Did I make a bad decision?

Y

YogiYahooeys

n00b
Joined
Oct 6, 2004
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17
So, I'm getting a new computer (first a few years). Unlike the past several computers that I've had, I am not building this one myself; however, the premium that the boutiques wanted for a good video card was ridiculous, so I decided to purchase and install the video card separately.

I did a decent amount of research before my purchase, but I thought I'd ask the experts here.

I got an eVGA GTX280 for $220 (after MIR). It seemed like a pretty good deal, but after doing some more reading this morning, I'm wondering if there weren't better options for the same price, like a GTX275 or a 4850X2.

Thoughts? Comments?

Thanks!
 
whats the rest of your rig? cant really comment wihtout knowing what you have started with. the 260 is still a good card.....however i agree not much more a 275 would of been a good option. im not sure what 4850x2s run for the moment.
 
GTX280 for $220 sounds like a very good deal, the GTX275 is about the same and the 4850X2 will probably be slower in most things due to crossfire/sli both being a bit erratic, I paid $300+ for mine each and thats a good deal here, damn UK prices!
 
Well, I was trying to keep it under $1,000, not counting the video card, and again, I wasn't looking to build it myself this time... So I ended up going with Velocity Micro's Z5.

Specs:
Power Supply 550 Watt Velocity Micro® Power Supply
Motherboard NVIDIA nForce 630i based chipset, DDR2, mATX, PCI-e
Processor Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor E8500, dual 3.16GHz cores, 6MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB (45nm)
CPU Cooling Arctic Cooling® Freezer 7 Pro Heatsink, Ultra Quiet Fan, Copper Heat Pipes
DDR2 Memory 4096MB Corsair™ XMS2 DDR2-800 Low Latency Extreme Memory with Heat Spreader (2x2048)
Hard Drive 1 1TB Hitachi 7200rpm 32MB Cache SATA 300 w/NCQ
Optical Drive 1 20x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner

I'm using the integrated sound card on the motherboard.
 
yeah ok . i think you made the right choice. thats a good deal on a 280. anyone one of those cards you mentioned i like.
 
550W Velocity Micro PSU with GTX 280? I don't know whether it is enough.
 
YogiYahooeys said:
Really? I was reading that a 550 was what was suggested for a 280. Is this a comment on the quality of VM's psus or that 550 watts isn't enough for a 280?
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If it is a good PSU then 550W would be just enough for the GTX 280 and a dual core CPU but it is better to have a headroom so that you can do some overclocking or add more drives later but I don't know much about the quality of the Velocity Micro PSU.
 
alg7_munif said:
If it is a good PSU then 550W would be just enough for the GTX 280 and a dual core CPU but it is better to have a headroom so that you can do some overclocking or add more drives later but I don't know much about the quality of the Velocity Micro PSU.
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Just enough? My overclocked Core 2 Quad system with a 280 with all 4 cores and the video card maxed out only draws 330w at the PSU. However, i would have serious misgivings about any PSU that isn't BFG or Corsair.
 
Whisperfang said:
Just enough? My overclocked Core 2 Quad system with a 280 with all 4 cores and the video card maxed out only draws 330w at the PSU. However, i would have serious misgivings about any PSU that isn't BFG or Corsair.
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I had some misgivings about not getting a big name psu myself, but everyone, including people on these boards, talks so good about Velocity Micro that I figured that I would be ok...

There's not a whole lot that I can do about it at this point in time. Velocity Micro didn't offer anything beyond their own psus. I guess if the system isn't stable, I can always buy a Corsair or BFG, etc and install it myself.
 
I would have gone with the Core 216. You can find them for about $50+ cheaper and they perform with a small marginal percentage of the GTX 280. You did get a good deal, but you could have gotten a better one.
 
rohan23 said:
I would have gone with the Core 216. You can find them for about $50+ cheaper and they perform with a small marginal percentage of the GTX 280. You did get a good deal, but you could have gotten a better one.
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Really? You think a 216 260 is only outperformed by a small marginal percentage by the 280?

I was only concerned about maybe the 275 maybe coming close to matching the 280's performance. I hadn't considered that a 260 might come close...
 
the gtx 280 and gtx 260 have a larger performance gap the higher the resolution you are playing at and the higher amounts of AA you put on in your games

if you are gaming at 1920x1200 or higher, there is a larger performance difference with the 280 ahead of the 260... as the resolution decreases, the 280 is still ahead but the difference decreases.

basically, you set yourself up for a monitor upgrade in the future if you aren't gaming at higher resolutions
 
JacobC1983 said:
the gtx 280 and gtx 260 have a larger performance gap the higher the resolution you are playing at and the higher amounts of AA you put on in your games

if you are gaming at 1920x1200 or higher, there is a larger performance difference with the 280 ahead of the 260... as the resolution decreases, the 280 is still ahead but the difference decreases.

basically, you set yourself up for a monitor upgrade in the future if you aren't gaming at higher resolutions
Click to expand...

Alright then, that makes me feel a lot better. I probably should have mentioned it earlier, but I do have a 24" monitor, so 1920x1200 is the most natural resolution. It sounds like I made a decent choice after all. Now all that I have to worry about is the PSU.

Thanks!
 
JacobC1983 said:
the gtx 280 and gtx 260 have a larger performance gap the higher the resolution you are playing at and the higher amounts of AA you put on in your games

if you are gaming at 1920x1200 or higher, there is a larger performance difference with the 280 ahead of the 260... as the resolution decreases, the 280 is still ahead but the difference decreases.

basically, you set yourself up for a monitor upgrade in the future if you aren't gaming at higher resolutions
Click to expand...


Hmm, are you completely sure?

http://www.guru3d.com/article/evga-geforce-gtx-260-core-216-superclocked-review/9
 
I would have gone for the GTX 260 216 for $50 less as well, but the GTX 280 for $220 is still a decent deal. What are the ratings on the PSU? Honestly, it'd have to be an absolute POS 550W to not handle your selected rig; I think you'll be fine.
 
YogiYahooeys said:
Motherboard NVIDIA nForce 630i based chipset, DDR2, mATX, PCI-e
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I don't know guys, the only 630i based boards I will ever buy are for "internet boxes." I can tell you already the OP is already losing 5%-20% performance because these boards are single channel memory only.... just like an Intel Atom (non Ion) system....

I've had three of them (two mITX, for the formfactor) and I wasn't happy to game on it. I'd suggest replacing the mobo or something. The 630i was a very bad joke IMO.
 
CrimandEvil said:
I don't know guys, the only 630i based boards I will ever buy are for "internet boxes." I can tell you already the OP is already losing 5%-20% performance because these boards are single channel memory only.... just like an Intel Atom (non Ion) system....

I've had three of them (two mITX, for the formfactor) and I wasn't happy to game on it. I'd suggest replacing the mobo or something. The 630i was a very bad joke IMO.
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What about the 750i or 780i?
 
Just an FYI...the power supply is BRANDED as a Velocity Micro PS...but they don't manufacture them.

When you have strong relationships with suppliers, it's not unusual for a hardware vendor to create a part to the PC manufacturer's specifications. When that happens, the hardware company can't sell that part retail or to other companies because that's a violation of NDA, etc. Therefore, the PS becomes a Velocity Micro Power Supply even though well known manufacturer XYZ actually built it.

That power supply is perfectly fine and is probably a A list manufacturer's product. Don't sweat it.
 
$220 for a 280, especially an EVGA, is a heck of a deal. Don't second guess your purchase one bit.

GregP24 said:
QFT. Plenty of good PSUs out there not made by BFG or Corsair.
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Yes, but plenty MORE bad PSUs out there not made by BFG or Corsair.
 
CrimandEvil said:
I don't know guys, the only 630i based boards I will ever buy are for "internet boxes." I can tell you already the OP is already losing 5%-20% performance because these boards are single channel memory only.... just like an Intel Atom (non Ion) system....

I've had three of them (two mITX, for the formfactor) and I wasn't happy to game on it. I'd suggest replacing the mobo or something. The 630i was a very bad joke IMO.
Click to expand...

Thank you to this poster for the warning about the 630i motherboard. I blindly trusted the computer builder, believing that they wouldn't sell such a neutered product. Big mistake on my part. I cancelled the order for that item, and now I'm now doing the additional research that I should have done in the first place and checking out all parts to any build that I am constructing (what I would have done if I was building it myself, guess I was just trying to be lazy... {sigh}).

Regardless, the GTX280 is on the way and will still be a large piece of whatever computer through whatever boutique that I decide to go with. Thanks again to everyone who made me feel better about my purchase and/or discussed the other options that were available to me. Oh, and much thanks to Heather regarding the info on psu branding; that's a very important piece of information that will help me in making my decisions.
 
No problem. I know it's confusing and really misleading. Most of the smaller companies won't choose crap parts because they need to retain customer loyalty...because it screws the manufacturer in the end, anyway.

Warranty support is the arterial bleed in any company that supports their own products, so they aren't going to knowingly put a part in a computer that's going to cause them dozens of man hours, shipping charges, restocking fees, damage to their rep...you get the picture. The $$ saved by buying cheap parts is completely annihilated by the cost of supporting bad hardware and the damage to your image. None of the builders you're looking at would do something so unethical or stupid. Believe me. :)
 
YogiYahooeys said:
Thank you to this poster for the warning about the 630i motherboard. I blindly trusted the computer builder, believing that they wouldn't sell such a neutered product. Big mistake on my part. I cancelled the order for that item, and now I'm now doing the additional research that I should have done in the first place and checking out all parts to any build that I am constructing (what I would have done if I was building it myself, guess I was just trying to be lazy... {sigh}).

Regardless, the GTX280 is on the way and will still be a large piece of whatever computer through whatever boutique that I decide to go with. Thanks again to everyone who made me feel better about my purchase and/or discussed the other options that were available to me. Oh, and much thanks to Heather regarding the info on psu branding; that's a very important piece of information that will help me in making my decisions.
Click to expand...

Yah just build your own. You can definitely build a descent box for $600. GTx280 was a good choice, has a nice 1 gig of ram / and is 512-bit vs whatever bit the gtx260 was. Coolmax sells high wattage psus on the cheap as well. As for the mobo, go with gigabyte, and nothing less than pc8500 ram, and you could probably get a nice quad for $150 for the cpu.
 
Heather Taylor said:
No problem. I know it's confusing and really misleading. Most of the smaller companies won't choose crap parts because they need to retain customer loyalty...because it screws the manufacturer in the end, anyway.

Warranty support is the arterial bleed in any company that supports their own products, so they aren't going to knowingly put a part in a computer that's going to cause them dozens of man hours, shipping charges, restocking fees, damage to their rep...you get the picture. The $$ saved by buying cheap parts is completely annihilated by the cost of supporting bad hardware and the damage to your image. None of the builders you're looking at would do something so unethical or stupid. Believe me. :)
Click to expand...

Well said and I couldn't agree more.
 
YogiYahooeys said:
What about the 750i or 780i?
Click to expand...

Frankly, unless you want SLI compatibility, or you want semi-decent onboard video from an LGA775 motherboard, you should avoid NVIDIA chipset based boards completely. The EVGA 750i SLI FTW is the only one really worth having. (It is not a reference design, which is a good thing.) For 3-Way SLI it is right out but short of that it is the best of the NVIDIA chipset based boards I've ever used. The 780i SLI reference boards are virtually the same thing as the 680i SLI reference designs which are the worst boards I can think of in recent times. The 780i SLI features better (if only slightly) electrical components and they added an nForce 200 MCP to the board to enable PCI-Express 2.0 support. It gains you little to nothing and just adds more heat and power load to the board.

If you don't need SLI support then Intel chipset based boards are the best choice 100% of the time.
 
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