CPU/GPU recommendations please

[RTHolmes]

JimmyCs mobo died so we're building him a new box for AH. budget is very tight, so I've managed to find a few bargains and come up with the following:

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2GHz Socket 775 800MHz FSB L2 1MB Cache
Nvidia 7900GS 256MB DDR3 Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E
2GB DDR2 667MHz PC5300 etc...

this is actually a bit below budget so we have the option to upgrade to either:

Intel Core 2 Duo E4700 2.6GHz (800MHz) Socket 775 2MB L2 Cache or:
XFX 8800GS 384MB DDR3 (580MHz) Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E

but not both. both are about a 30% improvement. so my question is do we upspec the CPU or the GPU (ie. where will the bottleneck be?) to drive a 19" widescreen?

suggestions?

[Fulmar]

I don't think there is a 'significant' bottleneck in either of those setups.  I would rather see the latter option used.  What's your budget and is this a strictly AH rig or will it venture else where?  If just for AH, option 1 should do just fine as well (I don't know about max resolution, high texture pack, and AA on)

What everyone else suggests most of the time is that for AH, the cpu is more important than the GPU.  So if strictly AH, I'd maybe take a step down in GPU and step up in CPU.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

You can get 3+ Ghz from both those cpu's by simply adjusting FSB in bios. Stock air cooling possibly even stock voltage.

Just FYI.

[RTHolmes]

I'm pretty sure we wont need to OC even at this price, and would rather avoid it for heat/noise issues too if poss. I'm more concerned about the balance between CPU/GPU given that this box will be used just for AH and some web email etc. budget is ~£200 this is what Ive specced:

ASUS P5VD2-VM SE P4M890 £30.33
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2GHz  £42.79
2x Kingston 1GB DDR2 PC5300  £29.99
Nvidia 7900GS 256MB  £39.99
Maxtor STM3160815AS 160GB SATAII 7200rpm 8MB Cache  £28.65
Total:  £171.75

or Intel Core 2 Duo E4700 2.6GHz  £75.99
Total:  £207.75

or XFX 8800GS 384MB  £81.95
Total:  £213.71

[BaldEagl]

From the perspective of future upgrades it would be easier to replace the GPU down the road than the CPU so I'd get the better CPU now.

[Ack-Ack]

I'm pretty sure we wont need to OC even at this price, and would rather avoid it for heat/noise issues too if poss. I'm more concerned about the balance between CPU/GPU given that this box will be used just for AH and some web email etc. budget is ~£200 this is what Ive specced:

ASUS P5VD2-VM SE P4M890 £30.33
Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2GHz  £42.79
2x Kingston 1GB DDR2 PC5300  £29.99
Nvidia 7900GS 256MB  £39.99
Maxtor STM3160815AS 160GB SATAII 7200rpm 8MB Cache  £28.65
Total:  £171.75

or Intel Core 2 Duo E4700 2.6GHz  £75.99
Total:  £207.75

or XFX 8800GS 384MB  £81.95
Total:  £213.71

you might want to check out the E6420 Core 2 chip instead of the 4700.  It (the latest revision at least) has 4meg shared L2 cache and even though out of the box runs at 2.13Ghz, you can easily overclock it to 3.24 with just using stock air cooling and voltage.  Some have reportedly hit the 4Ghz mark but using water cooling systems.  The E6420 are also priced low enough to make them a good choice when building a budget machine.

I'm runing the E6420 and even though my ASROCK motherboard isn't the most friendly OC board, I did manage to get it clocked to 3.15Ghz, though I do use a HDT 3rd party CPU heatsink/fan as well as 4 80mm and 1 250mm case fan.  Don't think my CPU has broken past the 41 degree celsius mark at full use, in fact my video card runs hotter at 49 degrees celsius.


ack-ack

[NOT]

i agree with ack-ack...........and go with the 8800.





NOT

[Getback]

We're a pretty guilty bunch when it comes to running up costs. Having said that I would recommend the e8400. Stock it runs 3 ghz. It's $50 more than the e4700. It also runs cooler and you can way overclock it.

Still though, what you have there is quite good.

[RTHolmes]

ok weve gone for the Core 2 Duo E4700 2.6GHz option, and decided to stick with a 17" 5:4 format rather than widescreen because of the cropping issue and better vertical resolution. added a new case, PSU and DVI cable so a little over budget but it should be a kickarse AH box for not alot of money thanks for the suggestions

[Ack-Ack]

ok weve gone for the Core 2 Duo E4700 2.6GHz option, and decided to stick with a 17" 5:4 format rather than widescreen because of the cropping issue and better vertical resolution. added a new case, PSU and DVI cable so a little over budget but it should be a kickarse AH box for not alot of money thanks for the suggestions

It's going to run great with all options maxed to high and you'll still get great frame rates. 

Before I upgraded, I got decent frame rates, around 45-50fps with it dipping down around 25-30fps on deck or in large furballs.  Though still very playable, the sudden drops in FPS would make my game seem choppy.  With the new system, I've got refresh locked to 60Mhz and my frame rates never drop below that, well once it did dip down to 59fps in a large 20+ furball on the deck over a base with all the smoke and fires.  Not to mention, the game will seem "smoother" as well.


ack-ack