It’s time for a pretty major upgrade as my PC just isn’t up to the job of playing newer games any more. I bought Oblivion cheap today to compare to the 360 version and it’s laughable (plus it keeps crashing but that’s another story - seems to be HP printer related of all things 
) and I daren’t go near C&C 3 or SupCom. It’s been a while since I did a build and I’m not too hot on what’s the best kit any more, so any help would be greatly appreciated. I’ve browsed the OCUK bundles and I’m totally lost.
What’s staying:
- Kb & mouse.
- Audigy 2 as it’s the last soundcard with a digital DIN output for my DTT3500 5.1 speakers, according to Creative.
- SATA Raptor HDD (system) and WD 400GB SATA HDD (file storage)
- NEC 20WGX2 monitor @ 1650 x 1080
- Antec P180 case with a tri-cool or Akasa amber fan in every slot.
What I’m thinking:
- E6600 to replace XP3500+.
- Asus P5B to replaceAsus A8N SLi. Never actually used SLi and not really necessary on the new board. Had 2 Asus boards, both perfect.
- 2GB GeILPC2-6400-C4 in bundle replacing 2x1GB DDR
- BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) to replace PCi-E 6600GT. Always had nVidia, never had any trouble.
- New DVD-writer to replaced PATA Lite-On unit that seems to be taking longer and longer to access discs. Not really picky about what – black Sammy OEM at under 20 quid.
- Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU to run all of the above. My Enermax 550W is 4 ½ years old and has never been any trouble. However, it’s only got 20 pins on the main connector, and no SATA or PCI-E adapters at all!
What it’s for:
The grunt is needed for gaming (RTS, FPS and Oblivion type titles) though the PC is used for pretty much everything. Doesn’t have to be silent but reasonably quiet please! Won’t be OC’d and happy to run on stock coolers unless you know of one that’s much better / quieter. I’ve never used anything other than a stock cooler supplied with a new CPU. I don’t have any plans to upgrade to Vista yet either.
TIA
) and I daren’t go near C&C 3 or SupCom. It’s been a while since I did a build and I’m not too hot on what’s the best kit any more, so any help would be greatly appreciated. I’ve browsed the OCUK bundles and I’m totally lost.What’s staying:
- Kb & mouse.
- Audigy 2 as it’s the last soundcard with a digital DIN output for my DTT3500 5.1 speakers, according to Creative.
- SATA Raptor HDD (system) and WD 400GB SATA HDD (file storage)
- NEC 20WGX2 monitor @ 1650 x 1080
- Antec P180 case with a tri-cool or Akasa amber fan in every slot.
What I’m thinking:
- E6600 to replace XP3500+.
- Asus P5B to replaceAsus A8N SLi. Never actually used SLi and not really necessary on the new board. Had 2 Asus boards, both perfect.
- 2GB GeILPC2-6400-C4 in bundle replacing 2x1GB DDR
- BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC2 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) to replace PCi-E 6600GT. Always had nVidia, never had any trouble.
- New DVD-writer to replaced PATA Lite-On unit that seems to be taking longer and longer to access discs. Not really picky about what – black Sammy OEM at under 20 quid.
- Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU to run all of the above. My Enermax 550W is 4 ½ years old and has never been any trouble. However, it’s only got 20 pins on the main connector, and no SATA or PCI-E adapters at all!
What it’s for:
The grunt is needed for gaming (RTS, FPS and Oblivion type titles) though the PC is used for pretty much everything. Doesn’t have to be silent but reasonably quiet please! Won’t be OC’d and happy to run on stock coolers unless you know of one that’s much better / quieter. I’ve never used anything other than a stock cooler supplied with a new CPU. I don’t have any plans to upgrade to Vista yet either.
TIA
