Whatcha think about my specs?

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desmin88

Active Member
Im gonna make my second custom PC. I didnt really keep up-to-date on the technology, so I'm wondering if these are good.

OS: Windows XP 32bit
Motherboard: BIOSTAR A785GE AM2+/AM3
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Callisto 3.2GHz
RAM: 4GB of Kingston DDR2 1066 Mhz. (Haven't decided which to buy yet)
GPU: 9800 GT EE 1GB (I already have it)
HD:160GB 7200 RPM (I already have it)
PSU: 500 watt Coolmax (Already have it, probably have to upgrade)
I also have a case,monitor,cpu fan, thermal paste. Basically buying 3 new parts :dah:






inb4 no 4GB on 32 bit. ( I know a special way to! Santa Claus taught me)
 
Well, the processor is decent.

But, I mean, Windows XP 32-bit?
4GB of DDR2 RAM?
 
Yes, there is an option for Windows XP 32 bit to use 4 GB.

DDR2 isnt that outdated anyway, I know theres DDR3, but Im not a super extreme gamer. I like to play WaW on high and maybe some more high end games.
 
No, 32 Bit Operating Systems can only address 4 GB of System Memory total. TOTAL.

Meaning that if you have a 1 GB graphics card, you will be left with only 3 GB of address space.

BUT WAIT, THAT'S NOT ALL!!

Other add in cards can suck down your system memory as well. Everything in your system has to share these 4 GB. This limits you to very little system RAM, which means you will be using your paging file more often. 64 Bit is the way to go.

Other than that, I would recommend using a quad core over a dual core. And that graphics card is outdated and will perform relatively slow on games that render using a current game engine. You will see lacking performance in more than one way on this machine.
 
I see teh errors of my ways. 64 bit it is.

My video card can run modern games at high. Heck, my one friend rusn BC2 on the highest setting with dual 8800 GTs, I shouldn't have a problem.

I'll take the dual core processor, as it can be unlocked to quad core.

Windows 7 64 bit i'll use.
 
4 gb is fine. Really. Just go DDR3. 32 bit is fine for gaming, and I've heard about a flax ton of driver problems for 64 bit gamers.

An 8800GT is just a little bit worse than a 9800GT, but not by much. 500W is more than enough for you.

Win7 ultimate 32 is fine for gaming, and 4 gb in 32 bit is fine for most gaming. Just don't get XP, XP sucks.
 
desmin88 said:
My video card can run modern games at high. Heck, my one friend run BC2 on the highest setting with dual 8800 GTs, I shouldn't have a problem.
Click to expand...
You must be running these games at pretty low resolution. And the preset "highest" is never really the highest detail quality. You can always go into advanced and get stuff higher.

desmin88 said:
I'll take the dual core processor, as it can be unlocked to quad core.
Click to expand...
This is only true on some of AMDs processors, and is supported only by certain boards. I haven't memorized the list, so I would look it up before you splurge your money.
 
All the phenom II x2s can be unlocked.

That motherboard seems to have had successful unlocks. But it only allows up to ddr21066. From what I've seen in memory, ddr2 stuff seems more expensive than ddr3 at newegg.
 
snowpenguin said:
All Most of the phenom II x2s can be unlocked.
Click to expand...

Fix'd for correctness.

Even if you can't make it a quad-core, though, the Phenom II X2 makes a fantastic dual-core that's more than capable of holding its own when it comes to gaming. I successfully unlocked all four cores in mine, but your results may vary as it's not guaranteed.

If you decide to upgrade your graphics card, go for an ATI Radeon 5770. Fairly cheap for its performance, overclocks easily, and it supports DX11! I have one in my desktop and with it and my unlocked Phenom II I can max out any game I throw at it except for Crysis and get very smooth gameplay at 1080p -- in Source engine games like Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2, I get a fairly stable 60fps at all times. ::3:

As for an OS, I'm using Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. Works beautifully for whatever I want to do. :awesomeTW:
 
Twilight Wolf said:
snowpenguin said:
All Most of the phenom II x2s can be unlocked.
Click to expand...

Fix'd for correctness.
Click to expand...
^This. It's got mixed results.

Twilight Wolf said:
Even if you can't make it a quad-core, though, the Phenom II X2 makes a fantastic dual-core that's more than capable of holding its own when it comes to gaming. I successfully unlocked all four cores in mine, but your results may vary as it's not guaranteed.
Click to expand...
For gaming, you could say this is true. However, for the most part, the Phenom II line is pretty weak, especially if you are processor crunching (you know, encoding and the like). Games utilize the GPU much more than the CPU, so in all honesty, for what you guys are doing, it's not that big of an issue. I would just shoot for a BE X4. Shoot, for >$200 you can get an X6.

Twilight Wolf said:
If you decide to upgrade your graphics card, go for an ATI Radeon 5770. Fairly cheap for its performance, overclocks easily, and it supports DX11! I have one in my desktop and with it and my unlocked Phenom II I can max out any game I throw at it except for Crysis and get very smooth gameplay at 1080p -- in Source engine games like Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2, I get a fairly stable 60fps at all times. ::3:
Click to expand...
The Source engine is old. I mean, REALLY OLD. Valve should invest in replacing it. It's served it's time well and hosted many great games, but it's time for that fogey to leave. However, that graphics card is much more capable than the much outdated Nvidia 9800. It is much more future friendly.
 
Twilight Wolf said:
in Source engine games like Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2, I get a fairly stable 60fps at all times. ::3:
Click to expand...
really? thats it? my rig is quite a bit less powerful than yours, and i get ~120 fps in source games. (high detail, 1680x1050, win 7 32 pro)


For the processor, personally, i would much rather have something by intel, but whatever floats your boat. i do my gaming on a athlon 64 dual core (2.9 ghz), and it works just fine. anymore gaming is much more gpu intensive, aside from source.

Atari said:
However, that graphics card is much more capable than the much outdated Nvidia 9800. It is much more future friendly.
Click to expand...

im very happy with my outdated 9500 gtx. it can play modern games very well for the most part. (i run ME2 on ultra high detail, ~60 fps with no stutter) i would assume that a 9800 GT would outperform a 950, and that leads me to believe his graphics card will be fine for awhile yet. no DX11 sucks though.
 
Atari said:
Twilight Wolf said:
If you decide to upgrade your graphics card, go for an ATI Radeon 5770. Fairly cheap for its performance, overclocks easily, and it supports DX11! I have one in my desktop and with it and my unlocked Phenom II I can max out any game I throw at it except for Crysis and get very smooth gameplay at 1080p -- in Source engine games like Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2, I get a fairly stable 60fps at all times. ::3:
Click to expand...
The Source engine is old. I mean, REALLY OLD. Valve should invest in replacing it. It's served it's time well and hosted many great games, but it's time for that fogey to leave. However, that graphics card is much more capable than the much outdated Nvidia 9800. It is much more future friendly.
Click to expand...
The Unreal 3 Engine is older ::3:
 
samjc3 said:
For the processor, personally, i would much rather have something by intel
Click to expand...
Me too, but when you're building a budget PC, it is a consideration you must make.

samjc3 said:
im very happy with my outdated 9500 gtx. it can play modern games very well for the most part. (i run ME2 on ultra high detail, ~60 fps with no stutter) i would assume that a 9800 GT would outperform a 950, and that leads me to believe his graphics card will be fine for awhile yet.
Click to expand...
I'm just saying that the performance boost is well worth the ~$40 more than the 9800. Plus, if you're building a new computer, you don't want it to become obsolete in the matter of a year or two.

samjc3 said:
DX11 sucks though.
Click to expand...
While this may be true in some instances, the move was much better than DX9-DX10. God, that was truly awful.

EDIT @ J.D
Sort of... it's kind of hard to explain. And it's on it's cycle out of here too. UE4 is coming soon. Valve hasn't announced many plans of updating.
 
Atari said:
samjc3 said:
im very happy with my outdated 9500 gtx. it can play modern games very well for the most part. (i run ME2 on ultra high detail, ~60 fps with no stutter) i would assume that a 9800 GT would outperform a 950, and that leads me to believe his graphics card will be fine for awhile yet.
Click to expand...
I'm just saying that the performance boost is well worth the ~$40 more than the 9800. Plus, if you're building a new computer, you don't want it to become obsolete in the matter of a year or two.
Click to expand...
he already owns the 9800. im saying he should wait awhile to update. theres no reason to get something now that will be 50% less in 6 months.
 
Missed that.

Yeah, go with samjc3's advice and stick with what you got. With 20nm manufacturing around the corner, there are bleeding edge cards on the horizon. And already awesome cards like the Nvidia 470 (almost as good as the 480, shaves off a good chunk of the pricetag) will get cheaper.
 
Ok. Twilight Wolf, what do you think about the new motherboard I chose?


Im sticking with my 9800 GT EE XLR8 1GB for a while. It performs great for what I play.

Its basically my current Ram and CPU I hate (2.1 ghz dual core :(....)
 
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