Preliminary upgrade list

OldBuzzard

I've been looking at upgrade posibilities, and have come to the conclusion that putting any more $$ into my current system is going to be a mistake.

My original thought was to go with a 939 X2 4400+ in an Asrock Dual-VSTA board, as that would allow me to use my X800 AIW and upgrade to a PCI-E later, but that board isn't available...so then I gave thoughts to getting a 1950 AGP card for this system to see if it would keep me going for another year or so. In the end it looks like the 1950 AGP would be a waste of $$, as I'm not sure if this 3400+ has the horses to push the 1950 any faster than my current X800.

SO...after a lot of surfing/reading various reviews, and thinking about price/peformance, I've come up with the following:

199.99 X2 4600+ AM2 oem

72.00 Asrock ALiveXFire-eSATA2

207.49 Patriot Signature 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300)

379.99 SAPPHIRE X1950XTX 512MB 256-bit PCI Express x16 CrossFire Video Card

74.99 KOOLANCE VID-205-L06 Video Card Cooling Block

49.99 COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 Black Aluminum Bezel, Mid Tower Case
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984.45 Total b4 shipping (Note that these are current $$ on Newegg)

Now I'm open to suggestions, but remember...it's price performance...I DON'T/WON'T overclock...and I do a lot of Flight Sims.

The only thing missing is a PSU, and that's going to be another can of worms, but not until I know what the basic system is going to be.

I have plenty of time to make changes as I won't be getting this until I get my tax refund from 'Uncle Sugar', and I also have to convince the "War Department" that I 'need' to do this

OmegaRED

Looks like a great gaming rig to me. Get rid of the $75 VGA cooler since you aren't overclocking and put an X-fi soundcard in there.

BlueMak

I would wait for the dx10 card from ATI first.

Dowaco

Anyone contemplating a new computer has to seriously consider an Intel Core 2 Duo.

$184.00 Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 (LGA 775) retail

$83.99 ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 945P ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Lower price than your suggestions ( you will need to buy a heatsink/fan for the OEM processor).
Everything else the same. This way you have upgradeability to crossfire and faster Core 2's (and maybe quad cores) when you think about upgrading again. This combo should run faster than the AM2 X2 platform even with out overclocking.

OldBuzzard

I'll be using a lot of stuff from this system. DVD Burner, hhds, Audigy 2, ect.

I know that the water block for the vid card isn't 'necessary', but I water cool for sound reduction, and component longevity.

I guess that I should have also added that Intel and Nvidia are NOT options. I know that might put me in the 'fanboi' corner, but I have serious objections to both companies based on their business practices over the years.

ChaosMinionX

If you buy a C2D do not buy some cheap mobo, because it simply wont perform. Top mobo choices for the money are Asus P5B Deluxe, Asus P5W DH 975x, or Intel BadAxe2 975x mobo. Trust me you will regret buying a cheapo mobo when you try to OC a C2D or expect and great performance out of it, as well as support for your board if anyhting happens or there is some sort of issue on it.

And if you need a solid 3rd part HSF (heatsink fan) go for Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, and a 5gram tube of Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste (about 40$ shipped from newegg.com) its a solid little heatsink.

Dowaco

Well he said no overclocking and price was a consideration and he had already selected an Asrock board so a $200+ board was not an option.
Also, he is watercooling, so so the HSF is not needed.

Buzzard: I respect your choices, I was just trying to suggest the best bang for the buck.
I found that same case for $29.99 with $10 shipping here: http://www.chiefvalue.com/product/pr...P=AFC-dealnews

if you are interested. I 'have not bought from them but they have a 9.4/10 rating at resellerratings.com

ChaosMinionX

I understand you were saying bang for the buck, but frankly speaking nobody buys ASRock boards that are serious about their system, theres not really anyone using it to know if its good or not. If your gonna spend the money on a system at least make sure its quality even if it does cost a little extra. Im pretty sure you can find P5B deluxe for around 150-180$ if you look hard enough.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...OTC-pr1c3watch

179 at newegg. well worth it, dont skimp out on your mobo thats the last thing you want to suck.

and 207 is pretty expensive for DDR2 667, check out Team Group, Gskill or Mushkin for some good PC6400 with some good latencies (DDR2 800) most of them make quality ram at affordable prices.

And 179 for the E6300 at ClubIT

http://www.clubit.com/product_detail...OTC-pricewatch

BlueMak

While I don't know about the different models, I agree, do not skimp out on your mainboard. Well worth the money.