New PC build recommendations & help

[kurrent]

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

 

[Eric]

For best memory performance with an AMD 64 X2, you need the RAM modules
in identical pairs in order to run in dual-channel mode instead of the
slower single-channel mode. If I remember correctly Socket 754 boards
don't support dual-channel mode.

You should wait until the AMD new Socket AM2 boards come out and get a
AM2 version of the AMD CPU that you want. They support DDR2 RAM.

I would sell you current RAM on eBay and buy Crucial RAM for it direct
from http://www.crucial.com or http://www.crucial.com/uk.

To use SLI mode, you need a motherboard that supports two nVidia
graphics cards, because SLI is dual-card technology. You can install
one and buy the second card later.

ATi's dual-card technology is called CrossFire, and it must also be
supported by the board.

You might also consider this information and use the Intel CPU it
involves:

A 4.1 GHz Dual Core at £79.95 - Can it be True? -

"The Pentium D 805 is a budget CPU, but it puts lots of chips from AMD
and Intel to shame. Thanks to its high-end kernel, this dual-core CPU
remains stable even when operating at 4.1 GHz. What will this mean for
the status quo in the computer industry?" -

http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/05/10/dual_41_ghz_cores_uk/index.html

Eric,
PC Buyer Beware!
http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/

 

[Kurrent]

Thanks for the reply Eric. Your suggestions have definitely opened some
more doors for me....The Pentium D 805 article you linked was a very
interesting read.

I'm reading into the AMD AM2 chips right now to see if perhaps they are
worth the wait. (having trouble finding price ranges though)

With the SLI mode Nvidia support, I'm guessing I could buy a couple
$150 Nvidia cards and they'll perform at least, or if not better, than
a $500 card?

What kind of Video Card setup would you suggest if I went with Nvidia
SLI?

or if i went with an ATI card(s)/Crossfire setup?

 

[Gert Elstermann]

Kurrent schrieb:
.....

I'm reading into the AMD AM2 chips right now to see if perhaps they are
worth the wait. (having trouble finding price ranges though)
...

AMD CPU pricing as of May 23rd,

<http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_609,00.html?redir=CPT301>

Intel CPU pricing, especially as of July 23rd,

<http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2547>

Whereas AMD prices remain stable, Intel prices drop up to about 50 per
cent!


Gert