Ideas for graphics on a gaming PC?

I'd recommend you go with an Intel sandy bridge configuration or wait for AMD's new bulldozer CPU's. Also what's your budget for this build?

It would be senseless to go from a Phenom X3 to a Phenom X4 then later on to a Phenom X6. The differences between the three are not that great. I would recommend at the very least an upgrade to Sandy Bridge if you do want to upgrade your CPU.

As for the graphis card, single GPUs are always more reliable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161361&cm_re=hd_6950-_-14-161-361-_-Product

That's a $250 card going for $220.

I am wondering what the best route would be on building a decent gaming PC. I am a computer guy and know how to assemble it, but with the increase in technology lately, I am sort of worried if I should go the SLI route, what the benefits of that would be vs. getting just one very good graphics card, and what type of power requirements I can expect the gaming PC to take. Right now my current system is a mid-tower PC, with a Phenom x3 processor, 4GB of RAM, 400W power supply, and a Geforce GT240 graphics card. I am currently running "Dragon Age" "The Witcher" "Final Fantasy 14" and "Oblivion" at pretty high settings. FF14 takes up the most graphics power, but I can still run that at standard/high settings without problems. Though I know with the new Skyrim game coming out, and the new Dragon Age, and whatever lies beyond I will need something that will have more power. I am planning the current configuration for my new system: Asus M4n75TD SLI Motherboard (nForce 750A) 8GB of RAM (can support 16GB in the future) Pehnom II X4 Black Edition 3.2Ghz (Can support X6 in the future) Windows 7 64-Bit 600W Power Supply Seagate 1TB hard drive Graphics - Undecided With the idea of current and future gaming in mind, Should I invest in one very good graphics card, two very good graphics cards (which will mean more power and more heat), or two very decent yet not as good as one good graphics card (overall more than one good graphics card, less heat and power used.) I also don't want to spend too much on a graphics card, either $300 for one good one or $150 each on two to SLI. Could anyone explain to me what exactly you would suggest and why? I don't care about every single little pixel in the game being it's best ever or I'm going to cry, but I would at least like the games to look good and run very smoothly as they were intended. Thanks.tintumol

EDIT:

Also , for now 4GB is more than enough. When you need more, the price of RAM will have probably fallen anyway.

EDIT 2:

For the HDD, Samsung Spinpoint F3's are good

the 6950 1gb will without a doubt give you the most performance, ur fine with the cpu you have for now.

i would personally go for the sandy bridge.. Seriously y wait for an 8 core bulldozer might be fast for apps multitask etc etc but whats it gonna b like for games?? we all know that intel is the best for gaming so i wouldnt bother with amd

i would personally go for the sandy bridge.. Seriously y wait for an 8 core bulldozer might be fast for apps multitask etc etc but whats it gonna b like for games?? we all know that intel is the best for gaming so i wouldnt bother with amd

Whiteknight19

Fanboy much?

no not really a fanboy comment its logic u name me amd processors thats faster then intel one's its like ati and nvidia ati is great for make 2 cards in one but then u have nvidia thats better at making single cards its simple but through out the ranking of all GPUS its ati over nvidia and its great that finally nvida came out of its shell to make better cards

no not really a fanboy comment its logic u name me amd processors thats faster then intel one's its like ati and nvidia ati is great for make 2 cards in one but then u have nvidia thats better at making single cards its simple

Whiteknight19

He's not a fanboy, he just needs to come out of his little world of simplified knowledge.

use people dont like it cos its the simple truth intel>amd ati>Nvidia

use people dont like it cos its the simple truth intel>amd ati>Nvidia

Whiteknight19

Anyways, as others said, wait for bulldozer CPU releases and benchmarks and price falls. For graphics, grab a good 600ish watt PSU and an AMD 6950 or GTX 560ti and you'll be golden.

u know what dude dont worry about the dudets if u know whats best go and look on the cpu world wide rankings and gpu u know what i mean

the amd ph II 955 cpu should last you a good 2-3 years more in terms of gaming and it will only cost you $200 for a cpu plus motherboard. The sandy bridge cpu plus motherboard may last you another 4 years but the cost of a cpu and mobo will run you close to $400. If you really want the best performance for everything then go with sandy bridge otherwise get the ph II combo. I personally chose intel over amd, but looking back the performance difference to me wasn't really worth the extra $$ that I put down. If I could go back in time I would probably rebuild with a ph II instead. Oh well Im still lovin my computer so can't complain.

u know what dude dont worry about the dudets if u know whats best go and look on the cpu world wide rankings and gpu u know what i mean

Whiteknight19

[QUOTE="Whiteknight19"]

u know what dude dont worry about the dudets if u know whats best go and look on the cpu world wide rankings and gpu u know what i mean

gmaster456

[QUOTE="gmaster456"]

[QUOTE="Whiteknight19"]

u know what dude dont worry about the dudets if u know whats best go and look on the cpu world wide rankings and gpu u know what i mean

Whiteknight19

[QUOTE="Whiteknight19"]

[QUOTE="gmaster456"] And u need to go lern sum propa english u know wht I mean? I'd start with some punctuation and move on from there. Run on Sentances are a pain in the arse to read

gmaster456

that phenom X3 is more than good enough, that 8gb ram too. Games do benefit from quad cores but the performance gain will be zero as long as you have that gt 240. Besides sandy bridge is nothing more than a lot of overkill.

The only thing that you need to upgrade is your videocard bro. The gt 240 isn't a good card, well it can manage games but the only reason why you're reaching high settings is because of the quality of your cpu. So that cpu defenitely doesn't need an upgrade and btw a lot of those x3 processors can be unlocked to an x4 . Can you give me the exact spec of your cpu so phenom II x3 and the number. I suspect it's the phenom II x3 720 since you're mentioning black edition.

Get yourself a nice hd6950 1gb , hd 5870, hd 5850 , hd 6870 or a hd 6850 (from best to worst) and get a psu 650W from corsair, seasonic, orantec. I'll do some research in the meantime how to unlock that fourth core. You won't need more than that not even for the heaviest games on 1080p.

ok apparently your motherboard has a built in core unlocker . You should be able to just unlock that fourth core in the bios. Most other motherboards need a beta or modded bios flash to do this, so i suspect you must have seen this and tried already. I you didn't try it already , by all means go ahead.

Since it's running at 3.2 ghz and i don't know of any x3 phenoms that run above 3.0 ghz you have overclocked it ,so i'm sure you must have seen the core unlocker lol.

Ok doesn't matter the x3 phenom at 3.2 ghz is more than good enough even in the future. I just noticed your mb has nforce and sli support so you'd better get an nvidia card. No big choices there, the gtx 560 is a great buy , again don't forget that psu. The gtx 560 is a little more expensive so maybe you will be getting above 300$ with a 650W psu, the gtx 560 will run on a 550W psu also but i wouldn't go any lower. The 650W would be a safer bet in the long run though.

You can always get the cheaper gtx 460 which will be also a major upgrade from your gt 240. If you choose the gtx 460you can sli later with a 650Wbut i would recommend 700W, for the single card i would get at least 500W and i recommend 550 W.(so sorry the 400W won't cut it)

Greetz

ok apparently your motherboard has a built in core unlocker . You should be able to just unlock that fourth core in the bios. Most other motherboards need a beta or modded bios flash to do this, so i suspect you must have seen this and tried already. I you didn't try it already , by all means go ahead. Since it's running at 3.2 ghz and i don't know of any x3 phenoms that run above 3.0 ghz you have overclocked it , so i'm sure you must have seen the core unlocker lol. Ok doesn't matter the x3 phenom at 3.2 ghz is more than good enough even in the future. I just noticed your mb has nforce and sli support so you'd better get an nvidia card. No big choices there, the gtx 560 is a great buy , again don't forget that psu. The gtx 560 is a little more expensive so maybe you will be getting above 300$ with a 650W psu, the gtx 560 will run on a 550W psu also but i wouldn't go any lower. You can always get the cheaper gtx 460 which will be also a major upgrade from your gt 240 , again the psu i would change to a 650W. Greetzevildead6789

No-where did the TC state that the phenom x3is running at or near 3ghz.

you're right , he was mentioning that for his upgrade, well we will see what he replies.

[QUOTE="Whiteknight19"]

[QUOTE="gmaster456"] And u need to go lern sum propa english u know wht I mean? I'd start with some punctuation and move on from there. Run on Sentances are a pain in the arse to read

gmaster456

Just LOL. :lol: