New computer (not a noob but close)

[hagg3rty]

Hey guys/gals wondering if you could offer some help. Im a little out of the loop I had a good system but then stopped paying attention so now im confused on what to build couple question

Mid rangle budget

These new grapics cards that are pcie or whatever are they worth the price yet or should i not bother and
go for an agp still will that be good for a while?

Intel or Amd I was thinking still amd maybe a 939 3200 or 3400 what would be better a 3200 or 3400 would i see the diff between them

Should I go intel I saw a 3.0ghz on newegg for like 198

Thanx in advaNCE

Please include anything else I should know

 

[Ike0069]

Do you plan on gaming a little/a lot, and what about OC'ing?

 

[hagg3rty]

Gaming somewhat not alot OC would be cool down it before on 3000+ not toatally needed

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: hagg3rty
Gaming somewhat not alot OC would be cool down it before on 3000+ not toatally needed

Please translate this to English.

 

[yoshimbo]

First of all, for gaming you have to go with Athlon 64. Even the 3200+ performs better in HL2 than the most expensive Intel.
As for graphics cards, unless you are planning on SLI don't bother with PCI-E, it just increases the price of you GPU and Mobo. Plus, there really is no need for PCI-E. Sure it is faster than AGP 8X in theory, but in practicality you will never use up all of the bandwidth on AGP 8X anyways.

 

[Icepick]

You'll save money right now by getting an AGP graphics card. My advice to you depends on when you will upgrade your graphics card again. If you're planning to upgrade the graphics card in two years and keep the rest of your system longer then you should get a PCIE solution. AGP is on it's way out and I doubt there will be much of a selection of AGP cards next year. If you're the type to replace your graphics card at the same time you upgrade your motherboard then AGP is the best considering cost.

Either way the 3200+ is the sweet spot as far as the CPU goes. This is taking into account the price/performance of both the AMD and Intel processors that are currently available.

 

[hagg3rty]

Thanks guys looks like 3200 it is
Any recommendations on graphics card for like 200-250
9800pro was the best when i left but now theres like a x800 x700 x600
ati or nvidia

 

[Ike0069]

I'm still curious if you plan to OC or not. I have no idea what you were trying to say earlier. That makes a difference on which MB you get.
As for the VC, get the 6800GT. ATI Radeons were great cards, but the new generation ATI's are slightly behind the NVidia's.
If $400 is too much for a VC, get an AGP 6600 GT for ~$225.
And remember to save some room in the budget for a good PSU.

 

[Tarrant64]

Yeah, for AGP and best bang for around $200 the 6600 is the way to go. Hands down.

Also, just a suggestion. If you're on a budget you can go with the 754 socket A64 3200+ instead of the 939. It will save a few bucks and performance wise there won't be a hardly a noticable difference. The only thing you will gain with 939 is the upgradability in the future over socket 754.

A couple things to consider a few months down the road. If you want to upgrade your PC later to some of the newest hardware, get the 939. Dual core will be out eventually so I don't know if you've looked into that at all. (IMHO, won't be worth it once it first comes out...better to always wait and let the suckers buy it first and see what problems it has, then wait for revisions).
If you're just on a budget and don't really care about upgradability or the latest things out such as pcie vid cards or whatever, you can get away with a Socket 754 A64 3200+ and a DFI mobo for an awesome setup. Overall it depends on what you want. There is nothing wrong with either 754 or 939. I just wanted to throw out there that 754 is an option is you wanted to save a few bucks.

Forget Intel.

 

[BrentUnitedMem]

Big bang for the buck cards:

GeForce Ti 4600 128MB ~$125
Radeon 9800 128MB ~$125

 

[KoolDrew]

Originally posted by: BrentUnitedMem
Big bang for the buck cards:

GeForce Ti 4600 128MB ~$125
Radeon 9800 128MB ~$125

Then don't plan on playing any newer games well.