config for a gaming PC

[harshagarwal]

I am planning to purchase a new PC within a month or so,please help me to get a good config for gaming.
My budget is around Rs.35000/-

hmm, wait, by evening I will provide U one, any pre made choices

[harshagarwal]

No i havent made any choice yet

[blade_runner]

AMD 64 2800+ 6.9k
MSI K8MM-ISLR - 5.4k
Kingston DDR400 512Mb - 4.5k
ATi Radeon 9600pro - 8.5k or the 9600Np for 6.8k
Total comes to arnd 25k with the 9600pro and 23k with the 9600np.

Mix and match other components to your liking! You can also get a Asus K8V-X in place of the MSI board.

[bhalchandra]

Just i want to ask one thing that why anybody not suggesting Geforce 6200 i think it will be around 13k and it has better pricw to performence ratio

[icecoolz]

Well if the geforce 6200 is suggested then that really doesnt leave him with muchleft for his budget for the monitor HDD and so on....with the Raedon solution he can still go for a 17" monitor and HDD with a lil more investment. His budgest constraints is the main reaosn why.

[blade_runner]

Originally Posted by bhalchandra

Just i want to ask one thing that why anybody not suggesting Geforce 6200 i think it will be around 13k and it has better pricw to performence ratio

Lol ! Spend 13k on a budget card ! U must be crazy ! Even the 9600 pro will beat it outright !

[harshagarwal]

does that mean P4 3.4Ghz is not good or 64FX is better.and what about the harddisk mainly of which company should i buy.

[imgame]

man check out the prices of 3.4 Ghz ...they are insanely costly ....and moreover all of them are EE edition ...unless u wanna go for 775 socket .....and in anyway 64FX is better .....and performs much better in all the gaming bechmarks ....as well as usual bechmarks .......but only place where intel comes up winner is encoding

justification:-

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20041019/index.html

so if i were u i would have gone for amd 64FX ...but even they are not so cheap ...what u get according to ur budget ....is amd 64 3000+ they are around 8.5 k ...and amd 64 3200+ is aroung 11k (prices three weaks before ) ...so FX is way too expensive for ur budget and moreover u don't find them easily .....but if u can afford one thats the best deal u can get right now !

i would go for a better motherboard than what BLADE_RUNNER has suggested (although asus K8V-X is good option ! but i don't trust VIA's driver support )...i would go with K8N Neo2 Platinum (if u want to go with MSI)....or any other nforce 3 ultra 250 gb (nvidia has great driver support ) based motherborad ...'coz they have rock solid overclocking capability .......and great features ....also they are all based on new 939 socket ......also i can understand ...why blade runner has suggested u a lower config ......just for a graphics card .... .....but i m from thought school that graphics card is a plug in component ....and thats why can be upgraded anytime ......but motherborad is not ......so i suggest anybody buying new computer to go for best motherborad as other things are upgradable ........esply for gaming ur motherboard can make a huge diffrence .....and for graphics card ....i would suggest u to wait for some time ...as now 9600pro and varients have lived up their life and (they are aged ) ...lots of new products both from nvidia and ati ...have been introduced ...ATI ....X600 and X700 series ....and nvidia 6600 and 6200 series ...
they will be available by the end of this year in india ....on affordable prices and as u can see in varies beanchmarks they easily beat ...their older counterparts ! ....and i can assure u .....it will be worth waiting !

now as few of u have doubts about 6200 .....its not yet available in india ...it was only released on october 11 from nvidia

http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_16247.html

...and its only 10 days since than ......it will take some time to come here ...moreover its mainstream GPU ...and intented to replace fx5200 and fx5600 series .....so its price won't be as high as 13k ....it will be placed somewhere around 5k initially .....and then as it happens to all GPU's it will come down later on !

man harddisk is none better than seagate sata 160 GB (ST3160023AS or ST3160827AS)

link:

http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/...81,585,00.html

u can't get a better performer in SATA category ! and 5 years warranty is cool ! its placed at 5.2 k ...which i think is decent for its support and feature ...though u can go for samsung also ....but support .....???????

[blade_runner]

Originally Posted by imgame

man check out the prices of 3.4 Ghz ...they are insanely costly ....and moreover all of them are EE edition ...unless u wanna go for 775 socket .....and in anyway 64FX is better .....and performs much better in all the gaming bechmarks ....as well as usual bechmarks .......but only place where intel comes up winner is encoding

justification:-

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20041019/index.html

so if i were u i would have gone for amd 64FX ...but even they are not so cheap ...what u get according to ur budget ....is amd 64 3000+ they are around 8.5 k ...and amd 64 3200+ is aroung 11k (prices three weaks before ) ...so FX is way too expensive for ur budget and moreover u don't find them easily .....but if u can afford one thats the best deal u can get right now !

i would go for a better motherboard than what BLADE_RUNNER has suggested (although asus K8V-X is good option ! but i don't trust VIA's driver support )...i would go with K8N Neo2 Platinum (if u want to go with MSI)....or any other nforce 3 ultra 250 gb (nvidia has great driver support ) based motherborad ...'coz they have rock solid overclocking capability .......and great features ....also they are all based on new 939 socket ......also i can understand ...why blade runner has suggested u a lower config ......just for a graphics card .... .....but i m from thought school that graphics card is a plug in component ....and thats why can be upgraded anytime ......but motherborad is not ......so i suggest anybody buying new computer to go for best motherborad as other things are upgradable ........esply for gaming ur motherboard can make a huge diffrence .....and for graphics card ....i would suggest u to wait for some time ...as now 9600pro and varients have lived up their life and (they are aged ) ...lots of new products both from nvidia and ati ...have been introduced ...ATI ....X600 and X700 series ....and nvidia 6600 and 6200 series ...
they will be available by the end of this year in india ....on affordable prices and as u can see in varies beanchmarks they easily beat ...their older counterparts ! ....and i can assure u .....it will be worth waiting !

now as few of u have doubts about 6200 .....its not yet available in india ...it was only released on october 11 from nvidia

http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_16247.html

...and its only 10 days since than ......it will take some time to come here ...moreover its mainstream GPU ...and intented to replace fx5200 and fx5600 series .....so its price won't be as high as 13k ....it will be placed somewhere around 5k initially .....and then as it happens to all GPU's it will come down later on !

man harddisk is none better than seagate sata 160 GB (ST3160023AS or ST3160827AS)

link:

http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/...81,585,00.html

u can't get a better performer in SATA category ! and 5 years warranty is cool ! its placed at 5.2 k ...which i think is decent for its support and feature ...though u can go for samsung also ....but support .....???????

Wow ! Thats a very long post ! Ok one by one now !
I will agree with u on the processor part, u got ur math right there !

Yup goin for a good mobo shud be everyones priority but if u r planning to go for Nforce3 mobo it will set u back by atleast 9k+. Main stream buyers mostly look for vfm rather than overclocking capabilities. and plus this dudes got a 35K budget which kinda puts him in that bracket. Plsu wot i dont completely get is the fact that ur suggesting a socket 939 mobo for a socket 745 processor.

I recommended that config so that he'd have arnd 10k left for a decent HDD, a good psu(most overlooked part), a cabinet, mouse/keyboard, speakers, sound card etc which should come arnd to 35k and ifu ask me its not a bad deal. The MSI k8mm is no gr8 overclocker but its a good mainstream mobo. Yup ur school of thought is right but u need to look out for the persons budget also. Buying a AMD 64 939 proccy + mobo will set u back by atleast 20-22k. So where do the rest of the components come frm.

Right now onto gfx cardsX600 is based on the 9600 series but with PCI-E support. Also do remember the fact that PCI-E for now isnt available for AMD platform and will come with nf4. So that rules out the x700, 6200 and 6600 PCI-E variants. Although these will get a AGP version it wont be until next year that we might get to buy them. And also of the cards u mentioned only the X700 and 6600 might be able 2 beat the 9600 pro, but then they are way to expensive. Although 6200 is intended to replace fx5200 it will be in PCi-E form for the time being and unless u want to pay up a good amt of money for a budget card only for it being a PCI-E version, u shud consider a agp variant of the high end older card !
Before u tell me that the 6200 will be priced @ 5k lemme fill u onto sumthng.

AGP X800XT costs 29k whereas the PCI-E cost a whopping 47k
AGP 9600Xt costs 11k whereas the PCI-E X600XT costs arnd 17k
AGP Fx5200 costs 3k whereas the PCI-E 5k

So u see the trend, PCI-E cards cost a arm and a leg and i see no particular reason to go for them now.

That said i'd agree with u on the seagate part !

[harshagarwal]

hey i am all the more confused now but thanks all of you for the info u gave me and now i will have to think a lot before deciding my gaming rig.

[imgame]

Originally Posted by blade_runner

Main stream buyers mostly look for vfm rather than overclocking capabilities. and plus this dudes got a 35K budget which kinda puts him in that bracket. Plsu wot i dont completely get is the fact that ur suggesting a socket 939 mobo for a socket 745 processor.

Right now onto gfx cardsX600 is based on the 9600 series but with PCI-E support. Also do remember the fact that PCI-E for now isnt available for AMD platform and will come with nf4. So that rules out the x700, 6200 and 6600 PCI-E variants. Although these will get a AGP version it wont be until next year that we might get to buy them. And also of the cards u mentioned only the X700 and 6600 might be able 2 beat the 9600 pro, but then they are way to expensive. Although 6200 is intended to replace fx5200 it will be in PCi-E form for the time being and unless u want to pay up a good amt of money for a budget card only for it being a PCI-E version, u shud consider a agp variant of the high end older card !
Before u tell me that the 6200 will be priced @ 5k lemme fill u onto sumthng.

AGP X800XT costs 29k whereas the PCI-E cost a whopping 47k
AGP 9600Xt costs 11k whereas the PCI-E X600XT costs arnd 17k
AGP Fx5200 costs 3k whereas the PCI-E 5k

So u see the trend, PCI-E cards cost a arm and a leg and i see no particular reason to go for them now.

That said i'd agree with u on the seagate part !

first of all i m not suggesting him a 939 scocket mobo for 745 processor i m suggesting him 939 socket mobo with 939 socket processor ......they are available now a days with AMD 64 processor .....perhaps the link will suffice u and they are available in india as well .....and they have almost same price as their 745 counterparts ...

link :-

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...E10248,00.html

its pretty like shifting to intel 775 socket from 478 ......here the diffrence offcourse is Hypertransport technology with 2000MHz ...and memory controler width and processor to system bandwidth ... increased ...
and there is a version also available for 2800+ or soon going to be available for socket 939 !

and first of all he asked for a gaming PC ...not just a mainstream pc .....so i guess one has to go for best mobo available .....and unless he is going for mutichannel speaker system ...he will still be making within 35k though its gonna tight neck but still manageable

and other addin things he can still be adding lateron as everybody do ...my point here is u can't buy mobo anytime like u can buy a graphics card ...or RAM or PSU .....they are easily upgradable components ...
i would rather have a system which can make use of all the feature and doesn't hold a bottle neck coz of rather average components ...my system will look like ...

MSI neo platinum2 ~ 9.5k
AMD 64 3000+ 939 socket ~8.5k ( i don't know the price of 2800+ yet)
RAM 512 DDR400 ~ 4.1 k and 256 DDR400 ~ 1.9 k
monitor 17" ~6k or 15" ~ 4.5k
KB+mouse+cabinet ~ 2k
harddisk ~3k
that comes around 32k (with 15" moniter or 256 DDR400 RAM) ...so if u could just go around a little...i mean permutation/ combination u can get a good card .....but i can assure u this will b system u were dreaming for gaming and offcourse with gfx card ....if AMD64 2800+ is here already u can go for at i 9600 coz 2800+ will be around 7k......also u can go for asus varient or gigabyte varient for the same chipset !


And about graphics card i admit that u r correct i agree with u on most of the parts ...i just overlooked that PCI-ex ....part of X600,and X700 as well as 6600 ...but we don't know anything about 6200 yet !

[blade_runner]

Originally Posted by imgame

first of all i m not suggesting him a 939 scocket mobo for 745 processor i m suggesting him 939 socket mobo with 939 socket processor ......they are available now a days with AMD 64 processor .....perhaps the link will suffice u and they are available in india as well .....and they have almost same price as their 745 counterparts ...

link :-

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...E10248,00.html

Whats so special abt the link ! Are you trying to point out that socket 939 proccys r available out here. And no dude they are not available at the same pricepoint as the 754 as it does not make good business sense for AMD to be selling both the 754s and 939s @ the same price point.

its pretty like shifting to intel 775 socket from 478 ......here the diffrence offcourse is Hypertransport technology with 2000MHz ...and memory controler width and processor to system bandwidth ... increased ...
and there is a version also available for 2800+ or soon going to be available for socket 939 !

Agreed but everything comes @ a price. The dudes only got 35k. Maybe u can ask him 2 increase his budget for u

and first of all he asked for a gaming PC ...not just a mainstream pc .....so i guess one has to go for best mobo available .....and unless he is going for mutichannel speaker system ...he will still be making within 35k though its gonna tight neck but still manageable

LOL ! he asked for a gaming PC yeah but he also gave his price with it ! There a 35k price tag attached to it. And when u want a gaming PC u gotta have multichannel audio man ! If not 5.1 then 4.1 atleast. Ofcourse mobo shud be good but then again its a gaming PC with a mainstream price tag.

and other addin things he can still be adding lateron as everybody do ...my point here is u can't buy mobo anytime like u can buy a graphics card ...or RAM or PSU .....they are easily upgradable components ...
i would rather have a system which can make use of all the feature and doesn't hold a bottle neck coz of rather average components ...my system will look like ...

MSI neo platinum2 ~ 9.5k
AMD 64 3000+ 939 socket ~8.5k ( i don't know the price of 2800+ yet)
RAM 512 DDR400 ~ 4.1 k and 256 DDR400 ~ 1.9 k
monitor 17" ~6k or 15" ~ 4.5k
KB+mouse+cabinet ~ 2k
harddisk ~3k
that comes around 32k (with 15" moniter or 256 DDR400 RAM) ...so if u could just go around a little...i mean permutation/ combination u can get a good card .....but i can assure u this will b system u were dreaming for gaming and offcourse with gfx card ....if AMD64 2800+ is here already u can go for at i 9600 coz 2800+ will be around 7k......also u can go for asus varient or gigabyte varient for the same chipset !

Internationally a socket 939 AMD 3000+ costs arnd 9.5k (in INR) so theres no way that u will be able to get a AMD 3000 939 @ 8.5k. Btw the 8.5k price tag is on the socket 754 3000+ . Also a thing to remember here is some1 going for a expensive mobo like the neo2 will probably go for a higher speed CPU like the 3500+ or 3800+ imho. Your config comes to arnd 33k with u taking into account price of a AMD 3000+ socket 754 price. Now accrdng to me the 939 will be priced atleast 2-3k higher than the 754 one. U config is also without the Gfx card so we will add a gfx card like Ati 9600 pro which will shoot his budget to 41k. Ofcourse as a gamer i'd like a separate audio proceesor since 1 wudnt waste precious clock cycles on processing audio so i'd get a separate audio card for like 2k so that comes t arnd 43k. Ofcourse we can still keep getting better and better but look we are already above the 35k tag, only possible if the buyer increases his budget. As a gamer i wud have liked the config u put toether but it seems like u put ur fav components together rather than taking the users budget into consideration. Think abt it.

EDIT: MSI Neo2 Platinum isnt available @ ur price, shud b arnd 12k+ i think.

[imgame]

And no dude they are not available at the same pricepoint as the 754 as it does not make good business sense for AMD to be selling both the 754s and 939s @ the same price point.

Atleast intel is doing that with their 775 and 478 socket ...they have almost same price may be 100/- or 200/- difference .........u should perhaps give them few bussiness fundae ! ....

more over if u check the price with ur local delar u will come to know what the truth is about 939 and 754 socket !

LOL ! he asked for a gaming PC yeah but he also gave his price with it ! There a 35k price tag attached to it. And when u want a gaming PC u gotta have multichannel audio man ! If not 5.1 then 4.1 atleast. Ofcourse mobo shud be good but then again its a gaming PC with a mainstream price tag.

see u r again missing the point once again he can go for multichannel sound anytime he want ....i am talking about upgradability .....even i had a tight budget so i packed the speakers for the time being .....but compromising on ur mobo and CPU is not entirely a good idea just for speaker system at least for a gamer ..... i still don't have one ..but next week m getting a better speaker system ......u can always wait for better componenets atleast i did ! (and they are not affecting my comp's performance )

again what i m trying to suggest this guy is better performance PC ...but fancy items "CUT DOWN FOR NOW" ....and moreover he said his budget is "around 35 k " so i m giving him an option .....afterall choice is his !

Internationally a socket 939 AMD 3000+ costs arnd 9.5k (in INR) so theres no way that u will be able to get a AMD 3000 939 @ 8.5k. Btw the 8.5k price tag is on the socket 754 3000+

man once again u did a mistake ...checking out price internationally ....is not a good idea ...as for example i can tell u that there are thousands of shops on internet where u will find XFX Geforce 5200 for $ 80~ 87 (=3760 INR + @ 1$=47 INR)

do u think that is the price for it ....infact its somwhere around 2.8 to 3.1 everybody knows that ! .....so better check the prices with ur local dealer ...we r not in US ....where ppl buy stuff from internet! and sometimes it includes shipping cost .....especial warrenty from shopkeeper ...they cost few more dollers for that ....but mind u few more dollers there could end up converting into a thausand and a half here for india ...so i don't think thats a good idea to discuss internet shopping prices here!

Also a thing to remember here is some1 going for a expensive mobo like the neo2 will probably go for a higher speed CPU like the 3500+ or 3800+ imho

common thats like saying for intel that having a 875 chipset u should buy 3.2 or 3.4 Ghz .........or having a 925x chipset (perhaps better example coz EE=Extremely Expensive is not a fair example here) u should go for
3.6GHz or 3.8GHz (775 socket ) ....dude u know that after a certain limit the processor price shoots up exponentially so my suggestion is that ....u can go for a CPU which is most economically based in market in our case of AMD its 64 3000+ ......that doesn't mean we should not have a better mobo just coz we could not go for better /expensive CPUs....and dude u have any idea how much 3500+ and 3800+ costs !

Your config comes to arnd 33k with u taking into account price of a AMD 3000+ socket 754 price. Now accrdng to me the 939 will be priced atleast 2-3k higher than the 754 one

once again i don't know what website u checked out for ur price reference ....but just for "SAKE OF GIVING EXAMPLE " lets take this website :-

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...oryCode=010423

coz this page includes the prices of both 754 socket and 939 socket .....now look at the entry no. 15 and 16 ...(here we are concerned about the price difference and not about the price itself and not about other things also ) its 20 $ diff if u do ur maths ..that will come arond 900/- ...but again don't forget that its an internet shop......and in reality its not going to that much i guess it will be around 500 ~ 600/- max ..though i know its less ... well i will give 500/-(even a 1000/-) rupess more for 939 socket anyday ! but that alas its again is not for me ! ....all my point is its not 2k 3k difference as u r telling about it ......check ur local dealer

Ofcourse as a gamer i'd like a separate audio proceesor since 1 wudnt waste precious clock cycles on processing audio so i'd get a separate audio card for like 2k so that comes t arnd 43k. Ofcourse we can still keep getting better and better but look we are already above the 35k tag, only possible if the buyer increases his budget. As a gamer i wud have liked the config u put toether but it seems like u put ur fav components together rather than taking the users budget into consideration. Very Happy Think abt it.

as u correctly pointed out we r not here for assembling a gamer PC coz for a gamer ...any budget is less .....but what i m trying to suggest is .....better performance and upgradability lateron .....and little bit of future proofness ..though nothing in this industry is future proof

EDIT: MSI Neo2 Platinum isnt available @ ur price, shud b arnd 12k+ i t

check ur prices ......if not platinum ...he can go for gigabyte or ASUS ....as far as i checked out ASUS nforce 3 chipset based mobo was 9.7 k ( three weeks ago ! )

[blade_runner]

Originally Posted by imgame

Atleast intel is doing that with their 775 and 478 socket ...they have almost same price may be 100/- or 200/- difference .........u should perhaps give them few bussiness fundae ! ....

more over if u check the price with ur local delar u will come to know what the truth is about 939 and 754 socket !

No dude Intels LGA platform is more expensive than the 478 solutions and the gap widens at the top line of the product. Chk the prices mate. And lol if i gave some business fundas to Intel, AMD this earth would suddenly seem a much better place to live.

see u r again missing the point once again he can go for multichannel sound anytime he want ....i am talking about upgradability .....even i had a tight budget so i packed the speakers for the time being .....but compromising on ur mobo and CPU is not entirely a good idea just for speaker system at least for a gamer ..... i still don't have one ..but next week m getting a better speaker system ......u can always wait for better componenets atleast i did ! (and they are not affecting my comp's performance )

again what i m trying to suggest this guy is better performance PC ...but fancy items "CUT DOWN FOR NOW" ....and moreover he said his budget is "around 35 k " so i m giving him an option .....afterall choice is his !

Upgradibility is and always will be flaunted by system makers, vendors but the truth is most budget buyers dont bother to upgrade once they have their PCs, i have a first hand experience. Lotsa frnds and mates arnd me want to play the latest and greatest games with their onboard video ! Now when i tell them to upgrade my advice usually lands up in the dustbin.

man once again u did a mistake ...checking out price internationally ....is not a good idea ...as for example i can tell u that there are thousands of shops on internet where u will find XFX Geforce 5200 for $ 80~ 87 (=3760 INR + @ 1$=47 INR)

do u think that is the price for it ....infact its somwhere around 2.8 to 3.1 everybody knows that ! .....so better check the prices with ur local dealer ...we r not in US ....where ppl buy stuff from internet! and sometimes it includes shipping cost .....especial warrenty from shopkeeper ...they cost few more dollers for that ....but mind u few more dollers there could end up converting into a thausand and a half here for india ...so i don't think thats a good idea to discuss internet shopping prices here!

hehe ! Checking out prices of processor is a gr8 idea since CPUs generally dont draw any duties unlike graphics cards. No offence mate but where did u get the price of the xfx 5200 as 81$ since it is arnd 50$ and that too for 128bit, whereas in India we have to pay arnd 3.2k for the 4bit version . Thats why i am telling you plz chk ur price again mate! Seems your vendor took u for a ride. The exchange rate is arnd 45.62 last checked dude. And neways ur second para in the argument seems to be contradicting since u claim the price of 939 3000+ to be 8.5k and now ur saying that:

sometimes it includes shipping cost .....especial warrenty from shopkeeper ...they cost few more dollers for that ....but mind u few more dollers there could end up converting into a thausand and a half here for india

common thats like saying for intel that having a 875 chipset u should buy 3.2 or 3.4 Ghz .........or having a 925x chipset (perhaps better example coz EE=Extremely Expensive is not a fair example here) u should go for
3.6GHz or 3.8GHz (775 socket ) ....dude u know that after a certain limit the processor price shoots up exponentially so my suggestion is that ....u can go for a CPU which is most economically based in market in our case of AMD its 64 3000+ ......that doesn't mean we should not have a better mobo just coz we could not go for better /expensive CPUs....and dude u have any idea how much 3500+ and 3800+ costs !

Lol ! Seems u never heard about price segments and consumer targetting and balancing your system right. Tell me what use is the LGA platform if u are only upgrading to it since it is new. If ualready have a 2.8g 865 based mobo u should stick with it. If u wish to upgrade then i m sure you still wont stick with a 2.8g. You'd be better off with a higher rating one. Also a expensive mobo like the neo2 isnt targetted at the sub $700PC. Then again u seem to be implying that one need to go for a higher end CPU if one has a high end board. Tell me what good is a board if u dont have a proccy to compliment it. And btw the 3500+ cost on the wrong side of 15k.

once again i don't know what website u checked out for ur price reference ....but just for "SAKE OF GIVING EXAMPLE " lets take this website :-

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...oryCode=010423

coz this page includes the prices of both 754 socket and 939 socket .....now look at the entry no. 15 and 16 ...(here we are concerned about the price difference and not about the price itself and not about other things also ) its 20 $ diff if u do ur maths ..that will come arond 900/- ...but again don't forget that its an internet shop......and in reality its not going to that much i guess it will be around 500 ~ 600/- max ..though i know its less ... well i will give 500/-(even a 1000/-) rupess more for 939 socket anyday ! but that alas its again is not for me ! ....all my point is its not 2k 3k difference as u r telling about it ......check ur local dealer

Hehe u said dont refer to internet sites and now u r referring to one. Although thats newcastle based 754, u might find a clawhammer that might be almost same or maybe a bit expesive than the winchester model listed there. U see u r only going for whether its a 939 or a 754 theory rather than looking @ the obvious benefits. Due to the on-die memory controller the winchester might not have an obvious advantage over the single channel 754s. Although i could also point u to a 265$ winchester to prove u wrong but thats not wot i do.

as u correctly pointed out we r not here for assembling a gamer PC coz for a gamer ...any budget is less .....but what i m trying to suggest is .....better performance and upgradability lateron .....and little bit of future proofness ..though nothing in this industry is future proof

U said it in the last line.........nuthing is future proof. If u buy a nf3 based mobo and that too soo expensive (i still maintain 12k+) in a months time we will have nf4 which will support SLI and PCI-E. So if the gamer dude wants to upgrade he will have to change his mobo anyways !

check ur prices ......if not platinum ...he can go for gigabyte or ASUS ....as far as i checked out ASUS nforce 3 chipset based mobo was 9.7 k ( three weeks ago ! )

LOL ! The Asus one is even more expensive the A8V based on the k8t800pro chipset @ 12k precisely.