I've had my PC for a while, and am soon planning on upgrading. I've collected a list of different parts that look to be sufficient enough for now, and can hopefully be partially upgraded for the next five years. I'll post the parts from my local computer store as they have most of what you would find at newegg and other online stores. ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe/Mempipe AM2/+ I've heard that people used to have problems with this stating it as a buggy board but many of those complaints seem to have been alleviated by BIOS updates. And I hope the AM3's will be supported by future BIOS updates. AMD Phenom 9950BE 2.6GHz +125W I'm obviously using AMD for my setup, and I don't really want any bias towards getting an Intel setup. I've use AMD since '01 and I haven't had a problem with them since. I do intend on keeping this for a little while, then upgrade to the Deneb's as soon as ASUS provides BIOS support for the new CPU's. OCZ 2GB PC2-8500 XTC SLI-Ready I'm really open to any recommendation on any brand of memory, though I want a kit that can hopefully squeeze in 4-4-4-12 timings. Western Digital 640GB Caviar 7200rpm SATAII I've heard too many bad things about Seagate and the Barracuda series of HDD's to even think about using them. I currently have a 200GB and 80GB Western Digital drive, both of which are still working after three years. eVGA e-GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 SuperClocked 896MB I decided on getting an nForce board based on my past experience between ATI and nVidia. It's the same reason I chose this video card, but I should note that I WILL NOT be getting this card until around three or four months after I've built the required parts for the setup. I already have an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro for the CPU, and for the motherboard, CPU, memory, HDD and CD/DVD, I think my current 450W PSU should be enough. I understand that I may have to upgrade as soon as I buy that video card but I need advice on that. Besides that, this computer looks good enough but if anyone has some sort of gripe towards anything mentioned above, please mention any other recommendations so I can get the best possible PC for around the same price tag.
I'll be honest, the Phenoms are only good because they're cheap. They perform very poorly in games. If you want a top end gaming system, I'd spend the money you're throwing away on an over the top motherboard on upgrading to a faster Intel system. Also, OCZ memory and EVGA graphics cards aren't proven reliable parts. I'd go with a Core 2 Quad Q9450, a Gigabyte EP45-DS3L, 4GB of Corsair XMS2 (4-4-4-12 at PC8500 is near enough impossible, get the Dominators at CAS5, for games there's no difference in performance with either memory speed or timings, but PC8500 lets you overclock further), and an XFX GT260 Black Edition. As it happens, Seagate Barracudas are the most reliable HDDs of all, but the WDs are much faster, much quieter, run much cooler and are often cheaper, so WD is usually my brand of choice. A 450W PSU is probably pushing it for either build, unless it's from a brand like Corsair.
I believe he is looking for parts that will be upgradeable in the coming years. If he went Intel he would have to go i7. That means an expensive board, CPU, DDR3 ram. While the C2Q's are definitely faster the cost/performance of an AM2+ setup that can be utilized with an AM3 chip in the future is a better choice as long as the motherboard he ends up going with supports that feature. Unfortunately the 9950BE won't work in an AM3 board so if you ever end up throwing a Phenom II chip in an AM2+ motherboard you are going to be taking a performance hit as it will be limited to DDR2 memory.
For gaming I don't think the core i7 would really do much better than the q9550 but for overall it's for the win and to me for now the q9550 is for the win after calculating.
Sorry for the obviously late reply. I had money issues but I currently have enough to buy the PC. Thanks for your help on the setup, but I'm still sticking with the AMD setup as I already bought the M3N-HT Deluxe. I mostly chose AMD because of the low price mentioned. I couldn't push the price I wanted and I'm now limited to around $800 so I revised the parts a little. The board is obviously the same. The processor is most likely going to be an Athlon 64 6000+ as I found a local ad with someone selling it for $50. I'll keep it for a while then upgrade to the new Deneb Phenom II's. I'll definitely be getting Corsair 2GB XMS2-6400 TWIN2X seeing as how almost everyone recommends Corsair and it's cheap. I'll be sticking with the same HDD but the GPU will have to be a 9800GTX+ priced around $100 lower than the GTX 260. As for the PSU, it IS a Corsair. Corsair VX 450W to be exact. I'm pretty sure I bought this to replace my last PSU that blew a capacitor but that was too long ago to remember. So that's the update but I'm still open to suggestions. The CPU and Mobo are already set as it's just a matter of me picking up the CPU. As for the memory... it seems TOO cheap to be reliable but I wouldn't know. The memory I get is gonna be in for the long haul. Also, if you're gonna suggest a different video card, I don't want it to be any higher than $250. Thanks for the help.
The M3N-HT Deluxe isn't even a very good motherboard. I'd send it back. $800 is still ample to build an Intel system with, and ultimately, Intels work out cheaper than AMDs for performance systems. On a budget of $800 you don't need to go as low as a dual core. Here's a parts list from newegg: Core 2 Quad Q6600: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017 Gigabyte EP45-UD3R: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128359 4GB Corsair PC8500: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145214 WD5000AAKS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073 Sapphire HD4870: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102810 Corsair VX 450W: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003 Antec Three Hundred: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042 LG 22x DVDRW: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152 $792, with $70 of rebates, effective price before shipping $722.
