Maybe new computer specs, opinions and advice please!

[Davie_UCF]

So, if I got a Nvidia gf 8600gt, i coudlnt crosshair that? seems to be just later ATI cards?

 

[AussieNightcrawler]

Hi,

No, you couldn't crossfire the 8600GT as it is nVidia...

nVidia is SLi, ATI is Crossfire.

To run 2 nVidia cards in SLi you need to have a motherboard that supports it, this means that the motherboard must have a Nforce northbridge chipset, for example:

The XFX NFORCE 680i SLI Motherboard: http://www.pccasegear.com.au/prod5097.htm

This means that the northbridge chipset is the nVidia Nforce 680i SLi MCP Chipset.

The above is an Aussie site, pretty sure if you have a look around you'll find another closer to your home.


Hope this helps...

 

[Davie_UCF]

Ah crossfire, I thought it was that but then saw somewhere it written crosshair.. jebus confusing.

I'm not overly keen on ATI because on one crappy card, but generally they are just as good as Nvidia i'd guess..

I do hate this madness.. Ati of nvidia, AMD or intel.
Do any work better with each other than the others?

 

[johnwhelan]

Ah crossfire, I thought it was that but then saw somewhere it written crosshair.. jebus confusing.

I'm not overly keen on ATI because on one crappy card, but generally they are just as good as Nvidia i'd guess..

I do hate this madness.. Ati of nvidia, AMD or intel.
Do any work better with each other than the others?

AMD now owns ATI, according to tomshardware.com at the moment nVidia has better performance than ATI, performance of Intel dual is better than anything AMD has at the moment but AMD is slightly more efficient power wise when idle.

Cheerio John

 

[psycho_aussie]

Crosshair is an Asus AM2 (AMD) motherboard that uses the nVidia nForce 590 SLI chipset.

Also, to add to what I said with Crossfire, you need a motherboard that supports Crossfire. The AMD 580X, and various Intel chipsets including the X38 and P35 support Crossfire, so the motherboard choices aren't as limited as the SLI setup is.


IMHO, I don't have any preferences in computer hardware, although I have used AMD/ATI in my last few systems. I am considering building an Intel system with ATI Crossfire. My only problem with nVidia is that their Vista drivers aren't quite up to scratch, and I rather like Vista... but then again, I am nuts.

Chris
(psycho_aussie)

 

[jdenm8]

I do not like ATI graphics cards for one reason. This happened to a friend of mine. Brand new computer, brand new hardware, first thing that breaks. -> The top of the line ATI graphics card.
Only lasted about 15 minutes and she was only using Word according to her brother. She could only use 640x480, could not run any games and the picture was slightly purple. This happened on two different monitors.

She went out and bought a Geforce 7700 and has not had any problems ever since. That was six months ago.

 

[Euphod]

Personal experience, even second hand will sometimes sway the consumer. Of all the various GPU's I've used or owned over the years, only the ATI 9800 failed on me. I'm sure equal numbers of other brands fail too, but it's enough evidence to keep me "green"!

Ed

 

[jdenm8]

Look at me. Geforce 5200FX. Four years old and runs better than when it was new. I really can't speak as all of my previous computers just used the on-board graphics processor. SIS peices of crap.

 

[Davie_UCF]

I had a 9800xt in this system originally and it annoyed the hell out of me, bad performance and the fan kept failing then starting up again, giving a horrible noise .

Pcspecialist means i don't have to worry about what motherboard because you choose the type of system (high performance, SLI, crossfire) and it shows all the compatible parts then you just choose what you want.. so i should be fine with all the motherboard madness.

However I might be getting XP.. Vista is okay but I get terrible performance in games compared to what I had in XP.. and I put in an extra gig of ram.

So i might go back to XP, not sure!

David

 

[jdenm8]

Here is a note, over here, if you get a Dell computer you can XP instead of Vista for about an extra $50 I think it is.
I think that was a pretty smart move as most people here HATE Vista.

 

[Davie_UCF]

I already had two Dell computers, I tried dEll first but the price compared to PCspecialist was a bit much, plus the system i wanted you couldnt choose XP... they lied about the specs with the replacement saying the graphics card was the best possible so I said sod Dell and well, Pcspecialist are way betterfrom what i've read, way better prices and I can choose XP

 

[vhm3]

Go with the Intel system Davie. I did this time around, and I don't regret it. Been an AMD fan for many many years...

Chip

 

[jdenm8]

I can only give examples of the Australian market. You can now get half-decent Acer laptops here for AU$649.00 from Officeworks (Owned by the same mob that owns Coles, Kmart, Target and Liquorland) because they carry the Vista burden.

 

[psycho_aussie]

I'd highly suggest taking the Intel path. The speeds from their processors is better than what you can get from AMD.

As to whether you choose nVidia or ATI, well that is entirely up to you.

Chris
(psycho_aussie)

 

[johnwhelan]

I'd highly suggest taking the Intel path. The speeds from their processors is better than what you can get from AMD.

As to whether you choose nVidia or ATI, well that is entirely up to you.

Chris
(psycho_aussie)

But check the benchmarks in tomshardware.com or here

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=14993

nVidia owns the video card performance at the moment. The 8800 gts would appear to be reasonable performance without needing its own power station.

Cheerio John

 

[tonyvdb]

I'd highly suggest taking the Intel path. The speeds from their processors is better than what you can get from AMD.

Nope, Not true.

Intel has one flaw and that is in 64bit they do outperform AMD but they do not switch between 64 bit and 32 bit well and run substantially slower than AMD in 32 bit.
Given that Trainz does not run in 64 bit AMD has the better edge.

 

[johnwhelan]

Nope, Not true.

Intel has one flaw and that is in 64bit they do outperform AMD but they do not switch between 64 bit and 32 bit well and run substantially slower than AMD in 32 bit.
Given that Trainz does not run in 64 bit AMD has the better edge.

Would you like to try the benchmark and see how your machine does?

http://forums.auran.com/trainz/showthread.php?t=14993

There is a TRS2006 version as well.

Thanks John

 

[Driver_Col]

New Trainz PC

I already had two Dell computers, I tried dEll first but the price compared to PCspecialist was a bit much, plus the system i wanted you couldnt choose XP... they lied about the specs with the replacement saying the graphics card was the best possible so I said sod Dell and well, Pcspecialist are way betterfrom what i've read, way better prices and I can choose XP

Hi Dave: Really curious to know what you end up with. As an aside ...... is St. Botolph's Station still up and running?



Colin.

 

[Davie_UCF]

Hi Dave: Really curious to know what you end up with. As an aside ...... is St. Botolph's Station still up and running?



Colin.

Sorry about the late reply, hello Colin! St Botolphs sadly,, is now called Colchester Town, but still there.. just a single line station now.

I'm waiting for the prices to go down, or until I get a bit more cash for now.
I'm curious what people consider a high end computer at this moment in time?

 

[johnwhelan]

Sorry about the late reply, hello Colin! St Botolphs sadly,, is now called Colchester Town, but still there.. just a single line station now.

I'm waiting for the prices to go down, or until I get a bit more cash for now.
I'm curious what people consider a high end computer at this moment in time?

Hold off until Jan or so there are new 45 whatever cpus due out, NVidia has the 9 series due out, AMD has a new processor due out and the intel X38 chipset is just getting started with DDR3 memory.

Cheerio John