Fill me in! :P

[nightscope]

Hey everyone I am in need of your help. I've been out of the technology world for a couple of months now because of school and work and with all the new releases I'm kinda lost now. I've been reading the forums for a couple of days but I still need some more clarification on what came out in the cpu/motherboard/graphics card market in the past 8 months. Which are the best price/performance products, which are just the best, that kinda information would be great. I know this is isn't just about CPUs but I didn't want to spam the forums about basically the same concept.

In the CPU area, I lost contact when the Penryns came out.
In the GPU area, I lost contact after the 3870 series came out.
In the motherboard area, after the p35 (intel side) came out.

So please everyone if you can fill me in I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[jimmysmitty]

CPU is still the Q6600. It dropped to like $200 bucks.

Best GPU now is the 4850. $200 bucks and gives the 9800GTX a run for its money.

Best mobo for P35 is still the P5K but now the P45 is coming and is showing its older brother up a bit.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Q6600/Q9450 are the best quadcore deals and E8200/E8500 are the best dualcore deals. The ATI 4850 @ $160-$200 or the 4870 @ $300 are the best video card deals now. The P35/45 is still the best mobo for a single card setup. The X38/48 is the only real option for crossfire, the new ATI cards are bottlenecked badly if they are in anything except PCIe 2.0 X16.

 

[OrderChaos]

actually the best cpu for gaming is e8400, not enough games support quad core yet. Better price/performance for higher clocked dual core than quad. For video editing etc. yes Q6600 is still the best.

Best GPU is debatable there is a price war going on where nvidia and Amd/Ati are fighting over best price/performance. 4850 is the best price/performance but if you're looking for just the best without regard for price gtx 280 is the best hands down. Although in a couple of weeks when Amd releases the 4870x2 this may change.

Mobo is pretty much the same. Not until later this year when Intel's Nehalem processor comes out on its new LGA 1366 socket in Q4 this year.

 

[kad]

1- Dual Core (gaming): E8400
2- Quad Q6600 G0- Q9450
3- Mobos: X48 - P45
4- GPU: HD 4850-4870

 

[Wisecracker]

Hey everyone I am in need of your help. I've been out of the technology world for a couple of months now because of school and work and with all the new releases I'm kinda lost now. I've been reading the forums for a couple of days but I still need some more clarification on what came out in the cpu/motherboard/graphics card market in the past 8 months. Which are the best price/performance products, which are just the best, that kinda information would be great. I know this is isn't just about CPUs but I didn't want to spam the forums about basically the same concept.

In the CPU area, I lost contact when the Penryns came out.
In the GPU area, I lost contact after the 3870 series came out.
In the motherboard area, after the p35 (intel side) came out.

So please everyone if you can fill me in I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Brisbane 2.8GHz 65W: $87
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103235

MSI K9A2 CF-F V2 AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX: $104
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130172

SAPPHIRE 100242L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3: $190 ($160 AR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102747


or


Intel E2200 2.2GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W: $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116063

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P45: $117
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128345

SAPPHIRE 100242L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3: $190 ($160 AR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102747

 

[nightscope]

I didn't know about that Raven, that's good that I know.

So are the new e7000 series the new e2000 series? Great overclockers for a low price?

So what would the best pci 2.0 motherboard be in terms of price/performance and overclocking capability?

Is it still best to have a mediocore cpu but a great gpu for best gaming performance?

Any word on nehalem prices and any price cuts in the near future?

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

The E7000 series is good, and right behind the E6750 in performance which is very acceptable for the price. An X38/X48 motherboard is your best bet, you can find them for around $180 now. Nehalem is supposed to debut November with their high end server and desktop CPUs and then in Q1/Q2 of 09 the budget ones are supposed to come out, which are rumored to be about $300+. It depends on the resolution you play whether you need a decent CPU or not. If you play over 1280x700 then you need a nice CPU. From what I have seen, an E6750 @ 3.2, an 6400+ X2 @ 3.6, a Q6600 @ 3.0, or a Phenom 9750 @ 2.8-3.0 (you might not get even 2.8, it all depends) are about the minimum CPUs for gaming now.

 

[nightscope]

Has the l2 cache difference made an improvement in games or still the same?

Does the x38/x48 motherboard overclock as much as the p35 one?

Do you have any good motherboards in mind that are the best price/performance?