Graphics Card Guidence

[OPIE]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130590

That's the card I am asking for for my birthday coming up early March. It's reviews are astonishing and I already talked to a good friend of mine about bottle necking it which would not be an issue with my current setup.

Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5300 2.6ghz/2.6ghz

6GB RAM

Running on Windows Vista Premium 64bit. (I've disabled some of the 64 bit functions such as AERO which makes your bars transparent and when you hover over a program in the task bar a window would pop up showing you what it was. Was neat when I was still playing WoW on a PVP server. I could minimize and check on myself without maximizing. This improved Vista performance substantially.)

My main concern is if the card will fit in my case. Asus, the one you gave me just fits. I have a standard HP Case. About 1.3 or 1.5 feet in length and height. If you guys could offer some insight it would be greatly appreciated.

[Asus]

I'd split that money ($530) and buy a solid mid card and a new CPU (or board if you can't upgrade just the CPU in what you have).
$300 card + $200 CPU OR
$200 card+200 CPU+100 board

Any thing out there now will be awesome compared to the card I sent you.
And the E5300 is good but it just won't let a high end card show their stuff especially for something like bad company 2.

[OPIE]

I got the card for my B-day. It's on its way along with a new Power Source. Asus, I know I am bottle necking just a bit. I don't think I am bottle necking that much though. The E5300 has impressed me thus far. Shit....I can play Crysis on max settings. I would only look to upgrade when crytek makes a new engine. How ever. I am thinking about the I7. Could you suggest a good mother board and processor for that? I've always been open to AMD but Pentium impressed me. What motherboard and processor would you recommend?

[Asus]

Some games go easy on the CPU so even with a very fast GPU they get similar FPS to a system with the same GPU but a faster CPU. But other games (battlefield series) will get lower FPS in that situation because it uses a lot of CPU power (quad core even). So it just depends, plus if you didn't play on the fast CPU, fast GPU system you won't know what you were missing except if your game stuttered here and there. Crysis was made to use GPUs from a year in the future so you won't notice a FPS bump really by upgrading the CPU but waiting for the newest GPU should give you a bump (almost opposite of the Battlefield games).

I'm not sure about a i7 motherboard since the boards with the most recent chipset have been recalled with a flaw in them. Not sure when more are due out in the market for people building their own (dell etc should have working PCs with that motherboard this spring).

Intel has been the one to get this past few years. Just wondering what AMD will do late 2011(?) with their Fusion desktop CPUs. Their low power chips based on Fusion have beat Atom (Intels low power chip) on low power and performance.

[OPIE]

OK so my power supply came today and turns out I made a mistake when I ordered it. It didn't have the 4 pin connector I needed for the CPU. So I have to send it back to new egg.

Now I did my own research but I just want to make sure this other power supply I am getting would be OK for the Card and my mother board.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

It has the 4 pin power connector and looks like the correct connectors for the PCI-E for the graphics card. (Can someone double check this for me?) Looking at the picture I can see all the other attachments that come with it. I am assuming that's for the SATA hook ups and connections for everything else DVD drive ect... Asus you've always given good advice with this stuff. Anything I am over looking?

[Asus]

It has:
1 x Main connector 24 pin (Motherboard plug here. has 4 pins that can disconnect for old motherboards for a 20pin connector)
1 x 8-Pin EPS 12V (CPU plug here. 4 pins can disconnect to make this a 4-pin connector from 8.)
8 x Peripheral (standard molex power plug for your hard drives, DVD drives etc)
12 x SATA (specifically a power plug for SATA hard drives that you use INSTEAD OF the plug above)
2 x Floppy (....guess)
4 x PCI-E (GRAPHICS POWER!)

BTW this is a good power supply.

[OPIE]

Thanks Asus, I highly appreciate all the advice. My card will be here Friday...seems there was a small delay in shipping. The new PSU will be here by tomorrow (thursday) I'll keep you guys updated on the performance of this beast. First game I am trying with it....Bullet Storm...that game is just absolutely stunningly beautiful. 

[OPIE]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072&Tpk=Intel%20I5%202500k

Thats the processor I have in mind.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121385

And the motherboard I have in mind.

Opinions? Concerns? Advice?

Actually being as tired as I am I noticed the socket types are not the same....can't seem to find any LGA 1155 boards anywhere...would the 1156 fit the 1155?

[Asus]

I'm pretty sure the 1156 is the socket with the chipset that is recalled from Intel.
And be careful about new CPU and old motherboards. Usually Intel makes a new socket # for a reason.

[OPIE]

New card is working phenominally! Bullet Storm plays on max settings with 8X AA without one single issue. I am loving this thing.

It took me about 90 minutes to install the PSU and Card because well...the HP case is really small....I cut my hands on the docking bay for the DVD drive a few times reallly trying to squeeze those wires in there. It was frustrating but eventually I got it. I am so syked this card is a beast!

I am hearing good things about that Sandy Bridge 2500...But why is it socket 1155 if there are no mother boards out there for it? I am so confused.

[Asus]

I'm not sure about a i7 motherboard since the boards with the most recent chipset have been recalled with a flaw in them.

They launched this year CPU and motherboards but the SATA ports on them are faulty so they are recalled.

Socket 1155 is new. 1156 is not new. They are not compatible with each other either.