Jin's new PC - Need advice

you missed out a power supply, I would not use buffalo ram (not a major brand) and DDR2-800 is pretty slow, you didn't account for a monitor, and personally I don't use ASRock motherboards.

Replying to #21

Power supply is in the computer case, if I remember correctly

never use a PSU that comes with the case. They're most often cheap, unbranded and inadequate. If the PSU blows then it could well take the rest of the computer with it, so you don't skimp on the PSU.

waylonnMade you something, costs: 699,50 euros

OMG, I don't have that much to spend on a PC. Remember, I need to buy a monitor and sound columns.

waylonnnVidia 9800GT Graphics

If I remember correctly, the HD4850 is more powerful than that. The HD4 series compete with nVidia's 200 series, I believe.

waylonnIntel Core 2 Duo E8400 Processor

I prefer AMD over Intel, plus I want a quad, as Loony said, duals are getting old.

waylonnSamsung HD103UJ 1TB Harddisk

I don't want 1TB, too much for me. I don't need that much space. I won't even have an Internet connection, so I can only download to the old computer (the one with the connection).

waylonnBuffalo 4 GB DDR2-800 Kit DDR2-800  RAM

800MHz is a bit slow, and I prefer a known brand (Kingston, for example).

waylonnLG DH-16NS DVD Drive

I don't need an optical drive, I have one at home already.

Loonylion · #21and personally I don't use ASRock motherboards.

I thought ASRock belonged to ASUS.

equitypeteyand with the money you save get the 4870 rather then the 4850

The HD4870 is indeed a good card, most probably better than the 1GB HD4850, but it costs 100 more euros (which isn't quite the difference between a DC and a QC) than the HD4850. Plus, I won't run games on very high settings. If I need another one, I'll probably gather some more money, get another motherboard and Crossfire two HD4850. Suits me better.EDIT: found a HD4870 for 170€ (only ten more than the 4850 I was planning on buying), and it's considerately better (as I already knew). Should I get it?PS: if I'm gonna buy it, I only have 4 more days to order it (limited offer).

Replying to #24

The hardware may be able to, but unless ATI have improved massively since I had one, the lack of stability and efficiency of the drivers will cause a large performance penalty

Replying to #24

Not sure about that offhand

jin_kazamaThe HD4870 is indeed a good card, most probably better than the 1GB HD4850, but it costs 100 more euros (which isn't quite the difference between a DC and a QC) than the HD4850. Plus, I won't run games on very high settings. If I need another one, I'll probably gather some more money, get another motherboard and Crossfire two HD4850. Suits me better.EDIT: found a HD4870 for 170€ (only ten more than the 4850 I was planning on buying), and it's considerately better (as I already knew). Should I get it?PS: if I'm gonna buy it, I only have 4 more days to order it (limited offer).

If you're sure you want an HD4 series then its probably worth it.

you need to give up this argument about ati's loony for price vs performance ati always wins and in my experience ati's have never crashed or had problems and i've only seen nvidia's crash out and are horrible to work with (settings wise). its an old opinion that needs updating, yes they may have better drivers but for the budget pc builder you can't go wrong.jin for that money you can't complain and it will run everything coming out for the next few years on very high settings.
if your an amd and ati fan just go for it you won't be let down.

Replying to #26

I've rarely had my nvidia crash, and my radeon 9600pro used to crash frequently (1-2 times an hour), even when running GTAIII, which isn't a demanding game by any standards. plus catalyst control center is a horrible waste of resources.

it was your system then cause i had the same card and i still think it was the best card ever, that card never once let me down so something else was causing your crashing

was the ATI driver, it stopped crashing when I changed to the NGO drivers (No longer released unfortunately, but omega is a good alternative)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2118.htmlhere's tom's picks for january. pick the prices and buy the items that you think is comparable to your needs.

Oh, never mind, that site is most likely a scam, found lots of complains about it.I guess I'll stick with the 4850.

If your still trying to decide or just for any of you guys wanting to upgrade or simply build a new rig it might be worth picking up a copy of custom PC magazine. Not your average pages of rubbish influenced by a nice big check from ATI or whoever. They tell you whats new, whats coming, how they test stuff and how the tests went. They recommend components on an individual basis as well as recommending a full system under the headings "Budget", "Gaming", "media" or "Crazy but cool spec". Built my system out of that mag and have no complaints. With everything they recommend they give full specs as well as showing you where they found it cheapest (always legitimate sites obviously).lol that sounded so much like i work for them.