Comparing parts for my new gaming rig

[grasshopperbe]

Hello, the time has come to replace my old gaming machine, but i have not really been following the "developments" for quite a while anymore. So don't have much of a clue which combo will give me the most bang for my buck. (the last high end gaming rig i build was my current pc, abit nforce2 mobo, athlon 2200xp cpu). If i just browse the list of core2duo cpu's or asus mobo's in my local webshop for example, i really have no clue what i should look for.

So i tried making some combinations, all advice would be very welcome.

Intel cpu
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 - 3.0Ghz - S775 - FSB1333 - 4MB € 254
Zalman CNPS-9500-AT (Intel S775) € 44
OR
Intel Core 2 Duo Q6600 Quad Core - 2.4Ghz - 1066FSB - 8MB - BOXED € 278
Intel mobo
Asus P5K3 Deluxe- S775 - P35/ICH9 - PCI-E - SATA - Sound - GLAN - WIFI € 213
or
Abit In9 32X Max Wifi €325
or
Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus - S775 - nForce - SLI - SATA - Sound - Lan € 185

AMD cpu
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ - AM2 - Dual Core - 3200Mhz - 2 x 1024K BOX € 217
Zalman CNPS-9500-AM2 (S754, S939, S939, AM2) € 47
AMD mobo
Asus M2 Crosshair - AM2 - nForce 590SLI - DDR2 - SATA - Sound - GLAN € 198

Graphics card
MSI NX8800GTS-T2D640E - PCI-E - 640MB DDR4 - Dual DVI - HDTV € 350
OR
MSI NX8800GTX-T2D768E - PCI-E - 765MB DDR4 - Dual DVI - HDTV € 484

Memory
Corsair Twin2X 2048MB (2 x 1024MB) - DDR2 PC6400 - CL4 - Heatspreaders € 96
is 1 of these enough?

REST
Antec Sonata III : 110€
PSU : antec/enermax : +-140€
dvd drive : 30€
Maxtor 320GB - SATA II 300 16mb € 75

In total i'm aiming at 1400-1500 euro max. I use it for -obviously- gaming (mostly racing sims like gtr2/rfactor, and a FPS/strategy game once or twice a year), regular desktop use (internet over usb wifi, a dvd movie once and a while)
My current preference would go to an intel cpu, but i'm not fixed on that (back in the days, it was 'intel is better at the benchmarks, amd is better when really playing a game' for instance)

and last but not least, which operating system should i use? It seems most pc gamers around here still use 32bit win xp. Is that still the best gaming os? (financially interesting off course since i own winxp already )

I hope this isn't too much at once, i would be very grateful for advice on what will give me the the best machine for my money.

[pam123]

AMD's last dual cores had a few winners ( 5200+ black box, and the 6000+ and 6400+ all have real bang for the buck.) but their latest Phenom series looks like an unmitigated disaster.
If you can spare the hundred or so extra for a quad core then the Intel 6600 quad core is the way to go.

The motherboard : are you serious about dual (or more) video cards and are you going to have a monitor that makes this necessary?
If you're buying a 30" LCD you'll need it if you're not re-think.

I have an Antec Sonata III and no complaints at all, it's my current first choice for all builds unless we're talking "over the top" but, if you're serious about SLI , you'll want another power supply (The 500 watt psu is a good one but not for running dual cards with an upgrade future.).
That means you'll buy case and psu separately.

[grasshopperbe]

I have been doing some more researching, and these are the things i'm not really clear on. Could someone maybe point out this out for me? I read several reviews of these components, but still don't really have a clue to what i should prefer.

What is the difference between ASUS P5N32-E SLI and Asus STRIKER EXTREME ? The striker extreme is advertised as the "ultimate gaming board", but seems to get bad points for having bugs/instability?
Abit In9 32X Max, i found in one review they said it has an unstable bios?
for the rest, didn't see any bad points about it. Does anyone have experience with it?

Pam123, i don't really understand what you mean about the 30 inch lcd? my knowledge
at the moment doesn't go further than an AGP card and a 17 inch crt monitor, sorry
I only plan to get one video card for now, but i figured i just get the best i can get
and see if i want to upgrade it later?

Should i also have a look at asus p35 intel chipset boards, or are these not really for gaming pc's?

q6600: 8mb cache, 1066 fsb
E6850: 4mb cache, 1333 fsb
In the current gaming reviews the e6850 does get much higher benchmark ratings.
Will the e6850 still be as "good" as a q6600 in say 2 years or so, as i normally keep my pc for several years. (current one is 5 years now)?

all advice would be very welcome

[wildfire]

Originally Posted by grasshopperbe I have been doing some more researching, and these are the things i'm not really clear on. Could someone maybe point out this out for me? I read several reviews of these components, but still don't really have a clue to what i should prefer. What is the difference between ASUS P5N32-E SLI and Asus STRIKER EXTREME ? The striker extreme is advertised as the "ultimate gaming board", but seems to get bad points for having bugs/instability? Abit In9 32X Max, i found in one review they said it has an unstable bios? for the rest, didn't see any bad points about it. Does anyone have experience with it? Pam123, i don't really understand what you mean about the 30 inch lcd? my knowledge at the moment doesn't go further than an AGP card and a 17 inch crt monitor, sorry I only plan to get one video card for now, but i figured i just get the best i can get and see if i want to upgrade it later? Should i also have a look at asus p35 intel chipset boards, or are these not really for gaming pc's? q6600: 8mb cache, 1066 fsb E6850: 4mb cache, 1333 fsb In the current gaming reviews the e6850 does get much higher benchmark ratings. Will the e6850 still be as "good" as a q6600 in say 2 years or so, as i normally keep my pc for several years. (current one is 5 years now)? all advice would be very welcome

The major difference is between those 2 boards is that the striker extreme has the 680i chipset. I however think that you should not go SLI, not get a nforce motherboard. Get a X38 Chipset motherboard if ya wanna futureproof yourself. I don't know anything about that abit board.

SLI isn't worth getting unless you USE like a 30" monitor. If you wanna upgrade, just get a better video card. Heres my example of SLI.
1 card = 100%, 2 card = 140%

For gaming, I still reccomend Intel chipsets over nforce ones.

Q6600 Definitely. Q6600 is quad core. The e6850 gets higher benchmarks because the game it was benchmarked on obviously wasn't capable of utulizing all 4 cores.

But the Q6600 will definitely futureproof yourself in about a year and you said you would ahve this comp for 5 years right? :P

[pam123]

Pam123, i don't really understand what you mean about the 30 inch lcd? my knowledge at the moment doesn't go further than an AGP card and a 17 inch crt monitor, sorry I only plan to get one video card for now, but i figured i just get the best i can get and see if i want to upgrade it later?

Welcome to the LCD world and PCI-E 16/2.0

An LCD monitor has to run at its native resolution, so if you get a large one, you have to buy a video card that can power it.
Anything past the 22" mark ( but watch it!) means a high end video card for gaming performance with current games at a decent fps and a psu (650 watts ) with overhead for upgrades.

Before you buy a card and monitor check out reviews, you need decent frame rates for one card at the native resolution of the monitor you're buying.

[grasshopperbe]

thank you for the information, i have decided on getting the teh q6600 as cpu.

For the motherboards, i think i might indeed switch to an intel chipset board.
From what can see in the shop spec sheets, the nvidia chipset boards don't have
support for the quad core (its not on in the list at least) and they only support ddr2 800
while the intel boards have core2quad support and ddr3 ram support.

I will be upgrading to a 20 or 22 inch widescreen monitor in a few months, so i will need a powerful vidcard/psu then?
i don't plan on using the double cards if not neccesary. (2 expensive vidcards for just 1 monitor makes it very expensive imo)

so it would go between these 2 boards then. Which of these should i prefer?
the X38 or teh P35? And just to be sure, i can use a Geforce card on these right?
I don't want an ati card (with that crossfire thing in the name)
http://www.loveno.be/product/14294/A...-DDR3-ATX.html
http://www.loveno.be/product/14287/A...-DDR3-ATX.html

Or should i make a separate thread in the motherboard forum for this?

[pam123]

When you have a list of wide screen LCD monitors you like, check out the refresh rates .
For a card that won't break the bank you want to see 1680 x 1050 .

I note that 24" monitors are dropping in price but, if you buy one, you're going to have to get a card capable of decent performance at 1920 x 1200 ( Start reading reviews at tomshardware and extremetech. ).

If you have any plans for running a crossfire or SLI set up the power supply must be certified to do this, don't skimp here.
The other fact is that graphics cards are only going to get more power hungry so even if you go for one card if you skimp you may end up having to buy another power supply along with a new card when you upgrade in the future.

[Alaron]

Just to clarify, you only need an extra powerful video card if you want to game at the LCD's native resolution. Of course this will look the best. You can however set the game to run at a lower resolution. It may not look quite as crisp but still do-able for a framerate increase. Trying to game at 1920x1200 would take a very expensive video card (or two).

[grasshopperbe]

Thank you for all the replies,

This will be the best card for me then? (still find it strange that it's better than a 100€ more expensive card or at least i was told, but i 'm not going to complain )
http://www.loveno.be/product/14614/M...-Dual-DVI.html
http://www.loveno.be/product/14615/M...-Dual-DVI.html

i found the card in the first link in another shop locally for 40€ cheaper, is that certainly the same card?
MSI NX8800GT-T2D512E-OC - PCI-E - 512MB DDR3 - Dual DVI - TV-Out € 219

They also have this in their list, i guess the ddr4 is an error?
MSI NX8800GTS-T2D640E - PCI-E - 640MB DDR4 - Dual DVI - HDTV € 350

I will get a powerful enough PSU, so i can decide whether to go sli or not later on.

i'm gonna start a thread about the motherboard in the appropriate forum, because i have even more questions about that now i read more reviews.