I've got a Dell dimention E510(P4 3.0GH) and want to upgrade to a dual core processor. Already upgraded the power supply to a BFG ATX 12v v2.2 650 watt and running a Geforce 8800gt video card. I do a lot of video work and I'd like to work a little faster and give myself some room to upgrade to dual video cards down the road. Money is tight but I'd rather not skimp and need to upgrade too soon. Should I go the AMD route or stick with Intell? People say you can get more bang for the buck with the AMD's but I get confused trying to compare the intel's to the AMD's. I'd like to go with a dual core 3.1GH or 3.2GH(would settle for 3.0GH if it saves some money and you think it would still be a good enough upgrade.
As for the motherboard, like I said I'd like to have an extra PCI express slot open so I can run dual video cards down the road. I need at least 3 SATA inputs(have 2 internal HDD's and a blu-ray drive). Want to use the quicker DDR3 ram 1066, but again I would settle for the high end DDR2 1066 or the DDR3 800 if need be. Would like at least 4 slots for RAM so I can upgrade that down the road as well since I'm going to have to shell out money for that as well.
Can anyone give me some choices?
This also means I'll have to install windows XP again right? So do I have to buy an install CD to do that? Really can't afford to pay for that too so I'm hoping I've misunderstood that part.
As for the motherboard, like I said I'd like to have an extra PCI express slot open so I can run dual video cards down the road. I need at least 3 SATA inputs(have 2 internal HDD's and a blu-ray drive). Want to use the quicker DDR3 ram 1066, but again I would settle for the high end DDR2 1066 or the DDR3 800 if need be. Would like at least 4 slots for RAM so I can upgrade that down the road as well since I'm going to have to shell out money for that as well.
Can anyone give me some choices?
This also means I'll have to install windows XP again right? So do I have to buy an install CD to do that? Really can't afford to pay for that too so I'm hoping I've misunderstood that part.