[Ahielia]

Getting my paycheck soon, so I'm thinking of upgrading my system, depending on how big it actually is.

My current setup is kinda crappy, with a Athlon 64 x2 6000+, 2900 Pro, 4gig 6400 ddr2 (4 sticks 1gig each) and a m2n32-sli deluxe.

I've basically been going AMD/nVidia ever since I got my first computer, but now I want to try Intel.

Bear in mind that I've not kept myself updated on the hardware front in ages, so dunno really what's good.
I just want a PC that's good for playing games such as World of Warcraft, Counter Strike: Source, and wtfever shooter and strategy games that comes along in the future.

(Prices in bold are the Norwegian webshop price converted to dollars, current rate)

Stuff I've checked out:

CPU: Q9550 - 220$ (313.11$)
No AMD for me this time methinks.

Motherboard: Asus P5Q - 97$ (128$

Memory: Okay I'll admit, I'm a bit lost on this one. Most of the ddr2 ram is cheap as hell nowadays, so I'll want at least 4gigs - will be running x64 WIndows 7 anyway.

GFX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150387]Something like this GTX 275? - 210$ - The card I found on the Norwegian webshop was a Gainward-card, but I have heard some nice things about that company. (307$

The other stuff I already have, HDDs (Well, if I got enough money I'll get a new one), mouse/keyboard, monitor.
My powersupply is a Chieftec CFT-750-14CS 750W.
Remember that my powersupply blew earlier this year? Well, this one was the "weakest" of the ones the shop(s) had that I could use. It should provide adequate power
At the bottom is the voltage info.

I'm also thinking about getting a new case, or just some fans to put in... Better circulation and all. But that's not important.


So, without the memory, this totals to 527$ on Newegg, 748$ on the Norwegian webshop Komplett. Which is about 4500NOK.
Dunno how much it'll cost to order via Newegg, or if it's even possible...

But yeah, that's about as much as I want to spend on my new parts (cpu+motherboard+gfx+ram+maybe some random stuff).

Right now I'm a newbie when it comes to selecting computer parts (maybe I've always been :lol, so I wrote this wall of text to see if any of you have any objections and/or suggestions
I'd really appreciate it if anyone would respond (not trolling).

Oh, and as a sidenote: Even if I'm gonna use my computer mainly for gaming, I doubt I'll overclock it, as I know squat about it.

 

[Phil]

Micro Center - Core 2 Quad Processor Q9550 Boxed



I bought a gtx275, i have yet to use it though

 

[Squall-Leonhart]

dude, you could've been testing that in my build while you wait for the 295

 

[Ahielia]

Micro Center - Core 2 Quad Processor Q9550 Boxed

Wow, that's a cheap one.

I don't have time to look atm (gotta get to work ), but do they ship to Norway? And if so, do you know what the total will be? (taxes, shipment, wtfever..)

 

[Princess Garnet]

I'd just like to chip in that the Chieftec Super series are CWT PSUs, which are okay, nothing that will be a risk of frying your PC, but nothing really out of this world either. If you can't afford another, that should do fine.

The few Delta based Chieftecs are the good ones, and most of their other stuff is okay-ish.

Also, if you won't be overclocking, just grab 8GB now (4x2GB). DDR2 prices will likely only climb now, and you'll hate to be stuck in a tough spot down the road when DDR2 is pashing/phased out and you want to get more, but it's more expensive than it would be for a DDR3 system. Stuff definitely shows improvement with 4GB over 2GB, so 8GB will likely be needed (or at least a good idea) in this system's lifetime, especially since you'll be using a 64 bit OS.

The rest of it looks good.

 

[Ahielia]

Just found out that Newegg doesn't ship to Norway Guess I gotta order from the Norwegian webshop or something. Meh, *careface*.

About the ram, is there a special brand I should go for, or will any kind do?
This webshop has 179 different ram chips for ddr2 alone, the major ones (Having more than 10 different chips for sale), are Crucial, Corsair, Kingston and OCZ.
The three first are supposedly very reliable, or so I've heard. Haven't heard much from OCZ though.

Will pc8500 chips run better than pc6400? If so, by how much?
And does timings matter all that much? (for me)