Good bye INTEL helllooooo AMD64

F

Fantasia

New Member
Ok my head has been pounding for the past four days. Maybe someone can help me out. I‘m now about to build my second PC. And I know this much for sure, that I will be going back to AMD. Not that I didn’t like the system I made, but for a PC fanatic like me, my heart is still for AMD. The AMD was the first pre- made PC I bought. When I built my first PC I was still wet behind the ears in the computer world, but this was it. Almost four years ago. :o
ASUS P4C 800 deluxe
P4 2.5 socket 478 HT
PC 3200 (x2 512) Kingston –low end crap
128 Radeon 9700proAGP 8X

I ALSO thought that I could upgrade in the future (LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL ) :eek:
So here we four years latter and I just played battlefield 2. It’s pretty sad when you have to play with all the settings turned off. :( And reading about the Xbox 360 engine and what it can do, also all the new games coming out for the Pc, I think it’s time I get my ass in gear! And for the last four agonizing days of net surfing here’s what I have found.
SLI looks like the sure thing know! But cards are not cheap. Dual core is nice but the price is not right now. DDR or DDR2 = don’t really matter. Graphic cards should be pci express 16X. This one is giving me a head ach ! Should I go low end CPU and high end Card or go high end CPU and low end Card Can a low end CPU keep up to a high end card or should it be evened out? My Budget is $1500.00.
So hear is my thought so far on the system that I want. I can get an ASUS A8N-SLI for $157.99 This is not the deluxe, Is the deluxe really worth getting????
As for the memory I would get the OCZ PC-3200 DDR400 Premier Series 1GB (2x512MB) Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 at $135.00 and then of course I will need a Power supply so I thought this one should do fine Antec NeoPower 480 ATX12V 2.0 - 480 Watt - 23 output connector(s) $122.00 Now here’s where I need your help. Where should I go from here? all I need now is a CPU, and a card, As for everything else I have a basement full of Case’s, Cdrom’s, DVD drive’s Windows and so on…. I’m also a computer pack rat! I will be building two computers out of the stuff I have after I build this one, and sell them off. I was thinking about getting a mid range CPU, and going full out on the card, then in one year get the same card when it comes down in price, but then I hear stories that If I do that there will be a better single channel Card out :confused: With the $157.99 MOBO/ $128.00mem/and a power sup at $122.00 totals at $407.99 Canadian before Taxes, and we all know about taxes! Leaves me with $1092.01 to play with..
Now I have an endless combo to chose from, I want a Fast PCI card, but with out all the bling that goes with it IE: Dual VGA, VIVO etc. I don’t mind over clocking, but I like the piece of mind knowing the system is stable. I don’t go very high when I tred that water! Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Oh yeah I dont mind going over a couple hundred $$$$ if I should.
 
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Well here's my personal opinion if you want it.

SLi is not worth it for the money. the performance boost you get isn't a full 100% more (or even close to it) but you are easily paying 2 times as much to get it. stikck with a powerful single card.

If you're going with AMD, DDR2 is not an option. To date, there are no s939 boards that will accept DDR2.

I agree, stick with PCI-E, don't stick behind with AGP or your upgrading options for the fututre will be cut short just like your last rig.

$1500 is plenty to get a mid-range gfx card and a powerful CPU for gaming, don't think that one has to be slow and one has to be fast...that budget allows for a decently fast system all around, loads faster than mine.

If you end up taking my adviec and not going SLi, you cna save some on the motherboard. I personally like Abit as well, but the DFI NF4 Ultra-D board (non-SLi) is really great for overclcking. Some people complain that it's picky about memory, but this is a problem with all mobo's i think and there is no 100% error free board to buy, so not really a valid reason to skip the DFI i think.

The Venice chips are decently priced s939 boards, and they are beastly overclockers for the most part. a 3200+ or 3500+ might fit in your budget jsut fnine, and should be fast enough even at stock speeds for gaming and intense computer stuff. If you decide to overclock, theres more under the hood than you'll probably be able to use :)

I'd say go with a SATA harddrive for faster data transfer, but don't go buying a 400GB drive if you can't use it all, thats a common mistake i see alot of nowadays. people buy huge HDD's and think they have a fast computer, but really it's jsut a waste of money. You might need a seperate RAID controller card if you decide to overclock alot, bcuz' some people have had problems with overclocking with standard SATA connections. But with the alternate connection i know many people who overclock fine.

Hope that helps.:P

EDIT: ah, you have SATA's lying around. good then :D I assume you have spare cables and fans and such as well then?
 
OMG you are so true about the size of the hard drive, I tell everyone that that ask's me what to get. Those big box stores draw you in with the hard drive size! Also from doing some reading I have heard that the DFI has come out with some good stuff of late, MSI and me dont see eye to eye!
 
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Sorry I forgot to say that I'm a big time gamer. I work days to midnights, so I have to stay up late sometimes when I'm off work, I would rather be playing games then falling asleep watching T.V. I've always been a hard core gamer!
 
Ok know I’m really confused about the Mother board now! I have been a subscriber to MaximumPC for awhile now, and even they are saying to go for the SLI MOBO’s even if you can’t get the cash for the second card as of yet, but for the future at least your ready. In there fall issue they gave the DFI LAN Party NF4-SLI DR a 9/10 and the ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe a 9/10 But the non deluxe is cheaper for me? They even said that the board is great even if you don’t ever get SLI cards But having it is like the a bonus!! So here I stand SLI OR NO?
 
Personally I don't think SLi is going to stick around. A dual core card is much more efficient, and once people start to realize it dual-core cards (like dual core CPU's) will probably be the next "big thing". I'd say spec out EVERYTHING else besides the mobo and video cards (as SLi doesn't really make a HUGE difference decision for other hardware) and see what you have left. If you've got the cash, and you want SLi, go for it. If you end up not being able to afford it, well that's your answer.
 
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