need suggestions on gaming rig

[KILL]

My wifes motherboard is shot and its time to tear it apart and upgrade. I haven't built a computer in about 2 years and havent really kept up with new stuff on the market.

Need help on whats the best bang for the buck. Not looking to pinch pennies, just no need to go overboard. All she uses the computer for is surfing the web and EQ2.

Its running
2.4 P4
1GB PC3200 DDR Ram
Radeon 9800 Pro
ATX case w/ 400 watt power supply
Hard drive is too noisy and getting replaced
Case/CD drives all fine and intend on keeping

Ran EQ2 OK with the settings low, but would like to improve that if possible.

Suggestions would be appreciated

[kaharthemad]

MSI Diamond SLI Mother board
Dual Core 4400 AMD 939 Processor.
dual SLI Nvidia card(Since crossfire does not work on this diamond platform)
2GB Crucial Dual Channel
MSI True Watt 475 Power Supply
250 GIG Sata


This rig will make Jesus cry when you turn it on.

[kaharthemad]

Links:

MSI Diamond
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/01/26/ ... mond_plus/

been running this girl for a while now and man can sure run a few heads at the prom. The board has built on Audigy sound. Best sound I have ever heard. As well as just a all in all seamless install when I set it up. Worth doing man.

[Lyion]

I'd add an SATA fast drive, and an nvidia 6800 from newegg. That'd probably crank up your performance nicely for not so much dinero.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121216

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822152025

Around 250, and that'll allow you to play EQ2 at a nice click.

[KILL]

MSI Diamond SLI Mother board
Dual Core 4400 AMD 939 Processor.
dual SLI Nvidia card(Since crossfire does not work on this diamond platform)
2GB Crucial Dual Channel
MSI True Watt 475 Power Supply
250 GIG Sata


This rig will make Jesus cry when you turn it on.

looks like this is the level of upgrade i am going to do.

Thanks for the suggestions.

As far as running dual video cards, is there any benefit to running two cards that you would not see with one 512mb card? I have always had good luck with ATI cards and the X1900XT sounds pretty sweet.

[Gidan]

It depends how hardcore of a gamer you are and if your games happen to support SLI (if you got nVidia), Crossfire is more supported based on how its done but it is first generation and will probably have significant problems like SLI did when it was initially released. Right now, your probably beter off with 1 top of the line cards then 2 cards just under it. Dont trusts benchmarks like 3dmark either, they perform extremely well on SLI, beter then you will see with any game.

[KILL]

I just want to build something that gets the job done so I dont have to listen to the complaints that will follow if it doesn't.

It seems there are way to many options out on the market now. It's not as easy to select parts as it used to be

[Harrison]

"gets the job done"

and what they listed are two different worlds entirely...

[Gidan]

Guess it all depends on what you mean by getting the job done. I use a 6800 and it plays everything I want it to flawlessly.

[KILL]

I guess I should have made that more clear.


By getting the job done, that means my wife can load up EQ2 and I won't have to hear about how bad her computer sucks.

[Harrison]

With what they suggested, EQ2 will have NO problems.