Is now a good time to build? If so, what?

[DeusDeus]

Current Build: Two years old

Athlon 64 3400+ @ 2.2 GHz
2Gig Ram
GeForce 6800 regular - AGP
Win XP Home
2 x 120gig HD's

Usage: Web Surfing, Office work, Gaming includes mainly Starcraft (old game), some BF2 (runs fine on high settings, not max though), used to play WoW, FEAR

For what I'm doing now, it works fine.

My main focus on upgrading is to get ready for DX-10, and the future basically. That being said, if I do upgrade now, I probably won't get the 8 series GeForce cards simply because there is no software (games) out just yet, and by the time the games do come out, there will probably be better cards out.

Would upgrading now to a new system, with Windows Vista be a good choice, or should I just wait 3, 6, or 9 months from now and do it then?

I haven't been following the computer hardware scene much recently. Was browsing on Newegg and heres some stuff I found:

EVGA 256-P2-N550 -T2 GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail - $119.99

Question: Last time I made this computer, I went with AGP...PCI-E came right around the corner. If I get this card, are there any other technologies incoming, so that when I'm ready to upgrade to a DX10 card, I'll be screwed?

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AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Windsor 2.6GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - Retail - $229.00

OR

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail - $221.00

What's a better choice to go with, Intel or AMD? Traditionally I've gone with AMD due to price/performance ratio. I've been very satisfied with their performance thus far.

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I think I'll probably use my existing HD's. Like I said before, I have 2GB of RAM here, but it's two years old. Has RAM tech evolved enough that I should get new RAM altogether?

I'm also completely clueless on what is a good motherboard, power supply, and case to get, as well as any other components I may be missing.

I know it's a lot to read, I appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Nick5324]

For a new build, I'd go with the Core 2 Duo. The 5200+ is a damn good chip, and it likely would do very well compared to the C2D considering it's about 2 years older. I'm not up on motherboards, but I think one advantage of going with the 5200+ would be a cheaper MB. Someone who's more up on MB's could give you some ideas for MB's for both chips, then you could make a real comparison.

With that said, I wouldn't rush into an upgrade right now. You said it yourself, "For what I'm doing now, it works fine."

I guess if you can wait, you could go for Penryn

As for RAM, you will need new stuff. What you have now is DDR, Socket AM2 and LGA 775 boards use DDR II (I think a few LGA 775 boards can use DDR).

Using your existing hard drives is fine, but if they are PATA drives, and if you will be using PATA optical drives, make sure the new motherboard has 2 PATA connectors, I've noticed some boards only come with one.