Better CPU opt for medium level gaming?

Question

Hi,

Im looking for a PC on the chep that will play games OK nd can still be upgraged in very near future.

Im unsure which is a better System for medium gaming and internet.

As far as CPU's go, pls explain the beter opt.

AMD Phenom X3 Triple-core 8400+

2.1 GHz, 3 x 512KB L2 cache, 3600MHz Bus

ATI Radeon HD 3650 upto 512MB (Crossfire)

2GB DDR2 upto 8GB

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz 4MB L2 cache 1333MHz FSB

2GB DDR2 upto 4GB

nVidia Gefoce 9300GE upto 511MB

Firstly, I will upgrade GFX card and RAM. Im unsure about the X3 with crossfire... If I run 2 x 3650 gfx cards, wit be any better.. at least for med level gaming?

What would be a good ATI gfx card for the $$$ that I can run in Crossfire?

Should I go with Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Quad or AMD Phenom X3 Triple Core?

Im after something basic to start but can be beefed up in future with better gfx cards. I want to run XP (first) before going Vista.

If I upgrade to 2x gfx crds and more RAM, will it affect my power supply?

Any advice would be great.... thanks!

Answer 1

I would recommend the Core2 duo system because Intel has already voiced their intention of staying with the LGA 775 socket.  AMD has made the same promise numerous times in the past and not followed through (socket 754 and 939 as examples).  By sticking with Intel you are pretty much guaranteed upgrades in the future.

Another thing is all the hype placed on Quad and Tri core processors is still a bit premature.  There are only a handful of processors that will currently take advantage of multi core processors.  Some folks love to have bleeding edge technology but the fact remains that you will most likely be able to upgrade to a 4 or 8 core processor in the future for much less than the going rate (and by then there will probably be better support for multicore processors).  It just doesn't make sense now.  Furthermore, because of all the revisions and constant competition re: AMD vs Intel, you will probably be able to snag a much more power efficient/green friendly CPU 1-4 years down the line than the current available ones.  The fact that we have gone from 90nm to 45nm processes in the last few years further backs this claim.

Another thing I wanted to point out is the whole SLI/Crossfire hype.  Everyone associates multi GPU with extreme gaming but the fact remains that just 1 decent GPU will suffice for most gamers and users alike.  In most cases it is even cheaper to buy an X2 version of a video card rather than 2 separate cards (and about the same performance).

Your title said you wanted medium level gaming and I can tell you that you can get a pretty darn stellar gaming experience without even having to delve into crossfire or SLI.

I myself am running a 9800gtx and even though there are more powerful cards available at the time of this writing, I probably won't have to upgrade for at the very least a year.  Some good single cards you may want to consider:

ATI hd4850

ATI hd4870 (or 4870x2 if you want guaranteed overkill)

Nvidia 260 based

Nvidia 280 based (260 offers more bang for the buck to be honest)

The ati cards you mentioned arent bad either.  Almost anything will be better than that 9300GE, heh

As for the question about your power supply, yes, the video card you choose will impact your power supply needs.  My 9800gtx does require quite a bit of power but the 260 and 280 based cards (newer) don't need quite as much juice.  Whether you are buying a video card in a retail store or online it should clearly state how many watts your power supply needs to be in order to run.  Pay attention to this because different board manufacturers have different requirements.  As an example, you can see 3 different versions of a 4870 ati card for sale and one might require a 400w power supply, another might require 500watt etc etc.

Best of luck

One more thing, if you are running a 32 bit operating system, your computer will not see past 3 or 3.5 gigs Ram (unless you go with a 64 bit version of the operating system, which tend to have difficulty with availability of some drivers) so keep that in mind when buying or upgrading your ram.  1 or 2 gigs should be more than enough for XP