1) What is a good priced motherboard (that has at least one PCI-Express slot) that matches the processor type and obviously has 4 RAM slots (184pin DDR)? I've looked and the best I've found was on newegg, unfortanetly he's not keen on buying online, so if you guys can suggest a name to me, I can at least hunt for it at local store such as alinx or ncix.
This Asus seems to be highly regarded.
2) What is
one of the best PCI-Express cards out there, I don't want the best of the best, just something really good, preferabbly 256mb (he does not care about price here, he wants a good top of the line). I was looking into 6800gt, but honestly, I don't think he needs that much power. ATI X800XL looks about right, but I want to hear your suggestions. Must be PCI-Express (or 8x AGP in which case motherboard should have that slot too), at least 128mb and Direct X 9.0 comaptible, AND is under 400 dollars canadian (the vid card)??? Any suggestions are appreciated.
I'd definitely try for a 7800GT if possible. A killer card.
3) Ok, so once I get the motherboard and the vid card, I want to do a complete reinstall. Basically just swap the parts from this mobo to the new one and put the new vid card in, BUT reformat entire hard drive and start fresh off, new BIOS, new drivers, new copy of XP Pro SP2, basically everything over again. My question is, do I just reformat hdd and get on with it, or do I have to update BIOS first before installing windows on the count of it being a totally new mobo?
Just do a normal wipe/reload (i.e. delete partition>create partition>format>install). Shouldn't need to mess with BIOS at all save maybe some basic settings...day, date, etc...the normal stuff.
Numbers 1 and 2 are of importance, number 3 I can figure out, its just I can't right now cuz I have to go to bed, its 1:47 here and I have to get up early tomorrow. Thanks again in advance guys
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