Help me choose a AM2 cpu/mobo =/

I recently posted on the intel forum about my interest in a Conroe build but after some more thought I have decided to stick with AMD. I will be building freash with zero recycled parts due to my current machine being a dinosaur. I will be going from a Tbird 1.2Ghz forever sealed at 900Mhz due to a issue in the ECS K7S5A motherboard {I will never ever ever buy ECS again}.

I love this stuff so i might drag this on abit and I am sorry beforehand if I do..

First off I use my pc to just play games. Not just any game but MMORPGs as a primary. Now I do plan on getting a FPS for the wife as that is her thing but this machine will be used to play a new mmorpg called Vanguard:Saga of heroes which uses a heavily modified Unreal Engine 2.5. Also this game will not be programmed to truely utilize multi-cores until a expansion or so in. So from what I've heard from the owls that this game will require alot of shaders along with a good bit of ram and whatnot.. and of course the options out there is pretty apparent.. but what about the CPU? and most importantly.. which motherboard will be right for me and my uses?

I dont render. I dont multi-task. I've burned 1 CD-R for my music in my car once in 2 years and that is not far fetched. I run a few ie windows for forums and news and run a music player like WMP. When I need to run my anti-virus and spyware programs I run them seperate and do nothing else while i do and it dosent bother me. I do not see me ever ever doing something else like surfing the web or burning stuff while playing my mmorpgs.

I have narrowed it down to the Single core AM2 3800 Retail or the X2 4600 for the processors. I think DC's have a mighty place in the market and in our homes but at the same time I am not really sure if it has a place in mine and for my needs. I am building for a genre of games that majority do not have true support for DC's and I building to continue playing these games and no others. That isnt changing.

As for the motherboard I am downright paranoid right now. I have worked, stressed, and grinded my teeth over my ECS board and would rather not go through this once again if i can help it. I dont need all of the bells and whistles. I want stability and performance in gaming. I wont be using SLI but i will use a SATA drive. I also will do alittle overclocking on air but it will be a modest OC at best.


Can you guys help me? I know.. a guy who isnt planning to OC alot asking on these forums.. but I know that what alot of you all do is performance, stability, and price/performance like almost no other. I know that alot of you have hands on experience in these products and can tell me your thoughts and not just heresay.

I am the kind of gamer who if i was offered a 1, 2, or 3 year extended warrenty I would do the 2 year one. I think the idea itself is good and would find the 1 year satisfactory for my needs.. but I buy the 2 year because I know it is better to have and not need than to need and havenot.

I am buying these parts within the next month or so. So i need any help or suggestions you can give.

In the long run you're better off w/ dual core.
Go for AM2 setup. The 4200 x2 is a low energy 65 watts chip to keep machine cool while playing games (low wattage cpu's use less vcore voltage and has higher Tcasemax). For motherboard I go w/ Asus Crosshair made for gamers. It's a SLI board but made for stability and performance. some reviews say it's 15%-17% better performer than any AM2 board out there.
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?SCriteria=BA23081&CartID=done&nextloc=
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA23052

Hm... i read up on the crosshair alittle and there does seem to be a bios issue going around in the first waves of boards. Price is high but doable.

I already figured however that i would end up with a SLI motherboard to get the performance I want however...

I will read up on that mobo alittle more and see if the issues i've read about have been corrected yet. So still open to any and all suggestions.


BTW my budget is 250ish or less for motherboard. Preferred under 200.
Processor budget is 350 or under with preferred of around 200 as well.

More inclinded to buy a expensive motherboard than a overpriced processor at this point. I dont expect to get good gaming performance with a medicore board and processor {gpu is a 8800GTS} but dont want to overkill my needs beyond the sense of reason.

Are these prices in US dollars?

yes USD.

If you can wait since 65nm CPUs are supposed to come out from AMD in 2 weeks (5/12/06).

For a motheboard I would say a DFI first becuase they seem to be the only ones who don't write sucky AM2 bioses. Then Asus or biostar or if you don't mind spending $170 on a mobo the Foxconn with the 590sli chipset has proven to be a good board.

I hardly ever have reason to post....but, I feel its my duty to have you stay away from the msi k9n series if you do go with AM2. I like many others have had nothing but problems with mine. Its just bad news, which is sad since msi made alot of really nice socket 939 boards.

Okay these are the boards that i am considering.. The crosshair is off the list until I can verify that the newly shipped boards dont have the bios issue that seems to plague so many.

DFI

Gigabyte

Foxconn

The links are for reference only and i will be shopping around for the best prices when I finally order. I think i want to steer away from Asus for right now. I will be waiting for those new AM2 processors to come out as well. However the latest I plan to order is the beginning of january.

Also if you own or know alot about any of these boards.. would they have a issue with a single GeForce 8800GTS as far as the pci-e 16x slot layout? Case is a Centurion 5 so I hope there wont be any issues either.

Also i read about a issue with the DFI board and running WD's in raid setup? I plan to just run 1 HDD and its a WD so i should be good then right?

I know the DFI clocks like mad, and the Foxconn isn't far behind however I haven't heard much about the Gigabyte. Also DFI is supposed to come out with some 570 chipset infinity boards here shortly which if they are like anything else for AM2 DFI currently makes go like crazy and be aorund $140 or less.

Chilidog the K9n boards aren't great but if you know what your doing the can clock well. Mine is currently running at 3ghz with a 3000+ orleans. Not that I would reccomend buying one unless you want stock or extremely mild overclocking. If you need some help with yours PM me and i'll try to share all the setting I have found for getting good clocks out of them.

Go with DFI as a first choice, even the budget Infinity M2 board rocks. If you got the dough, go for the LanParty. Second on my list is ASUS, most of my older stock is ASUS. Biostar seems to be doing better on the AM2 series. ECS has shown it's ability to run with the big dogs but only if you wanted SLI under the $100 (75Euro) mark.
If you consider the Opteron AM2 1214,1216, then DFI is only board known to have the BIOS to run it.

Yeah if you're going the DFI route, you might wanna check the prices on the opterons, I got my 1216 for pretty cheap.