Ok, I have decided on the AMD Athlon64 4000, and the Geforce 6800, so SLI is in my future, but I am not into overclocking, yet. I now need a motherboard, and a Gig of RAM. On both I would like to stay in the 150.00 range, but am willing to go slightly higher if it is the recommendation. Any help would be apprciated, I have had trouble finding good reading on both items. Thanks in advance.
As for a MoBo, Asus A8N-SLI http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131524 and some crucial ballistix memory, two of these should be pretty good. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131524 and might i suggest for just a little more money a 7800GT if your willing to spend it i think it would be a good improvement http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130247 and to save money i dont think the extra 512MB of L2 will help you that much so i would suggest the 3800+, same clock speed. Because from what i hear the extra cache of the 3700+ doesnt give hardly any improvement over the 3500+. With the CPU savings you could get the better GPU. Anyone else agree with me.
Well even if you're not into overclocking go with the 3500+ the overclocking section will help you with overclocking, why not spend less money on a lower Chip and some extra cooling and then overclock it...more speed with no more money spent... that money you save could be spent on a better Graphics card...7800GT would be good... EDIT: And by 150.00 what do you mean...USD? GBP? AUS? please let us know...also Girtho961 the link for the RAM is the same link as the one for the motherboard
150 USD. So like many my goal is for a good showing on Half Life, and some of the newer games out. The lower processor with the 7800 will give me what I need? I will check out the section on overclocking.
In gaming the graphics card and ram are much more important than the processor. This gives you no reason to skimp but I'd stick with a 3800+ or even a 3500 as it gives you excellent performance, and as others have said if you want to turn to overclocking later then you'll be all set for a major speed boost. Provided you get good name brand ram (OCz, Patriot, Crucial, Kingston, G.Skill, Corsair, but nothing in the value series devision). I'd recommend a 7800GT as well. They run every game out today at excellent fps with everything maxed and aren't grossly expensive, though definatly more so than the 6800 I'll admit. However it's a wiser choice than two 6800's in SLI as some games don't take advantage of SLI and the performance, while good, isn't the same as a single uber card like the 7800GT. The A8N is a very nice board that shouldn't dissappoint, I'd suggest a DFI Lanparty but they're more tweak/overclocking centric and may be overkill.
That's some good advice there Ex! :good: WHat Ex said is worth taking note of, I'd get a 3500+ and have some more money for some better RAM or a better Graphics card, I never thought I would turn to overclocking but I did and it's great having a speed boost at no real extra cost (maybe slightly better cooling)
Why thank you Matt If done carefully overclocking can save you hundreds of dollars. With most modern AMD single core chips (so not the X2's) the main performace difference between them is caused by clockspeed. So you can effectively turn a $146 Althon 64 3000+ into a FX 55 or even higher with a good mobo, such as a DFI Lanparty and some nice overclocking ram, something rated at higher speeds than PC3200 will probably give you a great overclock. And while there are no guarentees chances are you'll come out with at least a 300MHz OC.
Great, thanks for all the info, though now I am back to square one with which hardware to pick up, but I think I am seriously going to consider overclocking, already started looking into it.
well with AMDs recent price drop you can get a 3200+ for just $155 from newegg, so you have that extra 200MHz, for only $9 more than the 3000+.
