New motherboard, CPU, memory...

I'm about to embark on web research to buy a new mobo/CPU/RAM combo and I know some of you have a wealth of up-to-date, accurate knowledge in your brains, so I thought I'd pop in here first. (Actually second, but the Technation 'A-list' feature isn't up yet, SORT IT OUT, GUYS!)

I play games, and am in the market for an AMD-based system, with between 512MB-1024MB RAM. I'm not fussed about on-board graphics as I have a Ti4800, though onboard sound and LAN would be a nice bonus.

Any recommendations? I'm aware both Intel and AMD are about to launch their new generation of CPUs so it might be worth holding off for a month, but I'll still be buying models available now, just maybe then.

Not sure of a top price bracket either; really depends on what I get for my money.

Any advice would be much appreciated before I venture into the darkness to try to find out whats around.

Thanking you!

For the mobo i'd definitely go for a NForce 2 Ultra based solution and I have to recommend the ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe, it's got SATA, dual channel DDR, one gigabit LAN port, one 10/100mbit Lan Port, the soundstorm chip and a slot to accept the ASUS wifi card, so basically everything you're pretty much gonna need.
As for the CPU just pick the fastest barton that suits your budget, altho depending on your views on overclocking you might think about picking up a 2500+ and just boosting the FSB to 200mhz.
Finally RAM, i'm currently using a gig of Geil Golden Dragon PC3500 ram, excellent timings, not too expensive and not had a single problem with it at all.

Lovely! Thank you!

To be honest I'd look at the Athlon64 3200+ or 3400+ on a motherboard such as the gigabyte K8NNXP (nForce3), it'll whip the Barton silly and give you an extra 32-bits when Microsoft release their new OS. That nForce2 is over two years old now and AMD stopped releasing AthlonXPs a while back, so it's probably not a worthwile investment when you're likely to be buying new board, CPU and RAM in a single hit.

You'll be able to get the 3200+ on the new 939-pin boards soon too, which will leave your upgrade path pretty open ended (both Athlon64 and Athlon64FX compatible) - if you wait until next month we'll have a proper idea of pricing and I can give you a hand picking something which will properly suit your budget.

Xav

Id say it depends how much he wants to spend. As far as bargains go an XP3000/3200 with a nforce 2 mobo and a gig of ram would probably only cost about £280-£320, which is still a awesome machine for playing games with.
A 3200 64 Athlon would prolly cost that on its own .

Currently a 3200+ processor costs about £50 less than an Athlon64 equivalent, and is significantly slower than the 64-bit chip because of the extra cache and on-die controller seen on the new CPU.

The price difference is likely to be similar for the motherboard, somewhere between £35 and £50 when the 939 pin boards hit the market (remember, the lack of need for registered DDR on the 939 pins means they'll cost a LOT less than the 940's) - add the new features of the 939 including native SATA, integrated gigabit and a hardware firewall, PLUS the future upgrade option (S462 is end of life) PLUS the 'extra 32-bits' and you've got a pretty compelling reason for the additional outlay, which could be as little as £70-£80 by the time the CPUs arrive.

Xav

Knew you'd come through, Xav! I'll keep my eye on the 64-bit developments. I can wait a while...

Thanks, peeps!

Sure thing, happy to help matey...

Now get on MSN and come talk to meh

Xavier said:

Currently a 3200+ processor costs about £50 less than an Athlon64 equivalent, and is significantly slower than the 64-bit chip because of the extra cache and on-die controller seen on the new CPU.


Xav

Click to expand...

Ah yes sorry thought you was talking about the £250 cpu for some reason

throdgrain said:

Ah yes sorry thought you was talking about the £250 cpu for some reason

Click to expand...

The 3400+ is definately 'teh shineh' but it's not worth that much quite, but Intel and AMD always stick the prices for their top chips well above the rest, they're there to win awards, not sell in volume heh

I'm still looking! Given that I become a student in September, I'd like to upgrade my PC while I have the money, but I'm not keen on spending much more than £150 for mobo, CPU and memory, if that's realistic.

I'd also be interested if I can use my existing memory (1GB SDRAM) in a spangly new mobo. I'm aware that it'd not be operating at its optimum, but I'm also not sure I'd really notice much of a difference anyway.

Any advice very greatfully received, as ever.