I'm getting frustrated!

[Scottler]

I'm about at my wit's end here!  I'd love to build something new, but every time I come up with something, someone has a reason - which is usually valid - that I shouldn't go with that one!

It's so frustrating!  I've spent 95% of my waking hours this past week looking into this, and it seems I'm still on the starting block...

Okay, rant over.

[Dan]

I sould really reconsider the wording of that rant - better value is available!!

Seriously though you know as well as I do it will be worth it. I found the best way is to use Excel, it keeps all the prices for you and its easy to put up here. Takes a lot of the work away, and its easier to reference.
Dan  ;)

[GunnerMan]

Well sorry Hyperion fr making things so complicated but I and I am shure otheer forum members would hate to see you buy parts that will be obsolete in the near futre. It seems you are having problems deciding on the motherboard... if I were you here are the things to look for in terms of motherboads, Socket LGA775, PCI-E. Look at brands like ASUS, Abit, DFI, Gigabyte, MSI
If you want me to recomend a few ask....
Don't get frusterated whatever you do,  like Dan said make a table that has all the man compnents and list some optons for each like in CPUs you could put CPUs: Intel 640 3.2Ghz 2Mb cache 64bit:::::AMD Athlon 3200+ Venice 2.4 Ghz 1 Mb cache::::::Intel 540 3.4 Ghz 1 mb cache.

You will be rewarded fr all of this reasearch, and you have not given us a reall budget besides "loose wallet" so if I were you I would get Intel P4 640 3.2 2 Mb cache cpu or better, Nvidia 6800 or 6600GT PCI-E video card or better, Western Digital 10,000 RPM Raptor SATA Hard drive, 450W PSU or better, and a CD/DVD burner combo. Motherboards for you I would need to do reasearch but off hand I can say ASUS, Abit, and DFI are quite hot. Other board companies like MSI, Gigabyte and even Epox are good too

[Scottler]

Nooo, you guys haven't made it more complicated.

[Dan]

Hey, well if you want I could e-mail the excel I made when I was in your position. Its a bit of a mess now that I have what I want  ;D but if it will help you your welcome!! My tower (In siggy) is worth about

[GunnerMan]

Well I would do if I were you is get that CPU wich is about 290 at new egg, that 200 dollar 6600GT, and spend 200 or 250 on a good case, PSU and motherboard. Might find a bit cheaper PCI-E 6600GT though. That is if you have decded PCI-E and that 640 CPU

[imchief]

gunnerman,

Why do you recommenf the 640 cpu instead of and amd.  I thought it was agreed that amd is better for gaming?  just wondering.

[GunnerMan]

Because he does Video Encoding

[imchief]

gotcha.  

[Scottler]

Lots and lots of it.  lol

[GunnerMan]

Hey Hyper I found you some mobos Check out MSI also...

[Scottler]

I'm about to head out for a bit, but I'll look at your links tonight sometime, I promise!  Thanks GM for all of your help!

[767-300er]

FS2004 is more dependent on the video card than the cpu. I doubt you'll see much difference between a athlon 64 3200, and the above mentioned Intel offering (the 3.2 htt P4). Just get a decent video card.make sure you get the right processor for the right motherboard. There are 2 versions, socket 478, and lga 775.(but alas, a square peg won't fit in a round hole )

[GunnerMan]

Well actually I cant prove it bit I have seen may people heree say FS really benifits from a good CPU more than a good video card.

[congo]

Well actually I cant prove it bit I have seen may people heree say FS really benifits from a good CPU more than a good video card.

Actually, you need both CPU and Video Card to be as good as possible, and they need to be on a platform which will compliment their performance.

Hyperion, I know that you might be overwhelmed at the moment with your newfound knowlwedge, but hang in there a bit longer, as things will soon become clear.

Here is an important article, and it contains some insights into the current hardware situation. Read it carefully and you will see that there really isn't much difference between the mainstream Intel / AMD offerings.

Both camps produce excellent performers in their Top of the Range gear (read Expensive!), but the affordable stuff is similar in performance, even in Video Editing!

http://www20.tomshardware.com/cpu/20050221/index.html

So...... You can now safely consider the other half of current technology, the AMD compatible half that is.