TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

Im lookin to upgrade my current P4 but im not sure if i should go with an Intel or AMD. I mainly use it for gaming so im lookin for something that will be able to keep up with the games. I was wondering what everyone thought which i should get and if anyone has any suggestions for motherboards for the respective chips.
Im also wanting to upgrade my graphics card, but i want to wait until they are taking full advantage of directx10. Does anyone have any idea when those cards will be coming out?

A good processor for gaming would be an Intel Core 2 duo E6300 comes stock at 1.8Ghz but you can always overclock it if u want a little bit more juice out of it and a good Motherboard to go with that would be: http://www.canadacomputers.com/index...873&cid=MB.157

That completely depends on your budget. If you want to get cheaper parts, an AMD Athlon 64 4000+ or a X2 3800+ would be cool, and a cheap Nforce 4 mobo will do the trick.

If you have more $$$$, then the Core 2 Duo Computerfreak suggested is much better. A good, cheap motherboard like the Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 would be a great choice too.

And regarding the DX10 cards, there are already 2 DX 10 cards out there. The Geforce 8800 GTX and the GTS are EXCELLENT performers, but are pretty expensive (over 300 bucks), and require a powerful processor and RAM system to work better.

It completely depends on how much $$$ you have.

Regards

I would suggest a Socket 939 Athlon X2 processor, along with a 7600GT or something similar. It shouldn't cost you too much, and give you excellent gaming performance as well. And yes, a budget would make it a lot easier.

budget wise i can probably spend up to a 1000. Thanks for all your suggestions as well, ill look into them.

Well I am not sure what currency that 1000 is in, but here is a rig that is pretty decent for 1000 USD

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model $220

GIGABYTE GA-945PL-S3 LGA 775 Intel 945PL Express ATX Intel $74.99

OCZ Gold 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) $92.99

FSP Group FX600 ATX12V / EPS12V 600W Power Supply$119.99

EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card $389.99

TOTAL $899.96

Add in 100 for windows and you just make it

Now 1GB of RAM is good, 2GB would be much better. I would also consider using a decent DX 9 Card and getting more RAM and a case etc.

Personally, I suggest sticking with a graphics card in the $100-$200 range if not less right now. The DX10 GPU's are expensive, run extremely hot, and don't have all the bugs out yet. If you want to get a DX10 card I suggest getting something good but cheap now, maybe the sapphire X1950XT and upgrading later.

For the CPU, Intel Core2Duo are great but more pricey than AMD. Still, I think you get more bang for your buck with the Intel right now. I just went with the E6600 because of the 4MB L2 cache.

Sorry i should of specified USD, but that right of yours looks fairly nice Atk, I just bought a brand new PSU for my current cpu because the old one fried. Im running a sapphire x800xt right now which can probably hold me over till the DX10 cards get the bugs worked out. But im really after the faster processor and a motherboard. So ill check into all the suggestions.

The E6600 is a good one to get if ur looking at gaming. And the GigaByte DS3 is a great mobo to go with it.

E6600 is an overkill, stick with the E6300. If you're worried about the cache, Intel's releasing the E6320 soon, and that'll have double the cache it has right now. But even then, you shouldn't see much performance difference.

At your budget, its much better to sink your money into the graphics card.

I'd go with atk's configuration. Personally, I'd change the E6400 into the E6300, and the money saved would go into 2GB of RAM.

Then again, my E6300 won't stay 1.8ghz for too long :P