Hey gang

Ok- so I'm starting to put together a mental list of components for my hypothetical new uber rig which I'll be putting together in January before school starts. Because I'm selling the computer I'm using now, I'll have to start over from scratch. New everything...

One of my biggest choice confusions is whether to go quad or dual core. I hate splashing out for stuff I don't really need, and so far the evidence for quad core I've come across is not overwhelming me. I'll be doing 3D rendering and I guess the quad will come in very handy for that, but I'm still not sure. Maybe you can convince me?

I'm very noobish concerning all the latest tech as the last time I looked into this stuff was 3 years ago. And I know there are people on LFS forum who probably live and breathe computer hardware, so I want to talk to you guys about this.

PS. I'm not hardcore into overclocking or anything like that. My P4 3.2 gh still runs basically everything I use perfectly well, so I'm not into more speed for the sake of more speed.

Keep in mind, I'm not buying anything until Jan, so if there's new stuff coming out soon, lets factor it in.

Ok- so quad or dual core? I'm tending towards a Core 2 E6850. Maybe that will be around $350 or so.

Motherboard- I have no idea Something that can support crossfire, as I'm planning on running 2X Radeon 3870s. (?)

GFX Card- see above

HD- not sure.

Monitor - probably this
(dell UltraSharp 2407WFP-HC) nice looking monitor.

Umm... that's it, I guess everything else I can work out by myself.

Sorry for starting another one of these computer threads, but maybe they're fun for people too. I hope so.

Cheers!

Whatever you do, don't get Intel's X38 chipset because it is already obsolete as X48 is coming out soon. If you can afford a quad core CPU, I suggest you get it, it will really help with all the graphics stuff you do. I wouldn't get the new Radeons though, as the Radeon 2900XT beats them both; ATI is really starting to dissapoint me with their mediocre new releases.

If you'll be doing anything multi-threaded the Q6600 is a much, MUCH better bet than the E6850, however soon the Penryn Q9450 will be coming along which runs at 2.66 GHz (and has better architecture) and has more cache at the same price as the Q6600 is now.

If you want Crossfire you'll need a quite expensive board, as the P35 chipset only runs a 16x and a 4x lane. You'll need an X38 Chipset, as this runs dual 16x lanes, however these are about £150 a peice. I could recommend a mobo now, but in 3-4 months a LOT will have changed mobo wise so i won't bother.

Hard Drives i'd recommmend you get either some WD AAKS drives or some Seagate 7200.10's in RAID0.

Monitors - The 24" you linked to is NICE, but perhaps you might want to go for 2x 22" Samsung 226BW's...?

You'll need some memory, too - DDR2. I'd go for some DDR800, however its up to you if you go for 2 or 4 GB.

What operating system will you be using?

EDIT - Shiny_Red_Cobra - the often missed point is that the 3870 is ~£150, and the 2900XT is £230, and the difference speed-wise is minute while the 38xx has DX10.1 etc.

Quote :

Penryn Q9450 will be coming along which runs at 2.66 GHz (and has better architecture) and has more cache at the same price as the Q6600 is now.

That sounds better. I'll watch out for that one, and do a bit of reading in the meantime.

Re- monitor, yeah- it's a little expensive, and I'll have to go see some in the flesh before I make my final decision- but I think I'll be happier in the long run having one monitor that's of really good quality. Moving up to a 24' from a 17' will be amazing, I bet. 2 slightly smaller monitors would be nice for gfx apps, but then I'm a big gamer as well and I don't like the idea of a split down the middle if I decide to run over two monitors. The dell is twice the price of the Samsungs though

PS. Also, we'll be using whatever I get as our TV/movies etc.

I never said you'd use both screens for gaming simulateously, it's just that not only will the lower resolution put a lot less load on your GFX cards, but at the same time dual screens rock (although i prefer a top quality screen and an el-cheapo one).

It's up to you!

It's alright- I'm just thinking out aloud

I certainly wouldn't snuff at the idea of playing games on a 22' screen, but I would start to question just why I bought the other one!

ps.

Quote :

What operating system will you be using?

Probably XP. I'll partition my HD to allow for a dual boot option in the future...

If you do go ahead with the Dell screen, keep in mind that you can often get them for elsewhere for less than buying them directly from Dell.
I got mine for Overclockers, for approx £70 less, and with an extra years warrenty.
It's a very nice monitor

Jakg's right about the processors, keep an eye on the new Intel stuff coming out between now and January and I'm fairly sure you'll be able to pick up new style quad core for the same kind of money as the current quad and/or dual core.
For the type of graphics rendering you do, I'd expect quad core to work well for you.

OS - depends on what programs you use and whether they are XP only, or if a Vista version is available. The system itself will handle Vista just fine, and Service Pack 1 for Vista should be out in the first quarter of 2008.

I was just flicking through some online Melbourne computer stores, and I came across this system.

Looks really good and I only have to add a monitor and I'm ready to go. Would probably add an X-Fi soundcard to that as well- and I'm not sure about the speed of the HD. The newer 8800GTS 512mb sounds really great and I don't think I'll need more than 1 for the time being as it's already outperforming the GTX in many benchmarks.