Can somebody please help me understand video cards? I was reading reviews on the MB then went to look at the cards & now I'm confused. Someone said this "Cons: No SLI or Crossfire support but not really a con. Got this board because I have no plans to go that route anyway." I don't know what SLI & Crossfie mean. The suggested video card says it's Crossfire Supported. If this MB really doesn't support Crossfire or SLI what's left? And what about 64, 128, 256 bit? Also the suggested card is a "PCI Express 2.0x16" but in the specs under Expansion Slots says PCI Express x16.
eugh, Pentuim Dual core= fake dual core, 2 P4s glued and sellotaped together in my opinion. My friend has a 3.4ghz pentium D and my 2.6Ghz real dual core is alot faster :P also, an 8500GT is pretty rubbish, trust me, i have one and yes it was a truly EPIC increase in performance from my 64mb radeon 9000 but still its unsatisfying because it still lags in the newer things i want to play. Also, the psu that comes with that case i personally havnt heard of and unbranded PSU's generally cause problems. Your much better off building a system
for what you will be doing you wont need 4gb ram.
Also, the 3850 reccomended for you will be alot more powerful than a 8500GT, like 3 times faster
video cards are not that confusing.
you'll want to go for a pci-e (pci express) video card.
also, atleast 256mb of memory, 512 preferably. keep in mind, the amount of memory doesn't always make it faster.
You wont need crossfire or sli (this is having 2 video cards)
crossfire is for ati cards, SLI for nvidia cards. Most motherboards will support 1 or the other or not support dual video cards. some, however support dual nvidia or amd cards.
Also, some graphics cards wont support 2 graphics cards.
Basically, your motherboard wont support 2 graphics cards but your graphics card will. If you feel its getting slow in games and you want to not buy a improved card but buy another of your existing card and run them together you would have to buy a new motherboard that supports it.
You wont need dual video cards, a single 3850 is ample for the games you say your playing.
Now bit from what i remember is like width of data channels or somthing. The large the bit, the larger amount of data can be sent. 256 bit is the most ati cards have i think.
the card runs at x16 which is like full speed, the motherboard supports thee speeds, some motherboards run at 8x, which is like half speed.
I may be wrong in all my statements so please correct me if i am.
eugh, Pentuim Dual core= fake dual core, 2 P4s glued and sellotaped together in my opinion. My friend has a 3.4ghz pentium D and my 2.6Ghz real dual core is alot faster :P also, an 8500GT is pretty rubbish, trust me, i have one and yes it was a truly EPIC increase in performance from my 64mb radeon 9000 but still its unsatisfying because it still lags in the newer things i want to play. Also, the psu that comes with that case i personally havnt heard of and unbranded PSU's generally cause problems. Your much better off building a system
for what you will be doing you wont need 4gb ram.
Also, the 3850 reccomended for you will be alot more powerful than a 8500GT, like 3 times faster
video cards are not that confusing.
you'll want to go for a pci-e (pci express) video card.
also, atleast 256mb of memory, 512 preferably. keep in mind, the amount of memory doesn't always make it faster.
You wont need crossfire or sli (this is having 2 video cards)
crossfire is for ati cards, SLI for nvidia cards. Most motherboards will support 1 or the other or not support dual video cards. some, however support dual nvidia or amd cards.
Also, some graphics cards wont support 2 graphics cards.
Basically, your motherboard wont support 2 graphics cards but your graphics card will. If you feel its getting slow in games and you want to not buy a improved card but buy another of your existing card and run them together you would have to buy a new motherboard that supports it.
You wont need dual video cards, a single 3850 is ample for the games you say your playing.
Now bit from what i remember is like width of data channels or somthing. The large the bit, the larger amount of data can be sent. 256 bit is the most ati cards have i think.
the card runs at x16 which is like full speed, the motherboard supports thee speeds, some motherboards run at 8x, which is like half speed.
I may be wrong in all my statements so please correct me if i am.
I appreciate your answer but wow..ok, first of all I never said or even implied I want 2 graphics cards. The rest of your reply, I don't get it, sorry.
Hey guys..no real replies in 2 days so I'm guessing this is getting to be moot here.
I would go with what edcentric listed but you also had wanted a monitor. I found one on Newegg that I think would suite your budget here. It is a 19" display and is priced at $180.
As for revorocks reply on what Crossfire/SLI is, let me try to explain it differenlty.
What revorocks was trying to be explained was that it is possible IF you wanted to put two video cards into you computer. Crossfire/SLI are essentually the same thing because its just a fancy way of saying "Wow, I just got 2 new cards and put them together in the same ol' computer." SLI is what Nvidia (One of the two major companies) calles it, Crossfire is ATI's way of saying the same thing. Another thing revorocks was trying to say was that down the road if you are experiencing slow frame rates and chuggy gameplay with newer games you can go out and buy another one of the cards you already own and put it in an SLI/Crossfire configuration and get better proformance out of it instead of going out and spending double/triple/quadtuple the money on a newer single card. As for the x16 concern that you have, thats really not a big issue. x16 is only telling you the "transfer" speed between the video card and the motherboard. You can have a motherboard that only supports transfer speeds of x8 and still buy a x16 video card, the only thing that you will notice with that though is that you might get slightly slower frame rates in game because your card is only able to comunicate with your other components in the computer half as fast as it would with a x16 compatible motherboard.
//Edit: I'm not sure if one of the things that you weren't understaning was PCI-E. PCI-E is just the name of an expansion slot on the motherboard. Most modern motherboards have atleast one (or more) PCI-E slots so I don't think you will have to worry about that to much.
//Edit 2: Srry about all these edits. . . I just keep forgetting to explain everyting .
Ok, for you question about 64/128/256 bit and what they are. Basicaly you should think of each "bit" as a highway. Would it be faster for traffic if there where 64 highway lanes or 256 highway lanes... Basically this is how fast you memory on the card is able move. The more traffic lanes it has the faster it can gets to where it wants to go.
Hope that helped to clarify a few things up about video cards.
yes, i kno0w you dont want 2 graphics cards, but i was just trying to explain to you what sli and crossfire is, because you were saying you didnt understand graphics cards.
Can somebody please help me understand video cards? I was reading reviews on the MB then went to look at the cards & now I'm confused. Someone said this "Cons: No SLI or Crossfire support but not really a con. Got this board because I have no plans to go that route anyway." I don't know what SLI & Crossfie mean. The suggested video card says it's Crossfire Supported. If this MB really doesn't support Crossfire or SLI what's left? And what about 64, 128, 256 bit? Also the suggested card is a "PCI Express 2.0x16" but in the specs under Expansion Slots says PCI Express x16.
See, thats all i was trying to explain.
Thanks TvManPwns, you explained it alot better than I did
I hope this shows up I am having HUGE problems even reading here atm. I have not abaondoned my project but I question if I'm up for it, obviously things have changed in BIG way in the last years. No matter what I have learned from being here, ty. I fear my computer I have now is close to needing a doctor, lol..so I gotta do something. I will try again tomorrow & hope in the meantime this shows up. Ty & you all have a great holiday weekend. ~Xen
Hi guys...still waiting on my 2nd check. I've been getting this same check for several years & this is the first time I've never received it before the end of August.
I'm not sure I can do this project...much as I'd like to. Yes I can go with a suggested plan but I also want to know why I'm using the parts suggested, does that make sense? Also, I thought I had a friend who could help watch over what I was doing but sadly, his mom died recently. First time I talked to him about this he was all for it saying stuff like "yes, they are correct, buy from anywhere other than ebay" & last time I talked to him he said "well, there are other options, like ebay" meaning I can buy a system already put together from a reliable seller.
For me, this is a lot of money to put into something I'm not 100% sure will work. I'm on a fixed income guys, takes months to put money together for a something other than food, gas, etc.
To be totally honest, and I feel I owe this much to you all for being so helpful, I don't know if I can hook up all the stuff right. Things are so different now days from when I got my 1st computer. I'm worried I'll plug "this" into "that" & it won't work.
I might buy from this guy, please don't roll your eyes & blow off my link, lol. Yep, from the dreaded ebay but they have awesome feedback & I like that they do a 48 hour "burn in" instead of putting it together & shipping it out without checking first.
My friend who has no computer building experience just switched out psu's all by himself. all cables and everything went back in hooked up right amazingly.
My friend who has no computer building experience just switched out psu's all by himself. all cables and everything went back in hooked up right amazingly.
I'm sure he did & I think that's very cool. He probably had something to look at first & go by later. I do not have that myself. My current system is 4 years old, it has nothing like what is being brought to the table in this day & age. Thank you for your reply though, much appreciated. ~Xen
Computers haven't changed much in 4 years. Everything still only fits into one slot and what have you. If it doesn't fit, don't force it. Most things are color-coded these days as well.
Xen~ although you feel you may have let us down after all the advice that has been dispensed, there are many people who read this thread that will get a lot of mileage from it.
I've enjoyed reading it because the guys on here have given suggestions based on your needs, not some wish list PC they would like to own, which we see happening on so many sites. I fully understand you are on a limited budget and your circumstances are tough; however IMHO I think that PC on e-Bay, although I'm quite sure will work 100% and do what it's supposed to, it falls far short if comparing it to the specs suggested here.
I hope at the end of the day your purchase is a good one and happy computing.
Xen, we can walk you through assembly. We've got the internet on our side
Thrax and Winga are both correct. Assembly is incredibly easy, and not only will you learn a bunch, but you'll get a rocking system if you build it your self. All the parts you're looking at have warranties. If something you get for some reason doesn't work, you shouldn't be out any money; just time waiting for a replacement.
You might consider adding your location to your profile here. We might have somebody close by who could assist you in the build.
Hi Everyone, As some of you know I'm in the market to buy a new computer & am frustrated with it. I'm now considering building my own computer. I've thought about it & some suggested it...why not see what's out there. No way can I do it on my own though when it comes to picking out the right parts. Putting it together physically, I have no worries about it.
My budget is $600 - $700 TOTAL...that means the parts, s/h, taxes. I have $300 put aside & am waiting on my renter's credit check which should be here between now & the next couple weeks.
My current system is 4 years old bought off ebay, nothing fancy but has done the job. AMD 1.9Ghz processor, 1 gig RAM, 60 gig HD, added Geforce 4 Ti 4600 128 mg card.
I feel I have out grown my current system. I like to play games online & I can tell my system is barely keeping up. Probably a reformat would cure some of that but it's 4 years old & I'm ready for something better. I have been looking at computers on ebay for weeks & just like with all other shopping (yes I'm a girl, I promise lol) I am hating it. I think it would be a fun & satisfying experience to build my own system. Want to help me figure it out & go shopping with me?
What I think I want so far (am open to other suggestions) is the following: Intel dual core or core 2 duo processor, at least 250 gig HD (can be more or less, price might decide) 4 gigs RAM would be sweet but absolutely no less than 2 gigs, lightscribe drive, whatever fans needed providing they are as quiet as possible, most likely will go with XP Home for the OS.
It was pointed out I may not save a lot of money by building my own system but if I can save at least some money I can apply it towards getting a flat panel either now or in another month or so.
I hope I've provided enough information, if not ask me what else you need to know. Looking forward to your input! ~Xen
I just finished building the fastest computer I have ever seen and the cost of all parts, including dual ball bearing fan power supply and nice case. I use ASROCK motherboards which is a company stated by ASUS in 2002. I have never had a problem with a motherboard, processor or memory. In all there have been 2 failures. One hard drive and one onboard NIC. If you would like help, I would be more than happy to tell you how to get parts that are inexpensive and yet hold up as well or better than much more expensive parts. Especially motherboards and processors, everything else can be fixed pretty easily at a low cost, but that doesn't happen with the parts I buy now. It has taken 13 years experience plus 2 years of college to learn this and I never give information unless I know from experience that the information is accurate.
Comments
for what you will be doing you wont need 4gb ram.
Also, the 3850 reccomended for you will be alot more powerful than a 8500GT, like 3 times faster
video cards are not that confusing.
you'll want to go for a pci-e (pci express) video card.
also, atleast 256mb of memory, 512 preferably. keep in mind, the amount of memory doesn't always make it faster.
You wont need crossfire or sli (this is having 2 video cards)
crossfire is for ati cards, SLI for nvidia cards. Most motherboards will support 1 or the other or not support dual video cards. some, however support dual nvidia or amd cards.
Also, some graphics cards wont support 2 graphics cards.
Basically, your motherboard wont support 2 graphics cards but your graphics card will. If you feel its getting slow in games and you want to not buy a improved card but buy another of your existing card and run them together you would have to buy a new motherboard that supports it.
You wont need dual video cards, a single 3850 is ample for the games you say your playing.
Now bit from what i remember is like width of data channels or somthing. The large the bit, the larger amount of data can be sent. 256 bit is the most ati cards have i think.
the card runs at x16 which is like full speed, the motherboard supports thee speeds, some motherboards run at 8x, which is like half speed.
I may be wrong in all my statements so please correct me if i am.
I appreciate your answer but wow..ok, first of all I never said or even implied I want 2 graphics cards. The rest of your reply, I don't get it, sorry.
Hey guys..no real replies in 2 days so I'm guessing this is getting to be moot here.
As for revorocks reply on what Crossfire/SLI is, let me try to explain it differenlty.
What revorocks was trying to be explained was that it is possible IF you wanted to put two video cards into you computer. Crossfire/SLI are essentually the same thing because its just a fancy way of saying "Wow, I just got 2 new cards and put them together in the same ol' computer." SLI is what Nvidia (One of the two major companies) calles it, Crossfire is ATI's way of saying the same thing. Another thing revorocks was trying to say was that down the road if you are experiencing slow frame rates and chuggy gameplay with newer games you can go out and buy another one of the cards you already own and put it in an SLI/Crossfire configuration and get better proformance out of it instead of going out and spending double/triple/quadtuple the money on a newer single card. As for the x16 concern that you have, thats really not a big issue. x16 is only telling you the "transfer" speed between the video card and the motherboard. You can have a motherboard that only supports transfer speeds of x8 and still buy a x16 video card, the only thing that you will notice with that though is that you might get slightly slower frame rates in game because your card is only able to comunicate with your other components in the computer half as fast as it would with a x16 compatible motherboard.
//Edit: I'm not sure if one of the things that you weren't understaning was PCI-E. PCI-E is just the name of an expansion slot on the motherboard. Most modern motherboards have atleast one (or more) PCI-E slots so I don't think you will have to worry about that to much.
//Edit 2: Srry about all these edits. . . I just keep forgetting to explain everyting
Ok, for you question about 64/128/256 bit and what they are. Basicaly you should think of each "bit" as a highway. Would it be faster for traffic if there where 64 highway lanes or 256 highway lanes... Basically this is how fast you memory on the card is able move. The more traffic lanes it has the faster it can gets to where it wants to go.
Hope that helped to clarify a few things up about video cards.
-TvManPwns
See, thats all i was trying to explain.
Thanks TvManPwns, you explained it alot better than I did
Np...
I'm not sure I can do this project...much as I'd like to. Yes I can go with a suggested plan but I also want to know why I'm using the parts suggested, does that make sense? Also, I thought I had a friend who could help watch over what I was doing but sadly, his mom died recently. First time I talked to him about this he was all for it saying stuff like "yes, they are correct, buy from anywhere other than ebay" & last time I talked to him he said "well, there are other options, like ebay" meaning I can buy a system already put together from a reliable seller.
For me, this is a lot of money to put into something I'm not 100% sure will work. I'm on a fixed income guys, takes months to put money together for a something other than food, gas, etc.
To be totally honest, and I feel I owe this much to you all for being so helpful, I don't know if I can hook up all the stuff right. Things are so different now days from when I got my 1st computer. I'm worried I'll plug "this" into "that" & it won't work.
I might buy from this guy, please don't roll your eyes & blow off my link, lol. Yep, from the dreaded ebay but they have awesome feedback & I like that they do a 48 hour "burn in" instead of putting it together & shipping it out without checking first.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=350093233546&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=022
I'm sure he did & I think that's very cool. He probably had something to look at first & go by later. I do not have that myself. My current system is 4 years old, it has nothing like what is being brought to the table in this day & age. Thank you for your reply though, much appreciated. ~Xen
I've enjoyed reading it because the guys on here have given suggestions based on your needs, not some wish list PC they would like to own, which we see happening on so many sites. I fully understand you are on a limited budget and your circumstances are tough; however IMHO I think that PC on e-Bay, although I'm quite sure will work 100% and do what it's supposed to, it falls far short if comparing it to the specs suggested here.
I hope at the end of the day your purchase is a good one and happy computing.
Thrax and Winga are both correct. Assembly is incredibly easy, and not only will you learn a bunch, but you'll get a rocking system if you build it your self. All the parts you're looking at have warranties. If something you get for some reason doesn't work, you shouldn't be out any money; just time waiting for a replacement.
You might consider adding your location to your profile here. We might have somebody close by who could assist you in the build.
OK...I live near Palm Srings in Cali...<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->