(another) Criticize my build thread

**BattleToad** · February 5th, 2007, 07:57 PM

I know we get about 30 of these a day, but please excuse my annoyance and just take a peak. Havent upgraded in about 2 years so looking to do so. My old PC will be used for my MythTV backend in my server rack (switching to a backend/frontend scheme, so I can take out the loud powerful system in my entertainment center and put it in my 42u rack back where noone will mind it being heard).

Current build:

Antec Smartpower 450W
MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum
AMD Athlon 64 3400+ Venice
ATI 9800XT 256MB
1GB (2 x 512MB) Kingston Hyper X DDR 400

What im thinking of upgrading to:

MSI K9N4 SLI-F Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 500 SLI
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Windsor 2.6Ghz Skt AM2
2GB (2 x 1GB) Kingston Hyper X DDR2 800
EVGA 8800GTS

Could I get some opinions on this upgrade? Do you agree that it will be a substantial noticeable improvment over my current build? Any suggestions on the motherboard, Ive never had any problems with my MSI now, so I was looking to stick with them, but if a better one is out there I could be persuaded away. The only thing I'm sticking with is the Kingston ram, been a Kingston fan for life, their lifetime warrenty is amazing.

And can I get some suggestions on a PSU that will support that system + another EVGA 8800 GTS so I can run SLI in the future, and if possible, a QUIET one?

Thanks for the advice.

**SoloCamo** · February 5th, 2007, 08:04 PM

Is this a rig for gaming?

Regardless if it is or not, AM2 is not the way to go at the moment for performance. Core 2 Duo is number one right now.

**BattleToad** · February 5th, 2007, 08:17 PM

yes, my current gaming rig is being replaced by this one. I play FEAR, Oblivion, CS:Source, HL2, etc.

yeah I was reading some benchmarks for the Intel Core 2 E6600 vs the X2 5200+ Windsor, and I was really suprised to find the Intel beating the AMD in just about every category. Still I held true to my AMD fanboyness, figuring that the price would make it worth while, but now that you said that, I checked the pricing, and its only about $30-40 more. I've never built an intel though, Im scared haha.