Need Help with selection of parts for gaming PC

[peterock]

Hey Peeps, I'm looking into building a new PC for gaming on-line. Games like counterstrike source and call of duty 2 and some old school games like black hawk down and nascar 2004. I'm currently runnig an AMD athlon 3000+ ( A socket) K7N2 delta motherboard. 1 gig of some ddr400 econo ram and don't laugh but an ATI radeon9550 256mb. I'm prepared to spend around $2000. I only have little knoweledge on what to get. I heard that I should only get a single core cpu because games are only single app. Oh yea I also run team speak client while playing my games. I don't mind spending some extra cash if its worth it but I'm soo far out of the loop I don't know which video card / cards to buy. Should I buy a 512 card with single pci express slot or (2) 256 cards and a SLI motherboard. is 939 socket that much less than AM2 socket? Oh and I'm a AMD man . Not sure why but I am, heard the P4 run real hot I guess. I'm trying to keep this short but I could use a ground up what to get. Any help would be greatly helpful,
thanks, Pete

 

[MetalX]

Here's a system for ya:

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz - $218
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115004

Motherboard - ASUS P5N32-E SLI - $299
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131073

RAM - 2048MB Dual channel Corsair XMS - $315
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145168

Hard Drive - Seagate 320GB SATA - $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148140

Video Card - eVGA 8800GTS - $450
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130071

That is a pretty damn powerful system and it comes to $1377. That leaves around $600 to spend on a monitor, additional hard drives, a case,another 8800GTS for SLI, CPU coolers, power supplies, mice, keyboards etc. Anything else you need for the system can probably be purchased for $600.

 

[zephead]

i'm not sure peterock would need an 8800gts. a 7800 or 7900 would be a wise choice for the aforementioned games. hell, you could run cod2 great in a 7600 but i would reccomend a 7800 or better.

how much cash have you got tucked in the mattress for this one?

 

[MetalX]

Yes but if his budget is $2000, then he definately has enough money for an 8800GTS or maybe even a GTX. And the 8800s will last longer before the need of an upgrade because of DX10.

 

[peterock]

me

I do have a $2000 budget after some research I found that I'm probably gonna get the 8800gts just because it's direct 10 compbat and its a hot flying video card well maybe not as much as the 8800gtx or the over clocked boards sparkling or something like that. I'm also looking at the amd 52000 64 athlon. It's about half the price of the fx 62 and to me seems like almost same performance. This is what I'm planned on getting......Unless you guys and girls tell me otherwise http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Shopping/shoppingcart.asp?submit=view I'm also worried because they say the 8800gts is a big board. Will it fit in this case that i picked out above. I'm also concerned about the mother board. I have always loved asus but just from heresay. Is this a better board than the others?

 

[F1N3ST]

Umm, items dont come up, but a E6600 will BEAT a FX-62, and use less power. So my STRONG suggestion is to get a E6600 or higher core 2 duo.

 

[peterock]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811119106

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822144701

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814150204

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817159056

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145168

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103759

I'm sorry I think this should be the list...... Please help(fellow gamer)

sorry I forgot to meantion I already have a sound card, moniter, keyboard, and speakers

 

[MetalX]

Newegg doesn't like my computer so could someone tell me what those links are? The only 2 that work are for the case and for the power supply. The case is fine but DON'T get that power supply. That's a terrible brand. HERE is a list of the only PSU brands you should even consider buying from.

 

[zephead]

i reccomend looking at the antec lanboy, p150, and p180. also, the thermaltake tsunami (available in 4 different configs) is worth considering.

as for the harddrives, i strongly reccomend getting two identical drives and setting up a raid0 array. hard disk access time is a major factor in how fast a computer is. western digital raptor drives are expensive, but spin at 10,000 RPM and are much faster than your average 7,200 RPM hard drive. raid0 combines the capacities of the two drives, so even two cheaper, smaller drives could be used. i always build raid0 systems, often combining two 80, 120, or 160GB drives to make a 160, 240, or 320GB raid system. the only disadvantage of raid0 is that, in the event one drive fails, all data contained in the entire system will be lost. the chances of a hard drive failure are small enough that the reduced reliability is not likely to cause any trouble during the useful life of the system. just make sure the drive you get support NCQ.

i wouldn't get an AMD cpu at this point, the core 2's are just too good and too cheap. the new nvidia 600 series chipset is the way to go, provided that is does in fact work as well as many have proclaimed.