System upgrade maundering

[robotech_master]

Lately, I've been looking at computer parts for the purpose of building myself most of a new computer (perhaps keeping the hard drive and DVDROM from my current system, or perhaps not). I'm thinking that toward the end of November, when I get paid a considerable amount from my medical study, it'll be time to think about blowing $500 or so on a replacement for my three year old Athlon 2600+/GeForce 5600XP/1 gig RAM gaming box.

So many questions to think about. Which processor? (Though I've about decided to go with Intel for reasons of performance, I'm not sure which Intel yet, and the way that they have four or five different chip lines with confusing names doesn't help.) Which motherboard? Which graphics card? Should I blow big money on a $250 8800GT, which reportedly performs almost as well as cards twice as expensive and is fully DX10 ready? Or should I go with the much cheaper 8600GT, which will do DX9 all right, and only worry about a good DX10 card when and if I should ever need it? Should I be concerned about making sure the motherboard has integrated graphics with an HDMI connector just in case I should find myself getting an HDTV sometime within the next three years?

The truly maddening thing is that I'm probably just spinning my wheels trying to decide now; by the end of the month prices will probably have fallen and my money will stretch farther. But I can't help thinking about how nice it will be to have a computer that will absolutely fly through City of Heroes and Half-Life 2.

I remember when the computer I'm on now seemed insanely fast compared to the Celeron 300A (450 MHz overclocked) system I'd upgraded from. I'm pretty sure that its performance has remained about the same, so why does it seem so slow now? :P

Comments

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

Currently running on an Asus P5N-E board w/ Intel E6600. Good upgrade path with this kit for the drop-in replacement with a Q6600 Quad. Intel has the best performance per Watt right now, and the prices are competitive with AMD.

The 8600GT *is* a good DX10 card. It is, in fact, the current sweet spot for price/performance. I got playable frame rates with it with the BioShock demo at 1600x1080. City of Heroes flies by at 25-50fps at 1600x1080 with world quality 100%, character quality 200%, and other settings at either defaults or higher. It is cheap at ~$110 and SLI-capable and you'll likely get better HL2 performance out of dual-8600GT than you will out of single 8800GT (depending on how you configure things).

HDMI is DVI with some extra stuff like audio channel and DRM. Most HDTVs have both HDMI and DVI inputs but if you end up with a weird one without DVI then get a DVI to HDMI cable. They can be had for as little as $10 today.

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

Interesting. This article (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2194478,00.asp) calls the 8600 GT, "Slow and weak in 3D apps and gaming. Insufficient for DirectX 10 3D apps or games. Compares poorly with last year's high-end cards, which now sell for a similar price."

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2970&p=9
"For users who own 7600 GT, 7900 GS, or X1950 Pro hardware, we can't recommend an upgrade to one of these new parts. Even though new features and higher performance in a few applications is better, there's not enough of a difference to justify the upgrade. On the other hand, those who are searching for new hardware to buy in the $150 - $200 range will certainly not be disappointed with 8600 based graphics. These cards aren't quite the silver bullet NVIDIA had with the 6600 series, but DX10 and great video processing are nothing to sneeze at. The features the 8600 series supports do add quite a bit of value where pure framerate may be lacking.

[foomf.livejournal.com]

Note - you do NOT want the DRM. You'll be stuck with it, but it basically rapes your ability to use your fair-use rights.

Yes, I do mean rape, and I am not engaging in hyperbole.

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

"you'll likely get better HL2 performance out of dual-8600GT than you will out of single 8800GT"

I'm a little hazy…does this mean it is possible to use two GeForce cards in combination? If so, do they have to be the same card? If I were to upgrade to an 8800 later, could I stick the 8600 in the secondary PCI Express slot and get even better performance?

[ninjarat.livejournal.com]

SLI -- Scalable Link Interface -- lets you use two identical video cards in tandem assuming the game supports SLI. City of Heroes, unfortunately, does not, but Half-Life 2 does.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Link_Interface