Once upon a time I had a computer that was considered to be one of the nicest in the neigborhood. I won't go as bold to say it was the best in town, but it was running all the games everyone wanted to play. This was 7 years ago. 2.44 GHz, 2 gig of ram, 256 mb graphics.....It was pretty good for its time. Slowly though.....it became a peice of crap. I tried upgrading my computer last night to a 512 graphics card but it just wasn't good enouph for me. So....i have decided to get back into computer gaming. i' am going to build a beast of a machine. But therse a problem....

My old computer is an AGP slot type motherboard. I can't upgrade it slowly and still use it. I have to start from scratch -_-. So i took my graphics card back and traded it in for a new motherboard. I'm poor. So i' am buying a new peice for my computer every paycheck I get. I will be updating this every time i get a new peice. Anyway if anyone has suggestion peices for me or finds a really great deal online i would be happy to hear. Any money saved or relative advice is always welcome.

Here are the peices so far. Also I included tax on everything cause that is still money out of my pocket

Motherboard: XFX MB-N780-ISH9 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI Intel Motherboard - $295 (including 2 year warranty)

Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium System Builders Edition 64 bit - $86

Heatsink: Zalman 9700 copper base - $70

Case: Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - $131

RAM: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 - $57

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 3.0GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - $380

GPU: XFX GTX-285 - $411

Total Price so far:  $1430

You should wait till you have all the money because the price drop fast.
295$ for a MB is a lot of money!

Remember Core I7 releases soon, why spend all that money on a computer system which hits a dead end for upgrades on the CPU as soon as you buy it?

Edit: Just checked, it releases in a couple of weeks. So if you've bought that motherboard I suggest you return it to retailer. Its gone obsolete on you.

 The new cpus\mobos are out on the 17 november, Squilliam is giving extremely good advice.

You might not even want the new chips, they will cost a BOMB. Point its that the stuff now will then become cheaper within a week or so after launch.

Also the new chips need new moverboards etc so you really should wait to see how it plays out.

DON'T buy anything at all yet. Computer bits drop in price from week to week.

Finally I wouldn't go for anything from nVidia these days as far as mobos are concerned, get an Intel P35 on the cheap.

Personally I got...

Asus P5K Premium Wifi\AP, Intel Q6600 4GB OCZ Dominator 1066mhz RAM, 8800GTX, X-Fi Xtreme Music, 620 OCZ PSU,

I have this going at 3.6Ghz and runs anything I throw at it at 1920x1200 (excluding crysis of course) on a Hanns-G 28 inch LCD (Bargain at £230).

F**k, F**k, F**k ,F**k F**k,...........i hope the take it back i didn't even open it yet. Ok question? These new processors are just socket 775 right??? Doesn't that mean there could be a BIOS update to allow the chip? Or do these new processors take a new kinda of socket?

Edit : And the reason i went with the Nvidia motherboard is cause i plan on doing a three way SLI 8800 GTX.  3 graphics cards working together *drools*

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10093&Itemid=37

The new Core I7 is pin incompatible with socket 775.

Ok if you can't take it back - relax because the initial performance of the CoreI7 for games isn't all that much higher if at all than the Core 2 Quad. Also the Boards are expensive and so is the memory - DDR3 is required. So yes the board won't be top,top of the line but it will still run incredibly quick and remember with decent memory you can overclock that board to devilishly high speeds. The main issue is that the you can't run the newer processors on it and one minor inconvenience is that some of the new X58 boards can run both ATI/Nvidia multi-gpu setups.

So perhaps the older board will give you a price/performance advantage, especially if Intel cuts the cost of the older Quad cores.

The minimum DDR3 3x1gb will cost $99 on newegg.

Lol I have a dual core 2.2 Ghz, 2 GB of RAM and 256 mb graphics card right now playing games on high settings haha.  Then again, it's a Radeon 3850, and a dual core is obviously so much better than a regular 2.44 Ghz.

Anyway, I'd say you're spending way more than you need to...I honestly think you'd be better off with a single or at most double card solution.  I don't think you need to spend more than $175 on a mobo, and I honestly think you could spend less than $150 and be fine, and one good 4870 (or GTX 280 if you really want Nvidia) would probably compare with a multiple 8800 system. 

Not to mention the problems that often occur with multiple cards.

If you have the money go for it.

Alrighty so looking at what im doing.....and the price of the new stuff O_o I think I' am just going to stick with the Nvidia motherboard stuff. This means some of the New expensives processors out atm will be cheaper so i will still be able to initially get something better then what i expected. I was gonna spend 400 on a CPU but some of the 1000 dollars ones might come down a little. I will get the CPU last so it gives me a good price drop. Next up is looking to be a tower and a heatsink. New Egg seams to have a pretty nice combo up at the moment. Any better deals floating around? Also will this case be big enough. O_o parts were a lot smaller back then and i didn't have to worry about case size as much. Don't want to put a fricken huge graphic card in that doesnt even work.

The case with the nice heatsync combo that to me....looks fricken sweet

Hey dude, nice looking case. This is one component you really have to get right in a computer, often its short changed.

You have to ask yourself what your goals are in terms of space, longevity, noise, cost etc.

I just purchased an Antec P182 because they look really nice and its extremely quiet. Also they are pretty nice to work in so it makes multiple upgrades/tweaks in the future a pleasant thought. Hasn't arrived yet so im sorry I can't give you my impressions.

They aren't cheap but they do a really good job at keeping the noise down. So thats a win for me.

Next up are the PSUs. If you get a good PSU it will be quieter, more stable and it will improve the lifespan of both your computer and itself by providing a cleaner power source. You can often get good combo deals between Cases and PSUs so its good to look at them together. Don't buy cheap, I did that once and took out my motherboard and ram and they were expensive too.

The PSU price is dictated by quality/output (You can have up to 3 GTX cards, but you'll pay for them with you PSU as well) so you'll have to decide what kind of graphics cards you want now as well.