Mobo/Processor combo?

[CrashZero]

Hey all, first time poster looking for some info please. I am in the process of getting some parts to build my first homebuilt PC. So far I have a case, power supply, and HD(s) picked out. What I'm having problems with is deciding on a motherboard/processor combination. I want to make sure that they will work together first and foremost and second I dont want to spend ANY MORE than $150-200US for either of them. I am mainly going to use this system for gaming if that helps at all. Here are the minimum stats for what I am looking for:

Processor- Pentium 4 w/ HT'ing
Mobo- 2GB RAM(DDR2), PCI Express


Again, these are the base stats that I am looking to get filled. Hopefully someone here can recommend a combination that works well together and will keep my PC running fast for a least a short time...till the new stuff comes out.

**Edit**
I plan on using either Corsair 240/184 pin 1GBx2 sticks and a Raptor 74GB 10k HD. Not entirely sure where I wanna go in terms of graphics. If you guys have any ideas, let me know.

 

[gimli of gloin]

ok
CPU= dont go with INTEl (pentium), AMD is what you will want for games. some1 else can recommend a model cause i dont know US prices..

DDR2 = BIG no no.. DDR2 isnt twice as fast as DDR1/ if u decide to get an AMD (i think u should) you cant actualy have DDR2 ram because the AMD motherboards dont have the 240 pin slot for it. i think u wont need 2gb anyway..1gb will be fine..itll probly be faster for games anyway..so 1gb of DDr400 ram..

PCI-E..every1 on this forum says 6600gt is the way to go..i dont know how much u wanna spend on the Graphics card but if u can get a 256mb 6600GT..

sorry i dont actually have links to items but this is just a general idea of what I think u will need for recent games..
BTW how much in total are you going to spend on the whole thing(graphics card, ram, cpu and motherboard)..

 

[CrashZero]

Unfortunately I am a INTEL guy, so I would have to seriously think about switching to AMD. Although the argument could be said that I have nothing to base that off of sense I have NEVER used AMD personally, I just prefer and am used to using INTEL.

The reason I want to run 2GB's of memory is b/c I am constantly alt-tabbing between programs, I mean...I routinely run a game, winamp, TeamSpeak(voip), and a browser window or two. And with this system I also plan on adding a second monitor to it. That is why I prefer to have 2GB's.

I've been reading the forums since my first post and have been seeing a lot of post's recommending the 6800GT. Would that be a safe bet of a GPU for what I want to do?

The most I want to spend for the entire system is $1200-1500US.

 

[gimli of gloin]

yes...i think the 6600gt will suit you fine.
so how much money for the whole setup ....im sure some1 can recommend parts off newegg for u...

 

[emeraldice]

He put that in the previous post. $1200-$1500.

Intel...I don't know much about it. But yea, he was looking for a mobo/CPU combo, and if already got DDR2 RAM, he's pretty committed to Intel parts at this point. You should go PCIe; and you should also get umm..whatchamacall it. ATI's equivelant of crossfire. Basically 2 PCIe graphics card slots, so if you want to dual-head (2 moniters) you can with one graphics card to each slot. And if you want to dual head with 1 card, you should probably go with the more powerful 6800 GT.

You said $200 for a mobo/CPU; the cheapest Intel CPU that was 3.0 ghz was $170. If you want to spend $30 dollars on the mobo, that's fine with me, but you should probably have second thoughts. I think that like 1/2 your cost should be cpu/mobo, 1/4 your cost should be ram/graphics cards, and the last 1/4 misc.

And then you should give the last 1/2 to people who can't add/count.

But the final buy descisions are up to you.

 

[gimli of gloin]

oh sorry i didnt see how much he wanted to spend..
your talking about SLI with Nvidia..
i think he meant that he would spen 150-200 on each of the CPU and motherboard...

 

[CrashZero]

Thats right, I dont want to spend more than $200 dollars for EITHER the motherboard OR the processor. I havent bought anything yet...but what bothers me is that no one can recommend any sort of combination for what I want to use/do with the computer.

 

[reggie_da_man]

Why don't you buy a CPU for $300 and a mother board for $100?

 

[reggie_da_man]

Sorry for the double post but why don't you go with this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116202

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ce=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=280&Submit=Property


Take your pick.

 

[desiboi]

Ebay?