Hi. I'm building a new PC, mainly aimed at gaming (well, replacing mobo, processor and gfx at least), have a budget of about £650 but can stretch that a bit.
I want to make things as future proof as possible, so I was thinking of getting on of the mobos that supports dual-core, even if I dont buy a dual-core processor yet, but is that worth it? Also, I'd like to have two PCI-Express slots so I can double up the graphics at a later date. Also, the onboard sound needs to be fairly good since I'll probably be using that for a while. Or would it be better to use my pci soundblaster 5.1 digital? I don't know how much using onboard sound affects performance.
As regards graphics, the 7900GT looks very good for its price.
Processor-wise I can skimp a little, since I can always upgrade it later, but was thinking anything from a 3000-3500 Athlon 64-bit.
I currently have 1GB memory (1x512 pc2700, 1x512 pc3200). Should I just stick that in to whatever I get or what?
Other than that, I could maybe do with replacing the hard drive, I have an IDE drive that I boot from since when I built my last PC it refused to let me make my SATA drive my system drive. I also think water cooling is cheap enough to make it worthwhile now.
Also, I do a fair bit of music recording on my PC, play a lot of music through stereo amp + speakers, so any suggestions for a good-value soundcard that is good for gaming as well would be appreciated.
I want to make things as future proof as possible, so I was thinking of getting on of the mobos that supports dual-core, even if I dont buy a dual-core processor yet, but is that worth it? Also, I'd like to have two PCI-Express slots so I can double up the graphics at a later date. Also, the onboard sound needs to be fairly good since I'll probably be using that for a while. Or would it be better to use my pci soundblaster 5.1 digital? I don't know how much using onboard sound affects performance.
As regards graphics, the 7900GT looks very good for its price.
Processor-wise I can skimp a little, since I can always upgrade it later, but was thinking anything from a 3000-3500 Athlon 64-bit.
I currently have 1GB memory (1x512 pc2700, 1x512 pc3200). Should I just stick that in to whatever I get or what?
Other than that, I could maybe do with replacing the hard drive, I have an IDE drive that I boot from since when I built my last PC it refused to let me make my SATA drive my system drive. I also think water cooling is cheap enough to make it worthwhile now.
Also, I do a fair bit of music recording on my PC, play a lot of music through stereo amp + speakers, so any suggestions for a good-value soundcard that is good for gaming as well would be appreciated.