ATI vs nVidia

In simple terms, the smaller the number, the better. The numbers are used to measure latency which refers to the time that you are waiting to get what you need.
 
2-2-2-5 is the latencies of the RAM, the lower the better, oh, and btw, Mushkin Redlines have been known to do 1.5-2-2-5 at DDR540.
 
TRDCorolla said:
The Geil ONE can also run on DDR400 with CAS 1.5-2-2-5 and DDR 500MHz CAS 2-2-2-5 too. Just a matter of which manufacturer to choose from.

Yes, we know that.

However, the Mushkin Redline XP4000 and OCZ VX Gold 4000 are DDR-500 and they can get to a CAS Latency timing of 1.5-2-2-5. I hope you know that DDR-500 is better than DDR-400

They're also way cheaper than the GeIL ONE's.

Owned.
 
Back to video cards though~.
I have just about 200 US dollars to spend, and I was looking for a nice, reliable video card for gaming.
I dont really know much about anything, but i did have an msi 6600gt card that recently crapped out on me... so im leaning away from the msi company.
Any suggestions? And is the manufacturer important?
 
revers1ble said:
Back to video cards though~.
I have just about 200 US dollars to spend, and I was looking for a nice, reliable video card for gaming.
I dont really know much about anything, but i did have an msi 6600gt card that recently crapped out on me... so im leaning away from the msi company.
Any suggestions? And is the manufacturer important?

well with that budget I'd get a 6600GT, though I don't know if u would like it since u already had one.
 
if you can, get a 6800nu for a little bit more. It is a so much better card, and isnt that 6600GT under warrenty?
 
A bit off topic here... what is a good fan amount to have? I got a good deal on a case that has 1 side 80mm fan and 2 80mm fans in the back and may have another in the front, not quite sure. I went with the case for aestetics, but if that isnt enough fans I will get a better case with 120mm fans. The case was a super deal so I will sell it if i dont use it. I am also going to use a Vantec PCI expansion fan to use under the GPU. So will this be enough fans?
 
U really don't need any fans at all (exept the normal ones which are almost a must, but no extra ones) sure it will have affect the temperatures, which is a good thing, so they are useful but not necessary.¨

I don't have any extra fans, and my vid card idles at 38C, and keeps under 50C when under load.
 
Right, it doesn't seem as if you're an overclocker EricM, so stick with what you were originally thinking about. Get the AMD 4400 Toldeo CPU (excellent CPU), think about other motherboards than the DFI SLI-DR Expert motherboard, and stick with the RAM you suggested. Many people put down the OCZ Patinum Series because of it's "lack" of overclockability. That really gets to me because not all of us are overclockers. I mean I just built my system about 2 weeks ago, and I SERIOUSLY couldn't be happier with it!

The dual core processor is one of the best investments you can make in a new computer. It takes out the boring stuff from using a PC. I usually run all my virus checks, adware, spyware etc in the background while I'm playing on say Battlefield 2. I also download a lot of big files while playing games, and there is no slow down whatsoever from my processor. I've not managed to get it over 50% useage yet.

As I'm guessing that you're not an overclocker, the DFI motherboard is a great motherboard, don't get me wrong. But you are looking at an extra $50 for stuff you don't need. Just for an example (I'm not suggesting you get this motherboard though), my Gigabyte motherboard has an amazing amount of features (which is what you want when you're not an overclocker). It also comes with LOTS of extras (like extra expansion cards: extra USB 2.0 slots, a wireless network card, extra firewire ports). But the main thing is, it's about $50 cheaper and hosts the same, if not more, features than the DFI.

The OCZ RAM you stated is amazingly fast. It runs at 2-2-2-5 at DDR400 which is amazing speeds. When you have 2Gb of RAM, you will find it extremely hard to see the difference between 1.5-2-2-5 and 2-2-2-5. People who go for Geil ONE RAM are yet again, overclockers. And guess what? It costs a hell of a lot more. Don't spend money unnecessarily.

When it comes down to the graphic card, I would strongly recommend that you get a 7800GTX with an SLi motherboard. As you said, getting two 6800GTs (or whatever cards you were thinking of) will cost you more money than one 7800GTX, and one 7800GTX alone can play ANY game out at the moment on full graphics with no slow down. Now if you get the two 6800GTs, sure they'll play all games out with full graphics, but say in two/three years time, they certainly won't run them as smoothly. Look at it this way; in two/three years time, running two 6800GTs will be like running two FX5200s in todays world. You also have no room for expansion, and will probably upgrade your graphics cards. If you get one 7800GTX, then in say two/three years time, you can just buy another one for half the price and get awesome performance out of them. This way your machine lasts at least another 2 years longer than running two 6800GTs.

The most important thing to remember is to spend on something that you will USE, and if you feel that you are going to become an overclocker, then go for the Geil RAM and the DFI motherboard. But you have to be 100% sure that you will be because as you overspend on the motherboard and RAM, you will have to sacrafice other parts like the mouse, keyboard, monitor etc. These are the parts that have exactly the same importance as you look at the monitor to use the computer, the mouse is THE most used periphrial so get a good one etc.

Apologies to go on like this but it had to be said :)
 
Wow good info. You hit that one right on the button. I am no overclocker as I dont even know what it really is! I am just guessing its pushing components to more than they are capable of handling? I already have a logitech wireless keyboard and optical mouse so I got a pretty decent keyboard and mouse. As for the 7800GTX... I heard it got recalled? I think there was a post on here about that. And as for fans what should I need there?
 
Back
Top Bottom