Suggestions for gaming build ~$1400

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Comrade

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I built my current computer about 4 1/2 years ago and it's time to replace.

I'm looking to build a new one - but have quickly realized that i have no idea what is "good" anymore.

I am looking for some suggestions, particularly on a processor, mobo, and graphics card but i would appreciate suggestions on everything else. (i do not need a monitor, mouse, keyboard, or speakers)

I want a build that will run games such as Call of Duty and other new 1st person shooters near top performance. I also want to have a TV tuner.

I'm partial to AMD - but am willing to look at Intel.

I'm looking to stay around $1,400.

Does anyone have suggestions?
thanks
 
Well, for that money you can get a top of the line (on AMD's side) a Phenom II 965, but I'd recommend against that.

If you want to go AMD:

AMD Phenom II 940
790GX AM3 Board
4GB DDR2 RAM
Corsair 650TX
HD 5870 CrossfireX (or wait for the HD 5870X2 [if there's one])
1TB Western Digital Black
Any Case, DVDRW you'd want

If you want to go the Intel route, you'd have to drop one of the HD 5870's for the Core i7 920 (I recommend this particular CPU because of its Socket 1366 which is probably easier to upgrade to future 6-core Core i9's). There's also the Core i5's and the newer Core i7 for LGA 1156, which compete directly with the Core i7's.

At that point, you'd have to choose whether you really want Intel (high-end, which requires you to sacrifice on the video cards a bit), AMD's highest-end (which is mainstream now) or Intel's Mainstream.
 
For that price, I'd go with an i7 and GTX 285, or 295 if you can squeeze it in there.
 
Wow - that was quick. Is there a big difference between AMD Phenom II X4 940 vs. the AMD Phenom II X4 955? The price difference is about $20?
 
Wow - that was quick. Is there a big difference between AMD Phenom II X4 940 vs. the AMD Phenom II X4 955? The price difference is about $20?

The PII 955 is supposed to be a good gamer.. The 965 is just a power hungry chip..

Get your hands on a good 790fx board, and grab a 4870 card, and add in 4g of 1066 ram and a 600w PSU..
 
Thank you for all of the suggestions.

I have another question.

I am currently running XP.

I really don't want Vista and am unsure of 7.

Other than space considerations is there a disadvantage to master-slaving my old HD with a new HD and going that route?
 
Other than space considerations is there a disadvantage to master-slaving my old HD with a new HD and going that route?
Nothing really, except for file transfers between the two hard drives. In my setup, I keep all my backup files and media files on the second 1.5TB and my OS installation and program files on the 1.0TB. Transferring over large amounts of data (And I mean 10+GB) can be a pain, but nothing too dramatic. My average transfer rate is ~95 MB/S
 
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