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Computer questions

post #1 of 23
6/20/07 at 10:12pm
Thread Starter 
Is it ok to have a graphics thing and a motherboard in one? If you don't play any games, is that fine?

ASUS P5N32-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Is that good? People here recommend the dual something Intel:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor (new egg)

Will those 2 work together?

I'm doing audio stuff, like I said before.

THanks a lot
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post #2 of 23
6/20/07 at 11:15pm
If you aren't playing any games I don't think integrated graphics will hurt you much. You probably won't be able to get real high-rez output off your motherboard graphics though, so if your monitor is over 19 inches I'd say get a graphics card. The thing is, one of your motherboard's main features is that you can put TWO graphics cards in, link them together, and use them as one super graphics card (thats what SLI is), so you might be better off getting a non SLI board. It might be cheaper anyways. The Intel chip should work fine with that board.
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post #3 of 23
6/20/07 at 11:52pm
Thread Starter 
ok so what's a graphics card that I can use if I want to occasionaly play games? I haven't played a game in a long time, but sometimes something like grand theft auto is fun. Is there something I can get that isn't fucking insane? The new graphics things look like small microwaves.
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post #4 of 23
6/21/07 at 12:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Violinist View Post
ok so what's a graphics card that I can use if I want to occasionaly play games? I haven't played a game in a long time, but sometimes something like grand theft auto is fun. Is there something I can get that isn't fucking insane? The new graphics things look like small microwaves.
Heh... some of the the newest cards that are coming out aren't even able to fit inside your computer. they are a standalone box that plugs into an interface card that you plug into where your graphics card would go. One would assume that all kinds of fans and cooling fins will be attached to outside of said external box. You may actually be able to cook food on them. Probably look at something like this... or this... this is still a lot of video card for you, but you are somewhat limited by the fact that most new motherboards are going to use a PCI-e graphics card slot, which only the newer cards are going to have. Newer meaning higher end.
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post #5 of 23
6/21/07 at 2:50pm
Built-in graphics are fine, even for games. Just get a motherboard with an Nvidia Nforce like you're doing, and you should be OK. I have a really old system that's based on the Nforce2, and I get 1600x1200 out of it onto a 20-inch 4x3 LCD display. Games that use 3D work fine on it if I don't max out all the settings.

Your system will be significantly faster than mine, and if you're really unhappy with the graphics, you can always add a card later on. I'd look at the E6600 Core 2 Duo instead since that's closer to the knee of the price/performance curve.

--Andre
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post #6 of 23
6/21/07 at 8:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim View Post
Heh... some of the the newest cards that are coming out aren't even able to fit inside your computer. they are a standalone box that plugs into an interface card that you plug into where your graphics card would go. One would assume that all kinds of fans and cooling fins will be attached to outside of said external box. You may actually be able to cook food on them.

Probably look at something like this... or this... this is still a lot of video card for you, but you are somewhat limited by the fact that most new motherboards are going to use a PCI-e graphics card slot, which only the newer cards are going to have. Newer meaning higher end.

Meh, what the hell are you talking about? The highest-end graphics card currently on the market is a GeForce 8800 Ultra and it's an internal solution. So is ATI's (sorry, AMD's) top offering.
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post #7 of 23
6/21/07 at 11:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GQgeek View Post
Meh, what the hell are you talking about? The highest-end graphics card currently on the market is a GeForce 8800 Ultra and it's an internal solution. So is ATI's (sorry, AMD's) top offering.
The CURRENT highest end of the joe schmoe consumer GPU maybe. NVIDIA makes a standalone tower unit that performs over 1000Gflop floating point calculations a second and cables into a PCI-e host adaptor card. It's currenly being marketed to the scientific and 3d modeling industries. Search for the NVIDIA Tesla and Quadro Plex series. Some of the next gen gaming GPUs are going to be similar in nature to this, simply due to cooling and electricity demands that would be absurd to attempt to fill inside your average computer case. Also, you ever try cramming a GeForce 8800 into a laptop? Not that easy with that big ass heatsink, fan, and power demands... This is the available solution which is hitting streets any time now. If you'll read my statement more closely next time, I never said that these things were currently available, even though you the aforementioned ASUS and NVIDIA are taking steps in that direction. I was making a comparison to current cards looking like microwaves, not trying to sell a Tesla to Violinist. Boo-yaa sucka! Don't force me to out nerd you. I dont really have the time.
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post #8 of 23
6/22/07 at 3:31am
Why are you buying a highend SLI board to do audio work? Your money is better spent on a good sound card, like something in the Sound Blaster X-Fi series. Something like this ASUS P5N-E for a mobo would be sufficient. If you're only running XP, your onboard graphics would be sufficient for now. If you have the need to upgrade to Vista, your onboard graphics would surely be sluggish. A midrange graphics card for cheap would be something like a NVidia 7600GT or 7900GS. The 7600GT can be had for under $100.
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post #9 of 23
6/22/07 at 3:34am
doubled
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post #10 of 23
6/22/07 at 3:39am
I already basically asked that. Getting an SLI board and then using the onboard graphics (or even a single midgrade graphics card) is sort of like buying a Porsche and then harnessing a horse to the front of it to haul you places.

Maybe I'm not getting what the OP is trying to get out of his computer.
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post #11 of 23
6/22/07 at 3:42am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim View Post
I already basically asked that. Getting an SLI board and then using the onboard graphics (or even a single midgrade graphics card) is sort of like buying a Porsche and then harnessing a horse to the front of it to haul you places.

Maybe I'm not getting what the OP is trying to get out of his computer.

I see. That's what I get for reading every other line. It's late, I need to get to bed.
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post #12 of 23
6/22/07 at 5:09am
Thread Starter 
I dont have any fucking clue what an SLI board is... I know music, not computers. I suppose I should educate myself, but this is why I ask if these things are good or not.

Like I say, I almost never play any games so what GQ Geek recommended seems good... that Nvidia (that way if I ever want to play Doom or some shit like that, it will look pretty, and I don't have to splurge on it.
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post #13 of 23
6/22/07 at 7:40am
Quote:
I dont have any fucking clue what an SLI board is... I know music, not computers. I suppose I should educate myself, but this is why I ask if these things are good or not.

Like I say, I almost never play any games so what GQ Geek recommended seems good... that Nvidia (that way if I ever want to play Doom or some shit like that, it will look pretty, and I don't have to splurge on it.

Sounds gd

l'd stay clear of integrated graphics myself, although they should play games that are 2 years older or more with not too many problems, any games from 2006 they will severely struggle with, and forget anything which came out in the last 6 months.

I personally don't see the point of going integrated, not when you can get average GPUs (like the X1600 mentioned above) for so cheap, around $80 or so. They'll offer [i]waay/I] better performance than any integrated rubbish.

Of course, if you know you're never going to play any newish games, go integrated - you can always buy a graphics card and stick it in later.

Quote:
This is the available solution which is hitting streets any time now. If you'll read my statement more closely next time, I never said that these things were currently available, even though you the aforementioned ASUS and NVIDIA are taking steps in that direction. I was making a comparison to current cards looking like microwaves, not trying to sell a Tesla to Violinist.

Boo-yaa sucka! Don't force me to out nerd you. I dont really have the time.

I'm sorry but there is no way that stuff will ever become mainstream - by the time the bulk of the market (i.e. average consumers/gamers) need that kind of gpu power, it will have become small enough to go inside your pc. I'm sure you could buy an X1950 equivilant gpu 2 years ago - it just would have looked like that.
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post #14 of 23
6/22/07 at 10:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by terminat View Post
I'm sorry but there is no way that stuff will ever become mainstream - by the time the bulk of the market (i.e. average consumers/gamers) need that kind of gpu power, it will have become small enough to go inside your pc. I'm sure you could buy an X1950 equivilant gpu 2 years ago - it just would have looked like that.
Nobody ever said anything about mainstream. Liquid cooling will never become "mainstream" but its readily available, and a certain niche of people (serious gamers) have been doing it for years. You DO realize that power and space consumption for GPU's is pretty much at its limit right? Cards realistically cannot get any bigger, hotter, or take up any more room. Especially inside a computer case that keeps getting smaller and smaller. Whether you believe it or not, as ASUS has already demonstrated, the external solution is what the major companies are thinking of next. The "mainstream" doesn't dictate the direction of computer technology, never has. So I'm not really seeing your point.
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post #15 of 23
6/22/07 at 12:58pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Violinist View Post
I dont have any fucking clue what an SLI board is... I know music, not computers. I suppose I should educate myself, but this is why I ask if these things are good or not.

Like I say, I almost never play any games so what GQ Geek recommended seems good... that Nvidia (that way if I ever want to play Doom or some shit like that, it will look pretty, and I don't have to splurge on it.

I wouldn't bother with the ultra. It's mucho $$$. If you're not going to be gaming frequently, go with the 8800 GTS or at most the 8800 GTX, depending on how much you want to spend. Either of those cards would have you covered for years.

And TS, I can't believe you're bringing Tesla in to this. He's talking consumer graphics cards and your bring-up HPC? That's like someone asking for computer suggestions and me bringing up HP blade servers. Those aren't even really intended for graphics work btw. They're intended to leverage the scalability and massive processing power of GPUs for certain types of calculations that they do much more effeciently than general purpose CPUs. And I was aware of the upcoming external solutions for NOTEBOOK graphics, which have always been crippled by size and thermal constraints, but I don't see it happening in PCs for quite some time, if ever. He's building a PC. Current PSUs have plenty of wattage for hungry graphics cards.

And nobody that wants a smaller pc is going to go that route and then add an external box for graphics. Chances are, if their priorities are smaller and quieter, they won't be looking at the super high-end of GPU line-ups, which will always be big and hot.
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