System Choices! Need help?

[bestarr]

I'm shopping around for upgrades for a Motherboard, CPU, Video Card, and RAM. I should say that I'm making these upgrades for gameplay, mostly World of Warcraft. I'm seeking as near-flawless gameplay as possible. I'll post these questions in all the appropriate forums, but I thought it would be best to list all my thoughts in each so a better opinion can be shared. Here's where I'm heading:

CPU
AMD 64 3000+ w/ chipset 939, to support a FSB > 800 MHz
I'm wondering if this will be enough. I'm considering
upgrading to a 3500+ if necessary. Thoughts?

Motherboard
A8N-SLI Deluxe, for the sli technology and a FSB > 800 MHz.
I'm pretty sure this is a fine choice.

Video Card
Some form of the nVidia 7800 GTX 256mb PCI Express
My trouble here is is one of my main problems. I'm
curious if this upgrade is really necessary or if I
could achieve the same end result by getting two
cheaper cards to be used with the sli technology.
If I should get two other cards I have no idea which
two I should get. This is almost strictly a question of
price vs power.

RAM
2x 512mb DDR 400
I think that's specific enough. I've some stuff about
dual channel floating around...is that anything I need
to even think about?

I was directed to post in this community by my local CompUSA techs. I hope you can help me with some good advice. I'm lost on which way I should go on these. Thanks so much!

 

[dannyaa]

Get the 3500+ venice core --> best bang for buck

The ASUS is fine though some people don't like it, but thats mostly for OC'ing reasons...

Get the BFG 7800GT from newegg right now, $360 after rebate. The GTX is overkill, so is SLI. You will be exceedingly happy with the 7800GT...

With the money saved, get 2GB RAM. Newegg has 2x1024 OCZ Platinum RAM for $230 right now, after rebate. Make sure you get a good brand RAM (OCZ, Corsair, Kingston, Crucial). Dual Channel is a motherboard feature, not a feature of the RAM. And YES you want Dual Channel. All that means is you put one stick in channel A and the other in channel B and it will double your bandwidth. It's easy and doesn't cost anything.

** MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD POWER SUPPLY UNIT **
Antec Neo480 or TruePower550 for example. Or something from Seasonic, Fortron. Their other good brands out there too. But I have a feeling you will stick these components into an old case with a crappy PSU and have stability issues and problems. Sorry, unexpected cost, but you need a good PSU especially if you are running the new graphics cards. And if you ever want to add in second for SLI... you will definetly need the power.



P4c 3.2Ghz NWood / ABIT AI7 / 1GB XMS-Pro DDR 3200 / BFG GF-6800GT 256mb / Antec 380W

A64 3000 Venice / Epox 9npa-U / 1GB HyperX DDR 3200 / XFX GF-6600GT 128mb / Antec 330W

 

[bestarr]

Fair enough.

Quick question: what do you mean by OC'ing? This is greek to me.

 

[liquidpaper007]

overclock

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(") bunny pwns j00

 

[theholylancer]

if u like AOE III by any chance, get the GTX, it is damned taxing on vid cards......
and sli is better only at higher res, at res like 1024x780 or 12**x1024 sli don't shine as much and sometimes will even make ur games slower....

and not to mention that any old games + sli = error

but if u got the 1600x**** res then i suggest get sli....

AMD A64 3200+Venice @2.65GHZ
DFI Lanparty UT NF4 Ultra-D
OCZ 2x512mb EL Gold VX PC3200 ram 2-2-2-8
evga eGeforce 6800GT 256mb GDDR3 ram
Enermax 485W PSU
Bios 6/23
Windows XP SP2