It's about time I upgraded my PC. My XP-m 2500+ based machine has served me well, but since both of my graphics cards have recently died on me and are out of warranty now I might as well bite the bullet and move up to S939 and PCI-Express.
The new system I want will pretty much be used for gaming, little bit of home cinema usage, and to dabble in video creation. I'm not scared about over-clocking to get the full potential out of my system so can get a few cheaper parts here and there if need be, but I don't wanna fork out on additional cooling or have a system that sounds like a Harrier on take off.
So, I need some help with a few things. I know I want a S939 A64, but which of the many varieties there is I don't know. A64, AM2, Single or Duel core, Newcastle/Winchester/Venice/SanDiego all me! Hmm, I guess I don't really wanna spend much more than about £150-200 on a CPU, what would be your choice? (the cheaper the better though)
I will then need some more RAM, something with a little bit more "oomph" than my current 2x512MB of Crucial PC3200. DDR or DDR2? 1GB or 2GB? I suppose the more the merrier is the case here. Again, about £150-200 max if 2GB is needed.
The current status of the graphic card market is a bit of a minefield to me at the moment, I just dunno what's good and what isn't. Any advice on a graphics card would be nice. I don't think I will need a top of the range, uber over-clockable card, but something to handle an output of 1600x1200 (or 1920x1200 if I get that lovely 24" widescreen Dell I've had me eyes on). Not fussed about it being ATi or NVIDIA, just as long as it isn't over about £200-250. SLi or CrossFire can be used later on to upgrade if need be.
The last item I need advice on is the most important one, a motherboard to hold all of the above. Again, not fussed about manufacturer, just one that will handle everything, be fast and overclock easily and well if need be. Will £100 be enough?
I already have SATA drives (is SATA II worth going for?), DVD-RW, Soundcard, case (Antec P120 which I might replace with something better), nice 19" CRT monitor and the usual peripherals.
Any help/advice on this lot would be greatly appreciated!