New PC build, Help Please.

[Offalycool]

Hi all, First post.

I want to buy a new PC for gaming and general use. I am willing to spend about a grand on it. I have a 22? widescreen and want to get the most from its 1680 x 1050 native resolution. What Graphics card will give me the best price performance for at least a year, and preferably a few years?

I am confused as to the benefits of the higher memory version of the 8800GTS, and 350 Euro seems a bit much. If I bought the GTX can I expect it to deliver top performance for longer? I also wonder if we can expect a price drop anytime soon as I?m not desperate to upgrade just yet, but I?d like to get it this summer if it?s worth it.

I will probably go P35, but which board, and is there any real advantage over the other chipsets? I would also be interested in the best value processor on the market at the mo, I figure the cheapest Core 2 duo Intel with 4MB catch available, and just over clock, but maybe I?m wrong, what do you think? Is there ever going to be a game that can use more than 2 cores in the lifetime of this pc?

All in all I want the sweet spot, just need to know what possible catch there could be. Thanks.

 

[wildjames]

The 8800 GTS is your best bet. This card is an excellent buy for the price. The difference between the 640 and 320 MB cards aren't seen unless you game in incredibly high resolutions. With your monitor I wouldn't worry about that, plus you can take that extra money and spend it elsewhere. Yes you certainly would get better performance for longer if you buy the GTX, but that would make it difficult to hit your price max of $1000 with all the other components in consideration.

For the P35 boards you can't go wrong with Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R for $135. It's fast and very stable.

I have read that UT3 and Crysis will utilize 4 cores, but that remains speculation until the release date comes nearer. The faster C2D's will outperform the Quads right now, but in a year from now when more games and applications use the extra 2 cores, the quads will begin to show their strength. The best price point of both worlds are the 6750 and the Q6600 , although I hear mwave.com has them cheaper.

Get yourself a quality Corsair power supply, OCZ memory and you're set for a screaming system. Good luck!

James