First full upgrade in 3 years, how does this look? Update:Finally bought my stuff.

[drum]

do not get sli, especially for your situation. You have a nice build there.

 

[Sniper82]

either way do change your board to a Asus,Epox or maybe MSI. I recommend DFI over them all but not with Corsair Value Select memory(if thats what your getting). It's a hit or miss with that memory and DFI.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: Sniper82
For the money he would spend on a second 7900GT in 6-8 months or whenever he could sell his current 7900GT and add those funds and probably break even on a new single card with similar performance as 2 SLI'ed 7900's. If you got the money to spare go SLI but if you got a budget you would hate to go over I wouldn't bother. Since you ain't sure you will ever use it.

Heck a 7900GT should run anything coming out in the next 2 years depending on what he runs his games at.

Im sorry but I dont see a single 7900 GTX beating 2 7800 GTs yet...

you cant compete with a SLI system even previous gens..

unless of course you never go above 1024...
i game at 1600x1200 so yes SLI beats flat out every single card solution period.. and always will.

 

[FluxCap]

Ok, since I need to order this PC fairly soon I am going to go back to my original plan. I am opting for a solid, well designed board that does NOT have SLI. I will put that money into 2 gigs of ram like some have mentioned.

Are these widely considered the top 3 mobos for 939 pin without SLI?

EPox EP-9NPA+Ultra
ASUS A8N-E
DFI variety

As for my ram, I was going to get some XMS variety instead of valueram. I have always wondered if that was a bad choice since I don't overclock though.

 

[greenmaji]

the 1900XTX uber ATI cards woops up on your SLI right now.. and its about $900 cheaper then 7800 GTX's?? the 7900 GT doesnt outright beat SLI but its too close to CARE..

so.. unless you want to stack two widescreen lcd's side by side and game on that.. I wouldnt bother with SLI or CF

 

[greenmaji]

1 vote for EPox EP-9NPA+Ultra, if you dont OC at all get some medium grade ram. not the value stuff but some that at least advertises the timings.

 

[FluxCap]

Wow, the 7900GT's I have been looking at went up $50 since this morning on monarch.

Building it with 2 gigs of ram and a good mobo is making me break budget by almost $300.

 

[greenmaji]

have you checked newegg?
or pricegrabber?

 

[Sniper82]

Yeah if you don't plan on o/cing get the Asus or Epox. I've owned both brands and had no problems with either. Though the older nForce2 Epox's seemed to lack on features but that could be different with their nForce 4 boards. I currently have a DFI Lanparty Ultra-D and had it since this time last year and it has never give me a problem at all with my 3000+ o/ced to 2.4ghz.

Don't know if the case your getting has a side window but the DFI looks awsome to boot. But not all think that or care about that.

 

[FluxCap]

Originally posted by: greenmaji
have you checked newegg?
or pricegrabber?

Not yet but I may have to go the build my own route. I chose monarch because I have built my last 5 PCs but I just don't have time to mess with it like I used to so I wanted it to come ready and working.

Looks like they may get some XFX's 7900's in on the 27th at monarch.

 

[FluxCap]

Well, I finally made my purchase yesterday and decided to go over budget a bit to get something a bit better:

Lian-Li PC-6070
OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU
DFI Lanparty UT NF4 SLI-DR
Athlon 64 X2 3800+
2 GB (2 pcs 1GB) OCZ Dual Channel Platinum
Western Digital 160GB SATA 16MB Cache
BFG GeForce 7900 GT PCI Express 256MB

I am hoping to see a nice increase in performance.

 

[jlbenedict]

The only way that I would go for SLI would be if I was going to initially make the purchase, and had unlimited funds. Buying one card now, and then 4-6 months down the road buying another doesn't make alot of sense (unless you knew for a FACT, dead certain that NVIDIA and ATI dropped dead and went bankrupt, thus ending all manufacturing)

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: FluxCap
From Monarchcomputers.com I can get the first system listed for about $1000. The second system will become my wife's PC. What do you guys think? I have no interest in SLI ever so I am looking for the most solid mobo with a few features but nothing big.

Case: PS 450W - Antec Sonata II Piano Black
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-9 nF4 Video/Audio/GB
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual-Core 512K Per
Memory: DDR (400) 3200 - 1 GB (2 pcs 512) Corsair
Hard Drive: SATA - Western Digital 160GB SATA 16MB cache
Video Card: BFG Geforce 7900 GT OC 256MB GDDR3/PCI-E/

Case: PS 420W ? Antec w/ generic case
Motherboard: Asus P4P800 Deluxe
Processor: P4 3.0C
Memory: DDR (400) 3200 - 1 GB (2 pcs 512) Corsair XMS
Hard Drive: Maxtor 80GB 8MB cache
Video Card: eVGA 6800GT

My main purpose for this new upgrade is to build a stronger gaming machine. Oblivion is kicking my PC's bottom so I wanted to increase that experience as well as other games such as HL2 and BF2. Please share any advice or tips because I have been out of the loop on systems since my last upgrade and I want to build the best possible for the $1k.

nobobdy asked one of the most important questions - what resolution?

also you should get decent prices for your old rid in the fs/ft forum

 

[FluxCap]

What resolution do I play? 1280x1024, but now I want to move up to 1600x1200.

My old rig is going to the wife, I will probably sell the video card though.

 

[MrUniq]

Ahh..I can't not make a comment. I think some bad advice is being given here. I am building a system just like he is. I made the decision btw SLI and Ultra...I picked SLI (asus premium w/ heatpipe) because of the potential use of the tech in the future. Especially with the anouncement of Nvidia and Havok regarding physics. Buuut...I didn't get the new and increadibly expensive 2x16 SLI boards b/c by the time that kinda bandwith is effectively used I'll be upgrading the system yet again (AM3 possibly?). Also I'm sticking with one card because the generational leaps btw cards can be quite dramatic. The 7900 series is still a 7 series card, so comparing it to the 7800 isn't exactly a good example. A better example is comparing a 7900 to 6 series cards..which lack some of the features and performance of newer cards. So it is a viable plan to stick to one card. I don't expect my 7600gt...even in SLI to perform the same when as 1st/2nd generation DX10 cards because the additional features and speeds will eclipse it.

Good advice about the 2 gigs of ram. There are some killer deals at newegg going on right now but I don't know if monarch would allow u to leave the ddr out. DDR prices will go up though...just like SDRAM. Of course you can always get it 2nd hand from people when they switch to AM2.

on a side note, WD drive? personally I wouldn't. Maybe a Samsung or a Seagate?

 

[FluxCap]

on a side note, WD drive? personally I wouldn't. Maybe a Samsung or a Seagate?

I see no problem with the WD. They have cleaned up their act over the years.

 

[MrUniq]

You're probably right...I know WD drives operational wise is exceptional...but I've burned so much. I built a PC for my Gf though and she uses it moderately...seems like the WD drives in them are doing fine. Great system by the way...I hope mine can be that nice in time.

 

[LiquidImpulse]

Originally posted by: Gagan
The gigabyte mobo needs to go.
I just don't trust them anymore they used to be amazing with their titan boards about 4 years ago.

Get an A8n SLI Premium board, or A8n non sli. You should STILL get an SLI motherboard because the future IS SLI, and why not have that extra bandwidth when the time comes? it's only about 50 bucks more and the longevity is increased gaming-wise significantly.

A single 7900 GT will get beaten by 2 7800 gt's. The main draw that the 7900 GT has over a single 7800 GT is it has 24 pixel pipelines whereas the 7800 GT only has 4. THe 7900 GT is basically a 7800 GTX 256mb edition equivalent.

Getting 2 7800 GT's will get you higher performance in more intensive games but the 7900GT will win in situations where SLI isn't required, for example quake 3 or something that is older and basically becomes CPU limited.

I am strongly suggesting an ASUS sli board for a "just incase" scenario. I am also advocating you get 1 7900 GT and sit tight, when the time comes you can toss another 7900 GT and get much better performance than 2 7800 GT'S.

I also suggest you get an eVGA branded 7900 GT so you can apply for the "step up" program where you pay the original difference between the new and old card (WHAT You actually paid receipt-wise) and get the newer card for the price of the older card(You send it back) plus the extra cash + shipping

Anything else just ask.

I believe BFG also has a similiar step up program, so eVGA or BFG would be wise to choose. but personally, eVGA is the way to go:thumbsup:

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: MrUniq
You're probably right...I know WD drives operational wise is exceptional...but I've burned so much. I built a drive for my Gf though and she uses her PC moderately...seems like the WD drives in them are doing fine. Great system by the way...I hope mine can be that nice in time.

how did you build a drive? also what bad advice was given?

 

[FluxCap]

Originally posted by: LiquidImpulse

Originally posted by: Gagan
The gigabyte mobo needs to go.
I just don't trust them anymore they used to be amazing with their titan boards about 4 years ago.

Get an A8n SLI Premium board, or A8n non sli. You should STILL get an SLI motherboard because the future IS SLI, and why not have that extra bandwidth when the time comes? it's only about 50 bucks more and the longevity is increased gaming-wise significantly.

A single 7900 GT will get beaten by 2 7800 gt's. The main draw that the 7900 GT has over a single 7800 GT is it has 24 pixel pipelines whereas the 7800 GT only has 4. THe 7900 GT is basically a 7800 GTX 256mb edition equivalent.

Getting 2 7800 GT's will get you higher performance in more intensive games but the 7900GT will win in situations where SLI isn't required, for example quake 3 or something that is older and basically becomes CPU limited.

I am strongly suggesting an ASUS sli board for a "just incase" scenario. I am also advocating you get 1 7900 GT and sit tight, when the time comes you can toss another 7900 GT and get much better performance than 2 7800 GT'S.

I also suggest you get an eVGA branded 7900 GT so you can apply for the "step up" program where you pay the original difference between the new and old card (WHAT You actually paid receipt-wise) and get the newer card for the price of the older card(You send it back) plus the extra cash + shipping

Anything else just ask.

I believe BFG also has a similiar step up program, so eVGA or BFG would be wise to choose. but personally, eVGA is the way to go:thumbsup:

I really don't have much interest in a step-up program because you have to make your decision so quickly after purchase. However, I didn't know that BFG had a plan as well, hopefully the box will contain some information on it?

 

[FluxCap]

I startd to think about overclocking and how I would never do it so I changed my mobo to:

Asus A8N-E nForce4 Audio/GB-LAN/USB/PCI-E/SATA3G/DDR/ATX 64 939

Yes, I backed out on SLI too but I will just get a single DX10 card when the time comes, I know it.

Luckily monarch had not started building it yet.

 

[FluxCap]

Oh yeah, now my PSU is overkill, suggestions for one that will be good enough?

update: I went with the 500w Antec to save another $30. Now if only all my stuff was here by next week.