Noobie Help with MB/System

[shoemouth]

My current comp is a k7v dragon plus with a duron 700, I am upgrading and the less money I spend the better. Of course all of this is to support my new gaming habit. I have been playing half life II and age of empires III at a friend's house and I really must be able to play these games and more like them at my own home. I work with photo shop, fireworks and dreamweaver on occasion, but have been putting up with the old maid...until now.

First: would the lot of you purchase A) Abit An8 Ultra for $109, B) The Epox EP-9NPA= Ultra for $105, C) The Chaintech VNF4 for $67 (love the price here), or D) The refurbished ASUS A8N-Ultra for $99. What is the advantage of SLI anyway? Clueless noob remember...

Second: What power supply would you recommend. I've read that if I get the Chaintech and want to oc that I will need adjustable voltage on the power supply.

Third: What is the best and cheapest cpu to go with whatever board suggested. I've got no clue here and it seems that some cpu may not be the greatest though propaganda would state otherwise.

Added info: I don't plan on using raid since I don't know how, I am planning on buying a graphics card also but am unsure of this as well; Thinking of ge force 6600 gt to save money.

sorry for long post... Thanks in advance!

Shoe Mouth

 

[Rob423]

SLI is pretty much a waste for most users. No huge performance leaps yet.

the boards.. well pretty much there all decent. i like the asus myself, Pretty much go through them and see what you like and what they come with. the abit is a great board as well.

in your situation i'd say probley the amd 64 series, maybe a 3800+ or lower take a look and see what price you like, you can always OC' these bad boys.

not sure about the adjustable voltage question but from what i been reading thermaltake psu's have been performing well.. enermax and antec are always good options.

socket 939 and like i said the amd 64 series the 3000+ is only 141$

you'll need a pci-e card. if your just an average gamer, some hl2, some counter strike source... 6600GT is perfect and cheap.

HD .. WD raptor will always give you some nice performance.

Rob.

 

[shoemouth]

Thanks for quick response.

I think I may try the chainteck mb since so cheap if you think no real difference.

I noticed several people seem to have the amd 64 3200 venice cpu. this is listing for 152 on newegg. Is this a good chip?

Also, sorry to plague you guys, but I noticed that newegg also was having a special on 1g of corsair xms memory (2x512) for about $99. Is this worth the extra bucks or should I save the dough?

Final question, would a 400-450 watt psu be enough for my plans?

Shoe Mouth

 

[o1die]

I have the 3200, and it's plenty fast, even when not overclocked. The corsair memory is ok, but not worth any premium, especially if not overclocking. Go for memory with a lifetime warranty, such as crucial, that's a good value. I've had 2 sticks of memory go bad, and the warranty came in handy. For the power supply, stick to name brands only: sparkle (fortron), enermax, ocz, seasonic, antec, and pc power and cooling. You may not need 450 watts; with a name brand unit, you can sometimes get by with less.