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If you get a socket 775 motherboard, and something like a q9450, you pretty much will have to live with it until your next full system build. By the end of next year, Nehalem CPUs, Motherboards, and DDR3 RAM should hit a nice level for most consumers, and will probably offer a very healthy upgrade from what we have now.

I'm fairly sure that Core 2 Duo/Quad processors are reaching EOL, and we won't be seeing any new iterations of it after the e8600/q9650 and low end ones like the e7300/e5xxx.

So with that in mind, you could build a system now, but by Winter next year, 'upgrading' will entail a lot of new components. You could get a cheap motherboard, cpu, and ram to hold you off for a year. You can still use the same hdd, case, psu, gfx card, and stuff for an upgrade next year, but you won't feel so bad about some of your purchases at this time.

So, you could get something like, an e7200, P35 board for ~$80, and some $40 Ram to hold you off for next year.

You can still build a nice system before then, Keep reading what these guys post over the next few days and you will notice whats hot on the market and then you take it from there.Alot of these guys use the same hardware i notice because they like to keep up on whats hot out there.I suggest you get what you like from what you hear, and number one when picking parts for your build, read ratings and reviews on other sites also.I am not one to tell you the parts to put in your system thats up to you.Like i said listen to alot of these guys that been on this forum for awhile and read reviews and ratings.

SBaxterok By the way i would choose your motherboard and CPU first then choose your video card and memory next, and then get a solid power supply 600 watts plus at least if you are gonna be gaming alot, then choose dvd cd writer, case, etc. Ok!

You are going to keep hearing alot of the same products mentioned alot you choose what you like and what has good ratings and price unless you have some money to spend.

Good points by effel, but it may be a year or more before prices stabilize, bugs get worked out, the price of DDR3 to drop.... etc. In the computer world there's always something new/better/faster/cooler just over the horizon, an example of this is the HD4870 x2 only a week or 2 away. A good place to start on a system now would be a P43/45 motherboard if you're going with a single graphic card solution or a X48 motherboard if you want to crossfire 2 cards. Here's a sample single GPU build at about your budget.

Motherboard- Asus P45Q pro $140 offers limited crossfire at 8x-8x
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131299
alternate motherboard at $106 after rebate Biostar P45 TP45HP same limited crossfire of 8x-8x
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813138123
for best performance in crossfire a X48- Asus P5E at $230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131317
CPU- Intel E8500 at $190 (price compression is your friend)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115036
RAM- Mushkin DDR2 800 2x2 GB for $60 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146731
Case- several nice mid tower cases, pick the one you like
antec 900
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129021
Antec 300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129042
Coolermaster 590
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119152
Coolermaster 690
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119137
run from $60 to $120, you can usually shop around for better deals
Power supply- a Corsair 750w $100 it'll be more than you need unless you're crossfiring 4870s or getting the HD4870 x2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139006
Hard drive- WD 640 SATA $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136218
DVD RW- Lite on $24
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106263
GPU - a HD4870 x2 said to be about $500- $550, but still not out yet.
or a HD4870 $275
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814129113

these are just basic suggestions, i didn't shop around much and look for combo deals etc. good luck

Asus also makes some good motherboards check them out too.

And what if I crossfired those two cards? Is that just ridiculous or is something to invest in? Like apparently Crysis is the game to test right now. Would I get near very high on Crysis with just one GPU. Or is crossfiring needed to obtain something like that? With the better mobo how does that work?

Check with Mwave this is were I get most of my pc parts and I build alto of machines. I used the Antec 900 case in a build not to long ago,this is a great case. The PSU is at the bottom of the case give good room for the MB. All case fans have there own speed switch and I set them to med. The 200 mm fan at the top helps alot in cooling. I put extra fan in side door and it help cooling the ram. Put your hard drive in the middle of the lower slot and that fan will keep your hard drive around 80 F most of the time. What OS are you going to install?

Graphics are a huge part for me. When it comes to the gaming aspect. Along with speed FOR games... I want to be able to do quite a bit of things that don't concern gaming. Ripping/decoding movies while simultaneously doing other crap, ya know? What'll fix that slowness? (not to change subjects.. keep thrashin around the GPU.. just amuse me)


charless48864 -- Probably just vista. Some form of it.. whatever you guys may recommend. I've been an xp guy forever.. but it'll get left in the dust soon enough.

So what's the difference between duo's and quads? I've been recommended both. And I guess I'm just bumping this.. I'd like to know about the whole crossfiring.. if thats necessary.. etc.

Ah, see.. I haven't finished designing my build and I really need advice.

Here is a build, I can think of off the top of my head, that will be spewed out by somebody here.

Generic Build 1:
Antec 900
ASUS P5E
2x2GB G.Skill DDR2 800
q6600
4870
Xigmatech S1283 W/Bracket
WD6400AAKS
Sata DVD Burner
Corsair 750TX

There, don't listen to what I said about wasting money on this stuff, only to want to upgrade your motherboard, processor and ram in one year's time.