I've been out of it for a while - looking to upgrade?

[KDOG]

Its been quite a while since my last post, I've been really busy building my plane, working loads of OT, I had a car accident around Thanksgiving, etc....

I'm looking to upgrade my beast. My dad bought me a NEC 3500A DVD burner for Christmas, so I'm good there. What I'm looking to get is basicallly:

nForce 4 mobo w/PCI express for graphics (NOT SLI)
A good mid-range PCI Express video card
a SATA HDD
and of course a proc, in which case I'm looking to get a good overclocker...

One question I do have is about memory. Right now I have 1gig (2x512) of Corsair XMS PC3200 CL2 in my nForce 2 Ultra 400 machine now. Would it be able to run in the new nForce 4 boards? Is it worth it, or should I make the jump to DDR2?

THanks for any input!!!

 

[drpootums]

Asus makes a good PCI mobo from what i've heard. I'm not quite sure of the model #, but do a search for "Asus nForce 4" or something and i'm sure it will come up.

Probably the best PCI Express card at MSRP would either be the 6600GT, or for much more power the 6800GT, but watch for where u get the 6800GT's, most distributers are selling them WAY over MSRP, but Chumbo (when they get them in stock) will sell them for $399 with free shipping.

SATA HDD's...well, the WD Raptors are fast 10,000 rpm drives, but cost quite a bit. If you want a normal 7,200 rpm, Seagate, Samsung (i love mine), and WD make good ones.

CPU's...if you get a skt939 winchester (ur board will support them) the best valued one is the 3200+, which is clocked at 2.0GHz stock, but i've seen them reach 2.6 on air for about $230. If you wanna spend more for about $300 or so the 3500+ oc'es a bit more at a lower voltage, but not much higher.

And your ram will be fine!

 

[KDOG]

Hmmm. Thanks for the info. Hopefully, I can scrape up the money to do this. I saw a Gigabyte nForce4 board at newegg, but i haven't seen any reviews yet. I'll hang on a little longer...