3 Years out of the loop. Want to built. Advice?

[ScottDaMan]

First post, 4th PC build over the last 11 years.

Its been a while, last build is my 1.4Ghz AMD Athlon and I need to upgrade. My machine is barely making current game minimum specs and that means it is time to upgrade.

Budget $1000
I already own an awesome Dell widescreen flatpanel so the $1000 goes into the computer, not perephs. Although, BONUS would be dual monitor widescreens. Heh.

Anyways, I've been looking at the 4800+ AMD X2 processor because of the recent price drop but many seem to recommend Itel's Core 2 Duo chips. Is there a comparable Core 2 to the 4800+ thats around the same price?

I want 2GB of DDR2 Corsair ram so I need a AM2 or comparable Intel mobo. I want 600GB+ using Seagate 7200.10 drives.

A nice medium sized case for my desk cabinet.

Using everyone's research here, I can save a lot of time with this post. Based on your experience, what's the best mobo (non-sli) and the best way to tackle this.

Can't wait to piece together yet another machine.

Oh, I do want DirectX10/Vista compatible stuff. Thanks all!

 

[ScottDaMan]

All Im asking for here is a good Mobo/CPU setup here. I want a 4800+X2 AMD, what is a great mobo for this that is Vista ready? Same for Core 2 processors, what beats the 4800+ that is comparable in price?

 

[Wolfshadw]

As I understand it, any motherboard that can handle your CPU (be it S939 or AM2) is Vista-Ready. DX-10 capable graphics cards are not available yet, so it's safe to assume when they do come out, they will require a PCI-Ex16 slot, so make sure you Motherboard has one.

As for what beats the 4800+, anything from the E6600 and up (E66, E67, X68) beats anything AMD currently has to offer. I refer to this Tom's Article.

FYI, I'm currently running an ASRock 939Dual-SATAII with an AMD 4800+, 2 Gig DDR333 RAM and an NVidia Geforce 7800GS (AGP). It's strictly a gaming system and so far, no complaints.

-Wolf sends