Sorry your browser is not supported!

You are using an outdated browser that does not support modern web technologies, in order to use this site please update to a new browser.

Browsers supported include Chrome, FireFox, Safari, Opera, Internet Explorer 10+ or Microsoft Edge.

Geek Culture / i building my first computer need help pls

Author
Message
Nick Wroblewski
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 21st Jul 2006
Location:
Posted: 28th Aug 2006 05:34
Link
I know this is a little off toppic but i dont know where else to post this. Im trying to build a gaming computer and i need to know what kinda of processor i should use to play oblivion and other next gen games. I cant deside between intel dou core or athalon. the problem with athalon is that when i look up info on them i cant find any that are over 3.0 Ghz but they are all still recomended for gaming. Any answer is good i just need an opinion
Back to top
Profile PM
Sid Sinister
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Jul 2005
Location:
Posted: 28th Aug 2006 05:58 Edited at: 28th Aug 2006 05:59
Link
Lol, your talking to the right guy. I just did a whole bunch of research on that to play oblivion on my PC too.

I was under a price limit of around $600, so keep in mind there ARE better parts but this stuff will do the trick. Also, keep in mind I did not buy a hard drive, power supply, computer case, CD/Floppy Drives or a soundcard/speakers because I already have them. You'll have to do research for yourself on those. But here's what I came up with.

By the way. Order from Newegg.com or watch your back from my killer ninjas!

GFX Card - Sapphire Radeon X1800XT [Affordable yet powerful. Any lower it's not good and any higher you talking about dishing out a lot more mullah] Link:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102698

CPU - AMD Athlon 3800+ 2000MHz [With this CPU your in the AM2 Socket bracket, which is good. It supports hyperthreading and 64bit computing. Cheap, realiable and can still pack a bunch. But not nearly as much as the more expensive ones. Just like the graphics cards though. Any higher your paying a lot of money.]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103631

RAM - OCZ Gold Series DDR2 800 1GB [Sorry, no link for this one. OCZ is good. You'll want DDR2 with 800 on it. Trust me. Also keep Cas Latency ratings low too.]

MOBO - You'll want one that supports PCI-Express, Socket AM2, DDR2 800 RAM, that fits your case and has plently of expansion room. I chose the ASUS M2V because it was what I needed. There are better boards than that but I decided to cut the cost there a bit. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131024

Make sure to read the reviews people post on newegg and also to make sure that your product you want is from a trusted company with good warrenties. Good Luck!
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Nick Wroblewski
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 21st Jul 2006
Location:
Posted: 28th Aug 2006 06:29
Link
about the cpu, it sais its only 2.0 ghz i dont think that will cut it for oblivion or at least of my knowledge. on the recomended requirements its sais 3.0 ghz pentium 4. do pentiums clock diffrent than athlons?
Back to top
Profile PM
Phaelax
DBPro Master
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 28th Aug 2006 14:19
Link
pentiums clock quite differently. Athlons usually are lower than their Pentium counter-part. Keep in mind that its probably suggesting a 32-bit Pentium 4 and that 2GHz Athlon you're looking at is 64bit. If you can afford it, go dual core. Also, check reviews on the various cores for the cpu.

"Using Unix is the computing equivalent of listening only to music by David Cassidy" - Rob Pike
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Hobgoblin Lord
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 29th Oct 2005
Location: Fall River, MA USA
Posted: 28th Aug 2006 22:17
Link
I guess a good question is what kind of budget do you have. If you can afford it there is always Alien Ware their stuff is tricked out for games.

Side note, Nick your name looks darn familiar, any chance you are from the Tiverton area?

http://www.cafepress.com/blackarrowgames
Check out my great stuff here
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Teh Go0rfmeister
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 17th Aug 2003
Location:
Posted: 29th Aug 2006 00:27
Link
athlon CPU's have slower clock cycles, but do more per clock. effectively they're the same, however for some reason athlon's have better reputation amongst gamers. the only difference i can think of is that athlons have 3dNOW technology. i have an athlon 3200 but i never used a high-end intel yet.

the main advice i'd give is to make sure everything fits. ie dont get a SLI gfx card and an AGP motherboard.

Back to top
Profile PM Website
The CodeSmith
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 28th Nov 2003
Location:
Posted: 29th Aug 2006 01:24 Edited at: 29th Aug 2006 01:24
Link
Don't waste your time with an AMD right now, in all aspects the new Intel Core 2 Duo's beat them in performance. Check this out for proof:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1976397,00.asp

I'm not who you think...
Back to top
Profile PM
mm0zct
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 18th Nov 2003
Location: scotland-uk
Posted: 29th Aug 2006 01:35
Link
bear in mind that core duo is only benificial if the game is designed to use multithreading. it might be worth holding off until january sales to see what amd come up with. also gfx cards with have dropped in price too. if you can't wait that long my humble rig plays oblivion ok, only graphisc are a bottleneck so i' not sure any modern cpu, am2 or core duo, is not going to be an oblivion bottleneck.

the X1800xt is a god graphics suggestion. if you can afford a crossfire mobo then you can always drop in a second at a later date.

AMD athlon 64 3000+, 1GB ddr400, 400GB total hdd, ati radeon x700pro 256mb (pci-e) 17" tft(@1280x1024).
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Nick Wroblewski
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 21st Jul 2006
Location:
Posted: 29th Aug 2006 01:56
Link
ok two things, getting an alienware is worthless. They're great
computers but i can build one much better for $3000 cheaper. Second, my standards are to play oblivion on max settings (distant landscape and full shadows on) if any processor can play that with a bfg GeForce 7600gt 256mb and 2 gig of ram thats the prosessor im looking for as long as it is under 400 dollars. the problem with duo core is that it's designed for running multiple programs as opposed to high performance on one. never the less im still intrested if i can find one thats still 3.2ghz or more and within my price range. If athlon is the other option, i hope it can handle a game like oblivion. the only thing holding me back from an intel dou core is that it is not recomended for gaming. all my freinds and ppl ive talked to recomend athalon because intel cards are not designed for gameing. but the speen of the intel is just unmatchable in its price catagory. 3.2ghz= about 5.0 ghz with a duo core but speed wont matter if it is not familar with gaming. and no im from freindswood.
Back to top
Profile PM
Nick Wroblewski
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 21st Jul 2006
Location:
Posted: 29th Aug 2006 04:39
Link
ok??????????
Back to top
Profile PM
indi
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Earth, Brisbane, Australia
Posted: 29th Aug 2006 06:42 Edited at: 29th Aug 2006 06:43
Link
why not search the intarweb for benchmarkings of video cards and systems against that particular game.

the diversity of information compared to this forum about that particular subject wont compare to whats listed on the net.

eg:

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=oblivion+benchmarks&meta=

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/oblivion_high-end_performance/





and dont bump your post in frustration again please.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
RalphY
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 6th Sep 2004
Location: 404 (UK)
Posted: 29th Aug 2006 20:35 Edited at: 29th Aug 2006 20:42
Link
Dual core would be a good choice for Oblivion considering its optimised for running on dual core, and one of the few games out at the moment that makes use of them. I have an Athlon X2 4600 and it runs Oblivion great (max everything + tweaked ini file for better draw distance etc).
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Sid Sinister
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Jul 2005
Location:
Posted: 30th Aug 2006 02:10 Edited at: 30th Aug 2006 02:17
Link
EDIT: Lol nvm, I was going to post on how it was the same thing but I was just looking at the same page twice. Wow... lol.

But it has the same clock speed. I know I have to keep in mind that both the cpu's are at 2.4 though. Can you add clock speeds for dual core processors? Does that mean the processor works at 4.8ghz effectively? I'm glad it comes in 939 and AM2. I have an AM2 board.
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Nick Wroblewski
18
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 21st Jul 2006
Location:
Posted: 30th Aug 2006 06:25
Link
does the am2 mother board run faster? and if i buy a pci express video card am i gonna be screwed. in other words does am2 effect anything besides the processor?
Back to top
Profile PM
indi
22
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 26th Aug 2002
Location: Earth, Brisbane, Australia
Posted: 30th Aug 2006 06:31
Link
the 2nd link i provided has stacks of information regarding the video card FPS. Nvidia's card creams the ATI one displayed in this instance by about 25 fps.

Back to top
Profile PM Email
Neil19533
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 30th Aug 2003
Location: England
Posted: 30th Aug 2006 13:01
Link
Just so you know. When they write processor names like:
AMD Athlon 3800+ 2000MHz

The 3800+ is what its equvilent speed its. because they have alot more transistors in and altho they may run at 2000MHz they are equal or better than a 3800 processor

Any spelling mistakes are totally In tensional.
Back to top
Profile PM Email
NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Apr 2005
Location: The Fifth Plane of Oblivion
Posted: 30th Aug 2006 19:43 Edited at: 30th Aug 2006 19:44
Link
Quote: "Memory used:
INTEL:1GB DDR2 667
AMD:1GB DDR 400"

Fair test? I think not!


Since the other one was scaring you guys so much...
Back to top
Profile PM Website
Seppuku Arts
Moderator
20
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 18th Aug 2004
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Posted: 30th Aug 2006 20:23
Link
Right, a good spec...If you want oblivion

Would

2-3ghz 64 bit (AMD or Intel, intel has the lead at the moment)
256 - 512mb good quality PCI express GFX card.
good 1gb Ram or more
HD - Whatever you wish. 80+ gb is good

The best comp I got in mind, isn't Windows based, but can run windows through boot-camp and has been tested with oblivion. its the new Power Mac, but if you're not gonna make much use of the mac side, no point getting it.

Aria.co.uk is very good for custom comps, its an English site, they might have an American side, I don't know.

Back to top
Profile PM Website
Phaelax
DBPro Master
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 1st Sep 2006 00:22
Link
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe(64-bit) 1.86GHz - $191
Abit AB9 Pro - $158
OCZ Platinum 2x1GB DDR2 800 - $200
GeForce 7800GTX 256mb - $260
Seagate 320GB sata2 - $95

----------------- $904

Decent gaming rig in my opinion. Abit isn't my first choice in motherboards, but there's not much to choose from for Core 2 yet.

"Using Unix is the computing equivalent of listening only to music by David Cassidy" - Rob Pike
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Sid Sinister
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Jul 2005
Location:
Posted: 1st Sep 2006 05:01
Link
Yea but it's 1.86 Ghz, is that pretty good for a duo? Is that like the equivelent of 3.0Ghz for a single core?
Back to top
Profile PM Email
Phaelax
DBPro Master
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 1st Sep 2006 05:21 Edited at: 1st Sep 2006 05:22
Link
i think its pretty darn good. 2 cores, 64 bit. You can't look at just clock speed anymore. The fastest laptop Apple had last year was a 1.67GHz. Sounds slow compared to processor speeds that were hitting 4GHz, but its a different architecture.

2 cores would be like 3.72GHz, more or less. Actual speed comparisons in testing I wouldn't know.

The Duo uses much less power than Athlon 64's.

A Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz out-performs a Pentium EE 3.72GHz
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/07/14/core2_duo_knocks_out_athlon_64/page12.html

Search on Toms Hardware for other benchmarking results and comparisons.

According to TomsHardware, this is what they have to say about the Core 2 Duo:

It will...
- be the fastest x86 processor (both single and dual core models)
- make the Pentium D and all predecessors look like antiques
- outperform the complete Athlon 64 family (X2 and FX) in all areas
- consume less energy

"Using Unix is the computing equivalent of listening only to music by David Cassidy" - Rob Pike
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Sid Sinister
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 10th Jul 2005
Location:
Posted: 3rd Sep 2006 06:03
Link
Sorry to hijack your thread but I didn't think this was important enough to start my own. Plus you might learn something.

Whats the point of having 2 PCI-Express 16x slots if you can't have SLI/Crossfire? Can you run a regular PCI card in a PCI-Express 16x slot?

And besides an Audio Card what else would you use a regular PCI slot for? I'm looking at this one mobo and I don't know if it's worth it... Answering these questions will help me alot.

If your curious I'm looking at this mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127235
Back to top
Profile PM Email
dre
19
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 20th Jan 2005
Location: West Side
Posted: 5th Sep 2006 08:17 Edited at: 5th Sep 2006 08:20
Link
Quote: "Quote: "Memory used:
INTEL:1GB DDR2 667
AMD:1GB DDR 400"
Fair test? I think not!"


Well, I've seen online benchmarks for many games that showed that only ddr2 800 was faster than ddr 400. ddr 400 has killer timings like 2-2-2 and ddr2 with their fast mhz have to compensate by letting their clock speeds be 4-4-4 ect. You may find some ddr2 models with tighter timings, but expect to pay dearly for it. Besides, intel and amd cpus access ram differently, so slower ram is a bigger hit to intel than it is to amd.

Intel core duo series is performing well because intel is using amd-like tactics (low clock speed, more work per clock). And just because it's dual core doesn't mean that a 1.5 ghz runs at 3.0, it still runs like a 1.5. The difference is only noticable when both cores are actively used (most of you probably know this but just in case someone doesn't).

Athlon 64 X2 4400+, nForce 4 Ultra chipset, 1 gig ddr400 d-channel, GeForce 7800 GTX OC,2 WD 74 gig Raptors in RAID
Back to top
Profile PM
Phaelax
DBPro Master
21
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 16th Apr 2003
Location: Metropia
Posted: 5th Sep 2006 11:35
Link
Is there a WinXP version that can use both cores simultaneous for 1 process or is that only going to show up with Vista?

Not sure how differently dual cores are used than dual CPUs, but I've read that 3DSMax uses dual processors simultaneously but more importantly more efficiently than most any other software. (random tidbit)

"Using Unix is the computing equivalent of listening only to music by David Cassidy" - Rob Pike
Back to top
Profile PM Email Website
Back to top

Login to post a reply

Server time is: 2024-11-17 13:16:52
Your offset time is: 2024-11-17 13:16:52