[Monkey]

I am upgrading my computer and I have been a long time AMD guy, but I am looking to go multi-tasking and some decent gaming (call of duty:4, and the likes..). soo... techie lords... should I go AMD or Intel, and which Mobo/CPU would you choose. I am trying to keep these two parts under $200 (US)

[eyeCpc]

A good cpu for multitasking and gaming as well will run about $170 by itself. If you shop around for a bundle you usually see one of the lower models of that socket type going with the board selected. For upgrading a current build you still have to consider memory and the video card used unless it's one of the latest models out.

Here I do everything with an AM2 6000+ X2 since the 6400+ wasn't instck when ordering for the new build here. It does quite well for a stock setup with a mid range ATI model card while the first thing you will hear from most is strictly Intel and NVidia. You'll want an nForce chipset over VIA, SIS, AMD even, and Intel is out for ocing.

[tecmec]

Hi

I'd recommend finding a motherboard that supports way more than 2 gigs of ram. Being limited to only 2 gigs MAX may be a bite on the neck. You want your system to fly, so you wan tto allow it to be expandable in the future.

[turtile]

I'd go with AMD. The cheapest Core processors are at least $130. I would get one of newer boards with HT3 (AM2+) but not many are on the market yet (should be common in a week or two) so you can use the feature if you want to upgrade in the future.

[Monkey]

Thanks Turtile i was wandering what the AM2+ was for.
What kind of specs do I need to look for on a MOBO. I know I want something that has 4 memory slots, PCI-e and all that jazz, but what does the SLI stand for and how does it help me ?

[funkywaggnelz]

SLI allows you to run two video cards at the same time. It just helps to increase performance even more for those with the money to do it.

[Monkey]

So when a MOBO says SLI 590 that is referring to running two video cards? Becuase i doubt i will ever do that. so I don't really need SLI right?

[Peter.Cort]

sli is bad because it doesn't use the 2 cards to its potential. It's better to spend the extra money you would spend on the 2 cards and buy one better one. and if you want to run games at max settings on big monitors it would behoove you to get a sli set up, or even better crossfire (ati's version of sli) but ati cards are expensive at the moment.

SO! for all that talk, don't get sli unless you want to brag or play games on max settings at high resolution.

some things you'll want to look for in a mobo are:
-SATA/IDE slots, whatever you plan on using for your hdd. sata is faster
-if you have money to spare, you might look into getting either a sli board, or a board that has 2 pcie slots for crossfire.
-make sure the fsb on the mobo isn't faster then the fsb for the cpu
-make sure the mobo and cpu are compatible.