i'm looking to picking up a new system and i'm at a bit of a loss which to choose. i mainly play games and i'm hoping someone can tells me the pros and cons of these systems or at least tell me why 1 might be better then the others.

sys 1.
adm x2 5800 3ghz
750 watt power
HD 4870 512mb
2 gb ddr2 800mhz ram
250 gb hd


or sys2
adm x2 5800 3ghz
750 watt power
9600gt or 9800 gt 512mb (not sure which is better)
2 gb ddr2 800mhz ram
250 gb hd

or sys3
intel E8400
750 watt power
9800GT 512
2 gb 800mhz ram
250gb hd

thanks for your time

nos 1. a 9800 gt doesnt exist.
nos 2. why do you have to choose between "systems" and not choose each individual part which would suite you the best?
nos 3. if u HAVE to choose between the system for games than system 1 will be far and away the best

What are the prices? The first one has the best video card and a quad core that will last you. THe third one has the second best video card and best processor for gaming, but it's only dual core.

an x2 5800 isnt a quadcore. But most games dont make use of quadcores anyway

Assuming they all use the same motherboard, a combination of 1 and 3.

@OP:
I assume you mean 9800GTX when you say 9800GT. System #1 is by far the best for gaming, yes.

@powerofdonuts. No clue what quad you're talking about. Still, the X2 5800+ is more than most games need these days, so it's fine.

Look what you did with your donuts, now I'm hungry and I still have an hour to spend at work...


What kind of 750W PSU? What kind of motherboard does system #1 have? The 750W PSU is overkill if the motherboard doesn't support Crossfire.

Yeah, I confused myself too. Don't know what I was talking about.

they are alienware systems but i changed the configuration a bit...

sys 1 and sys 2 are both around $1350 with a 750fx mobo

sys 3 is $1300 w the 9800 gt (Single 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800 GT from the site) and about $1500 with the gtx260 680i mobo

it specifically say 9800 GT not 9800 GTX
Single 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 9600 GT – Superclocked!
Single 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800 GT [+$50 or $2/mo.]
Single 512MB GDDR3 ATI® Radeon® HD 4850 [+$100 or $3/mo.]
In a hurry? Select another option for faster delivery.
Single 512MB GDDR5 ATI® Radeon® HD 4870 [+$200 or $6/mo.]
In a hurry? Select another option for faster delivery.
Single 896MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260 [+$250 or $8/mo.]
Single 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® 9800 GX2 – Dual GPU Technology [+$400 or $12/mo.]
Dual 512MB GDDR3 ATI® Radeon® HD 4850 with CrossFire™ Technology [+$350 or $11/mo.]
In a hurry? Select another option for faster delivery.
Dual 512MB GDDR5 ATI® Radeon® HD 4870 with CrossFire™ Technology


THANKS for the replies.

OK, I've been to the site and customized one too, just to see what 750fx was. It turns out it was 790fx, as I was hoping to see .
790fx is very good news, because it means you can get two HD 4850 or HD 4870 cards there with no bottlenecks, with both card slots running at full x16 speed.

They say 9800GT 512MB indeed. IMO it's a typo for 8800GT or 9800GTX. Either way the HD 4850 and HD 4870 are faster.

I'd pick system #1 with two HD 4850, or #1 with a HD 4870. It's pretty hard to choose between these two because each has advantages and disadvantages.

With a single HD 4870 you pay $150 less, get more performance in games that don't support Crossfire, and you have the option to add more GPU power later (another HD 4870 or something even more powerful that doesn't even exist yet.) With two HD 4850, on the other hand, you get more performance in games that do support Crossfire.

9800GTs are available to OEMs actually. My friend got one in his gateway. Truthfully they are re-branded 8800GTs--same clocks as well. The ONLY difference is that it supports hybrid power. Nvidia almost isn't releasing it, though it will be for sale July 29th, and they are actually doing a 55nm revision of it later in the year. Get a 4850.

Ah, thanks, now it makes a lot more sense.

@oldnstoned: the performance goes something like this:

8800GT (and I guess 9800GT) < 9800GTX < HD 4850 < HD 4870 < HD 4850 Crossfire < HD 4870 Crossfire, but there are exceptions. For example in some scenarios 9800GTX beats the HD 4850 by a bit, or in others HD 4870 beats HD 4850 Crossfire.