Time to upgrade

[Sonofjohn]

Well I built my current rig about 2 years ago.

AMD Athlon 64 3000 2.39ghz
1gb dual channel corsair XMS ram
80 gb western digital HDD
500w Thermaltake PSU? (can't remember specifically)
52x dvd burner
7300 GSOC

Overall the thing has done what it should have done but I'm fed up with the crap and have been for a year or so. I need to upgrade that is obvious from any point of view.

I have decided to start from ground up. Everything short of the 27" is being replaced. I have been on the fence about a few things now. The biggest probably being the cpu mobo combo. At first I came in with the intent of going intel. I have seen better clocking from them and thought they would be a more suitable choice. Then, due to not being around for a while, I realized AMD had gotten their quad cores on the market. I compared the two and can't tell if I should splurge on the new intel i7's or if I should invest in a phenom quad core.

I don't know if I should like or dislike the integrated memory controller amd uses. I am looking at either the 790gx/sb750 chipset for amd or the P45 for intel.

I can't tell if I should upgrade to ddr3 or hold back.

The bottom line really is that I am going to splurge on a gaming rig. I am looking at getting the 4870 1gb from ati due to the gddr5 implementation. I can't even fully settle my mind on that.

Be as brief or as detailed as you please. I thought there was a lot to learn 2 years ago... I need to get up to date. If i have any price range it is under $1500. I don't need it future proof, as that currently is impossible, I just want to have a rig that can handle today's games with some leeway.

 

[1337_JohnN]

MY SON!!!!! You have come back, to say hi to me!

Alright, you should definitely get an i7, and a Gygabyte X58. Get a Sapphire 4870 1GB, and I think you can decide the rest, you sound pretty experienced, especially, if you're my son.

 

[Sonofjohn]

MY SON!!!!! You have come back, to say hi to me!

Alright, you should definitely get an i7, and a Gygabyte X58. Get a Sapphire 4870 1GB, and I think you can decide the rest, you sound pretty experienced, especially, if you're my son.

I see my name has already brought attention. Well then father, shall I wait for the i7 price drop or should I go after it now?

 

[NosBoost300]

i wouldnt expect much price drops.. if they did that, then they would have to make the current intel core 2 quad lineup drop massively in price

 

[1337_JohnN]

Umm.. you can wait for Denab, which comes out January 8, prices should drop a bit, and the Denab won't be as good. Seriously the i7 is like the sickest processor up to now. It will OC to like 4GHz with the STOCK cooler. By then the triple channel DDR3 RAM should be a little cheaper. And what resolution are you playing at?

 

[NosBoost300]

stock cooler doesnt cool 4ghz properly... you'll get super pi in.. but thats about it

 

[Sonofjohn]

I understand, as with the mobo, seeing as gigabyte has 3 boards that support the x58 chipset, which should I invest in? The UD5, DS4, and Extreme are the options I see:

Newegg.com - gigabyte x58

 

[NosBoost300]

if u plan on mad overclocking... then the UD5 or extreme... if not the ds4 will do fine and supports crossfire

 

[meat_helmet]

I wouldnt expect prices on the cpu range to drop, however, i would bet that there are some cheaper motherboards in the works. There also may be some cheaper ram coming out - although ram prices go up and down depending on supply.

 

[NosBoost300]

rams already pretty cheap for ddr 3... about 33 bucks a stick if you don't mind ddr3 1333