weezymagic

new HDD - Western Digital Caviar RE2 WD5001ABYS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

RAM - OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

VCard - HIS Hightech H387Q512NP Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported IceQ3 Turbo Video Card - Retail

idk much about ati cards but does that look good. will it be good for hardcore gaming? its still in the air whether id crossfire or not. if i do, it wouldnt be for a few months or so.

snowman88

Honestly, I would wait for the new revisions of the 790fx boards. In doing so, you can also pick from the new crop of Nvidia and ATi cards.. such as the Radeon 4xxx series. If this build is for gaming purposes... why not save a few bucks and go with a Phenom X3 instead of an X4 ?

weezymagic

im goin quad because i will be gaming hard and programming alot. just a bunch of stuff at once.

do you know when all those new items will hit the market?

weezymagic

im getting really confused. completely...
im thinking
3870x2 < (2) 3870
3870x2 > 9800gx2
(2) 3870 > 9800gx2

all these pertaining mostly to gaming. frame rates and such. am i right or wrong in these comments?
btw, if you didnt know, my mobo is crossfire ready, not SLi.

essentially the vid card is my last decision for this build. any help is appreciated.

AMDorElse

3870x2 < (2) 3870 No, the 3870x2 seems to perform better.
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/12...hts/index.html

3870x2 > 9800gx2 No, Nvidia gx2 wins here but at a price $.
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=731

(2) 3870 > 9800gx2 Doubt it, because if 9800gx2 > 3870x2 and 3870x2 > (2) 3870 then 9800gx2 > (2) 3870

The differences over all are marginal, but it's a know fact that nvidia cards do better at higher resolutions and really shine when AA is enabled, when compared to AMD/ATI offerings. On the other hand Crossfire also seems to shine at High Resolutions, and the driver support from AMD/ATI seems to be superior to nvidia lately.

The fact that the K9A2 is a "crossfire" board theoretically makes no difference. If all you care about is gaming and you don't mind the price, a 9800 gx2 is the way to go. However there are pro's to the 3870 x2 and 2 x 3870's. For instance 2 x 3870's can be had for $340 or so.

weezymagic

well, i have a 22 inch and i think ill get one 3870x2 for now and if that isnt cutting it, upgrade to two.
the main goal is dominating any game settings. very high on all games. also graphics are big. like flawless.

btw, new to dual vid cards but can i crossfire a 3870x2 with a 3870...i didnt think so but want to know for sure.

this is what im going to get http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121228
asus 3870x2 1 gb 825mhz

weezymagic

one last q (it wont let me edit my posts btw. dk y. sry )

im pretty sure 850 watts will work for this setup. am i right?

gunsmoney

use this to determine how much power u will need for ur system.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/p...ulatorlite.jsp

And yes, with crossfire u can pretty much pair, triple or even quad and ATI cards together to boost performance. I myself am an nVidia fan, but let me tell you, i wish instead of SLI you could mix and match cards better like u can with crossfire. I will be SLI'ing to MSI NX8800GTS G92's though pretty soon

weezymagic

thx for the link and i like nvidia but mobo selections suck for am2+

weezymagic

i hit just under 740. so 750 will work? i put OC on the calc too.