Mobo is the key. Buy a good one with a good warrenty.

Make sure it's CPU socket will be upgradeable in the future.

Mobo's with a 775 socket in the past could use a single core 3.0 , duo core and quadcore for Intel.

Antec 900 or 1200 case should answer all your future needs with good cooling. 500 watt psu with 30 to 40 amps at rail.

Then buy the best CPU that will fit that socket. You can upgrade in the future.

Ram is so cheap you figure it out.

Good Luck :salute:

Double tap

Go for an AMD. You can buy one for pretty cheap comparatively.

I saw Core i7 for $260 (way less than your price) a little while back. They may be less now.

4850 Vid cards are down to $100!!! Rediculous!

Some good info for helping you on a budget:
Best Graphics Cards For The Money: July '09:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...card,2362.html

Far Cry is probably what you should base your CPU opinion on if you primarily use it for gaming:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2....0.1,1401.html

Here is $180 for a 940. This price could probably be beat too pretty easily. Use the 945 score from the chart above (same CPU, just different socket - AM2+ vs AM3):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103471

-S

I must admit I'm with Goldorak. :hmmm:

Lynnfield will run on yet another new socket, LGA 1156. It's a direct replacement for the current Penryns. By the time supply is steady, costs should be the same for Lynnfield CPU + P55 board as you would pay now for Penryn + board. It's worth holding out for, but probably means waiting till Q4 before you buy.

The biggest problem moving to i7 right know is that the boards cost 2x as much. 150,- for a basic board, 200,- for a good one. Add 230,- for the 920, and most of the budget is gone already.

Hmm for that amount of money truth is you can build yourself a very decent rig! :)

all I can say is pick teh mobo right go for all solid capacitors!!! I'm using Gigabyte's mobo with all solid capacitors. It's supposed to extend its lifetime. I can always go back and kill the vendor if it doesn't :rotfl:

Having solid caps is not a guarantee for reliability.
Many workstation and server boards use electrolytic caps and they are as reliable or even more as the all 100% solid caps motherboards.
Don't buy into the marketing snake oil, whats important is quality caps, either electrolytic or solid.

Except when they leak and destroy your computer:

http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages...capblown_6.jpg

They are cheap though. So if you like cheap and adequate, there ya go.

Solid caps have better stability too. BTW, Gigabyte doesn't buy Chinese garbage for caps either - they are Japanese caps. It is always going to be 100 x better quality control for Japanese made parts over Chinese. Japan usually has honor in what they produce (unless you buy Sony). The Chinese however, really don't care. They can accept some failures in the name of mass production. All is good until these cheap caps leak all over your motherboard and your motherboard is rendered useless because of it.

Just my 2 cents.

-S

Xabba,

take note of Ssnakes answers in the 5th or 6nd reply.

http://www.steelbeasts.com/sbforums/...ad.php?t=13586

I have asked at subsim some time ago, now there at SBP boards, and several people in real life as well. I still cannot beolieve how many very different, even contradicting answers I have gotten. But if it is how ssnake says, it should be taken into account: there is little reason then to buy a quad if you do not plan to get software optimised for that. Probably better to got for a duo - but that with as many GHz as your budget allows.

I went with the E8500 Core 2 Duo because I wanted a strong CPU when playing single core games, and I am happy with it. Much better than my old E6600.

What about japanese quality electrolytic caps ? Really the question is not whether to use solid or electrolytic, as if solid caps were somehow instrinsically more secure because they are not (on the [H]ard|Forum there are images of Nvidia video cards with failing SOLID CAPS how about that ?) . They fail just as easily.
Its just a myth the motherboard manufacturers have been "pushing" to justify higher prices and terrorize the consumers with the "experience of bad mobos dieing in the early 2000 because of bad quality control con electrolytic caps".
My stereo rig has high quality electrolytic caps, and it has been going strong for almost 20 years.
Motherboards wether using electrolytic or solid caps won't last that long because of technological obsolescense.
My last 2 intel motherboards (top of the line) use eletrolytic caps and have absolutely no problem whatsoever (one is almost 6 years old, and the other is going on 3 years).
;)

Seems like you have 2 choices.


Cheap and Adaquate or Longer lasting and Upgradeable.


A little more money spent now equates to less headaches later.

It has always been like this. You have to pay for quality.
Nowadays, people are more concerned with overclocking and so motherboards typically don't last long, 3 years at most if you're lucky.
And this in turn makes most consumer oriented motherboard makers churn up "cheap" motherboards that are flashy, hyped to death, support overlocking but whose quality is very very questionable in relation to the price asked.
Look at Asus for instance.

I won't go cheap when it comes to a mobo.

It is the main part of a computer. Longevity and upgradeabilty and compadibility is of the utmost concern when makeing a buying decision IMHO.

All other hardware is upgradeable with the right purchase of the mobo.

For that reason I chose this mobo.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...387&CatId=4068

That sure is a kick ass motherboard. :D

Can't go wrong with a Gigabyte board, really. Weapon of choice for me as well. :yep:

Though I'm 1 or 2 generations behind. :hmmm:

I went overboard on this mobo I know but, I knew I wanted Ci7 975 Extreme cpu and I now also run a pair of BFG 295 GTX H20's

24gb of ddr3 Dominators

All liquid cooled

Powered by a 1600 psu

I don't plan on another pure gameing rig for a long time.

My last rig had a Gigabyte mobo that took 4 hard yrs of abuse and still works.

I guess I got a little carried away with this build. After the mobo I just couldn't stop. :haha: But I count on years of trouble free gameing enjoyment. I HOPE. :rotfl:

edit: Sorry XabbaRus for OT of your thread.