I need an opinion.

[Tokinbudz]

Im hoping someone who really knows their stuff can give me their opinion. I had bought an Intel 550 and an Asus P5AD2 Deluxe with a gig of 533mhz Kingston ram, but decided to cancel the order (after they already got it all lol) but i promised when i decided what i would get id get it all from them. I game lots and lots (Bfv, Bf1942, Mohaa, Madden) and currently have an athlon 1800+ and geforce ti4200 4x AGP which is officially a weak ass system now.

I notice lots of benchmarks saying how much Athlon outperfoms Intel for gaming, so first thing i want to know is is it worth getting a 3800+ and spending 2x the price of a 3500+? Could i overclock the 3500 so it runs like a 3800? I notice the 939 doesnt have support for DDR2 yet, now first i didnt care because i has heard that the DDR2 wasnt that great yet. Now im reading that its getting better and fairly fast. If i go and spend over 2 grand on a 3800+ and an A8N-SLI, with some killer Corsair ram, i'd be pissed if DDR2 quickly became the standard and id have to totally upgrade again, so thats the positive i see from Intel and downside from Athlon. Also what i dont get is how a 3800+ running at 2.4 can outperform a 550 3.4 with same specs.

Im looking to spend about $1200 - $1500 cdn on the processor and video card, then the A8N-SLI and cooling items on top of that. As for ram, i definately want Corsair after researching it more, i think its worth it to spend 3-4 bills on a gig of kick-ass ram what would be my best choice latency-wise? Any feedback or opinions would be greatly appreciated, I just cant figure out what to buy. Best Regards, A Hardcore Gamer.

 

[rakedog]

939 is one of the fastests sockets out there. Problem is, 939 is supported only by AMD64 right now. So if you want a truly good system, you should go for the 3500 64, socket 939. It will cost about 250, but trust me, that thing will run fast!! Plus, it will handle 64 bit games when they start coming out.

You can go for the 3800+ is you want to, but I think the 3500 will do the job just fine. I would put my money into a really good video card.

like:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-143-021&depa=1

or

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-121-517&depa=1

Both are damn awesome.

 

[d_source]

Tokinbudz, i am in the same position as you right now. I want to upagrade and am looking at spending roughly the same amount. I am also looking into getting an AMD 64 939 pin. However, AGP is on its way out and to me at least, it would be stupid to buy a new pc with an old board. They have just started making PCI-express mobo's for AMD and i havent seen them available in any packages as of yet. Thats the last thing i am waiting for before getting myself a new PC. It has to support DDR2 ram and PCI-express. If you go AGP you'll have to upgrade again soon enough. And yes rakedog is right, get urself a good video card, that'll really help. 6800 and X800 are out of my league. I am gonna stick with the 6600GT when the time comes.

 

[d_source]

BTW, ur canadian, where are you buying ur pc from? I cant find any good places around here and may be forced to buy in the US or online.