help with a new gaming system....

[N2gaming]

Hello Group,

I am about to upgrade my current system, which is :

AMD64 4000+ (939 cpu) << old skool
MSI 7900GTX (PCI-E)
Creative X-FI
2G of Kingston ram
Gigabyte GA-K8N PRO-SLI mobo

and I have been totally out of the loop since building this almost a couple of years ago, so I thought that I would come in here and get some advice from you guys/gals.

I do plan on getting a 8800GTX in the fall but for right now I will be concentrating on the
mobo, cpu, and memory, although I have to ask, how is the mobos on board sound now a days

the reason I ask is that there seems to be a lack of PCI slots on mobos now a days so if the present day mobos are still bad I will just use my Creative X-FI sound card.

Also, in my current system I am using 3 IDE HDDs and just last Sunday I installed a PATA
HDD for the very first time. I know, I know, I guess I've been hiding under a rock

anyway, all of my games work well so maybe thats why I have been happy with what I have been using. Btw, I don't plan on getting VISTA as of yet so I'll still be using WinXP.

So, please help me out with whats good for a gaming system now-a-days. Oh!! my last 5
or 6 systems have all been AMD, so is that still the CPU to use for gaming??

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and help.

James

 

[Ruger22C]

Good, Vista is bad for games. And it'll make your X-Fi card useless until Creative makes drivers.

On-board sound is good, but not for multi-channel in games. And not for games that support "Extreme" sound. Too much lag. Maybe that's what you meant by good. You will want to keep your X-Fi card. I love mine.

There is a 3 PCI slot mobo with PCI-E, and Duo/Quad Core support.

I will make two suggestions for you. The PC I just built, and the PC I was going to build. (Order didn't go through, thankfully) A few minutes ...

 

[Ruger22C]

The machine that I built and I'm using now:

Track 1 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822148140
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy $79.99
Track 1 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+(65W) Windsor 2.2GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADO4200CUBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819103741
Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy $79.99
Track 1 Rosewill R103A Black SGCC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16811147010
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $25.99
Track 1 MSI K9N4 Ultra-F Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 500 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813130063
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $56.99
Track 1 G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - Retail
Item #: N82E16820231098

Subtotal: $332.95
Tax: $0.00
Shipping: $22.19
Printer-friendly Version
Total: $355.14


I have 7950GT video card, I bought it about 1 month before ordering this PC. $170 After MIR

 

[Ruger22C]

What I would have bought:

MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $149
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E4300 - Retail $121

I don't remember the RAM off hand. I can find it if you really want me to. It was very highly rated among over-clockers. The mobo has 3 PCI slots, supports both quad and duo core. And SLI x16, as I remember.

The E4300 is good for over-clocking.

 

[Sinn707]

What is your approximate budget and what has to be included in it? Monitor? Win Xp? Speakers? In other words, what are you planning to re-use from your old pc?
I'd be happy to help you.

 

[N2gaming]

Ruger22C

Thanks for sharing, greatly appreciated. Another question if you don't mind, what the heck is
a "quad and duo core", I know what the duo core is but the other term is very new to me.

Sinn707

Again, thanks. Well, I just basically need a new CPU, memory, mobo, as I have everything else. A couple of months ago I bought a new double-layered DVD burner/player and also

a new Wide-Screen 22" Gateway monitor so I'm good there. So here is my current systems life blood

AMD64 4000+
MSI 7800GTX
Creative X-FI
2G of Kingston ram
Gigabyte GA-K8N PRO-SLI mobo
Logitech G-15 gaming keyboard
Logitech Z5500s

Oh!, and I'm gonna reuse my case too.


EDIT ***

I just saw the "MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard" at Newegg, looks real nice. Since I have 3 IDE HDDs and the MSI P6N


SLI mobo has two IDE slots on it would I be able to keep my IDE HDDs and make the mobo boot up on a new SATA HDD. I also got a new 500 gig SATA HDD installed last weekend so I am in love with that HDD so I also would buy another SATA HDD and have two HUGE SATAS in my system

 

[drakore]

If you plan on running SLI down the line, then get the nvidia 680i chipset, if not get a P35 board. you can pm me if you want and we can go through parts if you can give me a budget and list of goals

 

[Ruger22C]

Duo core = 2
Quad core = 4

Look up Q6600
The price of this item will drop on July 22

 

[N2gaming]

Ok, guys, I thought that I would report back in and let you all know what I had decided on getting.

I will be picking this stuff up tomorrow at a local computer store anyway, here goes...

a) Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0Ghz

b) Asus P5K Core 2 Quad/ Intel P35/ DDR2-1066/ CrossFire/ A&GbE/ ATX Motherboard

c) Corsair 2GB PC-6400 Kit XMS

d) PIONEER DVR-212DBK 18X SATA DVD RW DRIVE BLACK

and I willl be still using this from my 939 system for a while:

MSI 7900GTX (PCI-E) = video card
Creative X-FI = sound card

 

[N2gaming]

Well, as usual I made a last minute change I went to NewEgg and got the GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R 775 R mobo and Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800.

Good grief I'm still freaking punch drunk after reading about every mobo, P/S, memory, case, DVD-Burner, SATA this, SATA that, seeing benchmarks reading peeps comments...but when
everything comes together and you have the system working great...its priceless!!!