Due to the way the economy is going, my dad got a pay cut. It was not huge, we can still live comfortably but we have to get less luxury items, and well a $1600 computer is a luxury. AFter running a few tests on my computer, i figured out, although i cant run everything on max detail, im still good till probably atleast the end of this year.
Heck i can run Fallout 3 on min res medium detail. Far cry 2 on medium res medium detail. And Prince of Persia (new one) Max res High detail without any problems.
So my dad said i can buy something with a max of $500 so i decided to grab an 80GB Ps3, littlebigplanet, and with the deal on amazon, i got a blu ray movie and the remote free.
Just letting yall know, no more computer for meh, stead im going with the PlayStation 3.
Good luck with paying for it :). I am a fan of Nvidia. I almost always vote nvidia.. But.. AFAIK the 9 series is out of date by some 200 card? It's on nvidia.com
The current top-of-the line cards are the nvidia GTX 295 and the ATI 4870 X2. I believe both are around the $500 mark.
The 4850 is probably superior to the 9800 GTX+, and probably has a better price point as well. Also consider the GTX 260, 280, and 285 cards.
Oh, and I recommend a good, powerful PSU, 1000W+ and a good brand (I use PC power and Cooling). And, you can never go wrong with a battery backup.
Personally I avoid the higher priced ones, buy a mid priced one that does what you need it to do, that way when its out of date in a year you might have enough cash to buy another one, better than the expensive one was a year ago. Don't pay allot of money just to get the shadows drawn a few nano seconds quicker, if performance is really important to you, you will turn them off anyway!
@Squirrel, i already know that, but the others are still fairly powerful
@Angst, Those are correct, however the GTX 295 surpasses the 4870 X2 in performance. The 200 series is too expensive, for me anyway. I really dont need an 1000w psu, im going with an 800w, but i might consider it if i have some extra money. And i already have a battery backup so im good.
@twosheds, i also already know that, my 8600 GTS that i have now was around $140 when i got it, now its $50 cheaper, so maybe ill upgrade to something newer later when they get cheaper.
Sorry for the incomplete thought, I was suggesting a 1000w PSU in anticipation of future upgrades (extra hard drives, etc.) A good PSU could probably make it through several computer builds, and computers these days seem to be taking up more power than they used to.
Quote from: Angstromicus on February 17, 2009, 05:44:31 PM
Sorry for the incomplete thought, I was suggesting a 1000w PSU in anticipation of future upgrades (extra hard drives, etc.) A good PSU could probably make it through several computer builds, and computers these days seem to be taking up more power than they used to.
... thats cause they are more powerful....
I highly doubt a pentium Tillamook (clocked from 200-300 MHZ) uses the same power as the Core i7 920 (4 processers 2.66 GHZ each)
But i do agree, the motherboard im getting should support me for a while (and besides, it uses 3 way sli, so should i go with the 9800, if i want an upgrade, i just get a 3rd one)
Actually, the 9800GTX+ and the HD4850 are about on par with each other. But IIRC, the 4850 is a little bit more expensive. However, the reference 4850 can have heat issues because it's a single slot card. If your case has adequate airflow, though, this should not be a problem. It's up to your preference.
VSMIT.