New PC???

[Recon by Fire]

Okay, I haven't paid much attention to all the new processors and such in the last few years. So how do all these new processors and motherboards rank? I've been thinking of building a new desktop, primarily geared towards gaming. But may just buy a built PC and save myself the trouble.

[geekwarrior]

i was told to wait till the beginning of next year to buy a computer...cant remember why though, something about the cool stuff dropping in price.....sorry, I just play the games

/crysis

[WaffleBaron]

www.tomshardware.com has benchmarks on a lot of major components. Their Vid card graphs are pretty good at showing the differences between cards as well as "bang for your buck" stuff.

[Grey Goose]

Wait for a month or so. Usually Dell will cut prices drastically for their last shot at a good report to Wall Street. During these fourth quarter price cuts, you can buy their XPS systems at bargain prices. The XPS' are their premiere systems, geared at gamers, and are damn nice. Last year I got an XPS 1710 laptop for $1200.

More info:

https://www.dell.com/xps

[kosmo]

Intels core 2 duos are far and away the processor to get nowadays, and AMD doesnt really have anything to counter them for a while, so go for one of those. If youre into overclocking, the e6300 is the best deal, the e6600 is also a really good deal. The only real thing to wait a bit for is DX10 video cards, though with memory prices rising and expected to continue rising, it might be a better idea to just get a comp now and pick up a dx10 capable card in a year or so when games actually come out that use dx10.

[FlawleZ]

Intels core 2 duos are far and away the processor to get nowadays, and AMD doesnt really have anything to counter them for a while, so go for one of those. If youre into overclocking, the e6300 is the best deal, the e6600 is also a really good deal. The only real thing to wait a bit for is DX10 video cards, though with memory prices rising and expected to continue rising, it might be a better idea to just get a comp now and pick up a dx10 capable card in a year or so when games actually come out that use dx10.

Agreed on the video card issue. DX 10 shouldn't be a determining factor for anyone if they're looking to purchase atleast within the next 6 months. It's only available with Vista, and there are 0 games currently released coded in DX 10, for obvious reasons.

Intel sure does have a winner (finally) with the core 2 duos. However, don't push AMD out of the way. They still have SEVERAL great chips on the market and 9 times out of ten will provide a better bang for your buck.

[Glickman]

i just picked up a E6400 which overclocks out to 3.0-3.2gHz. for $220 thats not bad at all

[FlawleZ]

i just picked up a E6400 which overclocks out to 3.0-3.2gHz. for $220 thats not bad at all

Not bad at all. I'll stick with my AMD though.

[Recon by Fire]

Well I did buy a PC (was going to build it but just don't really have the time to mess with it right now anyway). It's good but I bought beind the tech curve:

Pent-D 3.4ghz
Asus SLI board
2bg ddr2 ram 533mhz
two Nvidia 7600GS 256mb video cards
250gb 7200rpm hard drive
dvd burner
raidmax x1 case 450watts

I picked up some accessories for it also:
NEC 19" lcd flat panel (loved the opticlear but the next larger size jumped upn$300)
Logitech backlit keyboard (g-11) and 1600dpi laser mouse. Logitech sattelite speakers with sub too.

[kruger]

Which Asus board did you get? If it was one of the -N32 SLI boards, then you will need a bigger power supply, and, to be honest, that 450 PS will barely run a SLI set-up. I just built an SLI machine, and the 500w that I had would not even power up the system. Ended up with a 620 watt.

[Recon by Fire]

It is the P5NSLI board. I would immagine since someone else built it, it must have powered up. I cannot imagine they would be silly enough to send me a PC that doesn't power up...but if they do, they will be re-building it!

[kruger]

Ths SLI set-ups are very power hungry. If you experience random crashes or erratic performance, then I would suggest that you seriously look at getting a bigger power supply, one that is capable of supporting a SLI rig. There is a gread deal of information on the Asus forums that deal specifially with this problem, and a majority of the problems are fixed by getting a bigger PS. If interested, then try checking them out at asus.com Just go into the forums and it will direct you to the proper area. Good luck.

[Altimas]

Here's a nice looking PC

[FlawleZ]

Here's a nice looking PC

Looks cool. I'll bet more money went into the cosmetics than the actual components of the computer itself.

[Recon by Fire]

Cool 8-track player!