all thats left is proc and mobo!

[SlyPenguin0]

well i do still like the looks of that abit board yello had suggested

[onebxr]

go for it man, you may get lucky and it be a kick ass board!
-1

[SlyPenguin0]

well i got a big update, I just found out that through an employee purchase program I can get, for $220

Stellar Bundle

Intel® Core™2 Quad Q6600 processor

• 2.4 GHz, 1066 MHz Front Side Bus, 8MB L2 Cache

Intel® Desktop Board DG33TL Media Series

• Delivers better performance and capabilities for multimedia creation and enjoyment

• Fully supports Microsoft* Windows Vista*

Windows Vista* Home Premium Edition

• Boasts the Aero* interface, which offers dynamic effects and realistic animations

thats quite amazing for $220 heh, but i already have

Have the:
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

ATI 100-435843 Radeon X1950XTX 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

CHIMEI CMV 221D-NBC Black 22" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor 330 cd/m2 800:1

and was going to finish it with
Newegg.com - ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
and
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor


my main thing is, i dont want to run vista, wanted to stick with xp, Vista sucks so much ram its rediculous, or atleast thats what i've noticed from messing with vista computers, whats your guys thoughts?

[Stormcrow]

If I was you, I'd pounce on that and take the quad, sell the board/keep it, and then have a practically free Vista copy and license for whenever you want/feel like jumping to it. And, Vista doesn't take as much RAM as everyone complains about. I ran it fine with Aero enabled on a Geforce 6200 and 1GB of RAM with no stutter except in demanding games like Oblivion. Now I have 2gigs and theres not a single slowdown at all, even when I crank up SupCom. The RAM usage is usually around 600-700mb, with several programs open, Aero, and background processes running. If I switch off basic and kill some processes it goes down to around 400-500mb. If I get SupCom running with a crapton of units on a huge map of 8 players, I'm looking at around 1700mb of usage. Vista's been great so far for what I do, there is the occasional bug and glitchiness with games like STALKER and Creative's wonderful drivers but overall I prefer it to XP. As far as not compatible with old programs, the only thing I've found that doesn't work is like 3DMark99 which nobody cares about anymore.

[Tech Geek Deluxe]

The Mobo is the foundation of your future machine ... As has been said ... the abit IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard ... is the best board right now ... best price is at Clubit.

Jump on that combo deal .... or .... an E4500 2.2Ghz ... it is decent overclocker and was down to $117.70 shipped this last week. Keep your eyes open. Geeks had it at $110 after a "FATWALLET" coupon code ... and ClubIt had it for $119.99 and free shipping.

[Elysium]

That combo deal looks awesome, but I don't really like that Intel board that comes with it... Maybe you can get the combo deal, but get the Abit also? Does that fit into your budget?

[SlyPenguin0]

yeah, when i found out yesterday I was estatic about the chip, but the mobo is lackluster and I wasnt sure if i wanted to run vista, but I guess i could give vista a shot and I want to definately buy a different motherboard, but I don't know how to look for a quad core motherboard, still a little unfamiliar with them, any suggestions on that end? should i still be getting that same one you suggested yello?

[SlyPenguin0]

also if i did go with that quad and vista, should i buy another 2g(2x1g) pack of ram and a larger PSU? or be fine with the 2gigs i have
and is pc6400 that i have the right kinda ram for a quad cores FSB?

[Elysium]

Originally Posted by SlyPenguin0

yeah, when i found out yesterday I was estatic about the chip, but the mobo is lackluster and I wasnt sure if i wanted to run vista, but I guess i could give vista a shot and I want to definately buy a different motherboard, but I don't know how to look for a quad core motherboard, still a little unfamiliar with them, any suggestions on that end? should i still be getting that same one you suggested yello?

The Abit one I suggested should be great for a quad-core! It's based on the P35 chipset, so it's even ready for Intel future Penryn CPUs!

2GB should be good for Vista. That's the 32bit version of Vista I believe, so you couldn't use the full 4GB anyway. More on this issue in this article: 32-bit vs. 64-bit

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

Lucky... we used to get those deals through Intel at work, but it was well before I started working there. Exact same concept, but with a E6600, i965 board, and I believe Vista Ultimate.

Slypenguin, I'm PMing you.