Buying a new desktop, need help

[Tazzipign]

I need help…

I want to get a new desktop that will be able to play EverQuest 2, BioShock and Unreal Tournament 3 when it comes out. My budget is $2,000 to build my own and $2,500 to buy an already built one. There are a few things I already have.. I have 3 hard drives (all SATA 3GB/s), CD/DVD burner, mouse and keyboard, 2 sets of memory and a 3D Aurora 570 Aluminum Full Tower Case. The memory is Corsair brand, 2 gigs (4x 512) XMS2-6400 DDR2 800 MHz and 4 gigs (4x 1024) Dominator XMS2-8500 1066 MHz. I can reuse those in the new machine; they just need it to be compatible.

Any suggestions would be a huge help. If there are other posts I should look at, please direct me to them.

Thank you in advance,
~Sean~

 

[g-paw]

Either of these mobo would work. I like the ASUS because of the onboard firewire but if don't need firewire or SLI, go with the Gigabyte.
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128059

Given you have $2000 you could go quad core
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

What PSU do you have?

 

[Tazzipign]

I currently have a 650w PSU. I would like to go SLI in the new machine.

 

[mad-dog]

Why are you mixing 800MHz and 1066MHZ together, the memory will only be as fast as your slowest RAM which is 800MHz......besides I'm not even sure it would POST with that setup..
well it might POST but it might not BOOT, it's never been done before that i know of so i don't know what it might do.

 

[Tazzipign]

I'm not mixing the memory, I have 2 different sets from old PCs. The 800 MHz set and the 1066 MHz set.

 

[mad-dog]

Ok......relief

 

[Guest]

If you're going to re-use some of your old parts then I think all you need is mobo, cpu, and gpu. Your 1066 ram should be enough; psu also.

 

[Zorg]

Q6600 and your board of choice. I would wait a little while for the X38. Thermalright ultra 120 extreme with scythe s-flex 120 fan for the HS. You can really do this whole build on the cheap.

 

[Bobsama]

I'd say Q6600, Abit IP35-E, your DDR2 1066, and graphics card of yuor choice. Scythe Infinity looks to me to be the best CPU cooler at $38. The IP35-E might not be your best choice, as it looks like you want to do SLI, so a good alternative would be an nForce 680i board, such as from EVGA or Asus (don't grab the $160 EVGA board--that's dual-core only).