How-To Geek

I plan on building a new AMD Duo Core Computer

Athlon64 x2 6000
Asus M3A78 Pro AM2 Board
4G Ram
... and an HD4850 Vid Card
Rest don't matter

What I'm wondering and would like your all input is ... do you think the HD4850 is enough or is it possible to drive a 26 LCD HDTV as my monitor? Can the vid card and/or my computer keep up with the refresh rate? What are the pro's and con's?

Thanks,
Fug

The ATI Radeon HD 4850 is a GPU -- a chip not a whole graphics adapter. The chip is quite capable of HDTV resolutions, but the graphics adapter manufacturers don't have to implement all of the available features. To drive an LCD HDTV monitor, you would want an adapter card with an HDMI output port that can support the native resolution of the display. The adapter card should be able to do 1920x1080p at 60 Hz. If the display can do 120 Hz, you should check to see if the adapter can handle it. Based on the specs for the 4850, the 400 MHz RAMDACs should have plenty of bandwidth for a 120 Hz HD display. If you ever want to play Blu-ray from the PC, you should make sure everything supports HDCP.

Though I have never hooked up a PC via HDMI, I would think it would look stunning. It's a digital transmission and a very high resolution. As for cons, the only thing I can think of is an application -- especially a game -- that tries to run full screen and chooses an unsupported resolution might cause the display to lose sync and the display would be blank. I would not expect this behavior from a new game, and even older ones might have a command line switch to choose a different res or run in a window.

EDIT: in summary, check the specs on the graphics adapter you would like because we know the chip can handle all of this.

Here's what I'm buying for my build (I think) ... Not looking to spend that much $$$ or I'd go hog-wild:

MOBO - EVGA nForce 730a - $99
http://www.tigerdirect.com/app.....N730A-9550

CPU - AMD Phenom X4 9550 Quad Core - $139
http://www.tigerdirect.com/app.....N730A-9550

P/S - OCZ StelthXStream 700W Power Supply - $99
http://www.tigerdirect.com/app.....=O261-2013

Vid Card - EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Video Card - $295
http://www.tigerdirect.com/app.....u=E145-261

RAM - Corsair XMS2 DHX 4096MB Dual Channel PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2 x 2048MB) - $65
http://www.tigerdirect.com/app.....u=C13-6072

Prices are straight from Tiger Direct ... I'll actually shop around around a little and get them for just a bit less when it's said and done.

As for the rest ... HDD, Blu-Ray Drive, DVD Burner, Case, yadda, yadda, yadda ... I'll shop around and get the best bang for my buck ... none of them life-threatening components. Just want your input on the above, the heart of the system. Please let me know if you think I can do better for the same $$$ or just a wee bit more. Thanks in advance.

Fug

rap ... Any suggestions on buying a better but close in price ($300) MOBO/CPU/RAM(4G) combo? Definitely looking for inputs bro.

Just need the MOBO to run the PCIe 2.0 card and be CPU upgradable. Not necessarily interested in going SLI but if there's a comparable board out there for the price, I'd sure be willing to give it a go. I'm an ASUS MOBO guy personally, but willing to go elsewhere.

Fug

FUG,
Intel i7 1366 CPU and X-58 Motherboards.
EXAMPLE:
Read Specs.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/.....6813131346