I am planning an upgrade to my main PC which is currently running:
Abit IC7-MAX3
Pentium 4 - 2.4Ghz (oc'd to 3.1)
1GB Ram
Radeon 9800 Pro
Going to put those parts in the kids PC and am thinking I would like to go
dual core. Would like to do some overclocking and I spend most of the time
using the PC for email, internet, MS Office, DVArchive (shows form my
ReplayTVs), burning CD/DVDs, and some gaming. Typically I have more than 3
programs open and running so I figure I might benefit a little from a dual
core while multitasking. Have been reading a lot on the various forums such
as Anadtech, HardOCP, etc. and it seems like the general consensus is that
the AMD X2 3800+ is the best choice right now, but I am not opposed to
Intel. Planning on using 2GB of RAM and just a single video card for the
time being but am considering an SLI board just so I would have the option
in the future.
At one point I had thought I would go with the X2 3800+ and the Abit AN8
Fatality SLI . I have had good luck with my MAX3 and other Abits in the
past, but there seems to be lots of little problems with the board on the
forums. So I looked at the DFI and ASUS offerings, but they too seem to have
problems. Then I think that maybe it would be simpler to go with a Intel 820
or 830 and not have to deal with the NF4 software problems (many say the
nVidia IDE driver, firewall, or the AMD cool and quiet software all can
cause problems). I do try to take what I see in the forums with a grain of
salt, I realize that most people post when they have a problem.
So, help me choos the following:
dual core CPU:
Motherboard:
Video ($200-300 range):
RAM 2 x 1GB:
Jerry
