Which mobo should I get?

[oleander66]

Okay, I want to upgrade my CPU/Mobo/Gfx on a budget. Here's what I'm thinking:

 

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego

eVGA Geforce 7600GT 256

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D or DFI nF4 Ultra-Infinity

 

To go with what I already own:

 

2x 512 Dual Channel Corsair XMS 400 PC-3200

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9 80GB

Samsung Syncmaster 997mb

RAID Samurai Gaming Case (420w Power Supply)

 

I'm also thinking of getting:

 

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS

SONY Black IDE DVD-ROM (16x dvd-rom / 48x cd-rom

 

This would be for a gaming PC, no overclocking. I don't think dual core is worth it yet, right? Especially on a budget. Which mobo should I get? They seem like the same thing, but the Lanparty has more options that I probably wouldn't use? Would I notice a difference between the two in a game? Would this be a good rig? Is everything on par with eachother for gaming, no bottlenecking or anything? Should I get another 512 stick of ram? Is getting that soundcard worth it? It seems to be the most popular one for gaming. I heard it saves the CPU from having to use the onboard.

 

Obviously, I don't know too much about computers. Thanks.

[iamkoza]

Okay, I want to upgrade my CPU/Mobo/Gfx on a budget. Here's what I'm thinking:

 

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego

eVGA Geforce 7600GT 256

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D or DFI nF4 Ultra-Infinity

 

To go with what I already own:

 

2x 512 Dual Channel Corsair XMS 400 PC-3200

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9 80GB

Samsung Syncmaster 997mb

RAID Samurai Gaming Case (420w Power Supply)

 

I'm also thinking of getting:

 

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS

SONY Black IDE DVD-ROM (16x dvd-rom / 48x cd-rom

 

This would be for a gaming PC, no overclocking. I don't think dual core is worth it yet, right? Especially on a budget. Which mobo should I get? They seem like the same thing, but the Lanparty has more options that I probably wouldn't use? Would I notice a difference between the two in a game? Would this be a good rig? Is everything on par with eachother for gaming, no bottlenecking or anything? Should I get another 512 stick of ram? Is getting that soundcard worth it? It seems to be the most popular one for gaming. I heard it saves the CPU from having to use the onboard.

 

Obviously, I don't know too much about computers. Thanks.

 

 

in order of importance ( i know its a three way tie, i couldnt decide LOL)

1-go with n4 ultra-d for the board

2-your going to kick yourself for not spending another 120-150 for the 7900 gt, a huge step up for the money over 7600

2-that psu doesnt look to reliable, check the recommended thread for a psu (there are several under a $100)

2-sell the corsair and get 2 gb of ram, gskill has a great kit for 160 on newegg, you cant have 3 512 sticks, you can have 1,2 or 4 sticks installed... not 3

5-do you have the speakers to take advantage of the SB sound card? if not pass on this item

 

 

probably a little more than you want to spend, but it's worth it, with the ram you can probably try what you have, and if you get lag while gaming, you'll know you probably neee the extra gb!

[oleander66]

Makes sense.. Yeah, I'll drop the sound card. The ultra-d has a different onboard than the other one. I assume it's better? As for the video card, eVGA has that step up program thing, where you can send in your vid, then pay a little bit and get an upgrade or something. So, I could do that in 3 months when the price of the 7900 goes down. If I got a 7900 instead would I notice a difference? Wouldn't it be too powerful for the rest of my rig to notice a different, because it would bottleneck or something?

 

Thanks for the reply btw.

[OceanSeasforMe]

I would skip the sound card for now. Just be sure and Get a GOOD Power supply. welcome to dfi street.

[Smoken Joe]

Welcome I hate to say "what they said" but they are right on no sound card 7900GT and if you possibily can replace that ram with something a little better That was good on the old machinse but the Ultra D is very picky with ram. The vido cards and MB are picky on PSU. Get one on the recomended list pushing a budget one can kill not just the PSU but other components.

[oleander66]

Hmm. What's such a big difference between the 7600gt and the 7900gt? From what I see, 7600 has a higher core clock speed, but the 7900 has a higher pixel pipeline, and is 256bit as opposed to 128. Also the 7600 as you said, is a LOT cheaper. I don't see how that could be worth it, am I missing something? (not sarcasm, I really don't know much about this stuff.)

 

I've heard since I won't be overclocking, and won't use SLI, I'm better off with the Infinity. Can you tell me why I should get the Ultra-D over the Infinity? Also, what ram should I get with either of them? Would what I have be good with the Infinity, but now the Ultra-D?

 

How do you guys feel about dual core cpu's? I'm still kinda debating whether I should get the 3700+, or the dual core 3200+. Some people say get dual core, because it will be better in the future. But right now, games don't really take advantage of it. So I think single core is a better value right now. Am I right?

 

Hm, here's a link to my case. http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/cas...Samurai/pg3.htm

There you can see my PSU. Is it good enough or should I buy a better one?

 

Thanks.

[red930]

There is alot!!!!! It's just not all about clock frequencies, but Pixel Shaders/Vertex Shaders and ect....Plus that 7900GT can be overclocked very well to come in points with the GTX in some cases even. NewEgg is selling an XFX 7900GT for only $289 right now, might jump on and snag it, good deal.

 

GeForce 7900 GT 24 8 256-bit GDDR3/256MB 450MHz 1320 MHz

GeForce 7600 GT 12 5 128-bit GDDR3/256MB 560MHz 1400MHz

 

Read this right here....below....

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/326/1/

[oleander66]

You're right. It might be wise of me to get a 7900, is this the one you were talking about? XFX PV-T71G-UDE7 GeForce 7900 GT EXTREME (520MHz) 256MB 256-bit (comes with tomb raider too, which I could sell). But, again, if I got the 7900, wouldn't that be too good for the rest of my rig? Like right now my video card is a lot better than the rest of my comp. (I think.)

[Smoken Joe]

No the main limiting factor in most games is the video card- there are some exceptions even with a slower CPU. The DFI does very good at overclocking too so even a slower card can be sped up even with slower memory.

 

 

 

See the links in my sig to read about the diffrence- and it is a big diffrecne. Search on the dual vs single core stuff.

[-CsA-TAZ]

Okay, I want to upgrade my CPU/Mobo/Gfx on a budget. Here's what I'm thinking:

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego

eVGA Geforce 7600GT 256

DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D or DFI nF4 Ultra-Infinity

To go with what I already own:

2x 512 Dual Channel Corsair XMS 400 PC-3200

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9 80GB

Samsung Syncmaster 997mb

RAID Samurai Gaming Case (420w Power Supply)

I'm also thinking of getting:

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS

SONY Black IDE DVD-ROM (16x dvd-rom / 48x cd-rom

Obviously, I don't know too much about computers. Thanks.

 

Ok some Advice on what you should do 1st, as a general rule it is always better to spend as much as you cane on what you need, but like most of us we only have a limited budget, so here is what I would buy with my money and as ur no overclocking then and a newbie this is what I would buy!

 

Asus A8N-SLI SE Socket 939 Nvidia NF4 SLI ATX

AMD (Venice) Athlon 64Bit 3200+ Socket 939pin 512k L2cache 90nm Retail Boxed Pro

XFX 7600GT XXX Edition 256mb DDR3 590mhz clock Dual DVI PCI-E

 

buying the asus MoBo and AMD 3200+ will save you enough to get a better graphics card! i would not recomend DFI to someone who is not going to OC the rig or a newbie to DFI MoBo but if you do go DFI change ur PSU as well! :drool:

 

This is a good card for the money and I have seen it run @ 680 core and 850 on the memory =1.7, the thing to ask your self when choosing a card is what resolution you want to play at, this card will play everything out there @ 1024 x 768 with AA on and AF @ medium, if you want to play @ 1280 x 1024 with AA on and AF on etc you will need a better card like the 7900GT or X1800XT or two 7600 GT's in sli mode will beat the 7900GTX on some bench marks, for more info and bench marks on all the top cards get your self a copy of custom PC issue 033/june 2006!

[freakyGameR]

Trust me, u are wasting the hidden power of this "DFi" if not overclocking..

Its fun though..

HAve fun...

Welcome to the realm of dfi

hehehee

[oleander66]

Okay. I see why you could say I shouldn't get the DFI, since it's more of an overclocker's board. But, now I think I will eventually OC it later on, when this rig gets a bit more outdated. Of course I'd have to buy a better cooling system or something, but I wouldn't be doing the OCing, my friend would. So, I think maybe I should get the ultra-D? Especially since on newegg it has a combo deal to save 10 bucks, so the board would only be $113. Is my ram okay with the ultra-D? One of you said it was picky. Right now I'm thinking I should get:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814150139

http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?...N82E16819103539

http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?...N82E16813136152

I could sell the Tomb Raider game, and the cpu/mobo combo saves 10 bucks. Plus I would be able to OC later on. Wouldn't this be the best combo probably? If I didn't have to upgrade my ram anyway. If my ram is okay with it, couldn't I get another 2x 512 of it? Don't some mobo's have troubles with 4 sticks? Also, what specific PSU do you think I should get?

 

Thanks for the replies!