Help buying a new computer tomorrow, please

[nandopo]

Hey guys!

Well, finally got some money and gonna upgrade my old system. Nowadays i have a AMD x24400, 2 Gb of value ram and a 7900 gtx running on windows XP. Im not from the USA, but im here right now, so id like to use the chance to upgrade my computer for the next 1-2 years. I have about US$ 1.5k to spend, give or take 100 bucks.

I'll keep the case (a TT Kandalf), my hds, drives and so on. Id like to buy a new Mobo, Processor, Ram and Video Card. Im pretty convinced i want the 9450 Quad-Core as a processor. And was thinking about a x 280 GX card. whats really killing me are the MObos and Ram.

I've always liked Nvidia chipsets, and before i came here i was pretty decided to get a 780i or 790i ultra. But ive been reading a lot of reviews and many people say they have trouble with booting up and running stable systems on those. I dont plan on using SLI, so i was thinking maybe a x38 or x48 could be an option? (I know they are Xfire mobos, but since im not going to SLI i could get away with one, right ? then just upgrade to the next best Video card when i want to upgrade. What would u guys say about that? stability wise.

DDR3 vs DDR2 , i know ddr3 is expensive and not much better, but i can pay for it, and wouldnt that leave me some room to upgrade when we have better ddr3 modules later on? instead of getting stuck to ddr2 and then having to buy mobo + ram in the future? So i was thinking about 4gb of Ddr3 ram, maybe ocz or something like that. Any VERY good reason that could make me change my mind and getting a ddr2 mobo with 8gb of top quality ram?

And finally need a good power suply, i have a 500w one, but would like to get a very good one in this trip since those are really hard to find where i come from.

Thanks all, hope i can get some answers, thanks for the patience.

 

[Nickel020]

If you consider using SLI in the future, go with the 790i, the 780i chipset is actually only a revised version of the old 680i and both don't work very well with quads/are not very good chipsets generally.

If you don't want to upgrade to SLI, go with a P45 mainboard, i'd recommend the Asus P5Q-E, has pretty much alls the futures of the more expensive boards and costs less.

If you plant to keep the PC for 1-2 years there's no point in getting DDR3 (unless you want SLI, then it's "worth" it so you can use the 790i). You will not see any worthwile performance increase now and in a few years time the 2GB or 4Gb Kit you will buy now will be outdated anyway, you're much better off spending less now and buying something up-to-date then.

As for a PSU, take a look at hte current buyers guide. if you only use one video card, 450W will be mroe than enough (even with a quad and GTX 280). If you want SLi, get soemthing with 650W or more.

This article is in german, but you can still nicely see how much power a quad at 4GHz and all the current video card setups need:
http://www.computerbase.de/art...nitt_leistungsaufnahme

 

[DSF]

Say it with me:
If you're not going SLi, don't buy an Nvidia chipset.

There is no appreciable performance benefit to DDR3. That's just the way Core2 systems work - memory bandwidth isn't really a limiting factor. This holds true whether you're talking about DDR2-667 compared to DDR2-1066, DDR2-1066 compared to DDR3-1800, or even DDR2-667 compared to DDR3-1800. The performance gain is minimal, and the cost difference is large. Not as extreme as it used to be, but still too large to recommend. The only real advantage to fast RAM right now is overclocking headroom, and DDR2-1000 has enough for any chip out there.

As far as needing a new motherboard when you upgrade, you'll have to do that anyway. Nehalem processors are coming out soon, and Intel has created a new socket for them, making socket 775 motherboards obsolete at the end of this year.

Since you're not using dual graphics cards, just go with a good P45 motherboard. It's your best bet.