What video card to purchase?

[M2005]

Okay everyone im building a pc to fit my needs for architecture programs, gaming, and photography. I need guidance on which psu, video card, and ram to purchase; as of right now I only have p180 case, asus sli premium motherboard, and one 100 gb harddrive. Im working my up there. Price doesnt matter that much since im buying one thing at a time. Any guidance would be very appreciated. Thank you much!

M2005

 

[DaveSimmons]

Right now the 8800GTS and GTX are the bees' knees:

Performance

specific cards

 

[M2005]

Second thought i think im gonna go with something my budget nice cards though. jeje
Anything under 400$ for video cards. Im going to be running them together.

 

[bamacre]

The single 8800 GTS is going to be faster and use less power than two $200 nvidia video cards. Plus it supports DX10, where as, atm, no $200 cards do.

 

[M2005]

Ok then a single 8800 GTS it is. Thanks Dave and bamacre!

now for the rest

 

[M2005]

Whats kind of

PSU-

AMD CHIP-

RAM

 

[bamacre]

Exactly what motherboard is that?

 

[M2005]

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard

 

[Compuzen]

I bought this one close to a year ago and ran the system in my sig with 2 7800GTX's overclocked and now a 7950GX2 and it has ran flawlessly. Had good reviews also.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104025

This is a great dual core chip at an awesome price if you're going AMD. Its not top of the line, but its pretty close with a little overclocking. I'm not familiar with the AM2 stuff yet, so thats probably a factor for what your doing too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103542

Ram will depend on what motherboard you buy. I'd suggest at least getting a good name brand. Corsair, Crucial, Mushkin, OCZ and a few more a all good companies.

Good luck with your build.

 

[Spydermag68]

Originally posted by: M2005
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard

I have this motherboard and really like it. If you are going to run SLI I would go with ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce SPP 100 ATX AMD Motherboard. The difference is that this one runs PCIx-16 when two SLI cards are being used.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: M2005
Price doesnt matter that much

Don't feel bad. Everyone backpedals from that, once they see actual costs.

 

[happy medium]

overclock this 3800x2 to 2.5 easily to go with your new 8800gts for 136.00$

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...3733&ATT=19-103-733&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch

Edit ; If price is not a factor then sell your current motherboard and buy a gigabyte DS3 and a e6400 conroe duo. I'm sure many people can suggest ram for this combo.

 

[Roguestar]

Happy Medium: I'd suggest Buffalo Firestix 2x1Gb DDR2-667.

 

[Noubourne]

Originally posted by: happy medium
overclock this 3800x2 to 2.5 easily to go with your new 8800gts for 136.00$

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...3733&ATT=19-103-733&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch

Edit ; If price is not a factor then sell your current motherboard and buy a gigabyte DS3 and a e6400 conroe duo. I'm sure many people can suggest ram for this combo.

No, don't overclock an X2 3800. Trust me, I did. I got 2.6 out of it, and the overclock went unstable after a few weeks, and had to be lowered to 2.5 even though temps weren't an issue. Overclock an Opteron 165 to 2.8Ghz instead.

And if price is no issue then I would also recommend going for the Core 2 Duo setup.

 

[elnovato]

 

[M2005]

That was my brothers log in name he left it logged and i used it thinking it was mine. But as i was saying i am not looking into overclocking anything and since im a noobie to the computer scene i dont want to mess with warranty.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Noubourne
No, don't overclock an X2 3800. Trust me, I did. I got 2.6 out of it, and the overclock went unstable after a few weeks, and had to be lowered to 2.5 even though temps weren't an issue.

just sounds like you didn't stress the x2 enough to find where it was actually stable at....temps don't always = stability

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: Noubourne

Originally posted by: happy medium
overclock this 3800x2 to 2.5 easily to go with your new 8800gts for 136.00$

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...3733&ATT=19-103-733&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch

Edit ; If price is not a factor then sell your current motherboard and buy a gigabyte DS3 and a e6400 conroe duo. I'm sure many people can suggest ram for this combo.

No, don't overclock an X2 3800. Trust me, I did. I got 2.6 out of it, and the overclock went unstable after a few weeks, and had to be lowered to 2.5 even though temps weren't an issue. Overclock an Opteron 165 to 2.8Ghz instead.

And if price is no issue then I would also recommend going for the Core 2 Duo setup.

Your one in a 1000. You had bad luck.