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Making a dream PC for cheap (as possible) - help anyone?

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f0dder:
I have had 2 nVidia cards and both have badly disappointed me (low FPS, low resolutions, uses system RAM for graphic purposes...)-wreckedcarzz
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That's your own fault for not doing proper research before buying, imho. The system-ram using cards were designed for the budget market, for which they're fine, but they're no good for games. And iirc ATI has those cards as well.

I'm staying clear of ATI because of crappy drivers and loud fans. As for driver crappyness, one thing is that it was only in the most recent catalyst they (re?)-fixed OpenGL on dualhead systems (try looking at the blender3d forum to see the kind of frustrations people have had, and the hacks they've resorted to), another thing is the dreaded BSOD and filesystem corruption that has left me scarred.

Unless you're suggesting to wait because these new lines of GPUs and CPUs will lower the price of the ones I'm looking at now, what's the real advantage of waiting for the new stuff, taking into consideration what I just wrote about my opinion on value?-Deozaan
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If you can wait, do so. The 45nm core2 CPUs enter the market priced about the same as the current breed, but with better performance and lower power consumption. Unfortunately, the available-in-shop dates for the Q9450 CPU keeps getting pushed here in .dk (start of April now >_<), so I'm off today (actually, right after posting this message) to buy a Q6600 :(

vegas:
Unless you're suggesting to wait because these new lines of GPUs and CPUs will lower the price of the ones I'm looking at now, what's the real advantage of waiting for the new stuff, taking into consideration what I just wrote about my opinion on value?-Deozaan
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If you can wait, do so. The 45nm core2 CPUs enter the market priced about the same as the current breed, but with better performance and lower power consumption. Unfortunately, the available-in-shop dates for the Q9450 CPU keeps getting pushed here in .dk (start of April now >_<), so I'm off today (actually, right after posting this message) to buy a Q6600 :(
-f0dder (February 09, 2008, 03:14 AM)
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Definitely wait if you can (supposed to be out before April 1st), these chips will also run much cooler and reach a much higher overclock on a stock heatsink & fan.  It seems Intel is milking the current line of 65nm Quads for all it can before it releases the reasonably priced conterparts to the QX9650 45nm Quad Core (http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/28/intel-fleshes-out-45nm-yorkfield-launch-details/), this is the exception to the 45nm chips that aren't available, which was released in late November, but still retails for $1080 USD at NewEgg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115034). 

f0dder:
Well, I hope to be able to upgrade to a Q9450 when they hit the streets here (I have a brother that could use the Q6600 with his current rig...), but I really needed a new box :)

Power consumption for the new system could be a lot worse:
pretty idle:   106.7W
1 cores maxed: 136.5W
2 cores maxed: 152.5W
3 cores maxed: 162.5W
4 cores maxed: 168.0W

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...that's the same harddrives and graphics card as the powerslave test, but a Q6600 (2.4GHz) CPU and 8 gigatebytes (4 x 2gig sticks) of RAM. NOT bad, imho.

f0dder:
Btw, just for fun I tried undervolting the Q6600... idle power consumption doesn't really change (I guess the speedstep/whatever stuff in intel CPUs lowers speed as well as voltage?), but with lowest voltage (can't remember how low the BIOS went :P), 4 cores maxxed use only ~156W. I haven't tested whether it delivers the same speed (I think it should, since I didn't change clock frequency), and I have no idea whether it's stable (would have to run for half a day or so).

But it's interesting that there might be 10-12W saved by undervolting...

Deozaan:
Hey f0dder, check this out:

Eight-Core Intel Skulltrail. It's a motherboard that supports 2 Quad-Core CPUs.

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