As reluctant as I am to do this, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be replacing the 3700+ that has served me well for the past year or so with either a Conroe or a Kentsfield. If I get the Conroe, I've got my mind set on the E6700 with a C55 chipset (unless intel enables support for SLI, which they should do considering AMD just gobbled up ATI). But, the Kentsfield looks very promising as well (benchmarks here). But, will a quad core processor really be necessary in the future of gaming, or should I just get a dual core? I mean, looking at the Alan Wake video makes me want to get one... but are many future games going to require it? Most games are barely being coded to optimize dual cores anyways. So if anyone has some input that would be appreciated although pricing will be the biggest factor...

For memory I'll probably get some OCZ DDR2 800. Hopefully a few months after I get all of this, I'll probably buy one of those Killer NICs because my internet connection is going down the drain.

Suggestions/Questions anyone?

i would just wait until games like alan wake are actually out until you upgrade to quad core, i'm pretty sure that your 3700 will do just fine for another year in terms of gaming.

Thats just my opinion, but i usually like to wait until the next technological break through comes out before i buy my computer stuff. Or at least games that can utilize the technology come out. We still have yet to see much optimization of the dual core processor let alone the quad. So i would wait another year before upgrading. Depending on what video card you have now, i would upgrade video card before processor at this point.

I think you should wait for Kentsfield to hit the shelves and see what the reviews say. Your current setup is quite good, it should hold you until then. I'm not surprised that Alan Wake got your mind on this, it is making me rethink my Conroe upgrade plan as well. I'd like to see what happens with Kentsfield and AMD's 4x4.

Good god Sinister Crayon get a grip on yourself! Leave AMD?

I'd wait a least until Dec, unless you rely need it. It will just get better. End of Jan is a better time to build after all the Xmas lunacy dies down.

Yeah, I've been thinking it over and I think I'm going to hold off for a bit. Maybe save up for a car, then see where things go from there.

I was just drooling over the benchmarks on these things. Now if only I could somehow untangle the problems with my current video cards (two 7600GT's in SLI). They seem to do nothing but give me trouble.

Posted by Sinister Crayon Yeah, I've been thinking it over and I think I'm going to hold off for a bit. Maybe save up for a car, then see where things go from there. I was just drooling over the benchmarks on these things. Now if only I could somehow untangle the problems with my current video cards (two 7600GT's in SLI). They seem to do nothing but give me trouble.

PS is good, and big? PS can seem OK, try another one if you can. Aux power connectors plugged-in? Running cool? Latest drivers, bios if needed?
Try reloading the drivers.
Try reseating the vids, check one at a time, see if OK.

check um one at a time, my 6600gt's got messed up recently, i'm not sure what the problem is, but they work one at a time but not SLI'd

Posted by Kbasa check um one at a time, my 6600gt's got messed up recently, i'm not sure what the problem is, but they work one at a time but not SLI'd

It was a thought, but I hear ya.

My wireless keybrd went flaky, I had a backup I never use, 2 hours later I realized the 2nd one had the same problem.

Fuck you Gyration, you suck rancid gonads.

Updated the nForce4 drivers which fixed the problem with the restarting and my IDE drives. The video cards would not work in SLI though, so I just deleted both of the drivers in device manager and then re-installed to 91.47 forceware. Only problem left is when I restart and log in my monitor will show my res of 1280 x 1024 for a few seconds then it changes to 800 x 600. So I have to go into display properties and change it back again.

strange

Posted by Kbasa strange

Very. I got it to go away now though. But re-seating the hardware made windows think I have an invalid copy of Windows. Again. If vista turns out to have any of these bullshit spyware programs that XP has, It's gonna be a long time before I buy a MS OS again.

The funny thing is: I have a legit version of XP, the computer I built for my parents doesn't, but I installed XP on their computer so long ago that the crack was never worked around and Windows thinks that their computer is legit and mines not! NOT FAIR!

FUCKING WGA!

I LOVE MY MAC! (not enough to completely throw out my pc though..)

On a lighter note, would anyone be interested in a pair of 7600GT's? I might be selling mine after X-mas. I'm thinking about upgrading to a pair of 7950s or even the GX2. Or I might just wait until DX10. We shall see.

Posted by Sinister Crayon Very. I got it to go away now though. But re-seating the hardware made windows think I have an invalid copy of Windows. Again. If vista turns out to have any of these bullshit spyware programs that XP has, It's gonna be a long time before I buy a MS OS again. The funny thing is: I have a legit version of XP, the computer I built for my parents doesn't, but I installed XP on their computer so long ago that the crack was never worked around and Windows thinks that their computer is legit and mines not! NOT FAIR! FUCKING WGA! I LOVE MY MAC! (not enough to completely throw out my pc though..) On a lighter note, would anyone be interested in a pair of 7600GT's? I might be selling mine after X-mas. I'm thinking about upgrading to a pair of 7950s or even the GX2. Or I might just wait until DX10. We shall see.

That doesn't sound right. Did you change slots, or add any new hardware, ah, maybe Windows didn't see it, but now it does, and flagged you for too many hardware changes. Call India and get those pricks to reactivate it.

You DO NOT want Vista, it's gonna be a fucking neo-nazi digital rights pig of an OS that will lock the machine down at core level if it smells any data or program that is not pure! MS is rabid, don't slip on the foam. Buy a retail version of 64 bit XP Pro before they change it's EULA to read like Vista's.

Posted by blackhawk Call India and get those pricks to reactivate it.

I'm just gonna reload sometime within the next week and then I'll end up calling them anyways to get that 48 digit code to "validate my installation."

You DO NOT want Vista, it's gonna be a fucking neo-nazi digital rights pig of an OS that will lock the machine down at core level if it smells any data or program that is not pure! MS is rabid, don't slip on the foam. Buy a retail version of 64 bit XP Pro before they change it's EULA to read like Vista's.

I'm going to throw it on my parents computer and test drive it there before I do anything. You really think Vista's DRM can be any worse than MCE's?

The x64 edition is some good advice and I'm gonna keep a copy in reserve. Definitely going to buy a copy of Leopard when it comes out though. Apple's really going in the right direction.

You can only transfer retail Vista once. It's DRM is hyper-invasive. It's also a resource hog. I think everyone should boycott Vista, MS went too far, time to jam the consumer boot up their arse.

we called MS once with a completely cracked version of XP and got them to validate it as a legit copy...Fucking hilarious./

Posted by Kbasa we called MS once with a completely cracked version of XP and got them to validate it as a legit copy...Fucking hilarious./

nice!

So can I run the same programs on x64 as long as I have the correct drivers?

Valve is planning on recoding source for hyper threading next year if thats any consolation.

Posted by Sinister Crayon nice! So can I run the same programs on x64 as long as I have the correct drivers?

Yeap!

Posted by Napoleon_Solo Valve is planning on recoding source for hyper threading next year if thats any consolation.

Yep. Good time to invest in a Core2 Duo or wait and see what Quad cores come out.

Posted by Particle Man Yep. Good time to invest in a Core2 Duo or wait and see what Quad cores come out.

i dont know, what is your setup right now?