Quote:
Originally posted by SecretMaster:
Personally I wouldn't go Dell. There is a long running family joke with my girlfriend's dad (who is a computer technician/repairmen thingy); the joke being that Dell keeps him in business and puts food on their table. Because it really does.
Nowadays, games really aren't CPU intensive. Certain titles like Oblivion are, but the main shift is pushing towards GPU capabilities. That doesn't mean that your processor isn't important, nothing could be furthest from the truth. If you are going to be gaming with the latest titles, go dual-core. Preferably, Core 2 Duo if you can. But you can get an X2 3800 for a ridiculously low price. Definately dual-core.
And for a video card (I don't know how expensive you are going for), the X1900XT 256 really gives you an incredible bang for your buck (roughly around $280, although it was just released).
You'll be wanting to go with a chipset that supports DDR2 RAM (such as AM2 or whatever the new intel line is called). Right now Intel has the performance crown with its Core 2 Duo line (back when it was first released, going with a high end AMD was better because of the price/performance ratio, but prices have fallen into line decently).
However there is a great possibility that I am wrong on a lot of this. I've just gotten interested in computers around February and started research since then. There are probably more reliable sources on this forum (such as those who make a living in computers). So if anyone spots any false information, tell me right away.
|
What you said is very true, the New Conroe CPU's (Intel's new range) are damn good bang for buck, but their comeback was short lived as AMD (as expected) are releasing new chips as we speak that take the crown back.
This is all great news however for the consumer as the competition is extremely fierce and prices are dropping.
I would recommend either an AM2 X2-3800 if you dont have much at all, or a Conroe E6600/AM2 X24800 if you have a bit more money to spend (both are upper mid range CPU's and not expensive)
I also agree with SM on the x1900xt, you can't go wrong with this card, they are powerfull, cheap (in comparison to the competition) and in the future you can go and buy an x1900xt master card and run crossfire mode.
As it's been said, games are not focusing on CPU utilisation because the Video card has far greater capabilities, but that will all change soon no that AMD and ATI are one, as its already been confirmed that AMD are working on a video card with a CPU attached
