Advice needed

[Bio Brain]

Advice needed - PLEASE HELP!!!!!

Newbie-ish needs help!!!

I have been reading the various forums and I still can't come to a conclusion of what components to buy.

I am an experienced PC builder providing corporate support for systems and networks but these gaming, overclocking and water cooling systems are all new to me, give me a standard office machine and I'm all yours.

The PC I'm looking for is a non overclocked machine (I can't afford replacements if it goes wrong) capable of gaming, video editing and general use - I just want a PC without any bottle necks. Multi-monitor setup, not necessarily wireless but complete with new monitors, wireless keyboard & mouse and a surround setup. Budget around £1,000.

CPU

Should I go AMD or Intel? In the past I've gone down the Intel route and at the time a lot of people prefered AMD, it now seems that the poplarity has swung back to Intel. So is it the AMD 3000+ or Intel 6000 series.

MB

I am an avid ASUS fan, is this still the one to go for?

Memory

1GB, 2GB, 4GB what type and speed?

GFX

I take it the 8800 is the one, but which one in this range? Will dual monitors use more processing power or should I just use single?

Sound

Onboard or not?

Monitor

Should I go to a LCD? I have a iIyama CRT and it still seems to beat any LCD hands down. Also should I go LCD widescreen or not? bearing in mind my camcorder is a widescreen version.

Drives

Is there an optimum size for speed i.e. if I go too big in size will it slow the PC down? Should I raid it for extra speed? or is SATA fast enough these days?

Should I go for SATA optical drives or IDE ones? Will the MB support these?

Case and PSU

What is a good case for all this? as I take it the larger the case the better the airflow? What size of PSU will I need for a normal setup?

OS

"To 64 bit or not 64 bit, that is the question"

The choices:-

XP 32 bit
XP 64 bit
Vista 32 bit
Vista 64 bit
And which version of Vista? should I just go for the Ultimate version.

And of course should I dual boot???

Water cooling

Is water cooling quieter? as many case fans tend to be quite noisy

I think I've covered anything but if I haven't no doubt you can help.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Neil

 

[Admiral Huddy]

It does seem you're a little out of date tbh but don't worry. Achieving a decent gaming rig within you budget is easily achieveable.

Firstly though, do you intend to play the latest games at resolutions on or above 1920? The reason I ask will have a big impact on the system you buy.

For the CPU, i'd go for an Intel core 2 Duo and since the prices have been slashed, you're spolit for choice. Personally, I'd go for the E6600 or the quad core Q6600

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-128-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=793

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-143-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=793


If you're a Asus fan boy then your in luck ... You can't go wrong really with the Asus p5n32 ..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-222-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=205

You'll here a lot about P35 motherboard.. These will support newer CPUs on the horizon which is fine if you want to pay the extra premiuim. But this mobo will more than suffice with the above CPUs for years.


Memory - Go for some PC2-6400. This is not the minimum RAM for the CPUS above. However, this RAM will give you a little headroom for some decent yet simple overclocking. I know you said you don't want to overclock.. but believe me these system are build for it..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-064-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813


2GB is absolute minimum for gaming and Vista. Memory is so cheap right now, that it might even pay you to get 4GB. However, XP does have a bit of trouble with this.

PSU - The corsair HX620Q is an excellant choice

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-CS


Graphics

I mentioned earlier the what resolution you intend playing at.. The reason is that the higher end cards are of now benefir unless to are playing at resolutions at 1920 or above.

If you are, then any 8800GTX will do the trick. Otherwise, get yourself an 8800GTS (320MB or 640MB depending on your budget). Any brand will do beacuse they are all based around the same chipset.

Monitor.

Treat yourself to a Sumsumng 20" WS
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-051-SA

or a Samsung 22"

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-050-SA&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=


the case is really personal preference but make sure it's big enough to house a 8800GTX should you choose that route. They're rather long

The antec Nine Hundred is very popular
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-065-AN


Operating system.

Go for Vista Premium 32. I've not had any problems with Vista (apart from networking issues) and I've even tested a few old games such as RTCW and NOLF2.. All run fine.


If you go the 64 bit route, you are going to run into problems because of the additional security features.

Water cooling..
I think you're running before you can walk. You have already said you intend not to overclock so WC would be pretty pointless really. If it's just for silience, then you won't have to worry too much. Older case used to have those noisy 80mm fans screaming everywhere. Today, it's more common to see 120mm fans being used. Larger but they don't need to rotate as fast to push the air around. In fact the Antec case i siggested comes with a 200MM fan.





Hope this helps.

 

[Bio Brain]

Thanks

Thanks for that Admiral Huddy I was starting to think no one would help me as some posts seem to get many many replies within the first 10 minutes.

Thanks again.

 

[semi-pro waster]

You were asking for replies on a Friday night though so you really shouldn't be too surprised if people didn't reply immediately but welcome to the forums.

I'd agree with Huddy's advice although I'd probably suggest the 520w Corsair (if in stock) as being easily sufficient for your requirements. A point to note about any 32bit OS is that if you buy 4gb of Ram then you will only see about 3.5gb of it because of an inbuilt memory limit.

 

[tim_enchanter]

Yep welcome Bio

Great post Huddy good effort.

Get yourself a 2nd monitor, I assume you've used dual screens before and once you have there is no going back. A new system like you want will easily handle it.

For sound get yourself a half decent creative card and you'll be fine, I think people still steer clear of onboard.