ok... new to the boards... and im not very up to date with the technology out there. last thing ive purchased for my pc was a 6800 gt and that was awhile ago, im looking to upgrade from a p4 2.79. ooook

so im looking for something that can run games good doesnt have to be amazing but good.
I do everything you can think of on the pc. music recording, video recording, photo editing, flash, gaming.. alot. im looking for something that can handle alot of tasks and is able to game as well.

Ive been eyeing the core 2 duo e6600 ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115003 )
and the 8600GTS 512MB ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130286 )
for the mobo i have no clue.

Im pretty clueless as to whats good now adays and reading up on everything just confuses me even more and makes me question what ive been looking at and whether its a good buy or not..... i need help, i love games but my current setup is crap at playing them.


Any help or pointers would be awesome....THANKS!!!

Intel boards are known to be stable, and if you don't overclock or dont know they have some good ones based on the latest P35 northbridge (which is very good) for around a hundred bucks or so.

(http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=20102002 80+50001157+107172277&name=Intel+P35+series)

Plenty of plugs, but if you want a floppy drive or are goint to stick with ps/2 ports then you need another board. Asus, gigabyte, Abit are all decent well known brands, and if your not going to overclock your cpu, then a board around a hundred will run just as fast as a 300 dollar board, it's just that you can't really tinker with the settings as much as you can on the more expensive ones. Nowadays, most motherboards are so close speedwise that you won't notice the tiny 1 percent difference. Just go with making sure you have the features you want and enough ports, they are all pretty good now, not like in '98 when it really made a difference with the brand. Sticking with a manufacturer with an up to date well known website is good too, in case you need to update your drivers or lose the disk or need repairs.

Hi Shibby07,

The CPU you picked is a good one, but the 8600gt is crap. Go with the 320b 8800gt or if you do not have enough funds, would suggest either the ATI 2900 series or any of the 7900/7950 nvidia series graphic cards.

Do no know if you will be going to use SLi or not. But the top motherboards right now are the P35's from Asus, Gigabyte and Abit. The 680i (for Sli) they are IMHO, DFI, Abit and Asus. If you can hold off ordering your motherboard for a month, the new X38 series motherboards will be out.

Now on DDR2 Ram I suggest you look for ram that use the Micron D9 memory chip modules, they are the best around. Below is link which is a little outdated, but still good in helping you find which ram uses Micron. Aslo depending on operating system on how much ram you get. For XP you should get 2gb and if you are planning Vista Preminum or Ultimate (either 32/64 bit OS) you should go with 2x2gb kits (4gb). Gskill, Crucual Ballistix, Geil Black Dragon and OCZ Platinum.
http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/

Hard Drive I would go with Segate 250gb or 320gb Perpendicular drives. But I think Western Digital is also coming out with one also soon. Would get 2 HD's

DVD Burners there are 2 types, IDE AND Sata. Top brands at the moment are Asus (which has a retail model at NewEgg for $35.99), Sony NEC Optiarc and Samsung. Also would get 2 DVD Burners.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCat [...] VD-Burners

PSU's you need to stay with the Top brands, Enermax (Infinti series), PC Power & Cooling, SeaSonic and OCZ GameXStream WITH 700W at least. Good web base PSU Calcultator Usage link below.
http://www.extreme.outervision.com [...] orlite.jsp

Cases, top choices are Thermaltake Armor Series (Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan), Gigabyte (3D AURORA series), Antec, LIAN LI and CoolerMaster (Stacker series).
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCat [...] uter-Cases

Not sure if you will be putting in a Memory Card Reader, if you do. Go with one that also has a Floppy drive.

Hope this helped you out some.

Regarding the graphics card, I agree with Yoosty - the GTS 320 is a great performer for the money.

If you can't stretch to that, get a X1950XT - you should be able to get one for $170.

For 50$ more, switch to the Q6600, it has two more cores, which is invaluable for next gen apps/games.

Why don't we start over... Shibby, answer these questions please:

1. Do you have a monitor, or intend to buy one? What resolution?
2. Which games do you like most, or intend to play on the new PC?
3. How much money are you willing to spend (just for the PC, do not include monitor, operating system, speakers, keyboard & mouse)

I've seen threads on this forum recently that had very good suggestions for $1000, $2000 or even $3000. I'm sure we can put together a good list for you.

Here's a sample: GA-P35-DS3R, Q6600, 8800 GTS 320 MB, Corsair 520HX, Hauppauge PVR-150, Antec P182, Seagate 7200.10 500 GB - a good combination around $1200 that will play all recent games at decent resolutions without any problems. It also does the video recording part well.

Edit: and maybe an X-Fi ExtremeMusic card for the music-related activities...

Wow, thanks everyone for the input.... it really helps.. ill be checking out all the products everyone suggested.

To answer Aevm's questions..

1. Yes i have a 19in thats supports up to 1280 x 1024 but im willing to purchase something better if its a good deal....

2.Battlefield games, CSS, Stalker any game i can. it doesnt have to be lightning fast, its just right now i cant even play most games on low settings

3. Well id like to spend as little as possible, obviously and get the most bang for the buck, but I also dont want to cheap myself and make a system that will be crap in a year. So around $1200 as you suggested for those parts....

So the 8800gts is obviously very good being the top card, but why would the 7900/7950 be a better choice over the 8600 gt?


THANKS THANKS THANKS!!

Because the 8600gt is designed for playing HD movies and being quiet (as in, home theater PC, put it in the living room), while the 7900, 7950 and 8800 are designed for games.

Or, if you prefer, because the 8600gt is designed for Mom and Dad who don't care about performance, while the 7900 and 8800 series are for enthusiasts. It's like last year's Ferrari still beating this year's Toyota, that's how it works.

Bad news, sorry, I forgot to add RAM to that combination. That's another $100 or whatever for 2 GB of DDR2-800. Something like OCZ Reaper or Kingston HyperX, maybe.

Is there going to be a big enough difference in performance and quality between the 7950Gt 256mb ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814143090 ) and the 8800GTS ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150172 ) to warrant the price difference? I would perfer to buy the one thats cheaper yet will still be able to handle gaming....

It depends. On Battlefield, at 1280x1024, with max quality, the 7950 GT does a decent and playable 37 fps, while the 8800 GTS is fantastic at 63 fps. It's probably not worth paying more for the 8800 GTS based just on this.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=277

At 1920x1200, the 8800 GTS does 33 fps in Battlefield, so it's playable. The 7950 GT will require lower quality settings because 23 fps is not so good.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=279

In a more demanding game (say, Oblivion or Crysis), you'll be much happier with the 8800 GTS. For example Oblivion at 1280x1024 is playable on the GTS (31 fps) but not on the GT (13 fps). Again, with lower quality it may still be OK even on the GT, but I can't say for sure.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=296

We don't really know yet what Crysis will demand, but it looks like it may be even tougher on the video cards than Oblivion. Can you wait until the end of November, when the game is released and reviewed and you'll know for sure what cards work well with it? The 8800 series should drop in price a bit too by then. I'm not saying it's a good idea to wait, just asking...

Alright... Well I'm probably going to get the cheaper card and wait till the 8800 goes down or whatnot... because really anything is an upgrade for me...

o.k so far i got.

Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R LGA 775
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128050 )

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115017 )

Ram: G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231098 )

Graphics Card: BFG Tech GeForce 7950GT 256MB
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814143090 )

EH!!?!? thanks.

sounds like a GPU thread XD

I believe you can get a 79000GS for ~100$, and OC it enough to a 7900GT speed.