Price/Performance advise

K

kirilus

Obliviot
Hello,

I have the following wish list and would like to hear your expert opinion on
the performance/price aspect.

ASUS MAXIMUS EXTREME LGA 775 Intel X38 /// $349
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz /// $220
EVGA 512-P3-N841-A3 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB ///$339
OCZ Platinum 2GB SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) ///$279
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM ///$169
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB 7200 RPM ///$154
CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply ///$169
ZALMAN Z-MACHINE GT1000 BLACK ///$349

---
Total ~2K

I also need decent speakers and cpu cooler. Not big on overclocking.

All comments are welcome. Thank you.
 
madmat

madmat

Soup Nazi
Personally I'd go with an ASUS 680i board since they'll support 45nm and they use DDR2 which is way cheaper than DDR3. Plus you get the SLI capability that the Intel chipset lacks. Or the 780i which gives tri-SLI support and still uses the much cheaper DDR2.

As to your HDD choices... well, with the higher disk density the 750GB disk will give you nearly the same sustained reads and writes as the Raptor and give you 5 times the capacity. Just got for two 750GB drives and save a few bones plus get 95% of the performance of the Raptor.
 
K

kirilus

Obliviot
Thank you for the feedback, madmat.

I think Asus Maximus Extreme is also said to support 45nm and DDR3 and, according to the recent article in either Techgage or AnandTech, adds about 2-5% overall performance which is a lot. SLI on the other hand does not improve anything in some cases and considering the amount of extra money another card costs - is not worth it. That is why I have decided to go with ddr3 and to forgo sli. Correct me if I'm wrong, please.
 
K

kirilus

Obliviot
an update...

ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX ///$179.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz /// $220\VGA 512-P3-N841-A3 GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB ///$339
Patriot Viper 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) PVS24G6400LLK ///$129.99
COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro RS-650-ACAA-A1 ATX Form Factor 12V V2.3 / SSI Standard EPS 12V V2.91 650W ///$139.99
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 ///$169.99
HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000 HDS721075KLA330 (0A34914) 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s ///$179.99 (I need extra storage)
ZALMAN Z-MACHINE GT1000 BLACK ///$349
Thermaltake CL-P0114 120mm CPU Cooler ///$45
 
madmat

madmat

Soup Nazi
kirilus said:
Thank you for the feedback, madmat.

I think Asus Maximus Extreme is also said to support 45nm and DDR3 and, according to the recent article in either Techgage or AnandTech, adds about 2-5% overall performance which is a lot. SLI on the other hand does not improve anything in some cases and considering the amount of extra money another card costs - is not worth it. That is why I have decided to go with ddr3 and to forgo sli. Correct me if I'm wrong, please.
Click to expand...

SLI doesn't increase gaming performance? WTF? I'd suggest that you go read some reviews of SLI systems versus non-SLI systems and rethink your statement. You get about a 40% increase in framerates at high resolutions with SLI versus a single card. Now, if you plan on gaming at 1024*768 then there's no point in SLI but if you're running a 24" or 30" monitor then the performance increase is definitely viable especially at 1920*1200 or 2560*1600 resolutions. Remember, most DX10 games out today are GPU bound which is why the tri-SLI and quad Crossfire setups are becoming popular amongst the high end gamers.
 
Merlin

Merlin

The Tech Wizard
Madmat is correct, there has been so much hype in SLI.
Now dont get me wrong, it IS good in high end gaming, but what you have here would not require SLI

Merlin
 
madmat

madmat

Soup Nazi
Merlin said:
Madmat is correct, there has been so much hype in SLI.
Now dont get me wrong, it IS good in high end gaming, but what you have here would not require SLI

Merlin
Click to expand...

Well, it would depend upon what resolution he plans to game at. Like I said prior, if he's doing a large flat screen LCD and wants to game at high resolution he should investigate SLI more fully, if not it's not necessary but it does make for a good upgrade path in the future if he ever wants to get a big monitor.
 
THUMPer

THUMPer

Coastermaker
Stick with an intel chipset. Yes DDR2 is hella cheap. But DDR3 is coming into its own. Higher speeds work out great in the real world. P35 chipset is kinda...meh. They are ok. DDR3 will be coming down in price once more people adopt it. I will be going x38/48 DDR3 here in a couple months for sure.
 
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