Another new pc question...

[Cyradix]

DDR2 vs DDR3 : is it worth getting DDR3?
I googled for some reviews on the subject but they all seem 6 months old.
What's the current situation?

Is was thinking about this setup :

ASUS P5E3,s775, 2xPCIe,ATX,X38,DDR3,GLAN, (90-MBB7L0-G0EAY00Z)
DDR3 PC10666 2x1GB-KIT 2GB 1333MHz 9-9-9-26 OCZ Gold DC XTC [OCZ3G13332GK]
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500/3.16GHz FSB 1333 6MB (BX80570E8500)

vs

ASUS Maximus Form,s775,2xPCIe ATX,X38,DDR2,SATA,Glan (90-MBB7M0-G0EAY00Z)
Corsair 2048MB,DDR2,64MX8, 8500,Heatspreader,EPP, (TWIN2X2048-8500C5D)
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500/3.16GHz FSB 1333 6MB (BX80570E8500)

Would there be a noticeable improvement with DDR3 or should I use the money and get 4gb of DDR2 instead?


Next... graphic cards...

8800GT 512 vs 8800GTS 512 ?
The GTS seems to be 10% faster, but what really interests me is the noise level.
One review stated that the GT is about 10db louder. Anyone have any info on this?
(I like quiet pc's )

 

[TdC]

Next... graphic cards...

8800GT 512 vs 8800GTS 512 ?
The GTS seems to be 10% faster, but what really interests me is the noise level.
One review stated that the GT is about 10db louder. Anyone have any info on this?
(I like quiet pc's )

the 8800GTS 512 should be the G92 gpu. so be careful that you're actually getting the G92. it's the newer/thinner/better/faster/lower power consumption/shinier/now with actual mint chip from NV.

 

[Raven]

I wouldn't get DDR3 just yet, the price difference vs performance just isn't worth it. Drop the duel core and go for quad core, only a little bit more expensive. As for the graphics card, i run a 8800GTS and its whisper quite, though I also have a quite case (Coolermaster RC-1000 Cosmos Full Tower Case - Ebuyer) bit on the large side but a very nice case indeed.

 

[Cyradix]

So the quad core Q6600 would be better?
For the case I was thinking about the CM 690

 

[Jupitus]

I just got this case (previously recommended in another thread) :

Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case With CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU *SPECIAL OFFER* - Ebuyer

Very happy with it, to be honest. A decent tool free system, well built and packaged.

 

[Litmus]

I dont understand why everyone recomnds getting quad core cpu's atm, nothing actually supports, and wont do for a good while yet. I all did was but core duo 2.33ghz and insta over clock it to 3ghz no problem. And hmm yea, not much point getting DDR3 over 2 atm duo to price.

 

[Kryten]

Have to disagree, Crysis, COD4, even Q4 engine games (Prey, Quake 4, Doom 3), Source games (TF2, HL2, CSS) and Gears of War all munch a quad core like a starving man would munch on a free burger. And so do a fair few applications like photoshop, any DVD burning package (remember the days when you didnt dare do anything else on your PC whilst it was doing a disc?)

What's more, half the art of speccing up a system for a budget and building is not making it work for now - it's futureproofing as much as possible whilst staying within that budget - making it as upgradable as possible, keeping it running for long as possible - which all saves money in the long run.

 

[Malecheon]

I just got this case (previously recommended in another thread) :

Coolermaster Elite 330 Black Case With CM eXtreme Power 460W PSU *SPECIAL OFFER* - Ebuyer

Very happy with it, to be honest. A decent tool free system, well built and packaged.

Out of interest, how loud is it ? I realise that's a loaded question, depending on what else you've got in the system, but does the power supply sound like a plane taking off* or is it quite reasonable ?

* the plane is on a runway and not a conveyor belt.

 

[Jupitus]

Out of interest, how loud is it ? I realise that's a loaded question, depending on what else you've got in the system, but does the power supply sound like a plane taking off* or is it quite reasonable ?

* the plane is on a runway and not a conveyor belt.

Hard for me to say, really, going from w/c to air, BUT I find it quiet enough even with an (optional) extra fan in the front panel.

 

[Cyradix]

This is what I ordered in the end. Hope it arrives somewhere this week...

ASUS Maximus Form,s775,2xPCIe ATX,X38,DDR2,SATA,Glan (90-MBB7M0-G0EAY00Z)
Corsair 4096MB,DDR2,4x128Mx64 XMS8500,Heat Spreader,EPP (QUAD2X4096-8500C5DF)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600/775 2.40G FSB1066 8MB (BX80562Q6600)
Zalman Cooler Socket 478, 775, 754, 939, 940 Compatible (CNPS9500 LED) + Fan Mate 2
ASUS EN8800GTS/HTDP, 512MB TV-out,2xDVI-I,PCIe,VGA,HDTV (90-C3CFQA-JUAY00T)
2x Samsung HD SP T166/500GB SATAII 16MB 7200rpm 1PK (HD501LJ?1PK)
Cooler Master 690 Tower Case,No PSU,Black, (RC-690-KKN1-GP)
Cooler Master PSU,Real Power, 520W,3SLI,PI,Active PVC,Modula (713002570-GP)
Pioneer DVR-212DBK Black 20x+/-,10X+/-Double L.,SATA (DVR212DBK)

 

[TdC]

hehe not bad mate! you me and Jup should OC together and see how far we can go!

 

[Jupitus]

Hurrah\o/

Oh... and an update - I disabled my front case fan and the machine is super quiet

 

[angrymoon]

Have to disagree, Crysis, COD4, even Q4 engine games (Prey, Quake 4, Doom 3), Source games (TF2, HL2, CSS) and Gears of War all munch a quad core like a starving man would munch on a free burger. And so do a fair few applications like photoshop, any DVD burning package (remember the days when you didnt dare do anything else on your PC whilst it was doing a disc?)

What's more, half the art of speccing up a system for a budget and building is not making it work for now - it's futureproofing as much as possible whilst staying within that budget - making it as upgradable as possible, keeping it running for long as possible - which all saves money in the long run.

Could I see some evidence that COD4 and the source engine games have utilised multi cores?

Crysis runs like this;

Core 1 = Normal Rendering
Core 2 = Lighting
Core 3 = Physics
Core 4 = Send info to GPU

People struggle running crysis on a dual core because the 2 extra core's work is taken up by the GPU.

There are few games out at the moment like crysis where each core has a specific role, using a quad core on a game like CSS might help a little but it wont have a upper hand on a decent dual core

 

[Kryten]

I can't provide proof as such, because I don't give a shit, outright

They don't utilise all the cores in the same way as Crysis of course - but Crysis has the drag of a shit engine to start with - those 4 cores certainly help to speed things up, *unnecessarily*

They do however spread the load - much like r_smp for multiple processor systems in the older quake 3 engine games. It's not going to be using them to their full potential, but to say that it "doesn't help at all" is bollocks.

I have the benefit of 2 identical systems, one an e6600, the other a q6600 - and COD4 benches quite a lot higher on the latter, as do all my source engine games - HL2 EP2 noticably more than the rest though, as I am led to believe there are more optimisations for multiple core systems.