new desktop suggestions

[Fred]

I haven't kept up with the CPU/Mobo scene for the last year or so.

Anyway, I was thinking about upgrading my athlon 1.2ghz.

What would you guys recommend as a good gaming platform, I usually choose not to buy the latest and greatest, but one smallish step below (for more reasonable prices).

I read about the new Athlon64s, but they probably are going to be ridiculously expensive?

What would you recommend?

 

[horvendile]

I read about the new Athlon64s, but they probably are going to be ridiculously expensive?

I think that mostly applies to the dual-channel version, though of course I don't know anything. If you can wait a week, that will hopefully be answered.

Future processors aside: At least in Sweden, something like an AthlonXP 2600+ paired with an nForce 2 board seems to be the sweet spot for the cost-sensitive gamer. At higher speeds the cost difference compared to intel isn't that great, but at 2600 speeds it is significant.

 

[pascal]

Do you have DDR memory? If yes then maybe a small upgrade today with new/cheap/good mobo/cpu. Something like nforce2/XP2400 (athlonXP 2GHz)

 

[ZoinKs!]

"Barton" 2500+ on an nForce 2 with a gig of memory would do quite nicely.

NewEgg right now is selling a cheap Biostar nforce 2 w/ 2500+ for $147. Add $160 for a gig of pc2700 ddr and you'll have a very nice system, depending on what vidcard you're using. You could cut the memory back to one 512 meg stick to save $80.

Don't drop to anything less than the 2500+ Barton; the saved money isn't worth it. And if you're into overclocking, the 2500+ is an excellent candidate.

 

[Natoma]

I haven't kept up with the CPU/Mobo scene for the last year or so.

Anyway, I was thinking about upgrading my athlon 1.2ghz.

What would you guys recommend as a good gaming platform, I usually choose not to buy the latest and greatest, but one smallish step below (for more reasonable prices).

I read about the new Athlon64s, but they probably are going to be ridiculously expensive?

What would you recommend?

What is your upper price limit? That way I think we can look into systems that fit within your range, and whether or not it's best to go with a full system upgrade or a piecemeal upgrade.

 

[Florin]

The Athlon64 (3200+ / 2 Ghz) will be available tuesday. The tray version will be just below 500 Euro. Considering the very competitive performance I wouldn't say it is ridiculously expensive, but it's definitely no budget CPU.