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Upgrade time again (AMD or INTEL)

B

b00gnish

n00b
Joined
Nov 28, 2005
Messages
19
I'm wanting to upgrade my computer again and i'm stuck on what chip to choose. I usually go with AMD, but I hear that these newest Intel chips may be a better choice. The only parts i'm going to be using from my old PC is an Enermax Liberty (620w) PSU a Sounblaster X-FI card and a Thermaltake case.

I'll be using my pc for gaming, music and burning audio/video. I'm willing to spend about 2 or 2.5k

Thanks for the help.

P.S. I don't know crap about Intel or the Intel mobo.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
2.5K = omgwtfpwnzorziwishihadthatkindofcashtoblowonanewcomputer.

Intel E6700 (Intel Conroe)
ASUS P5N32 SLI Premium (Nvidia 590MCP)
2X EVGA 7950GX2 (your PSU better have 2X 12V rails)
Corsair Twin 2X 2408 DDR2 800

that system = :D:D
 
MrWizard6600 said:
2.5K = omgwtfpwnzorziwishihadthatkindofcashtoblowonanewcomputer.

Intel E6700 (Intel Conroe)
ASUS P5N32 SLI
2X EVGA 7950GX2 (your PSU better have 2X 12V rails)
Corsair Twin 2X 2408 DDR2 800

that system = :D:D
Click to expand...

I looked up the ASUS P5N32 SLI and there was 4 different models at newegg. Which one should I be looking at?
 
edited the previos post: the one your looking for is P5N SLI Premium

but thats another thing. the 590 chipset runs really hot, and while its loaded with features, it being so hot leaves little room for overclocking. mind you its rated to get pretty effin hot.
 
Anandtech has some great articles on the new Intel chip. You can start here:
http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2771
They also have a preview of the Kentsfield (Core2Quad), a quad-core CPU. Its under the CPU section, so check that out as well.

Here's some DX10 news from nvidia:
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4441

The current SLI-Intel boards don't overclock well at all. I'd suggest waiting until the end of the year to build a new system. By then, the new SLI-Intel boards will be out (nForce 680 SLI), along with the new DX10 cards from NVIDIA: 8800GTX/GTS (525Mhz/500Mhz core, 768mb/640mb both at 900Mhz). Keep in mind that alot of the core2duo boards are upgradable to kentsfield, while AMD's 4x4 will be on the new Socket F (not AM2).

I'm just guessing here... I'm not sure what prices will be like... but its fun to guesstimate:
325 - Intel E6600 2.4Ghz 4mb L2 Cache LGA775 (Socket T)
225 - nForce 680 SLI, Intel Edition board
600 - GeForce 8800GTX 525Mhz core, 768MB GDDR3 @ 900Mhz
600 - GeForce 8800GTX 525Mhz core, 768MB GDDR3 @ 900Mhz
250 - 2GB DDR2-800 (2x1GB)
200 - WD Raptor 150GB WD1500ADFD SATA150 10000RPM
300 - Enermax 850W SLI PSU (SLI for the 8800GTX cards will require at least 750W PSU)
======
$2500
 
Are you looking to SLI? Are you planning to OC? Do you want to spend all that money, or get the best you can for as little expenditure as possible?

Personally, I'm looking at getting:

E6400
Asus P5B Deluxe
Corsair TWINX2 2048 DDR2 800

With those parts, you can keep the parts you're going to reuse and they'll work just fine. The E6400 at stock is a great chip and if you OC it, then it's even better (especially for the price). I personally hope to OC to at least 2.4Ghz. If I can get more, all the better, but at 2.4Ghz it should perform more then well enough for my needs. For you, add a good, high end video card to that mix and you should have a great rig and you should end up under $1500 easy. If you want a faster chip, I'd go with the E6600 which is still priced very nicely. If you do that, I'd recommend researching whether the i965 or i975 chipset would be better. I've heard the E6600 overclocks better on the i975 chipset, but I don't have any personal experience with it, just saying what I've read around various sites. If you decide to go with that, the Asus P5W DH Deluxe looks nice.

Anyway, good luck... ;)
 
Do you really need SLI? What size monitor do you have and what settings do you run your games at? Also, which games do you play? $2k is a huge budget, but you really don't need to spend that much to get great performance.

If you want:
--- a system now
--- sli
--- no crossfire
--- no overclocking
--- no upgrade path to kentsfield (quad-core)
Then get the P5N SLI Premium. Anandtech stated that none of the current non-intel chipsets support kentsfield, though, that may change.

if you want:
--- a system later
--- sli
--- no crossfire
--- good overclocking options
Then wait for the new nForce 650/680 SLI boards. I don't know if these are upgradable to kentsfield, but I imagine they would be.

if you want:
--- a system now
--- no sli
--- no crossfire
--- good overclocking options
--- upgradable to kentsfield
Then get the higher end P965 Express chipset based boards. The Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 is a great board for this category. The lower end P965 boards don't overclock too well.

if you want:
--- a system now
--- no sli
--- crossfire
--- good overclocking options
--- upgradable to kentsfield
Then get any of the i975X chipset based boards. The MSI 975X and other 975X based boards can overclock very well, but the P5W DH can go a bit further. So if you want that extreme overclock, go for the P5W DH. Otherwise, any 975X board would suffice, depending on the features and pricepoint you want.

if you want:
--- a system now
--- no sli
--- no crossfire
--- no overclocking options
--- upgradable to kentsfield
Then get an intel 945G chipset based board.
 
Thanks alot for the help everyone. I dont plan on overclocking, though the option to do so would be nice. I just want something fast enough to play all the new shooters and mmorpg's and any other cool game that is coming out soon. I like the idea of being able to upgrade to the quad core chips too. As for SLI I will probably go for a single card at first and upgrade to SLI when i get a better monitor, right now i'm using a cheap 21 inch.

Thanks again everyone.
 
Don't watercool just because you have money to throw around. Spend it according to your needs. If you need watercooling, then go fo it. If not, don't. Simple as that.

You only need SLI if you want to game at high resolutions with the highest settings. Which resolution depends on the game. Typically, if you'd like to game at 1600x1200 with all the bells and whistles, then you'll need SLI/Crossfire. Some games are so intensive that it'll lower than resolution bar to 1024x768 (oblivion, i think).
 
I think what i'm going to do is go with Intel this time, but I woud like to get a mobo that will be able to upgrade to the quadcore chips.

I'm going to have to uprade this pc over a 3 or 4 month period, spending around $500-800 each month. What would be the best parts to buy first? I'm guessing CPU, moterboard, ram, GPU, then monitor.


Thanks again for the help.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. :D
 
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