system upgrade help

[cyborg66]

hi guys its time for a upgrade i havea p4 3 gig prescott system at the monent and my atai 9800pro just can't handle the games anymore.i am looking at the following hardware

e8400
x38 Asus P5E or wait for the x48 boards ( i will not be overclocking)
8800 gt 512meg or 8800 gts 512 (don't now which brand to buy at this stage)
2 x 1gig or 2 x 2gig (i was thinking some corsair)

hard drives i already have 2 x 320 gig sata II drives

i only upgrade my machine every 18 months
i will be using xp

 

[DSF]

If you aren't overclocking and are using an Nvidia card (in other words, not Crossfire) why are you paying for an X38 motherboard? P35 will do you just fine.

 

[KenAF]

The X38/X48 is basically a P35 with support for SLI (2x video card) and somewhat higher FSB speeds for better overclocking. It also has PCIe 2.0 to provide the bandwidth necessary for SLI (2x video card) setups.

If you don't need those things, save yourself some money and get a P35 motherboard.

 

[cyborg66]

the p35 board i like is the ASUS P5K DELUXE its $329 and the x38 Asus P5E $310 so theres not that much price difference in getting the the x38

 

[krnmastersgt]

You're not going to OC the E8400? Also why are those the only boards you like? Certain features they have? Only reason I paid so much for my board was I wanted SLI for the 9 Series, I don't see any other reason to pay so much unless the board has some very special features.

 

[DSF]

Where are you buying your parts, and what features do you need in a motherboard?

 

[krnmastersgt]

I personally think the E8400 is a waste if not OCed, the reason people love that chip so much is because of the enormous OC potential, otherwise you won't notice a performance difference between it and the E6750(was that the 3 ghz stock clock or was it the E6850?) In any case those are might expensive boards for someone who isn't going to overclock...