Single Core 45nm Semprons in the wild!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The 785G does only two channel sound via HDMI though like the 780G:

http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=629

[sammorris]

To be honest, Win7 XP Mode isn't amazing, as you can't install any drivers in it...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Anyway, now we've seen the first reviews of 785G and they look positive (particularly in respect to power draw), I've settled on a Sempron + 785G mobo for my new HTPC. I've finally persuaded my better half that the Q6600 + 8800GTX is just too power hungry for the job. The only question is what I do with that now...

You could ditch the whole setup or sell the 8800GTX and get a more efficient card. The Q6600 can be undervolted after all.

[scaryjim]

The 785G does only two channel sound via HDMI though like the 780G

Not a problem, I don't use HDMI anyway...

To be honest, Win7 XP Mode isn't amazing, as you can't install any drivers in it...

That's missing the point of XP mode. It's a business tool for companies who want to take advantage of the benefits of Windows 7, but need guaranteed backwards-compatibility for legacy apps. It needs hardware virtualisation, and Intel have been very... erratic... in their implementation of it. It puts AMD in a strong position if any businesses choose to upgrade their PCs when they move to Windows 7...

p.s. If you think a business upgrading their entire set of PCs in one go sounds far fetched: when I was working in Local Government back in about 2002, the authority I worked for upgraded their entire stock of office PCs practically overnight when they moved to Windows XP. I would guess that was well over 1000 desktops across the organisation. Large organisations do things like that; single core processors are more than adequate for general office work; hardware virtualisation on a cheap single-core processor is *exactly* the kind of thing businesses looking to move to Windows 7 will want to see.

[scaryjim]

You could ditch the whole setup or sell the 8800GTX and get a more efficient card. The Q6600 can be undervolted after all.

This is looking like the most probable option, I think, although with plenty of other PCs / laptops in the house it may be that we can do without. It'd leave us down a proper gaming machine though... ;(

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

This is looking like the most probable option, I think, although with plenty of other PCs / laptops in the house it may be that we can do without. It'd leave us down a proper gaming machine though... ;(

Sell the 8800GTX and you can get an HD4850 or HD4770 to replace it for a bit more money. The HD4750 is also being released in a few weeks time and this will be a bus powered HD4770 with slightly lower clocks. Of course there is the HD4860 too. These should all have better power consumption than a 8800GTX. Even a cheap GTS250 will do the job.

IMHO,sell the stuff you don't need and put the money into buying new bits.

[sammorris]

but will you actually be able to buy any? :S
Tbh nothing but a 4850 and maybe a 4770 would be an upgrade from an 8800GTX, so the only advantage is lower power. On that note, A 4750 would be a better idea.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I think ATI shot themselves in the foot with the HD4770 IMHO. They should have released it much later with sufficient stock as their existing cards are doing the job well.

[sammorris]

Agreed. The 40nm process still doesn't seem to be putting out any products yet. Cutting it a bit fine for the DX11 generation orders.

[scaryjim]

I reckon if I go down that route it'll be a 4850 or nothing, unless the next generation mid-range comes along and slays it completely. I can probably wait until some games come out that are actually worth playing though... Even my GMA X3100 laptop runs Neverwinter Nights acceptably...

[sammorris]

Indeed, so many games I play would even run well on my fileserver, especially my work PC, let alone my gaming PC. For instance, right now four 4870s are playing rollercoaster tycoon (the original) - lmao. it's even lagging slightly because its in a window (which IIRC is software rendered)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I beat you all!! Muhahahhahah!

I harnessed the power of the mighter SIS M661MX to play SS2 and Unreal recently!!

TBH,if it were not for Crysis and Crysis Warhead I would probably have used my x1900gt until this year. Bioshock,GRAW2 and Stalker all run fine on lower settings and resolutions using it.