Arctic Silver 5 for the thermal paste, and theres lots of heatsink options (stock cooling is fine if you aren't pushing the CPU).

How exactly did it fry? Did you install the heatsink incorrectly?

I had a 360, sold that.

I primarly game on PC, but also have a PS2/SNES. I may get a PS3 down the road (when its ~$200, FFXIII + Versus out, and rumble controller included).

I only prefer a hard copy of my games if its a collector's edition (last collector's I bought was Diablo II, next one is Starcraft II), otherwise I get everything digital unless I have to get a hard copy.

[QUOTE="Infernal246"][QUOTE="Hiryuu_"]

The 2900Pro is pretty much the same as the 2900XT, just with lower clock speeds.. which really didn't lower performance from the HD2900XT much.

Man, if people can run most games out there on high settings with an X1950Pro or 7900GS... what makes you think a high-end DX10 card won't run current games on high-max @ 1440x900? Even my 7600GT gets medium-high for that resolution.

Hiryuu_

Clock for clock the 2900XT will perform better then the 2900Pro.

Perfect game performance requires the CPU/RAM/GPU to all be balanced in terms of power with no bottleneck between them.

My 2900XT is heavily limited by my AMD X2 4200+. Until next week when I get a Q6600.

Clock for clock the HD2900XT is better than the Pro? Are you trying to say the HD2900XT is more efficient per clock than the HD2900Pro? If so, you're absolutely wrong. If you're comparing the clock speeds, the HD2900XT isn't much faster than the Pro.. making the Pro the far better value.

Of course you can crank up AA... AF isn't a problem, just set it as 16xAF like I do.

Higher end parts are in general more efficient per clock yes.

The clock on the 2900Pro is stock 600MHz, compared to 743MHz on the 2900XT as well.

[QUOTE="Infernal246"][QUOTE="groudyogre"]

I spent all morning scouring the web to get good deals on a hot gaming rig, every detail has been catered to.

MotherBoard: nVidia nForce 590 SLi (£130)

CPU: AMD 64 x2 6400+ @3.2GHz (£136) :| Could be more powerfal but 4 gaming teh Graphix card is more important really

groudyogre

I stopped reading right there.

Why? Keep reeeaaddiinng :| Why stop reading. For gaming, the general vibe i've been getting is that to put games on high GPU>CPU. Am I wrong?

Alright, I'll tear the whole rig apart.

1) CPU - You want an AMD X2 over the Core 2 Duos (a E4300 overclocked can get 3.2GHz with aftermarket cooling, and will run faster clock for clock with the 6400+)

2) GPUs are indeed important for gaming, but if your CPU can't process the physics/animations/ect then it bottlenecks the game performance no matter what GPU you have

3) AMD and Intel Chipsets are generally better then Nvidia boards (particularly for overclocking)

4) The 8800 Ultra has a horrible price:performance ratio. The 8800 GTX would be a much better option for a resolution of 1920x1200 (I'm assuming thats your res if you want such a monster of a GPU)

5) 4GB RAM is overkill, 2GB is still the best (2GB RAM actually beats 3GB RAM for the WiC performance test that GS did)

6) 1000W for a PSU is complete overkill for systems that don't have a dozen harddrives and 2GPUs. A good efficient PSU (like Corsairs 520W/620W modular PSUs) would be much better.

7) Physics cards are useless with multi-core CPUs out.

8) Killer NIC is very overpriced considering the MOBOs ethernet will perform just as well

9) Windows Vista has terrible performance compared to XP, and the minor improvements of DX10 is hardly worth the hit

The 2900Pro is pretty much the same as the 2900XT, just with lower clock speeds.. which really didn't lower performance from the HD2900XT much.

Man, if people can run most games out there on high settings with an X1950Pro or 7900GS... what makes you think a high-end DX10 card won't run current games on high-max @ 1440x900? Even my 7600GT gets medium-high for that resolution.

Hiryuu_

Clock for clock the 2900XT will perform better then the 2900Pro.

Perfect game performance requires the CPU/RAM/GPU to all be balanced in terms of power with no bottleneck between them.

My 2900XT is heavily limited by my AMD X2 4200+. Until next week when I get a Q6600.

I spent all morning scouring the web to get good deals on a hot gaming rig, every detail has been catered to.

MotherBoard: nVidia nForce 590 SLi (£130)

CPU: AMD 64 x2 6400+ @3.2GHz (£136) :| Could be more powerfal but 4 gaming teh Graphix card is more important really

groudyogre

I stopped reading right there.

If the CPU/RAM is at stock speed, then yes it will be the bottleneck.

You can easily get that CPU to 3.1GHz+ unless you bought the computer from Dell or someone.