I'm new here!

[AgentJ]

Hey, the names AgentJ, or AJ for short. Or just J for really short!

Just thought I'd pop in and say hello. Site looks great, good reviews, interesting information. Good stuff. I've been looking through most of the review sites since a upgrade is 'looming on the horizon' (or should I say a few months, since I heard about AMD price drops and Conroe's).

Currently running a 2500+ Barton, Ti4200 128mb, 60/80/120GB IDE hard-drives, on-board sound, 2x512's (1GB) 3200 memory.

Already have my case (new), power supply (500watt,new), keyboard (move-over from old comp), mouse (old), hard-drives (old)(plus a 250gb SATA WD,new), 17" LCD (old), dvd-writer (old), floppy, 7600GT XFX videocard (new), ect.

Been reading numerous reviews, looking for best bang-for-the-buck CPU + Motherboard + Memory for the new build. Cant decide on AMD or Intel just yet... also heard AM2 will be compatible with the newest Quad-core chips coming out... while the Intel Quad's will need a new socket (if anyone knows?). It's either buy inexpensive now, upgrade CPU next year to Quad-core (If I can even afford it), or go all out and buy into Conroe (E6600 if I can...) and dont upgrade for 3-4+ years (maybe just videocard).

Edit!: I'll answer the other questions you gave too. I'm a newbie overclocker, not into cooling and all that stuff. Just minor OC'ing.

Gaming? RPGs/MMORPGs... Shooters also, but my current computer cant handle any so... not much on my plate there.

So ya, sorry for writing so much, I go off on a tangent sometimes, heh. Nice to meet you all. This is my second post.

-AJ

[The Black Pumpkin]

Greetings and welcome!

And we're very upset that your first post wasn't this one...






Just kidding.

[Apoptosis]

welcome to the forums!

[FZ1]

Welcome!

[Illuminati]

Welcome! What you are going through now on your upgrades is something that we do often here... so there is a wealth of knowledge that many of our forum members are more than happy to share!

[DMB2000uk]

Hi And welcome!

to answer your question the quad core intel processors will not need a new socket, but you will have to get a compatible chipset (i.e. not a 945 conroe edition) so that leaves 965 or 975 (or nforce or ati).

Nice future rig, looks like it'll be not to dissimilar to my next build

Dan

[kenc51]

Welcome

ATI will have thier new Intel chipset out in a few months..........It's supposed to be a super overclocker!

Remember Kentsfield (quad core) will be released as a replacement for the current EE chip, so it will cost ~900 bucks!

Don't wait for quad core.........it will be @ least 6mths before the price comes down enough for most to afford........

again welcome to LRForums........

[AgentJ]

to answer your question the quad core intel processors will not need a new socket, but you will have to get a compatible chipset (i.e. not a 945 conroe edition) so that leaves 965 or 975 (or nforce or ati).

Nice future rig, looks like it'll be not to dissimilar to my next build

Dan

Thats great news! (Not sure I'll get a quad anytime soon, but still good news). So a 975X chipset 'should' house a Intel Quad-Core, hmm. May I ask where you read this? (If you can remember the article or link me).

(Btw, your avatar is the guy from the Trump show right? heh. He was the best person imo.)


Not sure if I can dish out another 150 or so to go from a E6300 to a E6600... performance vs price is a question... also if it would even be any good since I'd only be using a 7600GT card, not a 7900GTX or 7950X2 or anything that quick...

Not sure if I mentioned, but I rarely upgrade... probably once every 3 years or so (except minor upgrades like HDs, maybe a videocard...). So, im kinda looking best bang-for-the-USdollar... in a dual-core format. I also dont have a Bias either way, AMD or Intel. I just try to get the best for my money + upgradeability. If prices keep going down that would be nice, hah.

Not sure if anyone else saw this yet, posted it in my gaming guild forum... looks like a promising Abit motherboard for Core2Duo... supposedly you can use nVidia SLI or ATI Crossfire...

AW9D
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/pro ... &model=325

AW9D-MAX
http://www.abit-usa.com/products/mb/pro ... &model=326


And thanks all for the warm welcome!

-AJ

[DMB2000uk]

(Btw, your avatar is the guy from the Trump show right? heh. He was the best person imo.)

LOL! no, thats me in a St Patrick's day hat!

Not sure if I can dish out another 150 or so to go from a E6300 to a E6600... performance vs price is a question... also if it would even be any good since I'd only be using a 7600GT card, not a 7900GTX or 7950X2 or anything that quick...

Well if you arent going to upgrade for a long time, it would make more sense to go for the higher rated chip, the E6600 does have twice the cache of the lower chips, which in some situations can give upto 10% boost in some situations... (read on some french site, thanks google translator!) but cant find the link... ah ha, heres another foreign one, they've clocked the two the same, so the ONLY difference is the cache.

So if that kind of performance difference isn't enough to justify the extra money then ok (bear in mind that the E6600 will be clocked higher so have an even better performance lead in real life ).

Not sure if anyone else saw this yet, posted it in my gaming guild forum... looks like a promising Abit motherboard for Core2Duo... supposedly you can use nVidia SLI or ATI Crossfire...

Yeah i am proper tempted by that one too, im just managing to hang onto not getting anything yet because I really want to see the ATI 3200 Intel Edition,because of its overclockability and less power use (well, before overclocking), but the thought of getting crossfire is not something im likely to do, because tbh ATI's midrange graphics is not too good right now, but i want to keep my options open.

I get the feeling that ive started to ramble, so will stop now

But yeah, maybe hang round till 3200 IE is realased and see which is the best for you in terms of price/performance.

Dan

PS. Woo, long post!

[prozac26]

Welcome AJ.