Hey Guys,
I have several questions for all you pros out there and I apologize for the length of this thread ahead of time. It has been several years since I build my first PC. Just some background info, I use my PC for MMORPG gaming and internet/email/etc. Nothing more than that, it's primarily a moderate gaming PC as I can't afford to go too high-tech. The specs for the first PC I built in 2003 are as follows:
Asus Motherboard w/Hyperthreading 800mhz FSB
P4 2.6CGHz w/Hyperthreading 800mhz FSB
Corsair 512MB PC3200 DDR Ram
WD 40gb hard Drive
52x CDROM
Well, games now are demanding more and more hardware support. To be honest, once my PC was built, I haven't really kept up to speed with all of the new technology. I was on newegg.com today and was begining to price a new PC to build. I noticed some new technology but it is hard for me to determine how important each is. I am going to list them and I was hoping that some of you out there would be kind enough to help explain the difference or at least let me know how important some of these things are to a PC that I use for the above reasons.
1. It seems that Pentium 4's on their way out. If I'm looking to build a PC that will last me 3-4 years, should I bother with a P4 or move to a Pentium D? Core 2? etc.? Will a Pentium D support my MMO gaming needs?
2. How important is Hyper-Threading these days. I know several years ago it was the thing to have, but I notice that the new Processors don't support them anymore. Why? Also, is the Intel Quad CPU Ready replacing Hyper-Threading?
3. For the Video Card, I see the regular AGP slot is now becoming absolete. How essential is the PCI Express x16 for gaming or can a regular 256mb PCI video card still be adequate?
4. Is 800mhz FSB still good?
5. Is 2mb Cache still good?
That's about it. I have done some research and these questions are the stumbling blocks I am running across.
Thanks in advance for the help!!
Val
I have several questions for all you pros out there and I apologize for the length of this thread ahead of time. It has been several years since I build my first PC. Just some background info, I use my PC for MMORPG gaming and internet/email/etc. Nothing more than that, it's primarily a moderate gaming PC as I can't afford to go too high-tech. The specs for the first PC I built in 2003 are as follows:
Asus Motherboard w/Hyperthreading 800mhz FSB
P4 2.6CGHz w/Hyperthreading 800mhz FSB
Corsair 512MB PC3200 DDR Ram
WD 40gb hard Drive
52x CDROM
Well, games now are demanding more and more hardware support. To be honest, once my PC was built, I haven't really kept up to speed with all of the new technology. I was on newegg.com today and was begining to price a new PC to build. I noticed some new technology but it is hard for me to determine how important each is. I am going to list them and I was hoping that some of you out there would be kind enough to help explain the difference or at least let me know how important some of these things are to a PC that I use for the above reasons.
1. It seems that Pentium 4's on their way out. If I'm looking to build a PC that will last me 3-4 years, should I bother with a P4 or move to a Pentium D? Core 2? etc.? Will a Pentium D support my MMO gaming needs?
2. How important is Hyper-Threading these days. I know several years ago it was the thing to have, but I notice that the new Processors don't support them anymore. Why? Also, is the Intel Quad CPU Ready replacing Hyper-Threading?
3. For the Video Card, I see the regular AGP slot is now becoming absolete. How essential is the PCI Express x16 for gaming or can a regular 256mb PCI video card still be adequate?
4. Is 800mhz FSB still good?
5. Is 2mb Cache still good?
That's about it. I have done some research and these questions are the stumbling blocks I am running across.
Thanks in advance for the help!!
Val
