Advice on new system

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Tull

My son an I build a new system every year or two. As I look at what's
out there, it looks like PCIe is now the best way to go, since he is a
gamer.

I'd love to hear suggestions on what is the best bang for the buck
nowadays as we look for a new motherboard, cpu, memory and especially a
video card for the new system.

How far does a thousand bucks go nowadays?

Thanks in advance.
 
Tull said:
My son an I build a new system every year or two. As I look at what's
out there, it looks like PCIe is now the best way to go, since he is a
gamer.

I'd love to hear suggestions on what is the best bang for the buck
nowadays as we look for a new motherboard, cpu, memory and especially a
video card for the new system.
Click to expand...

I have been thinking about that a lot lately, and IMHO you have to get a
Athlon 64 system. You need a compatible mobo that will support both
current single core and upcoming dual core CPUs. PCI-E is certainly the
way to go with vid cards.

Here's a great web site for system guidelines:

http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/system-guide-200506.ars

I disagree about their picks for monitor, though. The latest MaximumPC
Magazine has a wonderful article that reviews/compares top-quality LCD
monitors, and it is certainly worth a look. I used to believe that no
LCD could equal a good CRT in image quality and performance, but I guess
that is no longer true.
 
Tull said:
I'd love to hear suggestions on what is the best bang for the buck
nowadays as we look for a new motherboard, cpu, memory and especially a
video card for the new system.
Click to expand...

Speaking of memory, I have heard majorly good things about PATRIOT brand.

Example:

Patriot "Extreme Performance" Memory 184-Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200, Low
Latency 2-3-2-5, Model PEP5123200LL -Retail
Specifications:
Manufacturer: PDP SYSTEMS
Speed: DDR400(PC3200)
Type: 184-Pin DDR SDRAM
Error Checking: Non-ECC
Registered/Unbuffered: Unbuffered
Cas Latency: 2-3-2-5-T1
Support Voltage: 2.5V
Bandwidth: 3.2GB/s
Organization: 64M x 64 -Bit
Warranty: Lifetime

Price? $62.00 USD per stick.
[NEWEGG]
 
well you need a pentium 4 or amd cpu something in the 3 gig range.
I like the nvidia 6600gt pci-e the 6800gt is better if you have the cash
get 1 gig of ram to match the cpu, for gamming you need one gig for the
newer games.
get a good power supply and sata hard drive
the rest will take care of itself
 
My son an I build a new system every year or two. As I look at what's
out there, it looks like PCIe is now the best way to go, since he is a
gamer.

I'd love to hear suggestions on what is the best bang for the buck
nowadays as we look for a new motherboard, cpu, memory and especially a
video card for the new system.

How far does a thousand bucks go nowadays?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Go here and check prices on every thing.

http://www.pricewatch.com

If he is a gamer,you'll be looking for a P4 3.2 extreme or better, L2
2mb. cache and set up a raid array with 2 sata drives>10,000 rpm.Look
at the combos.Cpu\mb and memory.cheapest when you buy this way.Make
sure you go with a copper based cooling fan.You'll probably want to
shut off the onboard video and sound and use good add in cards.A good
power supply of 400watts or better.

C.
 
My son an I build a new system every year or two. As I look at what's out
there, it looks like PCIe is now the best way to go, since he is a gamer.

I'd love to hear suggestions on what is the best bang for the buck
nowadays as we look for a new motherboard, cpu, memory and especially a
video card for the new system.

How far does a thousand bucks go nowadays?
Click to expand...

Best bang for the buck is an AMD Athlon 64 CPU, and the nVidia GeForce
6600GT video card. As far as motherboards and memory, memory prices are
volitile and change. I personally have used and like Kingston, Crucial, and
Corsair. My latest favorite motherboard is the MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum. It's a
little pricey, but it has quite a lot of features, including an onboard
Creative Soundblaster Live! 24 bit sound chip. It's still not as good as an
add-in card, but far better than the Cmedia AC97 sound that most boards
offer. The only drawback about the board is the fact that there are
capacitors in the way of running the new nVidia GeForce 7800GTX video cards
because the new cards are longer, but those boards are far too expensive for
my tastes...

A thousand bucks goes pretty far:

MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum: $168
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130487

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice core: $265
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103533

1GB Corsair XMS dual channel memory kit: $132
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145450

EVGA GeForce 6600GT: $169
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130214

(2) WD 160GB SATA HDD w/ 8MB cache in RAID 0: 2 x $82:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144152

LiteOn 16X DVD burner with DL: $46
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106988

Antec Sonata II case w/ SmartPower 2.0 450W PSU: $104
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155

Total: $1048! The only things not retail versions are the hard drives and
you get SATA cables with the motherboard and can download the software to
format the drives from the internet for free. That's a lot of power for the
money...

Just my $.02...
 
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