cheap gaming pc for 1280x1024 res

[edp33]

Well my pc has just blown up and it's over 3 years old so it's time for a replacement. I would like to build a pc that is mainly for Internet usage, hence would like a low power and quiet pc but able to play current games at high detail at 1280x1024(maximum LCD supports) if possible. I already have Win XP so tempted to stick with that.

Would something like an AMD 4850e or Intel 7200 and 4850/8800 be quiet, low powered and good for gaming at 1280x1024 ?

[shaithis]

The system you mention would be powerful enough for all games but I am not sure what your definition of quiet is.....because the 4850 will probably be far from silent, whilst not being noisey - if that makes sense?

[edp33]

Ideally something like Witcher, Far Cry 2, Crysis, FallOut 3, Dawn of War etc, so guess a fairly decent graphics card is required, but resolution will only be 1280x1024.

Well I've just built a pc for a friend using a 4850e and 780G motherboard with Antec case and that was near silent and uses very little power. So something like that but with enough punch in it so play some of the latest games.

[shaithis]

The gfx card is going to be the noisiest part of your build, might be worth investigating some of the cards with custom cooling solutions, like the iChill series.

Unfortunately, I use water cooling so not up to speed on the noise levels of modern cards and cooling solutions.

[edp33]

it seems Nvidia have a Hybrid SLI technology that switches control to the integrated graphics when it's idle or you want to surf the net etc. It disables the add on card hence the power drops quite a bit !

When you want to play a game it combines the integrated graphics and add on card to give that extra bit of boost. This sounds ideal

Perhaps a 7200 and 9800GTX combo might work well... seems it only works with Vista though

[Webby]

Since hybrid power only works on nVidia chipsets and they were made by the devil to test us I wouldn't bother.

As to graphics card this is probably the best bang for buck you will find http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=883439 has an after market cooler and if that is to noisey then you can always swap it out for something quieter later. Alternatively if you want really quiet then this will literally be silent http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=874141 you will need to make sure you have a decent amount of airflow in the case though to make the cooler efficient.

If you still fancy te nVidia options then http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=853557 that is going to be the best bang for buck I would think the next step down is likely to be the 9800GT/8800GT but is a big step!

CPU wise E5200 will overclock well if you fancy that (and save you some money in the process) and if want quiet don't ferget to get a decent cooler Xigmatek S1283 (£23), Scythe Ninja 2 (£30) or Thermalright Ultima 90 + quiet fan (£28 + Fan)

[edp33]

haha thanks, I can relate to the devil part, my old pc had a nforce motherboard and the Nvidia IDE drivers were a pain to get working !

the 4850 with the fan looks really good, would be interesting to see how much power that takes idle in comparison to the hybrid power 9800GTX and reference noise levels.

I think I will avoid a silent heatpipe graphics card solution, my previous pc had one of those(6600GT) and under load it hit 110C - Was a decent case(Lian Li) but room gets very hot !

[Webby]

Review here for the 4850 and 9800 GTX+ power wise the 4850 is better at idle but this review wasn't using the hybrid power thing.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/731/17/

[Webby]

And here we have a review for a 9800 GTX using hybrid power looks like a saving of 55W at idle

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/708/5/

Looking a bit closer you seem to be limited to AMD CPUs the 8200 and 7**a chipsets are all for AMD systems so I guess one of those boards and a 4850e would be the most power saving rig you could ask for.