Need help on building high-end gaming computer.

Compare benchmarks, the GeForce 280, a $500 graphics card on average beats the 4870, a $250 card by less than 10%, probably looking at an average of 4-6%.

You put two 4870s in crossfire for the same price as a 280 and only in QuakeWars will the 280 come out on top and thats by about 10% (6fps) but in many cases the CrossFire 4870s are getting over 90% (50+fps) performance increases and thats at resolutions of 2560x1600.

So yes, it is extremely underpowered.

( Edited 06.08.2008 01:23 by MGE )

I wouldn't call that underpowered.

Well enough about poor word choices; I have suggested the 4870, but the 280 is the most powerful single card on the market right now. I'd easily get the 4870 if it was a toss up, for me personally.

Well the motherboard you suggested has reviews saying its not for people trying to build a computer for their first time.

and it says you have to go their a hassle with the bios, but other than that i would get it.

can you suggest a similar mobo? but more n00b friendly.

Page of reviews> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136048&Tpk=DFI%2bLAN%2bParty%2bUT%2bX48

Well i am thinking about two 4870\'s but i don\'t have a clue to what crossfire is and how i would use it.

And i have no idea about OCing the CPU, i would OC if i knew how, but this is my first time trying to build a computer.

Gotta remember im a computer n00b.

( Edited 06.08.2008 03:15 by Diraku28 )

The fact is you're not going to have two different set-ups sitting side-by-side to tell the difference between some tiny 2% performance increase. Whatever you get it'll be outdated almost instantly, but as a n00b you're simply not going to notice. Read a few reviews, get the concensus and get the best you can afford but don't pay too much attention to all these gimps throwing serial numbers at you It takes the joy out of getting something shiny and new if you're constantly worried about the 2fps extra you might have got for an extra $150. You won't notice it.

I've got a decent PC, but haven't actually used it for gaming yet. I'd give you specs but it'd probably be followed by posts ripping it to shreds

Anyway, remember to enjoy it.

Personally I'm a Gigabyte or Asus man, all my motherboards for the past 8 years have been from them and I haven't had a single fail. With motherboards the chipset is important and then its whatever motherboard you prefer from a usability and extras point of view.

Crossfire is easy, you put the two graphic cards in the motherboard, sometime you'll need a "bridge" which is a small connector between the cards and then install the drivers, its just putting in two cards. As I said earlier though AMD is releasing the 4870 X2 which is two 4870 GPUs on the one graphic card so you don't need to faff about with a second card and it will also have a dedicated memory controller to give better performance than current Crossfire and SLI solutions.

Overclocking can be done at a later date but honestly if you are a "n00b" then wait a couple of months, the 4870 X2 and Nelehem will be out and even if you can't afford them they will defnitely push the prices of good hardware down.