GPU Buying Guide - (Read first post)

Asrock M3A UCC — featuring NVIDIA CrossFire, Intel SB600, ATX, and a 1000 FSB.
One Intel Core i7, LGA 1366 socket, boxed version, C3.
Just picked up two 2GB sticks of Kingmax DDR3—1600MHz, CL9 (FLGE85F-B8KL9).
One EVGA GeForce GTX 460, featuring 1GB of DDR5 and a 256-bit bus with 336 stream processors, clocked at 675 MHz.
One Pioneer GH22NS DVD burner—it's a DVD±RW that handles 22x DVD±R, 8x DL, and 40x CD-R.
I guess I've got one Corsair 520W power supply, specifically the SS-520GB S12 II model with active PFC.

$1658

You didn't even mention the price. ☕

crimsonstag84 said:1 x Asrock M3A UCC - NVIDIA CrossFire, Intel SB600, ATX, FSB 1000
1 x Intel Core i7, socket LGA 1366, BOX, C3
2 x DDR3 2048Mb ( 2Gb ) Kingmax, 1600MHz, CL9, FLGE85F-B8KL9
1 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460, 1GB DDR5 256 bit, 336 Stream Processors : 675 M
1 x Pioneer GH22NS DVD writer, DVD±RW, 22x DVD±R ,8x DL , 40x CD-R
1 x Corsair 520W PSU, SS-520GB, S12 II, active PFC

$1658

You didn't even mention the price ☕

It looks like this

1x Asrock M3A UCC - NVIDIA CrossFire, Intel SB600, ATX, FSB 1000-381
1x Intel Core i5, socket LGA 1366, BOX , 8Mb cache, 125W 3.0GHz-1110
2 x DDR3 2048Mb ( 2Gb ) Kingmax, 1600MHz, CL9, FLGE85F-B8KL9-720
1 x Pioneer GH22NS DVD writer, DVD±RW, 22x DVD±R ,8x DL , 40x CD-R-$50
1 x Corsair 450W, VX Series CMPSU-450VXEU, 12cm fan, ATX2-300
1 x ATI Radeon 5830, 1GB GDDR5, HDMI, VAPOR-X-1300

$1354 total
I found the power supply on a local classifieds site for $100; it's about 2.5 years old but still has plenty of warranty left, so I think I'll grab it.

Are you sure my ATI card is compatible with that motherboard and the Core i5 processor?
Also, one more question: how much better is that NVIDIA card compared to the ATI one?

And if anyone happens to have any of these parts at home, please feel free to reach out to me.

brisklynx48 said:Are you sure my ATI Radeon 5830 will work with this motherboard and the Intel Core i5?
And one more thing—how much better is that NVIDIA card compared to the ATI one?

Also, if anyone has any of these parts lying around, let me know.

Yes, it works.

If you're asking about the GTX 460, it's way better. It's the next generation. Go look at some benchmarks; it's worth getting, especially if you're building a new rig. Based on testing, it's only a few FPS behind the HD 5850 in games, but it absolutely crushes the 4870, as 🙂
would say.

USA, I'm looking around here and it seems like they don't have any more of those Gigabyte GTX 460s left... wondering what else I could grab for the same price, or maybe even $33 a bit
more...

So, everything remains the same, except for this EVGA GeForce GTX 460 with 1024MB DDR5 and a 192-bit bus.

Also, would it be an issue if I swapped out the 4GB of RAM for 2GB instead?

brisklynx48 said:So everything stays the same, except this graphics card is an EVGA GeForce GTX 460, 1024MB DDR5 192-bit, SE.

And I guess, would it be a problem if I used 2GB of RAM instead of 4GB?

If you're running 64-bit Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you really ought to go with 4 GB. But if you're on Windows XP or a 32-bit version of Windows Vista or Windows 7, 2 GB should probably be enough to start with, and then maybe you can just add another 2GB of the same RAM later.😉

And while we're at it, could someone give me some advice on a printer? I'm looking for something budget-friendly that can also handle burning DVDs and CDs.

brisklynx48 said:Also, can anyone recommend a cheap burner? I need one that handles DVDs and CDs, and ideally, it could also burn them too.

Not really, though I guess you might save maybe 7 bucks $2.75... ☕

What’s the actual gap between an EVGA card and an ATI Radeon 5830... which one is the better pick?

Edit—also, would I be able to run any newer titles with this setup? And what kind of PSU should I look for to power this build:

Intel Pentium processor, LGA 1366, BOX, 2MB cache, 95W

Gigabyte motherboard, Intel SB600 chipset, LGA 1366, 6xSATA RAID, 2xSATA

4GB DDR3 (2x2GB) Kingmax, 1333MHz, FLFE

500GB Seagate Barracuda HDD, Serial ATA II, 7200 rpm

Daniel Stewart12 said:what's the actual difference between EVGA and ATI Radeon 5830—which one is actually better?

edit: also, would I be able to run newer titles, and what kind of power supply would suffice for a build like this:

Intel Pentium Processor, LGA 1366, BOX, 2MB cache, 95W

Gigabyte MA770TA-UD3, Intel SB600, S. LGA 1366, 6xSATA RAID, 2xSATA

DDR3 4GB (2x2GB) Kingmax, 1333MHz, FLFE

HDD Seagate Barracuda, Serial ATA II, 7200 rpm

Personally, I’d probably go with the ATI Radeon 5830... though, if I'm being honest, they're both more or less the same tier of junk. A Corsair CX400 or maybe a Corsair 430W should be sufficient for this setup... and yes, you could likely play newer games... provided it isn't too much trouble, let me know the price of the card, because for roughly $533 my preference would have been the GTX 460 1GB.

Thomas Martin4 said:Personally, I’d probably go with the ATI card... though honestly, they're all basically the same junk... a Corsair CX400W or even a Corsair 430W would be plenty for that setup... and yeah, you could actually play some newer titles... just if you don't mind me asking, what's the price tag on that GPU? Because for about $533 my choice would have been the GTX 460 1GB.

Where on earth can you find a 460 1GB for $533?

Zachary Wilson30 said:Wait, are you seriously telling me someone has 460 bucks for a single 1GB stick$533?

It was listed over at Micro Center, but it looks like they've already cleared it out... though honestly, that price felt a little too good to be true, especially since looking directly at Micro Center's official site showed a significantly higher markup than what was posted there.

By the way, it's not like you've been gone for a century or anything! 😁

I've ventured into other waters before 😁
Anyway, it’s about time I swapped out this 4830 for something a bit more modern... I was thinking maybe picking up two 460s and just tearing it up in SLI (on a crossfire board 😁), I'm getting pretty tired of all this lag...
Does Fermi still run as hot as the previous generations?
And while I have you, what's the word on XFX power supplies... how's the noise level and the cable length?

You can find them elsewhere for $1,600 🙂 http://www.amazon.com/s?k=16gb+ram+ddr4

nothing...

Oh, great. Just realized they totally missed the mark on this one.

Zachary Wilson30 said:I've explored a few different setups before 😁
Basically, it might be time to swap out my 4830 for something more recent. I'm thinking about maybe picking up two 460s and running them in SLI 😁 (on a Crossfire board), since I'm getting pretty tired of these older cards...
Does the Fermi architecture still run hot like the previous generations?

The Fermi GF100 chip pulls more power than a small town can produce, but the scaled-down version, the GF104 found on the GTX 460, has pretty standard power draw and temps. Plus, the performance is top-tier for mainstream builds. It feels like an NVIDIA win after a long time. 😁

http://www.vsc-trgovina.com/zt-40401...e-i-tv-kartice

Here are some graphics cards for $533

It looks like they missed the mark on this one—they've listed a 192-bit memory bus, whereas the 1 GB version actually sports a 256-bit bus.
They either miscalculated the total memory capacity or got the bus width wrong. From what I recall, Zotac doesn't typically pull any "weird tricks" by mixing and matching specs like this.

True, but at that price point, we're looking at roughly $1,800