motherboard/cpu advice please

[beautiphil]

hey guys im a little unsure on what to get and its really bugging me, maybe you guys can help me out. heres what im thinking.

NCIX - Intel E8400, Core 2 Due E8400 Wolfdale Dual-Core Processor

NCIX.com - Buy EVGA Nforce 780I SLI LGA775 ATX 3PCI-E16 1PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 RAID Sound GBLAN 1394 Motherboard - 132-CK-NF78-A1 In Canada.

those two^^

or these two

NCIX.com - Buy AMD Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition Quad Core Processor Socket AM2 2.5GHZ 4MB Cache 125W Retail Box - HD985ZXAGHBOX In Canada.

NCIX.com - Buy ASUS M3N-HT DELUXE/MEMPIPE ATX AM2 Nforce 780A DDR2 3PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI Sound GBLAN SLI Motherboard - M3N-HT DELUXE/MEMPIPE In Canada.

or if you have any better advice that would be nice also.

thanks alot

 

[Sora]

First let me ask you.

What are you going to be using this build for and second do you understand what the 780i has over the 750i before you spend the extra money?

 

[beautiphil]

mostly gaming..like COD4 HL2
and my friend told me the 780i was a good choice to go with.

 

[Sora]

i see....im going to suggest that if you really don't know the differences between the 780i and the 750i than you should save your money and purchase a 750i FTW board.

People like to recommend the most expensive boards becuase they think their the best whenever usually that is not the case.

The main difference is that the 780i supports full TRI SLI which most people will never and probably should never use anyway. The 750I supports full SLi and overclocks well. The evga 750i ftw board is very hot right now a great choice for the money. I just purchased one.

Newegg.com - EVGA 123-YW-E175-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i FTW SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

 

[beautiphil]

thanks!!

should i go with

NCIX - Intel E8400, Core 2 Due E8400 Wolfdale Dual-Core Processor

or a quad core?

NCIX.com - Buy Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 8MB Retail Box - BX80562Q6600 In Canada.

 

[Sora]

that really depends. Right now the E8400 overclocks higher resulting in more FPS than a Q6600 however the quad is a great choice and more and more games will support it. The way i would suggest is if you plan to upgrade the CPU within a year or so an e8400 is a good choice however the q6600 is a great cpu and more futureproof.

 

[beautiphil]

im not really into overclocking

 

[Sora]

why not? It is 100% safe nowadays. this isnt the 90's or early 2000's when hardware would just blow.

Most people eventually overclock their system. If you don't no matter which cpu of those you choose there are cheap e2160's that are like $55 that will be beating you....my OUTDATED e6300 runs at 3.5ghz.

 

[Luke]

i would get the q6600 because more and more games are gonna be coming out that support 4 core utilization. Also you will not have to upgrade the cpu as quick so it will save you money in the long run.

Also sora is right, ocing is safe now-a-days and one should take advantage of the free performance boosts ocing can offer.

 

[beautiphil]

would the Q6600 be able to handle COD4?