Intel Core 2 quad core q6600 2.4ghz Asus P5Q P45 Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 500gb HD (2 of them) 4 gb DDR2 RAM GTX 280 (is this overkill?) 600 watt PSU Creative SB Audigy Value Antec 900 (might add an extra 120mm fan) Vista Ultimate 32-bit (retail, so that I can upgrade to 64bit when it's practical) Decent DVD writer/drive 22" Samsung 1680x1050 monitor Now the thing is that I want to avoid buying online as much as possible. Anyway most parts (especially video cards) are available in nearby stores. Will any of the components bottleneck the GPU? Is the GPU overkill, even if a monitor upgrade is a possibility maybe a year down the road (to a 24-28" incher)? The motherboard is at an ok price at 150$, but there may be a better motherboard for that price range. I don't overclock as I have yet to learn how (console gamer for the longest time), yet I plan on learning. I'll be gaming quite a lot, mostly shooters and RTS. I'd rather stick to single GPU solutions for now, and avoid liquid cooling. I do graphic design (some video editing, photoshop, 3d renders, etc.), so going quad core is worth it. The price fits in the budget of around 1800$. My main concerns are the motherboard, GPU and CPU. I forgot to mention that I have yet to buy any of these components, I'm just looking for some more feedback before I take the plunge.
either get a q9xx or a e8xx cpu. the q6600 is slower than the e8200 in photoshop dispite having 4 cores due to lack of quad optimisation and the 45nm cpus being more efficent.
Don't get the audigy value, might as well use the onboard since its hardly better, if you want a good sound card get the x-fi extreme gamer. I'd get 64bit vista oem so you can use your 4gb of ram, retail is the same costs as 2-3 oem versions so why blow your money on it?
Nothing wrong with a Q6600, particularly G0 steppin' ones - they're still unmatched by any other non-QX quad when overclocked. Q9550 is gorgeous, but also expensive. E8400 - top notch for gaming, not very good for graphic design (more cores = better for that). I saw the Q6600 and the ASUS P5Q - after that I kinda stopped reading, you can't go far wrong if that's your motherboard and CPU. The GTX 280 is a tiny bit overkill, but it's decent and will last you a while - real overkill is two HD4870X2s in QuadFire. Haha, looks like a nice rig. Props!
I seriously doubt I can afford any extreme processor, at around the same price range (not more than 250$...) what processor would be a better deal? And the motherboard, I don't know much about mobos either. I just want RAID and no bottlenecking and stuff, lol. What GPU do you recommend? CUDA is sounding pretty awesome, so that's why I went with nvidia.
Well i think Nvidea has some GPU specially designed for Graphic Design but im not sure that they are very good for gaming.
Well you cant really go wrong with a 280Gtx but i would say you should either cut down to a 2gb model rather than the 4gb.
If you wouldnt mind ATi then you should definetly go for the HD4870x2 and if you have spare change go for a higher resolution screen or more storage for your hard drive.
if you have lots of space then go for the Antec Twelve Hundred (its a monster)
I'm actually biased towards ATi at the moment - I've had some bad experiences with nVidia tech as of late. Don't get a QX - they're way overpriced! I would recommend either a Q6600 or a Q9550 (the Q9550 is awesome, and is brilliant for overclocking on that ASUS P5Q). The ASUS P5Q is one of the best motherboards to date, but it also only supports CrossFireX - so if you're planning on getting another graphics card down the line, I'd get an HD4870 for now, since you can get another if you ever need to. There's nothing wrong with a GTX 280 though - it'd just be more economical in the future if you either got an ATi card or a motherboard that supports SLI (unless you never want to run two GPUs at once, in which case, forget about this part of the post).
Well i think Nvidea has some GPU specially designed for Graphic Design but im not sure that they are very good for gaming.
Well you cant really go wrong with a 280Gtx but i would say you should either cut down to a 2gb model rather than the 4gb.
If you wouldnt mind ATi then you should definetly go for the HD4870x2 and if you have spare change go for a higher resolution screen or more storage for your hard drive.
if you have lots of space then go for the Antec Twelve Hundred (its a monster)
nish2280
Whoops, the 4gb was for RAM, there is no 2 or 4gb gtx 280 model:P Over here, anything larger than 22" has approx. 100$ markup in price, definitely not worth it yet.
I'm actually biased towards ATi at the moment - I've had some bad experiences with nVidia tech as of late. Don't get a QX - they're way overpriced! I would recommend either a Q6600 or a Q9550 (the Q9550 is awesome, and is brilliant for overclocking on that ASUS P5Q). The ASUS P5Q is one of the best motherboards to date, but it also only supports CrossFireX - so if you're planning on getting another graphics card down the line, I'd get an HD4870 for now, since you can get another if you ever need to. There's nothing wrong with a GTX 280 though - it'd just be more economical in the future if you either got an ATi card or a motherboard that supports SLI (unless you never want to run two GPUs at once, in which case, forget about this part of the post).skapunkclarence
The Q9550 is nearly double the price of the 6600, that's quite a lot really :lol: I'm on the fence with multi GPU systems, I'd rather keep it simple with just one GPU. However the performance increase is undeniable on the other hand.
yes ther someting wrong with Q6600 for user who don't already got it http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2quad-q9300.html intro http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2quad-q9300_10.html#sect0 editing video http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2quad-q9300_9.html#sect0 gaming http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2duo-e8600_6.html#sect0 E8600 gaming benchmark
I would go with a Q9450 for CPU and since you have p45 mobo... i'd go with Hd4780 and if ever you wanna crossfire later you'll have the option unlike geting a GTX280.
if he go 280GTX he can do first Cuda better editing for proffeiosanl then single 4870 but if you crossfire 4870 it sure id get a X48 instead of p45 Because two 8x lanes instead of Two 16X lanes does change someting apprently how ever since u already have a p45 mobo it like it. 280GTX won't sli or anything on it it one or another you chose REd or Green Tough i loved the Green nvidia mean to be play. the intro and the gpu in past.. good time i just turned red :) but il be Green as soon nvidia win my experances and price match against ati it there fault if i turned red they did failure on every concept. high designed motherboard + video card the only way id picked Green is if 790i Ftw / ULTRA Was as good as those motherboard we got + 50$ less for Two 260GTX instead of one 4870x2 which wasn't case when i made my pc too bad :) because two 260GTX win in most of case and taht 4870x2 CF Is still not having a major improvemnet on every game on 1920x1200 + Resolution for everting maxed out with fps far higher then 60fps
yes ther someting wrong with Q6600 for user who don't already got it http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2quad-q9300.html intro http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2quad-q9300_10.html#sect0 editing video http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/core2quad-q9300_9.html#sect0 gamingmarcthpro
It did say that the q6600 is a better bet than the 9300 and the 8200 in an article about recent quad core processors. I'll def. look into dual-cores.
Out of curiosity, on the current build, how fast would crysis warhead run on max settings, preferably with AA (if it can stay at just over 30fps) in the 1680x1050 monitor. What if I upgrade to 1920x1200?
Nothing wrong with a Q6600, particularly G0 steppin' ones - they're still unmatched by any other non-QX quad when overclocked. Q9550 is gorgeous, but also expensive. E8400 - top notch for gaming, not very good for graphic design (more cores = better for that). I saw the Q6600 and the ASUS P5Q - after that I kinda stopped reading, you can't go far wrong if that's your motherboard and CPU. The GTX 280 is a tiny bit overkill, but it's decent and will last you a while - real overkill is two HD4870X2s in QuadFire. Haha, looks like a nice rig. Props!
skapunkclarence
every benchmark puts the e8xxx duals ahead of the q6600 in adobe graphic design programs. ie photshop indesign etc. video editing is really the only thing where the q6600 is better.
So far photoshop cs4 should run pretty much the same as cs3 except for the panning and zooming of larger images which are the only two features that utilize the gpu right now. On a side note you can try to improve your photoshop performance by allowing it to use more ram. Edit > Preferences > Performance~
As a recommendation on the GPU, I'd say 9800gx2. It's game performance is pretty much the same as a gtx280 +/-, except it has 16 more cores. 256 compared to 240 (not really that much), and the card should be cheaper as it's fading out of the market. Unless you'd plan on going 3 way SLI later on with the gtx280.
As for a good screen; don't be fooled by high contrast ratios or "G2G" response times.
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