I posted this on the Urban Terror Forums a while back under my alias there of InTheStreets. It has only been updated as of Novemb er, but I will get to updating it shortly. Just wanted it to be here too, along with a few other guides I posted there.

Now obviously price changes daily for these products and new technology is coming out all the time. These budget conscious selections will be priced from newegg, because they are probably the most popular here in the states, easy to link to, and usually the cheapest. These are my personal recommendations, although you can choose parts of the same likeness from different manufacturers if you normally stick to a certain brand. Cases are also interchangeable and for the most part, up to the eye of the builder. I have however added them as a filler, since they will most likely be taken into account when planning your budget. Builds do not reflect the addition of an OS.

Intel Platform
$500 Build - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock
Intel E5200 Wolfdale Dual Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819116072
Gigabyte GA-P31-S3G http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128077
Wintec AMPX 2x1GB DDR2 800http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161030
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250gb Sata II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148262
Lite On 20x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106228
HIS Radeon HD 4670 512mb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161249
PC Power and Cooling 500w Crossfire Ready http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817703015
Coolermaster Elite 330 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119115

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with an 8600GT

$600 Build - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock
Intel E7200 Wolfdale Dual Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115052
Gigabyte GA-P31-S3G http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128077
Wintec AMPX 2x1GB DDR2 800http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161030
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250gb Sata II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148262
Lite On 20x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106228
HIS Radeon HD 4850 512mb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121253
PC Power and Cooling 500w Crossfire Ready http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817703015
Coolermaster Elite 330 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119115

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with a 9800GTX

$700 - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock
Intel E8400 Wolfdale Dual Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115037
Asus P5K Pro P35 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131275
Wintec AMPX 2x1GB DDR2 800http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161030
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250gb Sata II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148262
Lite On 20x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106228
HIS Radeon HD 4850 512mb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121253
Corsair 550VX 550w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139004
Coolermaster Elite 330 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119115

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with a 9800GTX

$800 build - Can Overclock
Intel E8400 Wolfdale Dual Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115037
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835207004
Biostar Tpower I45 Intel P45 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813138118
Wintec AMPX 2x1GB DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820161030
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250gb Sata II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148262
Lite On 20x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106228
HIS Radeon HD 4850 512mb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121253
Corsair 550VX 550w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139004
Coolermaster Elite 330 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119115

For Nvidia: Substitute Motherboard with an EVGA 750i FTW / Video Card with a 9800GTX

$900 Build - Can Overclock
Intel E8400 Wolfdale Dual Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115037
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835207004
Biostar Tpower I45 Intel P45http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc ... 6813138118
Mushkin 2x2gb DDR2 800http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161030
Western Digital 640gb Dual Platter Sata IIhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product ... 6822136218
Lite On 20x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106228
HIS Radeon HD 4850 512mb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121253
Corsair 750TX 750w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139006
Coolermaster Elite 330 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119115

For Nvidia: Substitute Motherboard with an EVGA 750i FTW / Video Card with a 9800GTX

$1100 Build - Can Overclock
Intel E8500 Wolfdale Dual Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115036
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835207004
Asus P5Q-Deluxe Intel P45 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131297
Mushkin 2x2gb DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820161030
Western Digital 640gb Dual Platter Sata II X 2 in Raid 0 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136218
Lite On 20x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106228
HIS Radeon HD 4870 512mb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161236
Corsair 750TX 750w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139006
Coolermaster Elite 330 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119115

For Nvidia: Substitute Motherboard with an EVGA 780i / Video Card with a GTX 260

$1500+ Build - Can Overclock
Intel Q9550 Yorkfield Quad Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115041
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835207004
Asus Rampage Formula Intel X48http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc ... 6813131284
Mushkin 2x2gb DDR2 800http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161030
Western Digital 640gb Dual Platter Sata II X 2 in Raid 0http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218
Lite On 20x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106228
HIS Radeon HD 4870 512mb X 2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161236
Corsair 750TX 750w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139006
Coolermaster Elite 330 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119115

For Nvidia: Substitute Motherboard with an EVGA 790i / RAM with DDR3 / and Video Cards with 2 x GTX260's
Note: Will cost more and not perform as well

Unlimited Build - You'd Better Overclock / and be playing at 2560x1600
Intel Q9550 Yorkfield Quad Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115041
Swiftech H20-220 Ultra Water Cooling Kit http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835108076
Asus Rampage Formula Intel X48http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc ... 6813131284
Mushkin 4x2gb DDR2 1000http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146755
Western Digital 300gb Velociraptor X 2 in Raid 0 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136260
Lite On 20x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106228
Asus Radeon HD 4870x2 512mb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121269
Silverstone 1200w http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6817256028
Silverstone TJ07 Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811163067

For Nvidia: Substitute Motherboard with an EVGA 790i / RAM with DDR3 / and Video Cards with 2 x GTX280's

AMD Platform
$500 Build - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock
AMD X2 5600+ Brisbane Dual Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103771
Gigabyte GA-MA770-S3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128327
Wintec AMPX 2x1GB DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820161030
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250gb Sata II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148262
Lite On 20x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106228
HIS Radeon HD 4670 512mb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161249
PC Power and Cooling 500w Crossfire Ready http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817703015
Coolermaster Elite 330 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119115

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with an 8600GT

$600 Build - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock
AMD Phenom 8750 Triple Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103252
Gigabyte GA-MA770-S3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128327
Wintec AMPX 2x1GB DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820161030
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250gb Sata II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148262
Lite On 20x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106228
Asus Radeon HD 4850 512mb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121253
PC Power and Cooling 500w Crossfire Ready http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817703015
Coolermaster Elite 330 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119115

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with a 9800GTX

$700 Build - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock
AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION Quad Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103249
DFI Lanparty DK 790FX-M2RS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813136044
Wintec AMPX 2x1GB DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820161030
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250gb Sata II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148262
Lite On 20x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106228
Asus Radeon HD 4850 512mb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121253
Corsair 550VX 550w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139004
Coolermaster Elite 330 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119115

For Nvidia: Substitute Video Card with a 9800GTX

$900 Build - Add an aftermarket cooler to overclock
AMD Phenom 9850 BLACK EDITION Quad Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103249
Foxconn A79A-S 790FX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813186149
Mushkin 2x2gb DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820161030
Western Digital 640gb Dual Platter Sata II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136218
Lite On 20x DVD-burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827106228
Asus Radeon HD 4850 512mb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121253
Corsair 750TX 750w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817139006
Coolermaster Elite 330 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119115

For Nvidia: Substitute Motherboard for ASUS Crosshair II Formula 780a SLI / Video Card for 9800gtx

I'm not really going to go into the higher costing AMD builds simply because AMD's target demographic is the mid-range to low-end gamer. If you plan to spend more than $900, you really want to go the Intel route. Feel free to add suggestions or request some changes!

Intel Builds for when reusing your parts from previous setups

$500 Build - Can Overclock
Reusing your Case, Video Card, Sata HDD, Optical Drive, and 550w+ Power Supply
Intel e8500 Wolfdale Core 2 Duo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115036
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835207004
Asus P5Q-E Intel P45 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131296
Mushkin Redlines 2x2gb DDR21000 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820146755

This particular setup will overclock very nicely. The key points to note here are the e8500's multiplier of 9.5, the type of Motherboard and the speed of the RAM. The high multiplier will not require extreme Front Side Bus speeds to achieve the maximum overclock of the processor. Although the P5Q-E has been known to hit 520+ FSB. The P5Q-E's 8-phase power design provides greater power efficiency so important to operating temperatures, 96% power efficiency, high quality power components such as low RDS (on) MOSFETs for minimum switching loss. All of this adds up to lower vdroop, and more stable power draw for your C2D. 8-phase, however, is not recommended when pairing with Quad Core processors and wanting a maximum overclock. One downside, the 400 strapping on the P5Q-E does not work, hopefully a BIOS update in the future will fix this. The Mushkin Redlines at DDR2 1000 (500mhz) are an adequate choice and will not be the culprit of holding your overclock back. You can expect 4ghz+ with the e8500 E0 stepping, and 3.8ghz+ with the C1 stepping.

$650 Build - Can Overclock
Reusing your Case, Video Card, Sata HDD, Optical Drive, and 550w+ Power Supply
Intel e8600 Core 2 Duo - guaranteed E0 stepping http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115054
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835207004
Asus P5Q-Deluxe Intel P45 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131297
Mushkin Redlines 2x2gb DDR21000 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820146755

This particular setup will overclock like a wet dream. The key points to note here are the e8600's multiplier of 10, the type of Motherboard and of course, the speed of the RAM. The high multiplier will not require extreme Front Side Bus speeds to achieve the maximum overclock of the processor, which I have seen hit 4.5ghz on air. The Deluxe version has a few differences from its little brother the -E, but two are major. A more extensive BIOS with greater tweaking options, and 16-phase power design for even greater efficiency (recommended for Quads). The Mushkin Redlines at DDR2 1000 (500mhz) are an adequate choice and will not be the culprit of holding your overclock back. You can expect 4-4.5ghz on air with the e8600. The Q9550 is also a powerhouse on this board. One downside is the 8.5 multiplier, requiring a higher FSB (470) to reach 4ghz, but that is never a guarantee. The average for these chips is 3.6-3.8ghz on air, as when approaching 4ghz, the 45nm quads really eat up the volts when just jumping those few hundred mhz over the average overclock. The E0 stepping of the Q9550 will give you a better chance of hitting 4ghz and 470FSB, but for the most part watercooling is necessary here.

$700 Build - Can Overclock
Reusing your Case, Video Card, Sata HDD, Optical Drive, and 550w+ Power Supply
Intel Q9550 Core 2 Quad http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115041
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835207004
Asus P5Q-Deluxe Intel P45 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131297
Mushkin Redlines 2x2gb DDR2 1000 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820146755

The Q9550 is also a powerhouse on this board. One downside is the 8.5 multiplier, requiring a higher FSB (470) to reach 4ghz, but that is never a guarantee. The average for these chips is 3.6-3.8ghz on air, as when approaching 4ghz, the 45nm quads really eat up the volts when just jumping those few hundred mhz over the average overclock. The E0 stepping of the Q9550 will give you a better chance of hitting 4ghz and 470FSB, but for the most part watercooling is necessary here.

AMD Builds for when reusing your parts from previous setups

$550 Build - Can Overclock
Reusing your Case, Video Card, Sata HDD, Optical Drive, and 550w+ Power Supply
AMD Phenom 9950 BLACK EDITION http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103291
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835207004
DFI LP UT 790FX-M2R http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813136041
Mushkin Redlines 2x2gb DDR2 1000 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820146755

This particular setup is pretty damn good in terms of overclocking. With the 9950 Phenom BLACK EDITION you can expect to see 3ghz easy with minimal tweaking to the bios, and running at stock vcore in some occasions. Lowering the multiplier and ramping up the HT Reference Clock, the DFI 790FX-M2R can hit 255MHz+.

$650 Build - Can Overclock
Reusing your Case, Video Card, Sata HDD, Optical Drive, and 550w+ Power Supply
AMD Phenom 9950 BLACK EDITION http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819103291
Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cpu Cooler (Tuniq Successor) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835207004
ASUS Crosshair II Formula http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131292
Mushkin Redlines 2x2gb DDR2 1000 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820146755

The ASUS Crosshair II Formula is tri-SLI capable. When using three double-slotted GPU cards, you will not be able to add any expansion cards, other than the supplied audi card from ASUS. So, if you go for tri-SLI, the system would be primarily dedicated to gaming, which isn't a bad thing. The board is capable of an HT Reference Clock of 235MHz+ when not using the onboard graphics. This setup is really only practical when using two Video Cards in SLI, or if you plan to upgrade to a SLI setup in the future.


]Core i7 - 11/19/2008

CPU's
Intel Core i7 920 2.66ghz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115202
Intel Core i7 940 2.93ghz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115201
Intel Core i7 965 3.2ghz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115200

Motherboards
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128362
ASUS P6T Deluxe http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131346
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-EXTREME http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128361
ASUS Rampage II Extreme - $398 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131352


DDR3, Crossfire, and SLI
I could go into 15 different combinations of setups for higher price ranges including DDR3, Crossfire, and SLI setups, but I won't for now. I will state a few things about the matter though. When considering DDR3 you should take a few factors into account; one is motherboard brand and model, another is the bloated price of DDR3 setups and the last is your budget. Right now Asus has four major boards that are top performers and support DDR3. The Striker II Extreme which is the nvidia 790i chipset. This board has reported frontside bus holes and is much more difficult to overclock, and isn't for the entry level overclocker or builder. I feel it is overpriced, at $399USD, and out of most people's price range. It supports tri-SLI, which I will address later, and has some nice features overall. Second is The Rampage Extreme which is Intel's X48 chipset, and is Asus' flagship board on this platform. Again, this board is a great performer and has seen FSB speeds of 500+, easy to overclock, extensive BIOS settings, but it is over priced at $389USD. The board does offers some decent features, but is it really worth it? That's up to the individual. Third is the P5E3 Premium which is also an X48 board. This board performs on par, and sometimes exceeds, the Rampage Extreme in terms of overclocking. It has the same BIOS as the Rampage Extreme minus a few features that aren't of huge concern and some impressive features. Finally, my dealers choice for Asus' DDR3 motherboards, is the P5Q3 Deluxe. This board comes in at a stellar $215USD price tag, is of the P45 chipset, offers 16-phase power design, exceptional cooling, and consistently hits 500+ FSB. It matches nearly every feature from the more expensive X48 and 790i DDR3 boards previously mentioned, and overclocks just as well.

When considering Crossfire, for maximum performance, you will want to run off the X48/X38 chipset. The X48 chipset offers true x16/x16 Crossfire mode as opposed to the P45 chipset at x8/x8 and the P35 at x16/x4. The increased bandwidth is worth the price of admission. Running a crossfire setup on the P45 or P35 chipsets will choke performance, although you still will see decent gains on the P45 chipset. Crossfire on a P35 board is really pointless, as the second card is only give x4 lines electrically. Crossfire scales well, except for in Crysis, and although you are paying double you do not see twice the performance when adding a second card. This is due to the 20% overhead (per card) caused by the 8b/10b encoding scheme, the inevitable CPU bottleneck caused by the cards raw bandwidth and the CPU inability to keep up.

SLI is Nvidia's answer to ATI's Crossfire, we all know that. SLI on some game engines, Crysis for example, scales better than its counterpart. The advantages and disadvantages of SLI are similar to that of Crossfire. Performance does not double when adding the second card. Again, with PCIe 2.0, it delivers 5 GT/s but employs the 8b/10b encoding scheme which takes 20% overhead on the overall raw bit rate. As well the CPU bottleneck caused by the cards raw bandwidth will also be a factor. TRI-SLI however, does not scale well in most engines, and is essentially only for benchmarking. For UrT, do we really need more than one card anyway? Nope, I have an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ with a 9800pro still running UrT smoothly.

Top CPU Picks - Desktop LGA775
Core 2 Extreme - Unlocked Multipliers
QX9770 - 3.20ghz 1600 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C1 Stepping 12 MB Cache
QX6850 - 3ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
QX9650 - 3ghz 1333 MHz 45 nm Bus Speed C0 Stepping 12 MB Cache
QX9650 - 3ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C1 Stepping 12 MB Cache
QX6800 - 2.93ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B3 Stepping 8 MB Cache
X6800 - 2.93ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache (dual core)
QX6800 - 2.93ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
QX6700 - 2.66ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B3 Stepping 8 MB Cache
Core 2 Quad
Q9650 - 3.0ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm E0 Stepping 12 MB Cache
Q9550 - 2.833ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm E0 Stepping 12 MB Cache (Best Buy for 12mb Quads, only $10 more than the 9450)
Q9550 - 2.833ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C1 Stepping 12 MB Cache
Q6700 - 2.66ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 8 MB Cache
Q9450 - 2.66ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C1 Stepping 12 MB Cache
Q9400 - 2.66ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm R0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
Q9300 - 2.50ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm M1 Stepping 6 MB Cache
Q6600 - 2.40ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 8 MB Cache (Best Bang for your Buck)
Q6600 - 2.40ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B3 Stepping 8 MB Cache
Q8200 - 2.33ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm R0 Stepping 4 MB Cache
Q8200 - 2.33ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm M1 Stepping 4 MB Cache
Core 2 Duo
E8600 - 3.33ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm E0 Stepping 6 MB Cache (Best Overclock, multiplier of 10)
E8500 - 3.16ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm E0 Stepping 6 MB Cache (Best High-end Bargain, $10 more than the 8400)
E8500 - 3.16ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
E8400 - 3ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
E6850 - 3ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E8400 - 3ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm E0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
E8300 - 2.83ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm C0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
E6750 - 2.66ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E6700 - 2.66ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E6700 - 2.66ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E7300 - 2.66ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed45 nm M0 Stepping 3 MB Cache
E7300 - 2.66ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed45 nm M0 Stepping 3 MB Cache
E8190 - 2.66ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed45 nm C0 Stepping 6 MB Cache
E8200 - 2.66ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed45 nm C0 Stepping 6 MB Cache (Best Bang for your buck, Overclocks to 3.6ghz-3.8ghz)
E4700 - 2.60ghz 800 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E7200 - 2.53ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm M0 Stepping 3 MB Cache
E7200 - 2.53ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 45 nm M0 Stepping 3 MB Cache (Excellent Bargain for $119, Overclocks well 3.3-3.5 on avg.)
E4600 - 2.40ghz 800 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm M0 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6600 - 2.40ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E6600 - 2.40ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E6550 - 2.33ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E6540 - 2.33ghz 1333 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm G0 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E4500 - 2.20ghz 800 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm M0 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6400 - 2.13ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm L2 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6400 - 2.13ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6420 - 2.13ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E4400 - 2.0ghz 800 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm M0 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E4400 - 2.0ghz 800 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm L2 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6300 - 1.86ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6300 - 1.86ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm L2 Stepping 2 MB Cache
E6320 - 1.86ghz 1066 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm B2 Stepping 4 MB Cache
E4300 - 1.80ghz 800 MHz Bus Speed 65 nm L2 Stepping 2 MB Cache

My Top Intel Motherboard Picks
Price per performace is the determining factor
X48-
DFI LANPARTY UT X48-T2R
DFI DFI LP DK X48-T2RSB PLUS
GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS5
GIGABYTE GA-X48-DS4
ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA
ASUS P5E Deluxe
ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe (DDR3)
ASUS RAMPAGE Extreme(DDR3)

X38-
ASUS P5E3 DELUXE (DDR3)
ASUS P5E
DFI DK X38-T2R

P45-
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-EXTREME
ASUS P5Q3 DELUXE/WIFI (DDR3)
ASUS P5Q DELUXE
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DQ6
FOXCONN ELA P45
ASUS P5Q-E (for dual cores)
BIOSTAR TPOWER I45 (for dual cores / set an overclocking record 724mhz FSB)
GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-DS3R

My Video Card Picks in order from top to bottom
Radeon 4870x2 (for resolutions 1920x1080 and up)
Geforce GTX280
Geforce 9800GX2
Radeon 4870 1GB
Radeon 4870
Geforce GTX260
Radeon 4850 1GB
Geforce 9800GTX+
Radeon 4850
Geforce 9800GTX
Geforce 8800Ultra
Geforce 8800GTX
Geforce 8800GTS 512mb (G92)

Top Power Supplies
For Single GPU Solution
Corsair - VX450W, VX550W, TX650W, HX520W, HX620W
PC Power & Cooling - Silencer 420, Silencer 510, Silencer 610
Silverstone - ST50F, ST56F, ST60F, ST50EF PLUS, ST60EF, OP650, OP700, ST56ZF, ST65ZF, DA650
Seasonic - SS-500ES, SS-500ET, SS-550HT, SS-650HT

For Dual GPU Solution
Corsair - TX750W, 1000HX
PC Power & Cooling - Silencer 750 Quad, Turbo-Cool 860 / 860ESA, Turbo-Cool 1200 / 1200ESA
Silverstone - OP750, OP800, OP850, ST75, DA750, DA850
Seasonic - SS700HM

Obviously there are other brand names, Antec, Enermax, Athena, Thermaltake, and OCZ to name a few. These manufacturers produce very good power supplies but they are not near the quality Of Seasonic, Silverstone, PC Power & Cooling, or Corsair. More is not always better, and in terms of power supplies, a single 12v rail is always better than multiple rails. A large, single 12-volt rail (without a 240VA limit) can transfer 100% of the 12-volt output from the PSU to the computer, while a multi-rail 12-volt design has distribution losses of up to 30% of the power supply's rating. Those losses occur because power literally gets "trapped" on under-utilized rails. For example, if the 12-volt rail that powers the CPU is rated for 17 amps and the CPU only uses 7A, the remaining 10A is unusable, since it is isolated from the rest of the system. Since the maximum current from any one 12-volt rail of a multiple-rail PSU is limited to 20 amps (240VA / 12 volts = 20 amps), PCs with high-performance components that draw over 20 amps from the same rail are subject to over-current shutdowns. With power requirements for multiple processors and graphics cards continuing to grow, the multiple-rail design, with its 240VA limit per rail, is basically obsolete.
Modular plugs, due to their look, convenience, and cost savings for manufacturers, have become a popular power supply feature. Unfortunately, there has been little or no discussion of the impact of this feature on overall performance and reliability. The fact is, modular plugs limit power by adding to electrical resistance. The voltage drop can be as much as would occur in 2 feet of standard wire. Worse yet, modular plugs utilize delicate pins that can easily loosen, corrode, and burn, creating the potential for a major system failure. That's why professional system builders specify uninterrupted wire!

LOL I just realized how out of date this thing really is.

I just saw this thread now and I have to give you props, gERm. This is a really resourceful thread even though its outdated now.

I could use your advice on my next system build but that won't be until next fall most likely.

For sure, I sort of forgot about this section after that last post. I should update it some day.

your 900 build is more like a 550 build now lol. i just tried it out. i really would like to get a gaming rig again and get competitive, but money is pretty tight these days.

I need to get some new shit. BFBC2 is killing me because I want to play, but close quarter combat gives me like 10 fps and I just can't take it. It's why I snipe a lot. I bought this comp a while back (2 years ago):


# 1 x GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard
# 1 x Intel Pentium E2160 Allendale 1.8GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E2160 (OC'd it to 2.6ghz)
# 1 x G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ
1 x PNY VCG96512GXEB GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

I'm sorta at a loss of what to do. If I can upgrade my graphics card which would be a simple fix, but I have a feeling its more due to the RAM & CPU than my gfx card. Unfortunately that mobo only supports DDR2 800 so I can't upgrade to DDR3. I could get a better processor and OC as I have a really good fan and case. Any suggestions?

Quad cores are quite useful in BC2
As are better video cards
As is RAM....

(tech geeks help me out with more specifics!)

Definitely, need germ to hit this thread up, or whiz/fox(sorry xen you are still always fox to meh)

im prob gonna try to build one of those 900 dollar systems as soon as i can. should be sufficient to tide me over for a few years.

You know really, you're not far from my machine except for the processor. Your vid card is better than mine (I have an 8800GT) but I do have a quad core. I also have 4gb DDR2 as well and can run the game on whatever was default for the retail version with no problems at all.

After thinking about it for a bit, your processor is probably what's holding you back. That CPU only has 1MB of L2 cache and BC2 is very CPU-dependent. If you're not too familiar with the significance of CPU cache, just know that L1 and L2 cache (the memory physically in the CPU chip) can be accessed about 10 times faster than the RAM modules you stick into your motherboard.

If you can afford to spend a bit for an upgrade, take a look at this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115037

It looks like one of Newegg's best deals on a CPU upgrade for you if you want to stick with a dual core CPU. If you're interested in switching to a quad core, take a look at this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115041

You won't really see the benefits of a quad in games all that much (though that is starting to change, albeit slowly), but anything media related (high-def movies, Photoshop, etc.) will definitely see improvements. You would probably notice a very slight multi-tasking performance boost in Windows with a quad core, too.

Keep in mind, though, that your computer is probably at the end of its life cycle for upgrades (after you drop in a new CPU, if you decide to), due to the new CPU form factors and DDR3 memory. Because of that, if you're interested in upgrading your CPU I would probably go with another dual core to save money and "get by" with this machine until you decide to overhaul the entire thing in the next year or two for a brand new setup.

Also, as far as memory goes you could certainly drop in another 2x1GB 2-stick kit for a total of 4GB. The price for this would run you about $50 according to Newegg right now. It's not going to fix your performance issues in BC2, but it would probably (definitely?) make things a bit snappier when you're multi-tasking (alt-tabbing, running things in the background, etc.). The more you can stick in DRAM instead of writing it to the page file on your hard drive the better.

Everyone has their favorite RAM manufacturer, but I personally go with Corsair (I had a problem a few years ago and they went above and beyond to help me). For standard, non-overclocked modules though, it doesn't make too much of a difference what brand you get.

Thanks Fox - I personally like G.Skill as I haven't had any problems with them, and A-Data as well too. Corsair, Mushkin, and Kingston have given me some issues in the past but I have not dealt with their customer service so I can't rate it. I might go run down to Fry's on Mon/Tues to pick it up. I'll take a look at their proc's too as they seem to have competitive prices in-store to newegg, and i can pick it up that day which i like. I think I've ordered all my comp stuff through newegg before though, for 7 years now :D

I am just getting back into the swing of things, I will update this as best I can this weekend while working and watching nieces and nephews.

Whiz, the 9600gt is not as good as the 8800gt... the 9800gt is slightly better than the 8800gt though. That whole line is a waste and should be put out to pasture, essentially all Nvidia did was rename old technology and unlock some stream processors and increase memory speed a touch.

Honestly, I can never recommend to a person that upgrading on an old platform is the way to go. AK could probably upgrade his proc to a quad and get a 5770 video card and he would be set for BC2, and other games for another year. At the end of that year, he will need all new components, and probably a new video card. Go big or go home.... or fall somewhere in the middle, but never invest money into aged, dated, dead technology.


AMD 6 core procs look sexy right now, and for the price on that socket all components considered... you can have one bad ass rig for $900.

If anyone wants some recommendations let me know and I can work with you directly.

Can't spend that kind of money right now unfortunately germ. I'm stuck with just upgrading my system for now as I'm back in school.

No problemo, AK.

I didn't realize that your graphics card isn't as good as whiz's (stupid GPU naming schemes). I haven't used an Nvidia card for about eight or nine years, so I can't really comment on a good replacement for it.

I looked up some quick benchmarks for your GPU versus the one that whiz has and it looks like whiz's can pull about 10-20 FPS more in certain games (though I didn't find any BC2 benchmarks directly comparing your two cards). Keeping that in mind, I'd recommend that your upgrade money be put into a CPU and a GPU, if you can afford both.

Newegg has the card that I have in my machine (ATI 4870) for roughly $150. Unfortunately I think in your current situation both your CPU and your GPU are about equal bottlenecks for your machine. Upgrading both would really be the best option for you (don't worry about the RAM for now), if you can afford it. You would probably be looking at about a $300 upgrade for a new CPU and a new GPU, depending on the GPU that you pick out (though I'd stick with the dual core CPU I recommended above). That $300 would probably hold you over for another year or two, at the most.

You might want to consider upgrading one piece at a time to see if you really need to upgrade both components. Drop in the new CPU and see if your performance is acceptable. If not, you know you'd need to spend the extra cash on a GPU upgrade too.

Thanks for the recommendation fox. I think I'll go with the CPU first then the GPU. I just can't get any enjoyment out of BC2 right now, although I can see what I'm missing.

By the way, I dont know if that board supports 45nm procs, it may with a bios update. Since the socket platform is so old, I'd go for a cheap dual or quad proc and a decent video card.

Good point, germ.

It looks like a relatively recent bios is required for Wolfdale support, but you may already be good to go depending on when you picked your board up, AK. This thread has some users floating around different bios revisions that were working for them: http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardwar ... ndrum.html

In the worst case you'd just have to flash it with your current CPU installed and then carry on with the upgrade.

So this is why I should be a blond:

Apparently somehow my OC got turned off when I switched to Win7. I didn't know it was possible. Much to my chagrin I was back down to 1.8ghz per core. I bumped it back up to 2.55ghz, it held steady at 40 Celsius, then under BC2 held @ 44 Celsius and voila, bc2 doesn't lag for me anymore. Just figured this out at 4 in the morning. I could even up the level of detail back to medium and it didn't add any lag. The game and aiming felt SO good. For a while there it was like I was a retard tryin to hump a doorknob. I will have to play some more now ?!:J@:"$JHP)*( HTP*HDGp*JAP*()FJhp8j

Hahahahaha... glad you likely got the problem sorted out without having to spend anything on an upgrade!