Computer Nerd's Help needed: Intel Core Duo vs. AMD 64bit Turion

[drunk_medic]

ATI 1900X, Ive got a 1600X and play BF2 on all the highest settings.

the 1900 seemed very comparible to the Nvidia 7900GTX. I still would got the GTX if I wasnt on a budget just bescause of the name lol.

The ATI 1900 and nVidia 7900 are comparable, but you have trade-offs.

nVidia +:
SLI is a more solid solution than the new/immature Crossfire
Overall better benchmarks
Quad-SLI solutions available for the uber-gamer [with tons of cash]

ATI +:
AVIVO gives better image quality than nVidia chips
Crossfire beats SLI in some benchmarks [Quake 4/Ultra quality]


I am going to go with an ATI card when it comes time to buy a video card, probably an X1900 with 512mb of memory. If I was going dual-card, I would go nVidia, but I want a single card, so image quality is the deciding factor for me.

 

[bigaaron]

The ATI 1900 and nVidia 7900 are comparable, but you have trade-offs.

nVidia +:
SLI is a more solid solution than the new/immature Crossfire
Overall better benchmarks
Quad-SLI solutions available for the uber-gamer [with tons of cash]

ATI +:
AVIVO gives better image quality than nVidia chips
Crossfire beats SLI in some benchmarks [Quake 4/Ultra quality]


I am going to go with an ATI card when it comes time to buy a video card, probably an X1900 with 512mb of memory. If I was going dual-card, I would go nVidia, but I want a single card, so image quality is the deciding factor for me.

I totally understand where you are coming from, but if the ATI card crashes all the time with "VPU RECOVERY ERROR", and you install the drivers that come with the card and then ATI tells you those are no good and you need the "BETA" driver to make it work and the "BETA" driver sucks and you have to live with it till the new driver comes out, then a SLIGHTLY better image quality is useless, right? :icon_evil (can you tell i'm bitter?)

 

[Clueless]

Case will either be this one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811209022

...or this one....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811162027

...which do you guy's like?

 

[Big Wang Bandit]

I like the second one better.

 

[bigaaron]

Buy the $23 case and a good power supply separate. None of the cheap cases are going to have a power supply that is good for anything other then a paper weight or book end. Antec has always been a good brand for ATX power supplies. Get a ATX V2.0 (or sometimes ATX 12v) model.

 

[Clueless]

....Here's my new case....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811220010

...kinda nice looking, huh? :icon_razz

 

[Clueless]

Here's my collection so far...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811220010
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130284
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131534
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819116239

...let me know what you think...

 

[drunk_medic]

I totally understand where you are coming from, but if the ATI card crashes all the time with "VPU RECOVERY ERROR", and you install the drivers that come with the card and then ATI tells you those are no good and you need the "BETA" driver to make it work and the "BETA" driver sucks and you have to live with it till the new driver comes out, then a SLIGHTLY better image quality is useless, right? :icon_evil (can you tell i'm bitter?)

You must have had some really bad experiences. What card did you have this error with?
I've also been on the fence between ATI and nVidia over the years. I'm running an X700 right now, and I've run many All-In-Wonder ATI cards. I game quite a bit and I've only had a couple VPU errors here recently, and that went away when I installed new drivers [I had been using the ones that came with the card]. Not sure, but this may have also been partially caused by other computer errors I was having. I found out that my memory had gone bad after 6 months of use. No overclocking, no playing around with settings - just used at stock timing and it went bad. Memtest confirmed VERY quickly that it was bad. The sticks were sent back for RMA late this past week. Let me tell you.. going from 2GB of dual channel to 512MB single channel SUCKS. Can't wait for my replacement, refund or whatever so I can go back to normal, or decide to get some nice memory to overclock in my next system.

 

[Clueless]

You must have had some really bad experiences. What card did you have this error with?
I've also been on the fence between ATI and nVidia over the years. I'm running an X700 right now, and I've run many All-In-Wonder ATI cards. I game quite a bit and I've only had a couple VPU errors here recently, and that went away when I installed new drivers [I had been using the ones that came with the card]. Not sure, but this may have also been partially caused by other computer errors I was having. I found out that my memory had gone bad after 6 months of use. No overclocking, no playing around with settings - just used at stock timing and it went bad. Memtest confirmed VERY quickly that it was bad. The sticks were sent back for RMA late this past week. Let me tell you.. going from 2GB of dual channel to 512MB single channel SUCKS. Can't wait for my replacement, refund or whatever so I can go back to normal, or decide to get some nice memory to overclock in my next system.

I bet...anyways, I put my order in, so I'll need to head to the bank on monday to put a few extra dollars in my checkings because I'm a few short(don't worry, I need to take this crappy walmart surround system back, 60+ bucks for me). at the very least, I'll need a HDD, power supply, and some ram to have a functioning computer...oh, it might be a good idea to have some sort of OS too.

Edit: I just remembered that I have a cracked Windows XP Pro disc around here somewhere, I'll just use that...good night ya'll, keep posting and I'll check back tomorrow.

 

[Yellow 13]

You could do what I did and just buy a gateway 500GR, get a nice grapics card and another gig of RAM.

I think the 500GR is down to around $500-$600 by now.

500GR is a beast:icon_evil

 

[bigaaron]

...I game quite a bit and I've only had a couple VPU errors here recently, and that went away when I installed new drivers [I had been using the ones that came with the card]...

That's what i'm talking about. The drivers from ATI have issues right out of the box. It's not just your pc. Almost everyone I have talked to with an ATI card has had driver issues. Even removing ATI drivers is a pain in the ass. ATI loads up your registry with all sorts of crap that does not get removed without a manual deletion of registry keys and file folders.
My ATI x800xl (paid $300 about 6 months ago) came out of the pc and my Nvidia 7900gt went in, loaded the drivers that came with it, downloaded a overclocking utility and cranked it up a little, and went online and started kicking ass. No more VPU errors, no more lockups, no issues at all. That has never happened once for me with an ATI card. Every install took searching for different drivers and/or calling ATI tech support just to get it to run.

 

[bigaaron]

Edit: I just remembered that I have a cracked Windows XP Pro disc around here somewhere, I'll just use that...good night ya'll, keep posting and I'll check back tomorrow.

That XP pro crack is probably not going to allow any service pack or software updates from Microsoft anymore. They really cracked down on bogus cd keys recently.

 

[SupraDerk]

Word. You have to have your OS verified by Microsoft now in order to download any of their official stuff, and I've been too scared to even try on a cracked cd...don't want the FBI showin up at my door :aigo: . You might not even be able to use it for more than 30 days, I had a cracked "Super WinXP" cd that had every version of Windows from 95 to XP pro...installed XP home on a project PC and when it went to register the copy of XP online I got something like the following...

"Incorrect CD key, are you SURE you want to continue?"

Needless to say I wiped the harddrive CLEAN...installed 2000 and sold the CD.

-Derek

Edit: I have a real version of 2000...didn't install the version of 2000 off the cracked CD

 

[Clueless]

...Here's some more info on my mobo and vid card stuff:

http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=184&model=493&modelmenu=1
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pci-express.htm

 

[GrimJack]

Defective how? Somehow I always am sceptical when someone says a pc component is doa. There are so many things like cabling, drivers, type of memory used, bios, etc, that can make a good part seem defective. I'm sure the video cards are tested before packaging.

heh - defective as in, with the card seated in it's slot, the PC wouldn't power on. Replacing the card with my old 6600 GT let the computer power up just fine. I swapped them several times to check.

At this point, the GeForce 7000 series is the card I recommend, I'll just buy them from Asus / MSI / anyone but evga in the future.

 

[bigaaron]

heh - defective as in, with the card seated in it's slot, the PC wouldn't power on. Replacing the card with my old 6600 GT let the computer power up just fine. I swapped them several times to check.

At this point, the GeForce 7000 series is the card I recommend, I'll just buy them from Asus / MSI / anyone but evga in the future.

What wattage is your power supply? And did you have the additional 12v connector plugged into the back of the card and an extra power connector from the ps?

 

[Cravin Boost]

I vote Intel but I would wait for Conroe to release. and yes I am towing the company line,

 

[Clueless]

I vote Intel but I would wait for Conroe to release. and yes I am towing the company line,

Eh....I'm sure it's great and all, but I'm not a gotta-have-the-latest-and-greatest type of guy right now. Must remember, this is my first build... :naughty:

 

[bigaaron]

Eh....I'm sure it's great and all, but I'm not a gotta-have-the-latest-and-greatest type of guy right now. Must remember, this is my first build... :naughty:

I always buy the top of the line, from 6 months ago. Drops less then 1/2 price usually. It's all a gimick to get people to buy pc components at rediculously inflated prices when something first comes out, to make up for all the worthless stock left over when the parts are quickly outdated. The parts are already obsolete when they are released. PC fanboys are funny like emos. Also, the parts from 6 months ago are fully adequate to play current games.

 

[swaq]

To me the case is just a box. Some have better cooling then others but the power supply is more important then the case IMHO. I have a 600w supply in mine. The AMD cpu and 7000 series Nvidia cards are going to need a well regulated high wattage power supply. 300w will not cut it anymore. Some people want the case to be all flashy but mine is just something under the desk.

Agreed, but keep in mind that pure wattage does not mean a power supply is good. A higher quality, more efficient power supply is better than a cheap 500+ watt one. I use a 430 watt Seasonic (they make higher watt ones if you want) on my dual core system and I love it. Plenty of power, one of the most efficient power supplies available, and ultra quiet.