Major upgrade, need some advice
I have a SB X-Fi, a couple of SATA hard drives and a case that I like. Everything else needs to be replaced. Thanks a lot in advance for the help.
I'm going to use this thing to play games. Ideally, it would last me 1.5 or 2 years and still be able to pull the latest games, just not at high settings. I don't really want to spend more than $1000, but I'm willing to go higher for a significant boost in performance/longevity.
Here's what I found so far:
AMD
--------------------------------------------------------
Motherboard:
BIOSTAR TFORCE 550 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX - $80
CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Windsor 2.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - $180
Intel
--------------------------------------------------------
CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz 2M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - $180
Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX - $140
Memory:
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel - $240
Video Card:
eVGA Geforce 7900GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - $216
I have 3 main concerns:
I've seen posts that say that the Intel Core 2 Duo is outperforming the comparable AMD dual-core processors. What do you guys think? Also, the Core 2 Duo is 64-bit, right? I'm looking forward to using Vista and some specific 64-bit software in the future, so I just want to be sure.
I've been out of the market for video cards for about 2 years and I don't know crap. I hear NVIDIA's kicking ATI's *** these days and I also hear the 7900GT is a pretty good card and doesn't cost too much. Would you guys suggest something else that doesn't cost TOO much more?
Will my 450W Antec Purepower handle the above plus a couple of HDs, 2 DVD burners and a SB X-Fi, or should I get something with a little more juice?
Oh, and does anyone know why the AMD-compatible mobos cost less than really similar boards for Intel processors? I'm just curious.
I have a SB X-Fi, a couple of SATA hard drives and a case that I like. Everything else needs to be replaced. Thanks a lot in advance for the help.
I'm going to use this thing to play games. Ideally, it would last me 1.5 or 2 years and still be able to pull the latest games, just not at high settings. I don't really want to spend more than $1000, but I'm willing to go higher for a significant boost in performance/longevity.
Here's what I found so far:
AMD
--------------------------------------------------------
Motherboard:
BIOSTAR TFORCE 550 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX - $80
CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Windsor 2.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - $180
Intel
--------------------------------------------------------
CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz 2M sharing L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - $180
Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX - $140
Memory:
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel - $240
Video Card:
eVGA Geforce 7900GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - $216
I have 3 main concerns:
I've seen posts that say that the Intel Core 2 Duo is outperforming the comparable AMD dual-core processors. What do you guys think? Also, the Core 2 Duo is 64-bit, right? I'm looking forward to using Vista and some specific 64-bit software in the future, so I just want to be sure.
I've been out of the market for video cards for about 2 years and I don't know crap. I hear NVIDIA's kicking ATI's *** these days and I also hear the 7900GT is a pretty good card and doesn't cost too much. Would you guys suggest something else that doesn't cost TOO much more?
Will my 450W Antec Purepower handle the above plus a couple of HDs, 2 DVD burners and a SB X-Fi, or should I get something with a little more juice?
Oh, and does anyone know why the AMD-compatible mobos cost less than really similar boards for Intel processors? I'm just curious.