sleipnir Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 These are the choices I'm considering for a new computer, 1) Core Quad Q9550, nforce 790 ultraSLI, 8GB RAM, GeForce GTX280 2a) I7 920, Intel X58, 12GB RAM, GeForce 9800 GT 2b) I7 920, Intel X58, 6GB RAM, GeForce GTX280 Although opt 1 ilooks more complete, I'm pretty much inclined to I7 for future upgrade options. My budget won't allow me to have 12GB and GTX280, so I would go for option 2a. What do you think? One thing I'm unsure of, Is 9800 GT a good performer? I had a frustrating experience in viewport performance with a 8600GS (512MB) and I would really feel the difference this time. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karolisbilz@yahoo.com Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 i would go with option 2b) cause you will be able to buy RAM later on..and since7i is new s**t right now so i would go with that, changing CPU or GPU is allways more pricy and difficult then just adding ram...look into the future..personaly i have have q9550, 790i ultra mobo and 280gtx gpu and when i bought it i boaught only 2GB of RAM because of the DDR3 price at the time, i'm pritty happy with it but now i will upgrade it to 8 or 12 GB of RAM and feal total satisfaction lol good luck with ur new rig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleipnir Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 Hi Karolis, Thank you for your answer. I thought that 790i accept 8gb ram max. could you use tri-channel on that mobo and go up to 12GB? It makes sense what you suggest, most probably the cost of the RAM will drop faster than the GPU's. So I'll have 6GB and half of the RAM slots occupied, by the time I'll add the other 6. Do you know if they could be from a different manufacturer? I mean the same frequency but from other brand? Regarding the 280GTX I'd need some advice from you, these people are offering a noise reduction system at the cost of $100 for the machine, normally I'd disregard it, but In this case I wounder how noisy 280gtx can be,would you think it will be necessary? (I sleep and work in the same room) Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleipnir Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 One more question, are you using Vista or XP? thnx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macer Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 I'd go for 2b aswell. Better upgrade path. As for noise, I guess it depends how well you sleep! You can always swap out all the fans for quieter ones - except for the PSU fan - so make sure it's quiet. I use vista with no problems, but others swear by xp. main consideration is available drivers for things like your existing printer, camera, scanner, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 I'd say 2c, which is the less expensive video card, 6GB RAM, and you spend the rest of the budget on beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleipnir Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 Thanks Mark, Sometimes I have trouble to sleep with the noise from the airco, so imagine.... On my Laptop I had to downgrade to XP-64 due to the messy performance of the 8600gs, and I can tell the difference is noticeable. In this case the equipment obviously comes with Vista-64 pre installed and I hope 280gtx will be powerful enough so it won't have to downgrade this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleipnir Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 I'd say 2c, which is the less expensive video card, 6GB RAM, and you spend the rest of the budget on beer. Well that would be great but the vendor's cheapest option for a video card is 9800 GT.... The questions behind all this are: Will 9800 GT give me a noticeable boost from 8600GS (preformance wise) on scenes with dense geometry? (they both have 512mb) Or I'll have to go for 1G 280GTX? thnx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 What they're not telling you is that the 9800GT is almost exactly the same as the 8800GT, which a ton of people here are using. Unless you are working with absolutely absurd models it's certainly good enough for you. It's much faster than the 8600GS. The whole thing is very complicated but this chart should help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleipnir Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 ...I can see clearly now.... Great piece of info, Thanks man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadmunkey Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Another vote for 2b from me! The 280GTX has been a good investment for me anyway.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karolisbilz@yahoo.com Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 I have MSI 280GTX OC and have no problem with it whatsoever. and it's not noisey, althoe i'm not sleeping in the same room....BUT as far as noise when i use my pc the CPU fan is the main noise sourse not the GPU.....and if u get MSI 280GTX hydrogen (no fan opstion) and get a good water cooling system for your rig u'll be sleeping like a baby with mothers brest in your mouth lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amer abidi Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 u'll be sleeping like a baby with mothers brest in your mouth lol I say option 2b.. but if youre not in a hurry i'd wait a bit, read more reviews about it. It's all so new, the I7 i mean, not sure how compatible everything would be with the new changes theyve made... (quick path interface and all that). Isn't it all soo exciting??! I love it when i get a new workstation!! good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleipnir Posted December 5, 2008 Author Share Posted December 5, 2008 Thank you all for your advise, I finally placed an order for option 2b, seems that I'll have more power for the same money comparing the other ones, and as stated in a previous reply, is better as upgrade path Also GTX280 is 3 tiers higher than 9800 GT so it makes sense to go for it. Amer's concern is reasonable but still I"ll run the risk, I rather be ahead considering that the next update will probably take more than a year. I'm curious how often you guys update your computers and what makes you decide to do so: to be updated with latest tehcnology, only when a job makes it neccesary, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadmunkey Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 I'm curious how often you guys update your computers and what makes you decide to do so: to be updated with latest tehcnology, only when a job makes it neccesary, etc... I tend to upgrade once every 12 months, as long as it has been a good year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleipnir Posted December 19, 2008 Author Share Posted December 19, 2008 I finally received the computer. Some preliminary comments for future users considering similar upgrades: First of all, in spite of my concerns about gtx 280, it turned to far more silent as I thougt, no problems there. Renderwise the performance of the I7 did not disapoint me at all: is amazingly better compared to what I had (a T9500), not only faster but also 8 threads instead of 2. On the video card side and regarding the viewport display perfomance the difference is noticiable but not as expected, even thought the gap between the 8600gs and gtx 280 is huge. I honestly expected a more dramatic change there. Most probably with other applications like games or video the difference will be more evident. There is also a chance that I have not configured it properly (topic for a new post). Happy Hollidays Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slinger Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Option 2D: 9800GT, 6gb triple channel ram and extra money saved, get a i7 940. I win Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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