Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

[hooligun]

OK, major upgrade time @hooligunPC and I am confused about what I should buy so let me list my budget and requirements ;

I have about $750.00 - $800.00 (US) burning a hole in my pocket and I am looking to replace my;

PSU, CPU, RAM, MOBO & GFX CARD

I'm keeping all the other old components most notably by old H/D's which are IDE so the new MOBO must retain that ancient functionality unfortunately.

Please share your wisdom and tell me what I should buy, thanks in advance ;]

[[email protected]]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

Here is a thread that was completed a while back. It includes what you should be looking for and what to get. The price range is very close. You should definately take a look. http://forums.tweaktown.com/showthread.php?t=22523

As for what you should get: AM2 is great right now, but as soon as prices for Core 2 Duo come down, you should definately go with Intel. I know that sounds hard to contemplate, but the Core 2 Duo series is beating the AM2 by a fairly good margin. I was an AMD guy, but this is really swinging me towards the Intel side. This will be one of the most important things in deciding your cpu and mobo.

For the graphics card, the 7600GT is supposed to be pretty good, but you can buy a 7800GT used on eBay for the same price. If you can, go with the 7800 series.

For your ram, I like Corsair because they perform nicely and offer a good value. OCZ is great for overclocking. For this application, you would be looking for about 2 gigs (2x1gig). This will help gaming and improve performance once Vista comes out.

On PSUs, I always go overboard by getting something huge. Here are some good brands: Antec, Fortron, Mushkin, OCZ, Seasonic, and some others. I like to go big because you can use it to upgrade the rest of your system i.e. SLI, upgraded processor, etc. I would go with atleast a 500W model from one of the names above. Don't be skimpy. A PSU is very important and they can burn up if you get a junky one. When they do burn up, they go out with a bang by taking out one of the other components.

Personally, I would wait on this build until Core 2 Duo prices come down and Vista Ultimate edition is in stores.

[orangutang91]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

I agree with everything Porsce said, I looked at some of them core 2's and the've got 4mb lt caches! thats 40x the size of mine.

[hooligun]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

Thanks for the replies guys, much appreciated.

I will study the link ;]

I hear ya about the new intel chip, I read the PCGamer article, but I need to get going now as I am without a gaming pc and its been 2 months since I played GTR/GTL/rFACTOR/GPL so I'm jonesin' ;]

I'll let you know what I go with, thanks again.

[orangutang91]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

What is "jonesin'"?

[hooligun]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

American slang for suffering withdrawal symptoms, often used in reference to drug use but not in this case ;]

[Yawgm0th]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

I'd agree that a 7800GT is a good choice. If you're willing to go to trading forums such as Anandtech or with eBay, you can get one hell of a price. I've seen them go for anywhere from $150 to $200. X1800XTs and X800XLs are also in a good spot. I'd take an X1800XT if I were to go with a brand new card in that price range. Shop at Newegg if you're a U.S. buyer. An X1800XT may make the most sense since the option for Crossfire is there and SLI isn't widely available on Core 2 motherboards.

I wouldn't spend too much on RAM. Stick to nice brands, but don't get anything higher than 677MHz. Even 533MHz will do. There are some really good value sticks out there that will do well over there rated speeds. Not only that, but neither AM2 nor Core 2 get anything out of the increased bandwidth. I'd suggest you read this article. I'd highly recommend you get 2GB of RAM as well. You may want to grab one stick when you buy this and another stick later, which works great, as long as they're the same stick.

For a power supply, assuming you'll be overclocking, you'll want something in the 550W area. I'd recommend this Antec in particular. The TruePower line of PSUs is pretty much as reliable as they come, and that's the cheapest you'll get a ~550W PSU from a good brand. You could live with a 500W PSU, but if you ever upgraded the video card (which you'll want to when DX10 cards arrive) or got a second card, you'll need it to handle the cards plus the overclock.

Assuming you want to overclock, you'll definitely be best getting a Core 2 Duo 6300 or 6400. Both are a good $40 or so over the MSRP at retailers right now, so if you're willing to wait a little while you can save some money.

The bigger problem is the motherboard. You may want to go over your budget simply to get a quality motherboard. A good, overclockable, Core 2-compatible motherboard tends to be over $200. Granted, that money gets you a 3-4GHz Core 2, which is between a 3.5GHz and 4.5GHz Athlon 64/Opteron (which isn't feasible with current hardware, if it's even possible). It's really worth it IMO, but a budget's a budget. I'd say this is the best option for you right now. I normally avoid online retailers other than Newegg, but ZipZoomFly is decent, and it actually has that motherboard.

[orangutang91]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

American slang for suffering withdrawal symptoms, often used in reference to drug use but not in this case ;]

funny, but cool.

[hooligun]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

Hey YawgmOth ;]

Thanks for the reply, some very interesting reading there but with my budget stuck at around $800.00 (US) can I afford $350.00 for a CPU?

This page is the area that I'm most confused by at present. What do you think of that selection?

I love the PSU though and have decided to get the one you picked, thanks very much.

[Yawgm0th]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

The CPU is only $230. Where are you getting $300?

[hooligun]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

Sorry, I misread it ;]

[hooligun]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

OK boiled it down to one question ;

Core2 with a 7800 GT

or

Athlon 3800 with 1900XT

What would you do?

[casecutter]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

Core 2 Duo with any video card makes more sense than anything else.

[[email protected]]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

For the best system, choose Core 2 Duo and a Nvidia card.

[casecutter]

Re: Match my $$$'s to your expert picks ;]

For the best system, choose Core 2 Duo and a Nvidia card.

I disagree. Intel has much more compatibility with ATI and Crossfire than Nvidia and SLI. Also, at the moment, ATI has the best cards out. Image Quality is better with ATI, and with the ever exploding 7900's shows Nvidia has been much too quick to rush stuff to market lately to compete.

Core 2 Duo + ATI for the win.

(All of this is mostly my opinion)