New PC build recommendations & help
- From: kurrent@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: 29 May 2006 13:24:11 -0700
Well, I've decided it's time to get rid of my old system and finally
build a new one. (well..truthfully, I have come across a rare and
golden opportunity to spend some extra money without my wife having any
right to complain about it.)
I don't have the time unfortunately to stay in the 'new hardware' loop
so I'm hoping some feedback from you hardware knowledagables :)
My current system specs are:
p4 2.8 ghz (prescot)
asus p4s8x motherboard
1 gig of 400mhz DDR RAM
160 gig western digital SATA
ATI radeon 9600 pro (AGP)
300w PSU
16x DVD DL burner
8x DVD/CD burner
19" 12ms LCD monitor
What do I use my home PC for? Gaming and Photoshop/Flash work.
Games that are on my harddrive that I play, in order of frequency, are:
Counterstrike: Source
MS Flightsim 2004
Age Of Empires 3
Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft
Right now to play these games, I have the settings at medium to get 30+
fps in 1280x1024.
So needless to say, what I desire in my future system are the settings
on high and 60fps+
My budget for a system is about $1000...but can go to $1500 if it'd be
worth it.
I'd like to build a system with an AMD CPU...so here's what I've been
thinking about:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000
1 gig of RAM minimum
Motherboard -->??
ATI X1900 or X850 PCI-E video card
QUESTIONS!
CPU: I see the price difference between the 3800 on 4200 on these x2
cpu's is about $50-70 dollars.. Am I going to see a huge performance
increase between these two? or a even a huge difference between 4000
and 4200? Or do i need something higher, like 4600? Am I going to see a
huge jump in performance for shelling out the extra few hundred bucks?
Needless to say, is the AMD athlon 64 X2 4000 a good bang for my buck
cpu?
MOTHERBOARD: I have absolutely no idea here on best board to pick and
how much to spend. All I know is that I want a PCI-E graphics port and
have the capabilty to handle 2 gigs of RAM. Onboard sound and ethernet
would be nice, but not a necessity as I have several PCI cards of these
kickin' around.
MEMORY: Again, I have no idea. Can i use my old 1 gig of pc3200 400mhz
DDR ram? (this is consists of one 512 stick, and two 256 sticks.) I'm
assuming the RAM i choose will be dependent on my motherboard. Don't
need the fastest RAM, just want at least a gig, and will go to 2 gigs
when I can.
VIDEO CARD: For as long as I can remember, I've always had a video card
a few generations old. I want to spoil myself with an expensive video
card.. X1900 looks pretty good to me..but which model? I see XT, XTE,
VIVO, etc...Or am I better off with one of them Nvidia SLI XFX cards
(or whatever the heck they're called).
POWER SUPPLY: No clue here, I'm thinkin' a big upgrade in power supply
will be in order though. You tell me.
The rest of the components I will use from my existing system.
(harddrive, dvd burner, monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc..)
There is a lot to chew on here, and I really, really, really appreciate
it to anyone who has took the time to read my lengthy post here and
provide with me with some constructive suggestions and feedback.
-Scott in Calgary
.
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