advice on chips please upgrade after 4 years

[Electroshadow]

Hi all

Just upgrading my system from an old amd fx 57 chip which has served me well, but now after going to vista it is time for an upgrade.

So basically I will be buy new:

Processor
Motherboard - if I go intel I don’t have a clue about the MB's recommendation for under £70 would be good
Ram


I cant decide wether to go for an intel Q6600 or E8400 / E8500 which processor do you recommend I mainly play games and a lot of auto cad work.

What are the amd phenom chips like?

 

[Electroshadow]

So in the end I went for the following parts:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.66 GHz (FSB
1333MHz) Socket 775 L2 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor


Asrock 4Core1600Twins-P35 Socket 775 7.1 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard


OCZ 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 1000MHz/PC2-8000 Memory REAPER X EDITION ENHANCED BANDWITH CL5
Qty

Existing hardware:

8800gt ultra

250gb hard drive 16mb 7,200rpm


Cant decide on which of my cpu coolers to use either:

Zalman CNPS9700-LED CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2/LGA775)
Titan Vanessa-L TTC-NK25TB/SC (RB) Heatpipe Cooling Fan (462/478/754/939/940/LGA775)

 

[Electroshadow]

Yes I have ordered the cpu (retail boxed) - MB and Ram today cost me approx £295 thought that was ok

I only have the zalman cooler and titan vanessa (which is basically the same as the tuniq- that’s what it was compared to in the reviews anyway) sat on the shelf at home think I will use the titan

 

[Electroshadow]

well thats lucky then as i put the wrong card number in and it got refused lol.... fate?

so a q6600 and what MB then?

 

[Electroshadow]

the rams only 800mhz though when the other ram was 1066mhz will that make much of a difference?

 

[Electroshadow]

yes i might do although im new at it

 

[Electroshadow]

which of the following boards?

ASUS P5KC AiLifestyle Series iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard

ASUS P5K PRO iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard

ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP AiLifestyle Series P35 Socket 775 Socket eSATA 8 channel Audio ATX Motherboard

the place where i have ordered the rest of the parts dont have the board you have listed are any on the above ok?

 

[Electroshadow]

last one i promise what about the

MSI P35 Neo2-FR

compared to the last lot?

 

[Electroshadow]

Right then I think im going to ammend my order to the following below:




Neo2-FR iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard

OCZ 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 1000MHz/PC2-8000 Memory REAPER X EDITION ENHANCED BANDWITH CL5

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair) Retail Boxed Processor



Will be using my existing:

8800gt ultra
Titan vanessa cpu cooler




Can anyone recommend a good gaming case, was thinking about the xclio windtunnel or propeller?


i really dont understand the whole thing about buying slower ram which is better? should i go for what i have listed or 6400

 

[Electroshadow]

8800 gts 512mb nividia card