And coming to the topic-what makes u think Asus Maximus formula or Striker are future proof?all thats future proof in them is support for newer cpu.rest is future spoof.if u really want something good for that money,get a 8800GTX or a 8800GT + ddr3 motherboard - now thats futureproof.

[BULLZI]

What I meant by future proof is no upgrade for 3 yrs.
I dont need ddr3 ram as in games, 4gb ddr2 and 4 gb ddr3 wont make much of a difference.
Abt mobo, check my post previously, I didnt decide till now which one to go for.
By the way Maximus got 1600 FSB, support for Penryns, gr8 overclocker, three PCI-E slots ( two of them 2.0 with true 16X for crossfire).
Asus is also providing additional sound card.
Arent these enuff??
And also in gaming, more important is GPU. Why the hell are u suggesting GTX whereas one can get GTS 412 MB for half price and better performance??!!
By the way, where did I say anything about Striker??!!

[nish_higher]

1.my mistake abt striker
2.8800GT OC is comparable to 8800GTX stock,not OC and i didn't recommend it-what i want to recommend is 8800GT and DDR3
3.Asus Maximus is great board-for this year only-wait till november\december and watch it fade
4.ur current config needs only a gfx card and another 2 gb ram to run crysis at its best

[BULLZI]

Yes u r rite.
But I want quad core system.
As 45 nm quad out now, I want to have it. But my mobo dont supports it .
Hence, wanna change the whole.
Anyway, next yr I can buy nothing and strictly for computer purpose. I hv to buy within April-May and for the next 3 yrs, my budget for upgrade is nil.
Thts why I need a decent upgrade that wont disappoint me for 3 yrs .

[nish_higher]

the point is that in march 2009 (1yr from ur purchase),assuming current stats and almost near launch of Nehalems, DDR2 will start to be obsolete and in case u want to upgrade-u will have to change the board.DDR2 wil suffer the same consequences as the case with DDR1 now-its damn expensive
In my opinion a 3 year rig definitely has to be a latest one and DDR3 board is a must
it u want a 2yr rig-certainly go with it

[keith_j_snyder2]

Well u can rely on ASUS P5K-C
That motherboard support both DDR2 as well as DDR3 RAMs but it wont sport 1600 FSB which is required for giant quadcores!

By the way:http://technewstime.com/hardware-new...pu-info-leaked


And about graphics card: Get an MSI 8800GT OC edition - Performs better, Less expensive and great value!

[BULLZI]

Actually I need DX 10.1 support. I am going to need it in the next year I guess. Isnt HD3870x2 a good card? Plz post ur views abt it.
And one more thing. Suggest a mobo with DDR3 support, 1600 FSB. Is there any that will come in my budget?

[hellgate]

^^^ get the MSI X48 Platinum.meets all ur requirements

[BULLZI]

X48 out already? Any reviews/link you can provide?
By the way, found a thread regarding HD3870x2 but the info there cant help me to take my decision. Plz help me out with it. Is it worth buying?

I cant find anywhere that X48 is out.
Provide some links plz that will prove that this mobo meets all my requirements.

[monkey]

X48 has only been paper launched. The availability is very scarce and would continue to be so for another month. BTW X48 provides nothing extra over X38 except for native 1600 FSB support. But people with X38 has been able to get the same FSB with X38 also. A good X48 chipset based mobo is still few months away. So I think it is safe to invest in X38 now. After all you will always have better product every few months down the lane!!

If I had to invest now then I would go X38 based Mobo and use two 3870X2 in crossfire. this would give me power of 4 GPUs (AMD has been able to use only 3 GPUs with current Catalyst driver but it is expected that Catalyst drivers to be launched in March will make full use of all 4 GPUs). That pretty would make my system future-proof for another 2-3 years.

[BULLZI]

Originally Posted by hellgate

^^^ get the MSI X48 Platinum.meets all ur requirements

MSI X48 has no DDR2 support, only DDR3. Not worth buying as DDR3 is way too costly now.
I may look for MSI X48C that has both DDR2/DDR3 support.
Two PCI-E slots are sufficient.

Read this :

http://www.nordichardware.com/news,7213.html

It looks that all ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte ready to release X48 mobos but its only Intel delaying the official release.

[nvidia]

Have a look at THIS

[BULLZI]

This means both of the boards have support for DDR2??

[nvidia]

^^No i think it wont support DDR2...

[BULLZI]

Have u checked the link I provided. Its clearly written that X48C supports both DDR2 and DDR3.
By the way, what makes u think it wont support DDR3?

EDIT : Its clearly written that X48 supports dual channel DDR3.
May be 48C supports single channel DDR3.

[nvidia]

@Bullzi: Sorry.. I meant to say DDR2 not DDR3

[BULLZI]

Its ok pal . just a typo. Look I am not gonna buy nything before having read some reviews .
And if X48 chipset mobos are out soon, I prefer ASUS to MSI.

Edit : I just did something wrong. Post edited. Please dont mind.