Alright, I'm tired of 4 year old laggy performance on and old AMd barton 2.083 gig processor and a 256 MB AGP card.

I'm ready for SLI and runing things at it's max. Looking at a a ASUS Crosshair AM2 Mobo and a 3 Gig AMD Athlon 64 X2 3000. Now i understand that to get full benefits of this processor I should buy eitehr Xp or Vista in a 64 bit platform. Does it really matter?

Any particular reason you're looking at AMD? Intel's Core 2 spanks AMD in just about everything (unfortunately) and does it pretty cheaply too. You'd still be able to run Sli by using a 680/780i motherboard.

It might also be worth it to wait a month or so for Intel's new E8xxx series chips to come out; they're smaller, faster, cooler and overclock way better, which is pretty astounding considering they were great overclockers allready. Plus by then Nvidia's new 98xx series cards will be out and if the early numbers are any judge it's going to be bloody amazing.

As for 32bit vs. 64bit I'd stick with 32bit for now. The performance impact is minimal and you'll add a lot of extra headaches as it's still fairly buggy.

I will really have to recommend you go Intel also. Especially if your wanting to
go SLI. I'd understand AMD if you were wanting to go with a Crossfire setup.
But it is your money so you can spend it as you please :-)
And regardless of my perferences, I think the AMD will be a good upgrade
from your present system. Your gonna be happy still :-)
Also, the X2 6000 runs at 3 GHz, I don't think they even made a X2 3000.

Yeah I've been researching the X64 platform on XP and it has alot of the same benefits as the standard 32 bit platform.

I've always used AMD processors and never had an Intel before. But if there much better than the current AMD Processors I'll take a look at it.

Quote: Originally Posted by X-Bit labs The top dual-core AMD processor, Athlon 64 X2 6400+ that has never looked too good in games, now gets knocked out completely. It falls far behind even the slowest of the Wolfdales.

From here.

Intel's new stuff is absolutely amazing at stock and even more amazing once you start overclocking; the E8500 looks like it'll easily be able to hit 4Ghz+ with just a bit of a vcore bump.

E8500 + 8800GTx2 + 780i mobo = gaming nirvana

Quote: Originally Posted by JimsZR2 I've always used AMD processors and never had an Intel before. But if there much better than the current AMD Processors I'll take a look at it.

You will see a large benefit over buying AMD - even if you were to purchase a new Phenom CPU.

I'd get this processor:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail

The E8500 (3.16ghz) isn't worth the price increase for just another 160mhz.

Bear in mind that Intel P35/X38 are where the performance overclockers are at the moment, so if you want SLi you usually have to compromise on overclocking because you will need an Nvidia motherboard - e.g. 680i or 780i. The 780 boards are only just coming on to the market so they are unproven and expensive. If you want dual ATi graphics (CrossFire) you should probably get an Intel X38 board. P35 can technically handle it, but the second slot is only four lanes.

I would suggest just getting a P35 board such as the excellent Asus P5K Premium and a single graphics card such as the GeForce 8800GT. Your monitor resolution is important though - what resolution do you game at? For 1680x1050 and below an 8800GT should do fine with everything apart from Crysis.

You haven't stated any budget for this build or exactly what you need to buy - that would be helpful

I need to buy everything. I'm ditching my old system for a complete new one.
I'm gonna need 2 SLI video cards, Processor, Mobo, Memory, HDD, Case, Anda few extras to finish off the build. As far as a budget goes I'd like to stay at $1500 or lower.

Righty-ho then.

One of these:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail

And one of these:

Asus P5N-T Deluxe nForce 780i (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

Two of these:

Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Some of these:

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065)

One of these:

Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ)

Sound good? I realise most of those are from a UK site but Newegg doesn't list pre-release products.

As for the case, find one that you like the look of and then read up on it. Do you need a screen?

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Righty-ho then. One of these: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail And one of these: Asus P5N-T Deluxe nForce 780i (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Two of these: Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail Some of these: Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065) One of these: Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ) Sound good? I realise most of those are from a UK site but Newegg doesn't list pre-release products. As for the case, find one that you like the look of and then read up on it. Do you need a screen?

Seconded. That's a great system.

First off my LCD Monitor is in good shape. It's a 17" Samsung 730b and it's 3MS.

Second, Thanks for all the great information guys! I really do appreciate it!

If your monitors only 17" then you definitely don't need 2 8800GT's. I'm going to assume that your resolution is 1280*1024 and if that's the case a single 8800GT is easily capable of achieving 50+fps on any game, even Crysis.

I currently run 1152x864.

Quote: Originally Posted by eascarface If your monitors only 17" then you definitely don't need 2 8800GT's. I'm going to assume that your resolution is 1280*1024 and if that's the case a single 8800GT is easily capable of achieving 50+fps on any game, even Crysis.

Yup, which is exactly why I mentioned screen size in my first post. Dual graphics is a waste of time below 1680x1050, and even then it's kinda pushing it. I certainly wouldn't bother with SLi if you're running 1152x864, JimsZR2.

Quote: Originally Posted by JimsZR2 I currently run 1152x864.

Even better. 1152*864 only has 76% of the pixels of 1280* 1024 so your frame rates should be even better. One 8800GT is perfectly fine for now and when it's not it shouldn't be a problem to just drop in a second one since the prices for them will have inevitably dropped.

I jumped in late on this build Jim, but you have already received some good advice. I'm glad you posted here first instead of going ahead with that AMD setup.

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Yup, which is exactly why I mentioned screen size in my first post. Dual graphics is a waste of time below 1680x1050, and even then it's kinda pushing it. I certainly wouldn't bother with SLi if you're running 1152x864, JimsZR2.

This thread is helpful to me. Especially this bit about the dual graphics is a waste of time. I'm planning on running a 22" LCD @ 1680x1050 with my new build. Would the waste of time statement apply to any SLI capable graphics card, or only to 8800GT?

Quote: Originally Posted by Wurum This thread is helpful to me. Especially this bit about the dual graphics is a waste of time. I'm planning on running a 22" LCD @ 1680x1050 with my new build. Would the waste of time statement apply to any SLI capable graphics card, or only to 8800GT?

Just today I read that even the 256mb 8800GT can handle most games at 1680x1050 with 2xAA, much like the original 8800GTS could a year ago. So really, 1920x1200 or above is where dual graphics are going to help you out...although what am I talking about...I've got dual Radeon 3870s and my monitor only supports 1680x1050...

Yeah but we are t3h l337 benchmarkers so its ok

Quote: Originally Posted by Dex Yeah but we are t3h l337 benchmarkers so its ok

Pfft reflux isn't t3h l337 benchmarker! He's just a whore for graphics cards

Yeah, n00b isn't even on the benchmark team for some reason...