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Motherboard Upgrade Advice Needed

Morden279Morden279 Genius
in Zocalo v2.0
Hiya guys,

Sorry I haven't been here in a while, I really needed to cut my 'net time for my exams earlier this year; that and I had to retake one of the buggers last month owing to illness the first time around.

Anyway, you chaps have always helped me out and given me first rate advice with all things technological, and I once more require your services.

I'm basically upgrading my PC in preparation for the run of games coming out over the next two months and I really want my system to be able to play them at a comfortable level. I know AGP is a thing of the past, but I'm going to wait until my ISA matures in a couple of years before investing in a PCI-E machine, meaning this upgrade is purely a stopgap measure.

Anyway, I posted [URL=http://forum.msi.com.tw/index.php?topic=101475.0]this[/URL] thread on the MSI advice forums which contains all the relevant info. I'd like to purchase the components today, and I'm covering all my bases as a result.

Any help would be much appreciated. :)

Comments

  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    Just out of pure curiosity, why not go Core 2? and how much do you want to spend total?


    I've always been a fan of ASUS motherboards personally, my old MoBo was a great ASUS that i had for years, and when i just went core 2 duo last month, i made sure to get an Asus. (plus Asus was the only one with an Nforce 5xx for Intel board out)
  • Morden279Morden279 Genius
    **EDIT**

    The Core 2 series is intel, right? I've been recommended by a friend that Intel is the way to go in the future, and that their processors have really caught up with AMD in terms of gaming performance.

    I basically have £400 to spend, and the CPU and graphics card I can get come to that amount, if not a bit more. I want to upgrade just enough to that I can play Medieval 2, Company of Heroes, and DoW Dark Crusade, but not break the bank or commit myself to buying another motherboard.

    I know that Windows Vista and DX10 are just over the horizon, and I don't want to spend the big bucks on a whole new system before then - I simply don't have the time, money, or know-how to invest in a setup that I've been told, will shortly be obsolete.

    I really don't want to buy a new motherboard, I don't have the extra money and I don't relish the thought of reformatting and installing from scratch.
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    Ok, that makes some sense, however any Intel Core 2 that you buy now, isn't going to be obsolete when Vista and DX10 come out (the video card you buy might be with DX10)

    Intel has finally caught up with AMD performance/price wise.

    just as a guide. I just built myself an Intel Core 2 Duo. cost me $1200 USD a little more than you want to spend obviously, but not by too much, and here's what i got.

    Intel Core 2 duo 2.4ghz E6600

    ASUS P5NSLI Socket T (LGA 775) NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI Intel Edition ATX Intel Motherboard

    2 gigs of ram

    Nvidia GeForce 7600GT

    Case/500w power supply

    250 gig SATA harddrive,

    Fresh copy of Windows XP Pro.
  • Morden279Morden279 Genius
    I saw a similar bundle (sans the graphics card) on Overclockers.co.uk, and it's definitely the system I'd buy if I had the money.

    On reflection, I've decided to just go for the processor, as yourself and my friend are probably right that a graphics card bought now will be obsolete with the release of DX10. As a result, I'm going to lay off buying one until I know where I stand - hopefully Meddy II will gun ok on my 6800GT, and maybe someone will release a DX10 compatible AGP card for us dinosaurs who haven't yet taken the leap into PCI-E. ;)

    Thanks again for the info and advice mate, it's much appreciated. :)
  • The Cabl3 GuyThe Cabl3 Guy Elite Ranger
    Just between you and me I'm waiting one more year for the Quadcore chips. Then I think its time to send this baby the way of the dodo.
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    when the intel nforce 590's come out, they shoudl be quad core capable,


    i may pick one up next year. if my wife doesn't hurt me for even suggesting it, lol.

    although if i buy myself anything else before i get her a laptop, i think she's going to beat me to death with something large, like a minivan.
  • Morden279Morden279 Genius
    Quadcore? Jesus, the march of progress suddenly went into a sprint...

    I'm going to leave it a good two years before I get a new machine, I don't want to invest on the wrong side of a major transition. (Hence my general reluctance.) However, part of me wonders just how far games will have to go to truly take advantage of such advanced technology...
  • EclecticonautEclecticonaut Elite Ranger
    Bah, [url=http://news.com.com/2100-1006_3-6119618.html?part=rss&tag=6119618&subj=news]80-core chips[/url] are already on the horizon... though entertainment software developers still struggle with utilizing even two cores at the same time.
  • PSI-KILLERPSI-KILLER Needs help
    Wilth the future video they have spy pics of a DX10 card from Nvidia, it has 2 power plugs on it, might be a dual core, who knows but allot of power will be needed. It is going to be released sooner then people think. I assume these pics are real. You will need a min of 600 watts for a psu. Strange thing though I don't see any HDCP connections maybe there will be 2 versions.


    [url]http://www.tagteam.dk/randompics/G801.jpg[/url]
    [url]http://www.tagteam.dk/randompics/G802.jpg[/url]
    [url]http://www.tagteam.dk/randompics/G803.jpg[/url]
    [url]http://www.tagteam.dk/randompics/G804.jpg[/url]
    [url]http://www.tagteam.dk/randompics/G805.jpg[/url]
    [url]http://www.tagteam.dk/randompics/G806.jpg[/url]
    [url]http://www.tagteam.dk/randompics/G807.jpg[/url]

    With quad cores that is all for bragging rights I dont see games using that anytime soon. But if you are using some intrense software maybe.
  • Morden279Morden279 Genius
    I'm gaining a palpable PC-inferiority complex just reading this stuff... *Glares resentfully at antiquated black and gunmetal computer case*

    Needless to say, I'll be coming to you guys first when I need advice in building my new machine - a friend has promised to help me build it, I'll just need pointers as to the best setup and what components to use.

    Oh well, here's hoping for a DX10 compatible AGP card...
  • E.TE.T Quote-o-matic
    Dual core will always benefit with games, current PCs have so much scheisse running background that having one core dedicated for game full time helps keeping minimum fps higher so I would definitely suggest getting dual core CPU.


    I wouldn't put much hope for having DX10 AGP cards, AGP is getting such old.
    Also it's speed slows down lot if there's need to transfer anything back to CPU... and I suspect physics processing will be part of DX10 cards. Already current generation cards could do that lot faster than CPU.


    As for Intel vs. AMD it's definitely Intel performance wise, E6600 can easily take on AMD's top model with over double price, also it's default clock is 2.4GHz and in XS forum they're classifying those to good and "bad" CPUs basing to how far it goes... if it goes just over 3.2GHz it's bad.

    BTW, I would suggest staying away from any Asus motherboard whose chipset cooler has fan.


    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by PSI-KILLER [/i]
    [B]With quad cores that is all for bragging rights I dont see games using that anytime soon.[/B][/QUOTE]Well, maybe not so far away.
    [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3HybhZjcGE&eurl=[/url]
  • EclecticonautEclecticonaut Elite Ranger
    Hah, not a chance. Gainward 7800GS+ 512MB remains as the most powerful AGP gaming card ever created. PCI-E is the way of the future and the present as well.

    And you won't need a 600W PSU as long as the +12V lines meet the requirements of the new DX10 cards. From the looks of it, both R600 and G80 will consume a lot of power, yes, but still a high quality 400-500W PSU is enough (for example the Seasonic M12-500).
  • C_MonC_Mon A Genuine Sucker
    I think that quad core will be used quite much for games in the near future because both xbox360 and PS3 got multi core CPUs. I'm not really familiar with programing for games, but I'd think it'd be easier to port a game with the same graphics and stuff if every platform got the same amount of cores.
  • E.TE.T Quote-o-matic
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Eclecticonaut [/i]
    [B]And you won't need a 600W PSU as long as the +12V lines meet the requirements of the new DX10 cards. From the looks of it, both R600 and G80 will consume a lot of power, yes, but still a high quality 400-500W PSU is enough (for example the Seasonic M12-500). [/B][/QUOTE]Also it appears that Seasonic M12 might be in fact single 12V rail design meaning there aren't worries about loading rails evenly.
    In one review of Corsair PSU (Seasonic's design) drawing 30A from one cable didn't trip PSU despite of official sticker telling there's three 18A rails.
    Also new PC P&C Silencers which officially have one 12V rail are made by Seasonic using exactly same design. (with two points in primary PCB where 12V wires go)


    I've got M12 PSU here on table waiting and overall quality of finish is definitely very nice and cables are well sleeved but already modular cables help keeping clutter small. Also that secondary low speed 60mm fan (starts around 300W load) of M12 serie should considerably help cooling dead airflow area in front end of PSU compared to standard 12cm fan design PSUs.



    BTW, I wouldn't yet condemn R600 as equal power hog to "preview" of G80. ATI already has experience from unified shader architecture which is used in GPU of Xbox360, also R580 (~380M transistor) contains much more new features compared to previous model than nVidia's G71 (~270M transistor) which is just tweaked and trimmed version of G70.



    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by C_Mon [/i]
    [B]I think that quad core will be used quite much for games in the near future because both xbox360 and PS3 got multi core CPUs. I'm not really familiar with programing for games, but I'd think it'd be easier to port a game with the same graphics and stuff if every platform got the same amount of cores. [/B][/QUOTE]You forgot that using more than couple cores effectively at games will be very hard because game code isn't so well parallelizing.
    Actually they used one core only for physics (one of the rare parts in games which can be well parallelized) in that quad core Alan Wake demonstration and that job could be well transferred to GPU.
    In fact both GPU makers are going to support Havok physics engine which is found in Alan Wake.

    Also limitations caused by small memory of consoles will always make console ports look crappy on PCs...
    I think it's quite sure bet that better DX10 cards will have 1GB of own memory while these "highly advanced" consoles have only 512MB for everything!
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