Help to choose right system and advice pls

[Quantumm]

Hello ladies, gents

Just a few questions:

I would really like to scrap my old system and start a fresh. My old system is a P4 2.66GHz processor, 1.5GB ram X800 Pro and to be honest its really poor now lol. I would like the new system to cope with

Games such as Crysis, Unreal III COD 4 etc etc. As I am a student studying for my MSc in Software Engineering i'm shourt of cash so my budget is £1000.00 thats like $2000.00 (this price excludes monitor). I was looking at the 8800GTX and INtel Quad core Extreme, but have no idea what to get really as the last system I put together was like 4+ years ago lol (have forgot much on hardware)

I was wondering if you people could:
1) Help me choose a system - if something new is about to hit the market please let me know
2) I am really really confused with this FSB for CPU's and motherboards and have no idea how it all works, could some one explain it in a nutshell for me?

Cheers

 

[Maziar]

Core 2 Extreme isnt worth it (the difference between Extreme and non extreme is that extreme has unlocked multiplier)
for that price go for this:

Q6600
ASUS P5K-E or GIGABYTE P35 DS3R
8800GTX
4GB DDR2 800 RAM (Brands like OCZ, CORSAIR , GEIL, CRUCIAL)
500GB HDD(Brands like seagate or western digital)
OCZ GAMEXSTREAM 700/850WAT PSU
THERMALTAKE ARMOR CASE

 

[o1die]

Penryn core cpus (.45nm from Intel) and Phenom (.65nm quad core) from amd are coming in 1-3 months. They will run cooler and use slightly less power, but not worth paying top $$ for. I would look for closeout deals on stuff like the q6600 "go" stepping. The q6600 runs at 2400 (2.4 ghtz), but some enthusiasists will overclock it to 3.0 or higher. Even at the regular setting, it's more than adequate for any task you will run. Intel cpus are rated at 800, 1066 or 1333 fsb. The 800 fsb processors have the most potential for overclocking. The 2140 and 2160 are being overclocked 100% by some enthusiasts up to about 3.2 ghtz. To do this, you need a p35 chipset board with built in memory dividers in the bios. Some are automatic.

 

[chookman]

I 2nd Maziars suggestions

let it be known Penryn, Phenom, G92 and R670 are only just around the corner, so dont say i didnt let you know

 

[nukchebi0]

Wait ATM.

 

[aevm]

I 2nd Maziars suggestions

let it be known Penryn, Phenom, G92 and R670 are only just around the corner, so dont say i didnt let you know

Me too. If you have the money for a Q6600/8800 GTX system go for it. There's nothing coming out in 2007 that can beat it.

If you want to wait until some time in January then there will be a Q9450 CPU, a bit better than the Q6600, for about the same price. Nobody can tell for sure when AMD products will be released or how good they will be (including Phenom and R670). The G92 will be weaker than the 8800 GTX.