Graphics Card Reccomendations?

Davey · Post by **Davey** » 2008-01-18 06:21pm

I need some help.

Well, this time I think I might as well pop the extra bucks and get a good computer. I've been hoping to run the top-of-the-line games, like Unreal Tournament III and Crysis, and I also run and use a lot of graphic art and design media programs; Aftereffects and Photoshop especially, and I also will be using a lot of computer-assisted design programs for school. So I'm going to need something with quite a bit of performance, but at the same time I don't want to go above $3,000 Canadian at the end of the day (taxes and all). A monitor with that would be nice, but I've already got a fairly good monitor and I already have an excellent sound system, so I suppose I can eliminate all the other things I don't need, I just need the computer itself.

I've been wondering what type of graphics card, hard disk, motherboard, etc I should look for. I don't have any specific brand loyalty, but I don't want to get a Mac because I want to be able to run computer games on it. Because I'm not too computer-savvy I've been looking at getting a pre-built computer, although I've always been cautious.

Your suggestions?

KlavoHunter · Post by **KlavoHunter** » 2008-01-18 06:40pm

8800 GT.

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2008-01-18 08:10pm

Definitely get the 8800 GT for graphics work. There's quite a few versions out there, so you should be able to find a good deal. As for HDD, motherboard, CPU, RAM, etc, you may want to look in the "Rate my Rig" sticky to find suggestions.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2008-01-18 08:17pm

If you don't feel comfortable building a computer, by all means get a prebuilt. Dell has the pretty nice looking XPS 420. Comes with a Q6600 processor, lots of RAM, and the option of a 8800 GT graphics card. Also comes with nice big Seagate hard drives. Comes out well under your price limit.

That said, we have a sticky thread for this.

DesertFly · Post by **DesertFly** » 2008-01-19 04:16am

GeForce 8800GT--damn, beaten to the punch.

But seriously, I just bought one, and the improvement it's made over my 8500 has been enormous. So don't think that the small amount of money you're saving will be worth it; it won't. Just go for the 8800 GT. You can get a good one for under $300 American. Mine's even overclocked slightly, and has the larger of the two RAM amounts.

Also, the more system RAM you can get, within reason, is essential.

Seggybop · Post by **Seggybop** » 2008-01-19 04:25am

If you have $3000, don't get the cheaper 8800GT, get the 8800GTS G92 (512mb). In fact, get 2 of them. You did say you wanted to play Crysis well, after all. You'd want a motherboard supporting two 16x PCI-E slots for that, and I would recommend eVGA's 680i LT motherboard. You'll definitely want a Q6600 quad-core CPU for Photoshop and CAD rendering. RAM is cheap, so get 8gb of DDR2-800. Look for a Seagate 7200.11 hard drive, as that will help loading time a lot.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-01-19 06:56pm

Buying two Q92's seems like a complete waste of money. You could get two 8800GTs for the price of a single Q92, and you'd still be able to play Crysis fine. You can play Crysis fine with a single 8800GT.

I know he said he wanted to spend $3k, but he could buy a system to do what he wants and have half of that left.

1138 · Post by **1138** » 2008-01-19 07:00pm

Seggybop wrote:RAM is cheap, so get 8gb of DDR2-800. Look for a Seagate 7200.11 hard drive, as that will help loading time a lot.

This may be obvious, but make sure you actually have 64-bit software that takes advantage of the extra RAM. So that means a 64-bit OS AND 64-bit builds of whatever software you're running. If you only had a 64-bit OS, at most each app can access 2 GB (though each separate app has it's own 2 GB to work with, IIRC, so it's not a total waste).

Seggybop · Post by **Seggybop** » 2008-01-19 07:24pm

On Newegg, the cheapest 512MB GT is $250, and the cheapest GTS is $300. That's 20% higher cost for around 15% better performance, so it's not the best deal as far as price/performance goes. However, it's pretty close to the highest performance you can get with current parts. Last I checked the very best part for price/performance is the HD3870, which is slightly weaker/less expensive than the 8800GT.

Davey also didn't specify his intended resolution, which would be useful to know for determining how much GPU overkill is actually necessary.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-01-19 07:31pm

Wow, AU gets shafted then.

It's totally worth $50 more for the Q92s, you're right.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2008-01-19 08:51pm

Yeah. Do note that this is CAD, so prices are typically still higher than USD. I do think that getting a prebuilt may be a better idea for him, given he says he isn't computer savvy.

Davey · Post by **Davey** » 2008-01-19 09:50pm

I can kick my (archaic clunker of a) monitor up to a maximum resolution of 1600x1200pix, but I may end up getting a bigger monitor later on when this one burns out and I have more money, so 1600x1200 pix and above sounds like a good estimate.

I know he said he wanted to spend $3k, but he could buy a system to do what he wants and have half of that left.

If so, please tell me, I'm all ears. I'm always open to ways to help me save money.

I can solder my own connections, make things with a lathe and mill, use a dremel and other power tools, file things, etc. I'm handy with a wrench and screwdriver, and if buying components separately and cobbling them together myself would save me money, by all means I'd take it. The only problem is getting the computer to boot up for the first time. I don't know how to install an OS onto a blank slate. I've reinstalled the OS many times on my battered HP Pavilion laptop, but that's with a boot disk, and the computer came pre-built.

As for the container, I could probably build something serviceable, or just buy a case. As for how it looks, I couldn't care if it looks ugly, I just need something that holds it all together. It's going to be going under my desk, where it won't be seen.

Speaking of RAM, I'm not sure whether I should stick with the ordinary DDR-2 RAM or wait a bit and try to pop the extra bucks for Corsair DDR-3. Regardless of whether I go with a prebuilt or try and make it myself, I'm still going to have to specify what's going to go in it. I'm not too familiar with brands yet, unfortunately.

I've heard a lot of bad things about Dell, maybe someone could shed some light on it for me?

Lonestar · Post by **Lonestar** » 2008-01-19 10:00pm

Wait for a GeForce 9800

1138 · Post by **1138** » 2008-01-19 10:23pm

Davey wrote: I've heard a lot of bad things about Dell, maybe someone could shed some light on it for me?

You don't have to go with Dell or any of the brand names for pre-built. You could just go to one of the small local computer shops and ask them to build a system for you. I've usually been able to get them to build it for the cost of the components with no "assembly fee" or anything like that. Those sorts of stores have been pretty good about replacing components that didn't work and you're generally still covered by the components' warranty if the store itself refuses. This is my preferred option when buying a computer.

You end up being able to fully customize your system without the hassle of buying all the parts separately and building it yourself. The price difference vs. building it yourself (where you can go online and find all the separate parts for the lowest price) isn't that much in my experience. I've actually been able to get system discounts from the store that cover the difference and then some. If the store route is still too expensive, you can get them to build a barebones system, install it and then you can add the rest of the parts yourself, saving a bit of money.

As for Dell, as far as I know, they're pretty damn gracious when it comes to keeping customers satisfied. For example, some people gripe about an imperfection on their laptop and return it a few times before they're happy and Dell obliges. And you can get good deals with them if you call them up when you order. There's always going to be bad things said about one of the big companies, it's just bound to happen with all the variations in customer attitudes and employee attitudes. My own dealings with them have been pleasant; but I've never had to call them about something going wrong with any of my Dell purchases.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2008-01-19 10:51pm

If you get the DDR-3, you'll be able to reuse it in a upgrade when Intel comes out with the Nephalem processors. Of course, the price should drop enough between now and then that you could rebuy the RAM for as much total as you'd spend now to buy DDR-3.

Installing a OS onto a bare machine isn't difficult. You just boot from the OS disk. Buying a case would be highly recommended. I like the Antec Solo, and the Antec P180/P182.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2008-01-19 11:04pm

Davey wrote: If so, please tell me, I'm all ears. I'm always open to ways to help me save money.

Just don't be a toolbox and buy the absolute cutting edge branded shit. You can spend $400 on RAM if you're retarded, or you can spend $50 on RAM and be fine. You can buy 8 RAIDed raptor drives for like $800, or a single 500GB for like $80. I have no interest in having the absolute best shit, which instantly cuts the cost of a computer in half.

Super-branded ultratimed RAM with blue LEDs? 3x, maybe 4x the cost for a 5% performance improvement if you're lucky. Waste of damn time.

Braedley · Post by **Braedley** » 2008-01-20 12:46am

Man, you can spend half of your max and still get a bitching computer. Hell, I just threw a system together for a quote that comes in under $2500, and it wouldn't even break a sweat with anything I use my computer for. 2TB of disk space, dual 8800GT, Intel Core 2 Quad or AMD Phenom Quad (AM2+), and 2 gigs of ram. To me, this system just screams overkill for anything except games that won't appear for another 2 years, and it still leaves plenty for a new monitor. A system that I would buy comes in at under $1500, and should be able to do everything that you want it to. Add a second GPU and it's still well under $2000.

After my last computer purchase, I will never understand the desire for someone to buy the latest and greatest computer, when technology that's 6 months old is significantly cheaper and will last almost as long. Hell, the only latest and greatest thing that I've bought in the past year is my MP3 player, and that's only because the only 8gig flash based player on the market at the time was the SanDisk Sansa e280. It hasn't dropped much in price since I bought it.

EDIT: I forgot optical drives. With the added $50, everything is still as quoted.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2008-01-20 01:27am

Component List.

Comes to 2/3rds the amount you wanted to spend.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2008-01-20 02:00am

LOL at the banner ad being shown to me on this thread for the retarded "KILLER GAMING NETWORK CARD".

KlavoHunter · Post by **KlavoHunter** » 2008-01-20 02:55am

The benefit of buying an 8800 GT, is that it is not a terrible problem to buy a second one in the near future and go SLI.

Singular Intellect · Post by **Singular Intellect** » 2008-01-20 03:11am

Lonestar wrote:Wait for a GeForce 9800

Son of a bitch...now I have to consider waiting and buying two of those suckers instead of another GTX for my SLI configuration...

Seggybop · Post by **Seggybop** » 2008-01-20 03:24am

As for saving money...

Here's a list of parts on Newegg $1088 USD from Newegg, I guess your best bet in Canada would be NCIX.

Considering that SLI is as far from cost-effective as you can get (~30% average benefit for 100% cost in cards + SLI motherboard), and really only for when you have tons of cash and want the ultimate best, it would be good to go with a single card setup with an 8800GTS 512mb, which is the best single card currently being produced.

Not going with an SLI video card setup opens you to getting a non-nvidia (SLI compatible) motherboard. Intel's own chipsets for their processors are generally considered more stable than nvidia's, work better for overclocking, and are available much cheaper. There are boards with Intel chipsets that can still support multiple graphics card setups with ATI cards if in the future you wanted to upgrade to that, though I don't think it would be worthwhile.

Don't bother with expensive RAM; you won't notice any benefit for the cost. I would also ignore DDR3 for now; it's extremely expensive compared to DDR2 and not a lot faster. You'd probably be able to buy 8gb of DDR2 for the price of 2gb DDR3, and 8gb will definitely benefit your tasks more.

The Seagate 7200.11 hard drives are close to WD Raptors in performance, but much cheaper/higher capacity.

KlavoHunter · Post by **KlavoHunter** » 2008-01-20 06:22am

Seggybop wrote:Considering that SLI is as far from cost-effective as you can get (~30% average benefit for 100% cost in cards + SLI motherboard), and really only for when you have tons of cash and want the ultimate best, it would be good to go with a single card setup with an 8800GTS 512mb, which is the best single card currently being produced.

Aye, but what if you wait a year or so, when the card is half the price or so? You get a nice jump in performance for a small amount of money, just when those games that need a -little- more graphical oomph come out.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2008-01-20 01:50pm

Seggybop wrote:As for saving money...

Here's a list of parts on Newegg $1088 USD from Newegg, I guess your best bet in Canada would be NCIX.

FAIL. Link brings up no parts.

Seggybop · Post by **Seggybop** » 2008-01-20 02:11pm

Wheeee I'm a newb that's what I get for posting at 3:30am, I forget to check the little box T_T