Hi everyone. I walked into the local game stop and saw that SC2 came out and decided i should upgrade my comp and get it. This is my first time building one and was wondering what you thought about these components. Right now i have a laptop thats on it's last leg, so i want this desktop to last a while and be good for gaming and general use (i.e. music, movies, internet). I made a list on newegg and am just going to copy and paste the product description. Operating System: Windows 7 64 Home edition Motherboard:ASUS M4A89TD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard Video Card:EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card Power supply:COOLER MASTER GX Series RS750-ACAAE3-US 750W ATX12V v2.31 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply Processor:AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor HDT90ZFBGRBOX RAM:Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 996744 Harddrives:Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive Optical Drives:ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM Computer Case: LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 Black 0.8 mm SECC, Plastic + Mesh ATX Mid Tower Computer Case Am I missing anything?
Looks pretty good. How much are you paying for the 9800GTX+? Around $130 (before rebates), you may want to consider 1GB GTS 250/9800GTX so you can use higher textures.
it's 134.99 at newegg. What is the difference between the two? I'm very computer illiterate and want to learn as much as i can about the hardware and what all the speeds, abbreviations, and storage all mean. That'll help with my job too , mo money. Also, it seems like the motherboard and processor are the most expensive parts. is that usual or did i just pick out expensive ones?
The CPU is a pretty good choice (albeit the $200 i5-750 from Intel will likely beat it in SC2). Motherboard, yeah, that's AMD's top-end chipset. I bet you could easily make do with less expensive 880G or 890GX boards. The GTS 250 and 9800 GTX+ are basically the same. However, an extra $5 gets you the MSI N250GTSTwinFrozr1GOC which has double the memory. Iirc, SC2 recommends 1GB video memory if you want to go Ultra on textures.
i was just looking over this one.... MSI N9800GT-MD1G GeForce 9800 GT 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card It seems to me that this one has more memory but has slower speeds. So being only 15 bucks less (before rebate) i think that going for the faster one would be the better way to go. Am i thinking right? Just read your posting of SC2 recommending 1gb memory
Yeah, you're better off getting the GTS 250. Most I would pay for the 9800 GT is $80-90. Even that's a maybe considering some GTS 250 models cost just $10 extra.
did some comparing... Shader clock - 1836MHz (GTX+) 1770 MHz (GTS250) Effective Memory clock - 2200 MHz (GTX+) 2000 MHz (GTS250) Are these noticeable differences? Also whats the difference between DDR3 and GDDR3 memory type? Difference between OpenGL 3.1 and 2.1? Also whats SLI? GTX+ has 3-way SLI and the GTS250 is just SLI ready. Can you explain these? Sorry for being such a noob at this.
It'll add maybe a couple of FPS but I highly doubt the difference be that noticeable. OpenGL is kinda like DirectX, except it's available to all platforms. SLI is when you link two or more graphics cards to improve performance. The MSI GTS250 TwinFrozr 1G OC is also capable of 3-way SLI. Not sure if any AMD motherboard with AMD chipset supports SLI, though. The G in GDDR stands for graphics, I think. Pretty sure the 9800GTX and GTS250 only came out in GDDR3 flavor so you should be able to ignore that.
For the processor... AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor is 100 bucks cheaper than.... AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor The only difference i can tell when comparing them is that the 1090 is 3.2GHz and the 1055 is 2.8 GHz. Is that the only thing and is that a big difference? Could it be so much more because it's the newest one out?
The 1090T is AMD's top consumer CPU. It's also a black edition which means it has an unlocked multiplier for easier overclocking. Personally, I see no reason to go 6 cores yet. It'll be a while before applications optimized for more than 4 cores are released. Heck, the Q6600 was released 3 years ago and even now, dual-core processors are still a viable option. The less expensive Phenom II X4 955/965 BE would be my choice unless you use specific applications that take advantage of 6 cores. Running at stock, the 955/965 BE will be faster than the 1055T. "Future-proofing" is pretty useless. I'm betting by the time you actually need 6 cores (or more), we'll have 4~5GHz processors stock.
Thanks so much for the help rui-no-onna! I started to order the parts. Got the case yesterday hopefully today mobo, cpu, and psu come in. I was just looking around at ram and was wondering how much i should get? I'm going with the GTS250 and the 965BE. Also with my mobo having a SATA 6gb/s, should i go for the 6gb/s hdd to match it?
Is this worth it: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...103846&cm_re=phenom_ii-_-19-103-846-_-Product AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 80W Dual-Core Desktop Processor - C3 Revision HDZ555WFGMBOX i mean im upgrading from ****. do i need a new motherboard?
Phenom II X2 555 BE would have very close performance to a Phenom II X6 1090T BE and Phenom II X4 965 BE in StarCraft II. While at this point in time, I consider quad-cores to be an ideal choice, if you're strapped for cash, then the 555 should work just as well. Who knows, you might even get lucky and it unlocks to a quad. No idea about the motherboard since I don't know what you're upgrading from.
The GTX9800+ is quite an outdated card. I would recommend to take the 1055T CPU instead of the expensive 1090T, and use the saved money to get a Radeon HD 5850 instead. This card should be double as strong as the GTX9800+. The 2.8 GHz CPU ist still strong enough for virtually anything. It's generally better for games to get the stronger video card than the stronger processor.
Not for Starcraft 2. It's pretty CPU-dependent. If he's not overclocking, he's better off with the less expensive but higher clocked Phenom II X4 965 BE or Phenom II X2 555 BE. Clock rate trumps more cores. I have a Phenom II X6 1055T and Turbo Core is pretty iffy. It's somewhat frustrating that I get faster performance from a less expensive dual-core i3-530 in the applications I commonly use. If not doing video encoding/3D rendering or similar multi-threaded tasks, I recommend going with a higher clocked quad instead of hexa-core.
Nah, nor really. You don't want to seriously claim that a 3.2GHz CPU + slow graphics card is better than a slightly slower CPU + a double strong graphics card. It is true that SC2 is quite CPU-dependent, but the game runs perfectly on a 2.6 GHz dual core CPU on Ultra-Settings IF you utilize a good graphics card. So, running it on a six-core (!) 2.8 GHz CPU with a really gorgeous HD 5850 is always better than on a deprecated Geforce 9000 series. (The HD 5850 is stronger than the GTX 460, which many users here have and use for Ultra settings). But talking about Hexa-Core... I would not buy one, but the Phenom II X4 945 instead. 4 Cores with 3.00 GHz and only nice 95 watts TDP is great. I have this CPU myself. You can get it for already ~130 Euros here. ^^
Not exactly that. I'm saying you need to strike a balance between CPU and GPU to get optimal performance and best bang for the buck. Several benchmarks have shown that after a certain point CPU matters more than GPU. HardwareCanucks Overclocker's Club PC Games Hardware TechSpot Hi Tech Legion Legion Hardware I think the HD 5850 is overkill for StarCraft 2 (once AMD gets around to fixing their drivers) and a GTX 460 for $60~100 less will more than suffice. Likewise, a less expensive quad-core or dual-core Phenom II with higher clocks would work better than a Phenom II X6 1055T.
