Futureproof!

livEwirE

Hi guys,

Decision to be made:

Quad core with 256mb video card or duo core with 640mb video card, both around the same price but am I crazy not to go quad. Will be using my pc to play the odd NEW game and encoding movies and stuff?

For the future what matters most, processor or Video card? I would be getting the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R board so could maybe drop in a quad core cpu down the road.

What to do

~livEwirE~

L31mr0d

futureproof is a buzzword as you can never "really" futureproof a PC as the standards under which the hardware runs are changing all the time. If it where a case that hardware in the present would have all the features of hardware in the future then yes, you could futureproof.

But getting back to your question, personally i'd go with a better graphics card over a quad. But if your choices are an 8800GTS w/ 320MB of RAM or an 8800GTS w/ 640MB then i'd recommend the quad core as you will see little difference, if any, between those 2 cards in most games.

livEwirE

Cheers L31mr0d, would you see a big difference in most games between these...

Nvidia Geforce 8600GTS 256MB RAM and a Nvidia Geforce 8800Gts 640MB RAM?

What I mean is if I settled for the 256MB model would it run most games fairly well, I'm trying to keep the budget down for my new PC. Bearing in mind I am looking at Playing Crysis and COD4 when they come out:D

TerrorFirmer

Yes there is a massive difference between 8600GTs and 8800GTS. The 8600GTS is one of the poorest value money for cards...ever. It performs the same, maybe a bit worse, then a 98 euro X1950GT and very considerably worse then a 115 euro X1950Pro. Granted, it might be able to tackle Crysis a bit better given Dx10. But overall, a poor value card. Maybe if it was about 100 euro it'd be worth considering.

Also, what size monitor will you be using. On a normal 17" monitor, both 8800GTS cards would be the same in so far as that they'd both be good performers at high settings, with the differences being beyond what you can physically detect on screen.

Maybe look at a 2900Pro. Same price, more or less, as an 8800GTS and closer in performance to the 640mb 8800GTS. It has 512mb of memory so it helps at higher resolutions. Though it seems to be louder when running. If noise is a concern.

If you're doing alot of encoding, more so then games, then a quad core is a good investment. Though keep in mind it'll run hotter and won't overclock near as well.

livEwirE

Will be running on my new Samsung 226bw so maybe the 8800gts would be better

Anti

HavoK wrote: »

Yes there is a massive difference between 8600GTs and 8800GTS. The 8600GTS is one of the poorest value money for cards...ever. It performs the same, maybe a bit worse, then a 98 euro X1950GT and very considerably worse then a 115 euro X1950Pro. Granted, it might be able to tackle Crysis a bit better given Dx10. But overall, a poor value card. Maybe if it was about 100 euro it'd be worth considering.

Also, what size monitor will you be using. On a normal 17" monitor, both 8800GTS cards would be the same in so far as that they'd both be good performers at high settings, with the differences being beyond what you can physically detect on screen.

Maybe look at a 2900Pro. Same price, more or less, as an 8800GTS and closer in performance to the 640mb 8800GTS. It has 512mb of memory so it helps at higher resolutions. Though it seems to be louder when running. If noise is a concern.

If you're doing alot of encoding, more so then games, then a quad core is a good investment. Though keep in mind it'll run hotter and won't overclock near as well.

QFT!

livEwirE

Whats QFT mean

PogMoThoin

QFT

livEwirE

cheers for the Info m8!

sdanseo

Encoding/number cruching: Quad core
Gaming: E6750/6850

Simple tbh, unless you were crazy and went for an AMD

Anti

or just spend 200€ more and get a Q6600 and a 8800gts 640mb. That should last you 2 years at max.

BopNiblets

livEwirE wrote: »

Hi guys,
I would be getting the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R board

I got this one, nice board!
With a E6850, 2GB OCZ Platinum and 8800GTS 320MB, runs great, got a 5.6 on Vista and a 8400 or something in 3DMark06 (although one of the CPU tests got 1FPS for some reason...)

Silenceisbliss

ya can expect to get higher 3Dmark06 scores than 8400, i have esentially the same setup, get 11000+. "silenceisbliss" on the second page of www.benchmarkcentral.net

also got all 5.9s in vista except for my hdd

TerrorFirmer

1fps is normal by the way in the cpu test. It stopped entirely in some parts when I tried 3dmark on my old p4

Anti

Yeah your scores seem a bit low for the spec alright.

Richard Dower

It's not the right time to get a CPU, in January we'll see new CPU's from Intel and maybe also a price drop on current CPU.