Newbie looking for advice

[Leoghan]

So here is the thing. I am a gamer. I play mainly MMOs. I also do a lot of beta testing for MMOs.

I am planning on building a new rig by Dec. and here are my concerns. First By the fall of '05 I will be enrolled in grad school and have a limited flow of income. So the box I build must survive at least 2 summers maybe 3.

My plan is to build a box around the AMD 64 s939, but one of the things I want to do is wait unti they have PCI express MB for AMD. I know that right now PCI express graphics cards are no faster than their AGP counterparts, but having the slot will give me upgradability.

My one main worry, is dual-core processors. They are going to be hitting the market sometime in '05, but will they make everything else obsolete within a year or will my A64 squeak out another few years?

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated. I have been lurking here for a while and I really think these are some great forums with great advice.

 

[endyen]

When they first come out, dual core chips may actually be slower. They will require special software to gain the advantage. Three years may be pushing things a bit, but that from a guy who upgrades something (even if it's only the burner) every month.

 

[songoku]

Dual cores will not be out until the latter half of 2005. I am betting after September for desktops if we are lucky. It’s also good to know that dual core chips are backwards compatible. Meaning what ever s939 board you get, it will work with your new cpu. Thus upgradeability. If you don’t want dual core I would suggest the s754 set of processors. There are lot better buy for you money. However when you actually buy this system in December. Lower class s939 chips should be out and they may be worth getting. But as of today. I personally would go with a s754 system. And as far as I know there are no PCI express boards currently available for the amd platform. This will change though. But I don’t know how soon.

Your number one item, will need to be a kick ass psu. If your planning on dual core cpu and a modern video card. You will need some serious power.


Main System Specs
AMD Athlon64 3200
Asus K8V SE Deluxe
ATI Radeon 9800XT
Kingston Hyperx 1GB
SB Audigy
SATA150 TX2plus
WD740GD
Samsung 172X

 

[Leoghan]

Thanks both of you. My big fear is to build this and be unable to play some of the games that are going to launch 2-3 years down the road. I want to get great performance on the games coming out this year, but I realize that as time goes by this will decrease.

I was unaware that they will be making dual cores for the s939, this is great news and makes me feel more secure about going the s939 rout. I mean if I don't have to break down and buy a whole new machine in 3 years I will be happy. I should be able to save enough in those 3 years for upgrades though.

thanks again