New PC System w/o monitor

[doggieiscool]

What should I buy now that would atleast not need upgrading for a year for example. I have a 19' LCD but a rather aging athlon 2600+ with 512mb DDR and GeforceFX5200. What do you suggest I get as in CPU, ram and Video card. I'm willing to spend $1200 AU

Thanks for any help

[FrostyTheSnowman]

Buy the best AMD cpu you can afford, and 1 gig of ram. Video card is a matter of preference, but IMO, Nvidia is the better option. Go with an Nvidia Geforce 6800, as they are quite powerful, and not too expensive. And as far as motherboard, I recommend nothing less than ASUS, but if you don't have the money for ASUS, MSI does pretty well too.

[Coolsvilleman]

Originally Posted by FrostyTheSnowman

Buy the best AMD cpu you can afford, and 1 gig of ram. Video card is a matter of preference, but IMO, Nvidia is the better option. Go with an Nvidia Geforce 6800, as they are quite powerful, and not too expensive. And as far as motherboard, I recommend nothing less than ASUS, but if you don't have the money for ASUS, MSI does pretty well too.

Agreed, nvidia has a much better control panel (cept that new piece of junk they try and make you use) although the drivers may not be as top notch as ati.

[leo9986754]

i suggest you wait until mid or end of july as prices for the AMD CPU will drop due to the upcoming Conroe from Intel

[Master Chief]

Well, I have a Socket A system as well, with an AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (oc'ed to 2.3ghz) along with 1 gb of Corsair Dual Channel RAM , and a GeForce 6600GT, a 19 inch LCD with 1280x1024 native resolution. Everything works well for me. I played Half-Life 2 at 1280x1024 with antialiasing and anisotropic filtering on, without to much of a hitch. I have everything overclocked just about. I'd reccomend upgrading your graphics card and RAM if you want. I've used motherboards from Asus, Abit, and even a Biostar motherboard once that burned out two weeks after it was installed . I also hear that MSI makes good motherboards.


But as leo9986754 suggested, I'd wait till the Conroe hits the shelves, as prices in Socket 939 (possibly even AM2 ) start to become cheaper.

[doggieiscool]

I might wait just ask you asked. Here its financial period = savings I'm getting atleast 2gb of DDR2 I know that. That should keep me safe. I'm very pro-AMD, what processor ? Needs atleast to be 64bit. Specific 3d card? Nvidia or ATI ?

[FrostyTheSnowman]

AMD X2 4200+ -or- 4600+ if you can afford it, and an Nvidia 6800GT because it's cheap and fast.

[Master Chief]

Originally Posted by doggieiscool

I'm very pro-AMD, what processor ? Needs atleast to be 64bit. Specific 3d card? Nvidia or ATI ?

Its all a matter of taste really. The two newest and best AMD sockets are Socket AM2 (or Socket 940) and Socket 939. Socket AM2 currently hasn't gained much ground over Socket 939 from what I've been reading. However, all these motherboards use 64 bit processors (just look for AMD 64 ). There's also Socket 754 which is also 64-bit AMD, but I wouldn't reccomend that.

Very soon Intel is coming out with the Conroe and Core 2 Duo which is supposed to give AMD a run for its money. But if you're smart you won't buy the newest thing right away . Here's some good news, AMD is dropping the price on the X2 : http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/07/13/am...on64x2_prices/

As for ATI vs NVIDIA, again, it's a matter of tatse. Both companies make excellent graphics cards. I've used NVIDIA more than ATI, and I've never really had any problems. Some people have had overheating ATI cards, but I can't really speak for them.

[dukenukem]

i would suggest you get an x2 processor from amd since the price cuts will lower prices quite a bit,masterchef core2duo is conroe.get a video card that performs well at what ever resolution you will use for games.

[Master Chief]

Originally Posted by dukenukem

masterchef core2duo is conroe

Yeah I realize that but when you aren't thinking straight you screw up

[doggieiscool]

heh thanks for all your help. i shall let you know what i choose.

[DaStinger77]

Like your system MasterChief, much the same as mine. Works great, currently playing Prey at 1600x1200 on High with AA on 4x and AF on 8x with great framerates!