doing a gaming pc build which is better

N

Nvidia101

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 17, 2005
Messages
1,194
OK is it better get a antec 300 vs 900 v2?


Antec 300
Gtx 260
650 antec psu


Antec 900 two
gtx 260 or with 285 gtx?
750 corsair psu
is it also better to go with 1 single card or sli? for now i could only buy one but could sli in the futue

evga 285 vs xfx 260 core 216
 
Nvidia101 said:
OK is it better get a antec 300 vs 900 v2?
Click to expand...
Totally depends on your budget and the case look you like the most. They both cool about the same AFAIk

Nvidia101 said:
gtx 260 or with 285 gtx?
Click to expand...
Depends on your resolution

Nvidia101 said:
is it also better to go with 1 single card or sli? for now i could only buy one but could sli in the futue
Click to expand...

And my answer:
Markyip1 said:
Just some info on SLI / Crossfire: It's absolutely not worth considering if a) you're gaming at a resolution under 1920x1200 (as you'll see no performance benefit over a single card,) and b) if you plan to buy one card now and another later. SLI / Crossfire as an upgrade path is usually a very poor idea, as by the time you're ready to get that second card, a new single card solution will likely be available that will outperform two of your older cards in tandem. Furthermore, there really is no cost benefit to the SLI Upgrade Route, as any additional cost in getting the new card can be easily mitigated in most situations by selling the original. By avoiding an SLI / Crossfire solution when it will not be of benefit, you gain a cooler running, simpler to maintain system and more importantly, access to a much better (and broader) selection of motherboards.
Click to expand...

Please answer the stickied questions "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST" so that we can help you better.
 
its in all caps... how else can we get people to notice it? lol.
 
Consider the Coolermaster 690 over the antec 300 or 900-2. I know it is what I am using for my build, it is cheaper, roomier inside and better engineered.
 
All else being equal, GTX 285 > GTX 260 Core 216. It's also noticeably more expensive. The reply Danny posted is a good reference point. It makes a difference above 1920x1200.
 
PC_User said:
All else being equal, GTX 285 > GTX 260 Core 216. It's also noticeably more expensive. The reply Danny posted is a good reference point. It makes a difference above 1920x1200.
Click to expand...

i was planning on getting a 24" dell S2409W 1920x1200
 
In that case, help us out here by answering the questions listed in the "Asking for Build Help?" sticky.

We need to know how much you're willing to spend as well as what you're planning to spend it on before we could (collectively) give you better advice. Answering those questions would help us immensely.
 
Nvidia101 said:
thats a nice case but after checking the Antec Nine Hundred Two it looks better and its the newest one to come out.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129058&Tpk=Antec Nine Hundred Two Black
Click to expand...

A lot of case decisions are subjective based on style. That being said, new does not equal better it only really equals more expensive. After going to a local tech shop and looking at all of these cases the Antec series is just way too gaudy for me. However, putting personal choices on aesthetics aside I seriously thought about the Antec 900 2 but for these reasons I did not choose it.

1) No grill on the bottom. I really am a bit shocked that Antec didn't account for this considering all of the otherwise good design decisions in this case. This means that you have to do one of the following:
  • Mount the PSU upside down (ugly imo)
  • Drill your own hole in the bottom of the case (shouldn't have to drill a brand new expensive case)
  • Mount the PSU right side up and hope it doesn't overheat due to limited airflow.

2) The Antec 900-2 isn't actually as roomy inside as the CM 690. I've read a lot about people having a little trouble fitting a big graphics card like the gtx 285 or a big heatsink like a TRUE or CM v8 in the case.

3) Expensive

All that being said the Antec 900-2 and 1200 are great cases that have gotten some great reviews so if you like them, go for it. The Antec 1200 is only a bit more expensive than the 900-2 so if weight and space is not a concern and you want one of the Antec series cases I would say go for that. The 1200 is roomier inside than the 900-2 and is built along the same design lines.

If you are going for 1920x1200 24" monitor the gtx 285 is going to give you a bigger bang for your buck than the gtx 260. Both XFX and EVGA are good manufacturers with good reps.

SLI in the future is a bad idea, you can read in the FAQ the reasons why. This is a common question asked here and honestly it was one of the first things I asked about when I started building my new rig.
 
yeah but lets say i sli in a month or so. the gtx 285 alone is still gone cost more and far worse performance then 2 xfx 260 black editons.
 
Nvidia101 said:
yeah but lets say i sli in a month or so. the gtx 285 alone is still gone cost more and far worse performance then 2 xfx 260 black editons.
Click to expand...

Why wait a month? If you want SLI, do it now. Otherwise, there's a good chance you'll keep putting it off until its no longer worth it.
 
Nvidia101 said:
yeah but lets say i sli in a month or so. the gtx 285 alone is still gone cost more and far worse performance then 2 xfx 260 black editons.
Click to expand...

A single GTX 285 is not far worse than 2 GTX 260s, that really comes down to specific applications and their ability or lack thereof to take advantage of SLI. A single 285 is also not more expensive than 2 260s if you remain consistent within the same brand (I.E. try comparing two evgas or two xfxs rather than evga super clocked to xfx black edition).
 
RAD said:
A single GTX 285 is not far worse than 2 GTX 260s, that really comes down to specific applications and their ability or lack thereof to take advantage of SLI. A single 285 is also not more expensive than 2 260s if you remain consistent within the same brand (I.E. try comparing two evgas or two xfxs rather than evga super clocked to xfx black edition).
Click to expand...


all new games take advantage of Sli. with a gtx 285 its like cutting the performance 40% less as apposed to 2 gtx 260


just of what 1 of these black edtions can do here:

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/gpu_displays/xfx_gtx260_896mb_black_edition/5

ok so i checked newegg:

1 xfx gtx 285 costs $380

will the costs for 2 is $440.00 and free games too.

so for that minor $60 dollars difference im thinking its awesome. Especially since two of them are more on par with the gtx 295 for less.
 
Last edited:
Nvidia101 said:
yes . right here at 1920 X 1200

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3517&p=7

the gtx 260 sli got 98.9 and the gtx 285 got 59.8. So in the most popular games it does benefit greatly up to the 35- 40% increase, especially the black edition.
Click to expand...

WaW and FC2 are the most popular games? :confused: lies. Regardless, its still not 35 - 40% across the board. In fact, the average is only 23% out of the games in that review. If all you play is WaW and FC2, then go for it. Though, get it now, don't wait... no point in waiting only a month.

comp.gtx260sli.gtx285.GIF


Also, the cost isn't simply the extra card, its also the added cooling, the bigger case, and the more capable PSU.
 
enginurd said:
1034069346]WaW and FC2 are the most popular games? :confused: lies. Regardless, its still not 35 - 40% across the board. In fact, the average is only 23% out of the games in that review. If all you play is WaW and FC2, then go for it. Though, get it now, don't wait... no point in waiting only a month.

comp.gtx260sli.gtx285.GIF


Also, the cost isn't simply the extra card, its also the added cooling, the bigger case, and the more capable PSU.
Click to expand...

well that review is not 100% accurate + that's not a xfx black edition that was reviewed. They missed alot of other games such as Cod4, fear 2, . Grand Theft Auto IV... I doubt much people play age of cohan, they should of reviewed a better game.

and read this part too:


"If you want to break it down, the only NVIDIA single GPU solutions we really recommend as an option are the GeForce GTX 260 variants and/or SLI which are on par with the Radeon 4870 512MB and 1GB depending on the games we chose to test. Really the decision comes down to which games you prefer to play and what features you want. Buying a single GPU solution for more than $300 doesn't make sense with the efficiency of the 4850 X2"

in any other words the gtx 285 is not worth getting. its either a single gtx 260 OC or 2 in sli or a 4870 x2....
 
Last edited:
If the games not in the reivew are using the same engine as a game in the review, you'll get nearly the same performance. I'm too lazy to lookup #s for those other games. As I said earlier, I was going off that AT review.

Black edition? OC it yourself and save some money. :rolleyes:
 
I guess I've got to ask, why did you ask if you should use a 260 or 285 set up? It seems you already have a pretty clear opinion and data set backing up that opinion.
 
enginurd said:
If the games not in the reivew are using the same engine as a game in the review, you'll get nearly the same performance. I'm too lazy to lookup #s for those other games. As I said earlier, I was going off that AT review.

Black edition? OC it yourself and save some money. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

its not the same of one that is already factory OC which allows you to overclock a little bit further, then one thats already not.



RAD said:
I guess I've got to ask, why did you ask if you should use a 260 or 285 set up? It seems you already have a pretty clear opinion and data set backing up that opinion.
Click to expand...

yes I asked yesterday and over that time frame I have researched and learned what is a better option. the 285 is not and for $350-380 its a waste of money. The only thing I could do now is compare the sli to a 4870 x2
 
Last edited:
To be clear, I wasn't arguing whether SLI was worth it or not. I was simply challenging the statement about 40% performance benefit across the board, which is clearly not true.

So you want to pay $25 for 96Mhz? Up to you. In the past, you could always OC the card yourself and reach around the same clocks or better as the factory OC'd cards -- though, I haven't looked it up recently, so maybe things have changed.
 
enginurd said:
To be clear, I wasn't arguing whether SLI was worth it or not. I was simply challenging the statement about 40% performance benefit across the board, which is clearly not true.

So you want to pay $25 for 96Mhz? Up to you. In the past, you could always OC the card yourself and reach around the same clocks or better as the factory OC'd cards -- though, I haven't looked it up recently, so maybe things have changed.
Click to expand...

well it was not done with a xfx gtx 260 BE so we will not know exactly and not other game titles as well.

Core Clock 576MHz
Stream Processors 216 Processor Cores
Memory
Memory Clock 2000MHz
Memory Size 896MB
Memory Interface 448-bit
Memory Type GDDR3


The black edtion. Awesome already, which i could push further easier:


Core Clock 666MHz
Stream Processors 216 Processor Cores
Memory
Memory Clock 2300MHz
Memory Size 896MB
Memory Interface 448-bit
Memory Type GDDR3

the black edtion is meant to be pushed further then a regular one.


And you also get 2 Free game: Far Cry 2, Cod5, and a $30.00 rebate.

Now tell me all that is not worth $20 bucks!!....:D
 
Last edited:
Nvidia101 said:
... the black edtion is meant to be pushed further then a regular one.
Click to expand...

You eat up XFX's marketing like cake. :rolleyes:

Nvidia101 said:
Now tell me all that is not worth $20 bucks!!....:D
Click to expand...

I never said it was nor wasn't. :p And again, you're forgetting the added cost of a more powerful PSU, bigger case, and more cooling. Also, don't forget the added complexity of a dual card system as opposed to a single card one.
 
enginurd said:
You eat up XFX's marketing like cake. :rolleyes:



I never said it was nor wasn't. :p And again, you're forgetting the added cost of a more powerful PSU, bigger case, and more cooling. Also, don't forget the added complexity of a dual card system as opposed to a single card one.
Click to expand...

it's true the card can overclock well :)


A antec nine hundred two will do fine paired with a corsair 750 Watt psu and volla! we get your 285 beat!~
 
Nvidia101 said:
it's true the card can overclock well :)
Click to expand...

Not necessarily true. Factory OCs are almost always minimal; you can normally get double the factory OC or more from any stock card. Yes, you are guaranteed that small initial overclock.. but definitely not worth the extra cash, which is sometimes a dollar per mhz. If you're going to splurge on a card, do it on the aftermarket cooling.
 
Nvidia101 said:
A antec nine hundred two will do fine paired with a corsair 750 Watt psu and volla! we get your 285 beat!~
Click to expand...

The Antec nine hundred two is a bit small for an SLI setup with large cards, according to reviews. For $160, you get a cramped case when using SLI. The Corsair 750W is around $110. Thats $270 you're spending just for SLI?

A single GTX285 setup could be as cheap as a $30 case (CM Elite) and $70 PSU (BFG LS-550). Voila, only 20% performance loss for 60% less money. :rolleyes:

kencheeto said:
Not necessarily true. Factory OCs are almost always minimal; you can normally get double the factory OC or more from any stock card. Yes, you are guaranteed that small initial overclock.. but definitely not worth the extra cash, which is sometimes a dollar per mhz. If you're going to splurge on a card, do it on the aftermarket cooling.
Click to expand...

This is what I've always thought. Have things changed? lol.
 
enginurd said:
The Antec nine hundred two is a bit small for an SLI setup with large cards, according to reviews. For $160, you get a cramped case when using SLI. The Corsair 750W is around $110. Thats $270 you're spending just for SLI?

A single GTX285 setup could be as cheap as a $30 case (CM Elite) and $70 PSU (BFG LS-550). Voila, only 20% performance loss for 60% less money. :rolleyes:



This is what I've always thought. Have things changed? lol.
Click to expand...

not on higher resolutions starting with 1920. A gtx 285 and SLi gtx 260 is a big difference..things changed. and from what I read the antec 12 hundred gets the same amount of air heat out, same temps accept that its bigger compared to the 900 two? so im also thinking getting a bigger case is not the answer.
 
Nvidia101 said:
not on higher resolutions starting with 1920. A gtx 285 and SLi gtx 260 is a big difference..things changed. and from what I read the antec 12 hundred gets the same amount of air heat out, same temps accept that its bigger compared to the 900 two? so im also thinking getting a bigger case is not the answer.
Click to expand...

You're totally missing the point of all these posts. I wasn't asking if something changed in relation to higher resolutions -- it was in relation to the post I quoted, which talked about OC'ing. As far as I know, its still a waste of money to go for the black edition XFX cards simply because you can OC past the factory settings. Therefore, its better to spend the extra money on better cooling for the GPU, not on a "uber edition black super freak" card.

As for the case, its not only airflow, but simply fitting the cards into the case! The case is the answer for more room to work with if you want to fit two huge cards in SLI.

I get the feeling you're not even reading and/or comprehending these posts. No offense, but what grade are you in?
 
enginurd said:
You're totally missing the point of all these posts. I wasn't asking if something changed in relation to higher resolutions -- it was in relation to the post I quoted, which talked about OC'ing. As far as I know, its still a waste of money to go for the black edition XFX cards simply because you can OC past the factory settings. Therefore, its better to spend the extra money on better cooling for the GPU, not on a "uber edition black super freak" card.

As for the case, its not only airflow, but simply fitting the cards into the case! The case is the answer for more room to work with if you want to fit two huge cards in SLI.

I get the feeling you're not even reading and/or comprehending these posts. No offense, but what grade are you in?
Click to expand...

You Never had that Card and are already judging it based on what you think. :rolleyes:

Your telling me the 285 or 260 wont fit easily in the case! oh brother!!!! All I have to say is you did not do much research and are just trolling my thread. I owned the first antec 900 and its pretty roomy unless you go all out rambo, triple sli and All hard drives with it.

As for your mighty 285 your just trying to justify the money you wasted on it instead of getting something better. Buyers remorse, happens to the best of us.
 
Last edited:
Nvidia101 said:
You Never had that Card and are already judging it based on what you think. :rolleyes:

Your telling me the 285 or 260 wont fit easily in the case! oh brother!!!! all I have to say is you did not do much research. There you go again with it. I owned the first antec 900 and its pretty roomy unless you go all out rambo, triple sli and All hard drives with it.

As for your mighty 285 your just trying to justify the money you wasted on it instead of getting something better. Buyers remorse, happens to the best of us.
Click to expand...

He's probably judging it based on his own personal experience with factory OC'd cards. My own personal experience is in line with his statement: Factory OC'd cards are not worth the extra cash when you can just OC the card higher and faster yourself. The extra cash should be better applied towards a better cooling HSF.

Again, as enginurd has noted earlier, you're not comprehending his posts very well. He said that with two of those cards in SLI, you're gonna need a bigger case if you want better airflow. Nowhere did he say that a single GTX 260 or GTX 285 card would NOT fit inside an Antec 900.

After playing with the Antec 900 and Antec 900 Two at Fry's the other day, I concur with Enginurd that those cases are a bit too cramped for a GTX260/GTX275/GTX280 SLI setup. The Coolermaster RC-690 case is much cheaper than either of those Antec cases yet is much roomier than those Antec cases. Hell I found the Antec 900/900 Two cases to be a bit small in general. The amount of room in those cases were roughly equal to the $50 Coolermaster cases I saw at Frys and on Newegg.

As for the last statement, I have no idea how to respond to that. I don't think Enginurd ever bought a GTX285 for himself..
 
The first anec 900 had great Air flow and I had a 8000 GTX it in. Was just fine and could of taken SLI well. Unless you had a case like the antec 900 you cant really comment and what it can really do and how well it does it unless you know for a Fact.
 
Last edited:
Now the antec 300 is very similar to it but you dont have the pros of the 900 including better cable management and that huge fan on top. Based on what I researched I would say the 900 would be better for SLI unless I find someone who did SLI in their 300 with similar cards and what temps and how hot they get in it.

Im in no way looking for a FULL tower Case as I dont plan on triple Sli and the extra room is useless for me if I dont use it. Plus I dont want a mammoth in my room were you notice it the second you come in. From what I heard the antec twelve hundred (full tower) cools and has the same airflow as the 900/2 from a few people that had them and tested.
 
Nvidia101 said:
Unless you had a case like the antec 900 you cant really comment and what it can really do and how well it does it.
Click to expand...

My counter-argument: When you've owned and play with OTHER and cheaper cases, you can see that the Antec 900 is a poor choice.

If you have a Fry's or Microcenter or Tigerdirect or any computer store that sells computer cases, I implore you to actually go out and compare the Antec 900 cases with the Coolermaster RC-590 and RC-690 cases with actual hands on experience.

Nvidia101 said:
Im in no way looking for a FULL tower Case as I dont plan on triple Sli and the extra room is usless for me if I dont use it. Plus I dont want a mammoth in my room where you notice it the second you come in. From what I heard the 12 hundred cools and has the same airflow as well as the 900.
Click to expand...

Ok, but neither Enginurd or I were recommending getting the Antec 1200 or a full tower case. The whole premise of our argument about the cases is this: The Antec 900 and Antec 900 Two cases would be a bit too cramped for a GTX SLI setup and that there are equally or roomier cases for the same or less price. Just a few examples:
$65 - Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$80 - Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
 
Last edited:
too "cramped" is based on the users opinon and what your used too. if does it as good as a bigger one wouldn't smaller be better in that case?
 
Last edited:
The antec 300 is almost equally roomier then the 900 but it does not mean its better. Yes its $59.99 . The 900's use alot more fans and better cooling/better cleaner setup. Also in the looks department it does not fail over the 300.
 
Nvidia101 said:
if does it as good as a bigger one wouldn't smaller be better in that case?
Click to expand...

The problem, which you're not seeing, is that why buy a smaller case like the Antec 900 cases when a slightly bigger, cheaper, equally cooling and quality case like the Coolermaster RC-590/RC-690 cases exist? The only real reason I can think of is that you like the look of the Antec 900 cases more than the Coolermaster cases. In the looks department, that's totally based on user perference. I happen to think that the Antec 300, Coolermaster RC-590 and Coolermaster RC-690 cases look better than the Antec 900 cases.

In addition, more fans does not always mean better cooling. The amount of fans means jack shit if your airflow setup is screwed up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top