I want my new comp to look something like this:

Windows xp (possibley Vista down the road)
AMD64 3700+
1 GB of dual channel ram
ASUS A8N-SLI (or I might wait for AM2 boards)
Antec Sonata II case
200gb SATA
DVD burner
waiting for next gpu series in October

I' m using college as an excuse to buy a computer but I actually want it for gaming. Anyways I might be willing to put a few more hundred dollars into it and I would appreciate input from any pc gurus. I' m thinking of either bumping the cpu to an AMD64 4000+ or going with 2 GB of ram instead of 1 GB, which would be better?

you should be fine with 1gb but I would suggest going dual core with the cpu. I' m going to be building one this summer too.

Yeah I thought about it but I just don' t see much value in dual core right now I' ll wait for quad or hex core. In order to get a decent dual core i would have to spring for the 2X 4200+. Which is about 200cnd dollars more then the 3700+ for comparable performance in games. I would much rather spend an extra 200 on the gpu. Escpecially since I' m looking at the physics proccessors which I' m assuming would be a better investement then dual cores for gaming. As my guess is that the only use dual cores will have in games for a while is to use the second core for advanced physics, I' d much rather have a stronger single core with a dedicated PPU instead.

What are your hardware goals loc?

I' m kinda waiting to see what they have when the time comes especially for GPU like you are.
I' m not gonna go totally high end, I' m going for something near the highest with the best prices.

Here is what I' m thinking right now:
Sound Blaster Audigy X-Fi platinum (need platinum version so I can hook up my 360 with 5.1)
Creative MegaWorks 550 5.1 speakers
Logitech G7 mouse
Logitech media keyboard elite.
Dual-core CPU (depends on price for what one)
2 GB dual channel DDR
not sure on the mobo depends on price maybe SLI maybe not
not sure on GPU (probably whatever is the best unless it is really close and the price is a big difference)
For monitor I' ll be getting one with faster than 8 ms response time most likely a viewsonic widescreen.

Yeah I think I' ll buy a sound card and 7.1 speakers next year.

You should wait for AM2, you could have faster RAM possibly lower cpu prices and a the MoBo will give you more upgrade options in the future. AM2 comes out in June I think.


http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2738&p=2

I' m also thinking of building a new rig from scratch at the end of the year.

Thing is about PC building is you can go too high and too low. Of course it depends what you want to do with it and how you like to play your games.

Usually what I like to do is look at the very top end gpu/cpu and take one step down from that. I think that way you get the best longevity for your money. Only thing is cpus are getting really expensive now. Dual cores should be pretty useful in the coming few years for gaming, since the new consoles have come out. But if you want a single core cpu you might want to go for one of the AMDfx chips to stay future proof.

With GPUs, just bear in mind that Crysis was running on a single X1900xtx which is a pretty powerful card and shouldn' t get outperformed within months like the x1800s were... And you may want to leave room to upgrade to a dx10 card after Vista comes out. Imo, SLI/crossfire solutions are too expensive and the feature sets usually get outdated pretty quickly. So they' re only really good for very rich ppl who want complete overkill!

For sound, the only X-Fi with deditcated RAM is the Fatality one. Although I usually hate products branded with people' s names, the RAM should come in handy for games. And its got the connectivity you need.

yeah I think i' m going one step down with the CPU. GPU i' m not sure about it kinda depends on how big of price and performance difference there is.
I' m not gonna get the fatality because I don' t think the dedicated ram is worth the price.
I' ll probably be building my computer mid to late summer so hopefully AM2 will be out by then if I don' t get it it should lower the price for the others.

Yea you' re probably right about the xram. Depends if future games start to use higher quality samples I guess. Obviously RAM for gfx cards is a must now, but developers (as well as gamers) tend not to concentrate so much on sound as the visuals it seems.

The dual core vs PPU thing - I suppose ageia support may come in handy for a lot of upcoming games (Unreal3 etc) but atm it' s only really that cellfactor demo that has impressed, so it' s not really a proven solution yet. I' m definitely waiting to see how it pans out a bit before making a decision. Obviously hardware physics is definitely coming, but things may change a bit eg maybe Havok will get involved at some point too.

Hardware physics is just getting started really, whereas multi-core is pretty much a given, and they' ve been out for a while. Ports from 360/PS3 may use the extra threads for AI, or graphical filters for example as well as physics.

I don' t even know what interfaces the PPU' s use. I' m guessing regular PCI because otherwise you wouldn' t have anywhere to put them on the majority of mobos.
I could always add one on later if they use PCI. I mostly want to make sure I have all of the features versus all the raw power because I' m involved with game development and it' s hard to develop for something if you don' t have it.

they use pci

Ouch, I looked at the new AM2 cpu' s and not only are they more expensive but the selection is limited. I don' t think I' ll go for AM2 this summer, hell I might even wait for intel to release its new Conroe cpu line, intel already uses DDR2 and a next gen cpu will trump what AMD currently has.