First of all, you'll want DX10 with shader model 4.0. Mid range and budget cards in this area are about to be released, and once they are you'd be stupid to go to DX9 as they'll be running for as cheap as 80$ and demolish most DX10 cards, the mid range and up anyways.
One the note of a processor. Were at dual core now and there is no time to look back, quad core is on the horrizon and if you where to buy a single core you wouldn't be happy with the performance, the only reason why you still see them today is because they are trying to eliminate old inventory. At this point in time we are seeing many multi-threaded applications, they are mostly in the multimedia sector, but thats all about to change. Upcoming games such as crysis will support quad core processors. Now the key difference that we all know between a dual core and a single core is that one has "two processors" in one while the thing only has one. But this is where the similarities end. Since all dual cores are on a more advanced microarchitecture, the processor can do more calculations per cycle when compared to older processors. That being said, look at dual cores and don't look back, you'll regret all the money to put towards a single core as your going to be forced to upgrade the motherboard if you go the AMD route, and possibly the INTEL route (only if you buy a real low end MOBO).
Also never compare processors by clocks, anyone that does is an idoit. The reason like I have already stated, the newer processor arcitechture will always perform better by processing more per cycle. For an example a 3.2GHz pentium D is the equivalent of a Core2Duo 1.8GHz (approximately). That example however involded two dual cores, when comparing a single core the difference becomes much much greater.
Hope this infor helps.
James
Thanks alot this really helped, especially the bit about the processors....
I was actually gunna ask in my next post why some 1.8 ghz were more expensive then 2.4, but yea I thought processor were all about speed...
I wasn't sure if DX10 was out yet....So yea
SO basically what your saying is that I should Get the next gen of Graphics card...
I'm a bit worried about going up to quad-core processor as I see that being very expensive....I think that I'll stick with Dual Core unless when I finally get down to building this comp and I have the money...
How much do you think these next gen parts will be in comparison to their predecessors...
EDIT:
After reviewing some of the parts you listed vs what I think I want, I can tell that the most expensive parts are going to be the graphics card ($200+) , Processor(300+) ...
Though I really don't know how much this is all going to cost me until I end up sitting down and planning it, because if I'm not mistaken alot of the choices you make are going to based off what Motherboard you choose..
Though I'm pretty sure I can build a decent computer for $1000 or less...and given the price of most computers this isn't so bad....
Edited by Caffiene_Powered, 23 March 2007 - 10:26 PM.
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