Ok, Quick Help needed please.....

[Keri]

I have been out of the loop for a while now battling illness & Injury so I am not real current on things.

If I were to stay with AMD, What is the best brand board and/or what is the best chipset to look for in a socket AM2 config? Also, X2 6000+ sound good for a CPU?

What about RAM? 2G enough or should I go 4? I know you will say this depends on what I use it for so......I do like to game heavily when I feel up to it.

What about a mid range video card that can hang. I'm thinking Nvidia even though I have been ATI for quite some time.

So I have in my imaginary wallet here say.....$5-6 Hundred.

Lay those suggestions out please.

Thank you.

[Keri]

Ok, Guess I'm on my own here.

[SpeedDMN]

Just guessing here but likely no one understands why you would want an AM2 platform. For the same money or less you could get an Intel Core 2 Duo with much greater performance. I don't think it would be worth the money to upgrade from your current S939 setup to AM2. The performance gain would be minimal. Looking at your specs, you could maybe use a little more video power. Something like a 7900GT if you don't want to spend much or perhaps an 8800GTS if you want a little more power and DX10 capability.
As for RAM. I think 2g is plenty even under Vista for most usage including gaming. I have yet to max out my memory using 2g. Maybe if you were running a x64 OS it would benifit more from 4g.

[SRTDodge05]

Like SpeedDMN said i would do a few upgrades to your system before going to a AM2+ socket. If not then i would go with a Intel base machine and go from there.

[3 of 7]

I agree with the above 2 posters... I didn't chime in earlier because I didn't want to sound negative, but the fact is, you can get yourself a decent 775 motherboard and a low end core2 CPU on the cheap and then build on it...

Every AMD motherboard I've bought in the last 5 years has basically been a dead end because they can't make up their mind what a CPU socket looks like.

Having said that, I'm running an E6600 with a Gigabyte P35 DS3R motherboard and its rock solid with 2 gigs of OCZ ram and a 7900 GS KO..

You should be almost able to squeeze my system into your budget if you don't need a case or PSU etc..

[Lancer33]

If you really decide to stay AMD:

Motherboard = 590 chipset (I use DFI NF590 and love it though it limits your choices on power supplies)

X2-6000 is probably the best bang AMD has out right now. The F3 stepping is allowing some pretty good OC's.

Memory = any high end DDR2 800 that is compatable with your MB

GPU = I would go nVidia. Model depends on whats left in the bank after you get the other stuff.

[Keri]

Wow, Thanks for all the replies. Still looking into options tday. Most likely decide tomorrow what to do.

From reading above I think I would most likely go Intel now but the problem there lies in the fact that I don't know a Core 2 Duo (Made Up) 2236 from a sicamore tree. I quit following that stuff when they quit using Ghz.

So, (And I hope this can be allowed here but is IMO WAY off topic).....(PM me if you would like)......What Intel CPU is the best in the $150-$175 Range (Neweggg price ranges)? Also, Opinions on this motherboard please "MSI P6N SLI Platinum LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail"

Anybody that has free Long Distance and wants to give me a call to help me figure this out faster is more than welcome to. I will PM my number on request. Need to make a decision today if possible.

Mods, You may feel free to move this to the Intel forums if you see fit since that seems to be the direction this is all headed. Thank you.

[SRTDodge05]

Heres a list of core 2 duo cpus.
http://www.intel.com/products/proces...ifications.htm

If your not going to run SLI i would stay with a intel chipset like the P35. The giga-byte p35-ds3r is a great board.

[SRTDodge05]

E4300 $118 800fsb
E4400 $126
E4500 $155

E6300 $164 1066fsb
E6320 $165.50 4mb cache
E6550 $184 1333fsb
E6420 $186 4mb cache
E6400 $199.99
E6600 $222.90
E6750 $225 1333fsb
E6700 $317
E6850 $329.99 1333fsb

[SRTDodge05]

Originally Posted by SRTDodge05

E4300 $118 800fsb
E4400 $126
E4500 $155

E6300 $164 1066fsb
E6320 $165.50 4mb cache
E6550 $184 1333fsb
E6420 $186 4mb cache
E6400 $199.99
E6600 $222.90
E6750 $225 1333fsb
E6700 $317
E6850 $329.99 1333fsb

E4x000 2mb cache 800fsb

E6X00 2mb cache 1066fsb
E6xx0 4mb cache 1066fsb
E6X50 4mb cache 1333fsb

[Keri]

Originally Posted by SRTDodge05

Heres a list of core 2 duo cpus.
http://www.intel.com/products/proces...ifications.htm

If your not going to run SLI i would stay with a intel chipset like the P35. The giga-byte p35-ds3r is a great board.

Actually I am considering SLI with 2 lower end cards. 7600GT's. That is why I asked about the Nvidia chipset which has been good to me on the AMD platform.

[SRTDodge05]

Heres a nice review from tomshardware for Nvidia boards for intel sli.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/05/...red/index.html

[3 of 7]

Originally Posted by Keri

Actually I am considering SLI with 2 lower end cards. 7600GT's. That is why I asked about the Nvidia chipset which has been good to me on the AMD platform.

One thing to keep in mind with the 7600GT's , some of them (eVGA in particular) don't have dedicated power connectors and they take their power directly from the motherboard... Not sure if I'd want to run two of them together. You'd need a major PSU to handle 2 of em on the same rail I would think.

Someone more knowledgeable can correct me here, but I think at this point in time it looks like bang for the buck, spend the same money you would have on 2 7600's and an SLI board and get a cheaper board and a kickbutt single card.

[SRTDodge05]

If it was me i would sell the 2 7600's and get a 8800 series card.

[Keri]

Arrgggg, Decisions, Decisions.