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[Rafal99]

Hello
My 7 years old motherboard has stopped working yesterday, and now I have to finally buy new stuff. I planned to upgrade my computer for a long time, but couldn't really get myself to do it, because I was never buying and assembling all the parts all by myself, but now it is a good time to try.
I figured out I would ask for help here, since DF will be one of the main uses of my computer performance, and you guys have a good knowledge about hardware.
Keep in mind that my budget is quite limited and I don't want to spend too much on it.
I am going to buy new: CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Computer Case and PSU (the old PSU was causing problems in the past and I won't risk connecting new stuff to it).

Processor:
Since DF uses mostly 1 thread, I figured I would rather get good 2 core than worse 4 core CPU.
The ones I am looking at are Intel Core i3 550 and Intel Core i3-2100, they are both same price at the local store and I can't decide.
From what I read in the internet:
 * i3 550 can be overclocked nicely and motherboards for it are a little cheaper
 * i3-2100 has a little better performance but can't be really OCed, the socket 1155 may be more future-proof
1. Which one do you suggest?

Motherboard:
Of course it needs the correct socket and chipset for my cpu.
2. What other features of the motherboard should I take into account?
3. Should I buy one in mATX or ATX format? Any advantages of each (except size of course) ?

RAM:
I want to have 4GB.
4. Should I get 4GB or 2x2GB? Any differences in performance?
5. Speed: Is 1333mhz enough or do I need more? (I heard it is limited by CPU bus speed or something)   
6. CL8, CL9 etc. what are these and what do I need?

PSU and Case:
7. Should I buy a case with PSU included or buy them separately?
8. How much PSU power do I need?  (I am going to get GeForce GT440 graphics card later and will have 2 HDDs)
9. Should the case have additional fans, do I need them?

Thanks everyone for help in advance.
I may be quite slow to respond, since I will only have limited access to internet from my phone.

[Frajic]

1. AMD. They're cheaper.
2. Get one with a PCIe 2.0/2.1 16x slot.
3. Just get an ATX, it'll fit in your case and won't be stripped of any features.
4. I'd get 2x2GB RAM, I think it's cheaper.
5. Get the best speed your motherboard supports.
6. I mostly look at size and speed. I don't really know what that stuff is, but I doubt it affects performance too much.
7. Depends on what PSU you'll get, and if it's changable. If you'll be stuck with it, buy a separate one for upgrade reasons.
8. 600-650W should suffice for a modest gaming computer.
9. My computer runs fine without any additional fans, but you might be overclocking, sooo... get one later if you have temperature troubles. I don't.

[Tilla]

I'm running 3 years now on a pretty good core2 system (at the time) with a newer bulky video card and I do just fine with the case-included 500 Watt PSU

[Rafal99]

1. AMD. They're cheaper.

Cheaper but worse
And actually much worse when it comes to single-threaded applications like DF.
I decided to go with i3-2100 and 1155 socket for future-compability reasons.
I will get a motherboard with P67 chipset so I can overclock it.

... do just fine with the case-included 500 Watt PSU

Yeah from what I read on the internet a 500W will be more than enough for my system.

[white_darkness]

CL is Column Address Strobe Latency which is a measurement of how quickly a RAM module will access and send data from an individual data column.

In theory the lower the number the better.

There's a wealth of caveats that control the actual speed and how it's measured. So it's actually possible to have a higher number be faster than a lower number in some situations.

I wouldn't worry about it too much.