Introduction and loads of question :-)

[Mumu2k]

Hey Guys and Girls (if there are any in here)
First I must say the Site and the boards are brilliant. Finally found a good site to order hardware and get some advice aswell
I've been reading the boards for a couple of days know and must say this community here is one of the most helpfulls I came accross in a long time. So I finally registered yesterday morning but it took almost 24 hours to get my account validated by an admin.

Something about myself:

I'm Jack and actually from Germany. I do live(near Sheffield) and work in the UK since almost 3 years now so excuse any spelling mistakes I might do. I'm tiping this from a Netbook aswell so twice as hard not to get any tipos etc.

So what do I want you might think, well hardware advice on a new "gaming" rig. You might now say wtf another one why does he not read the 1k advices we've been given over the last couple of days. We'll my situation is a little different so I decided to start a new post to ask all my heartburning noob questions

I used to play a game for the last 7 years called Dark Age of Camelot, some of you might know some won't but it ran on my old selfbuild mashine from over 8 years ago

Athlon 64 3200+
2Gig Ram
MSI KT8 NEO Board
Radeon 9600xt!!!!
Thermaltake Lanfire Case(What a heavy ******* )
Enermax PSU

This System died last weekend and my old crt Panasonic telly aswell. I moved to a new Flat and had a power surge or something

So getting to the point. I'm looking for a system to play MMORPG's with the odd shooter or RTS here and there but I want to run them on a full HD LCD.(No point I thought in buying new telly and a bigger computer screen, but I might be wrong so first advice needed here)

I want to run all new and upcoming mmorpgs on 1920x1080 on the LCD (full hd I think) resolution but I'm happy to go down in res for more demanding games likes shooters and so on.
I also have a very big collection of music and movies I want to watch over the lcd. And record dvbt over the rig aswell. Finally the system needs to be capable of ripping the odd dvd/bluray here and there aswell.(Maybe 2-3 times a month)

I'm planing to build the rig myself and I feel confident with putting the hardware in it even better with the guide here on the forums. What I'm more afraid of is the whole bios setup etc.

I don't think I do want to overclock. I'm more of the "never change a running system" person as you can see on my ancient mashine specs

I want a system wich is at least capable of playing new mmos for the next 4 years. My budget without the lcd telly would be 1200 pounds

So heres my first try. Might be a bit overkill.





Is 4 gig of Ram really enough ?
How can I find out if the cpu cooler fits in the case.
Is this the "best" case for the money ?
Do i need extra case fans ?
I'm a smoker and most likely go through a pack of fags a night while gaming so I need something more dust/smoke proof aswell if possible

Any thoughts on what kind of lcd I should buy for round about 500 pounds and not bigger than 40" and capable of being a good gaming "monitor"

Thanks ever so much for any advice you might give me and the long read you guys had to go through early in the morning

Cheers Jack

 

[Mumu2k]

Thanks for the cooler advice hard to pick the correct one with some many to choose from
Will the 2 5570 fit in the case with the dvbt card in there aswell? Or do I really need crossfire anyways?

 

[Mumu2k]

Thanks Phatzy,

I forgot I want to hook up the sound to a 5.1 system so wont i need like a splitter to get the hdmi going to the avr and the telly ? SSo thats why I thought I would need a propper sound card. On the other hand might the onboard 7.1 chip be enough and capable to pass thorugh full 5.1 to the avr ?

 

[Mumu2k]

Yeah might go down to a different cooler.
Does no one got any input at the build itself or a better build for my needs ?
I'm planing to drive up to Newcastle next Saturday to pick up the parts myself So any input is welcome up to next week friday

 

[Mumu2k]

Yeah win7 64 bit I thought I need this if I go over 2 gigs of memory
But isnt a single 5850 more expensive than cf 2x 5770. On the other hand I've heard that there are a lot of games with problems with cf/sli so you might be right.
For watercooling I like the idea of silent cooling but Is it really safe and how easy is it to assembly and for maintenance ?

Can someone spec me a good system with all my req without going to much over 1200 pounds? With a 5850 I cant seem to manage it good enough

 

[Mumu2k]

Edit, There seems not to be a vaporX 5850 card yet Any good "silent" alternative for a vapor X ?

 

[Mumu2k]

Ok updated list
Changed the 2x5770 to one 5850
Added another 4 gig of Ram and changed my mouse because I realized it had not side back button.
Changed the cpu cooler to the Titan Fenrir

Let me here what you think
Slightly over budget of 1200 but hey...

 

[Mumu2k]

As I said before not planing to overclock and I actually didnt even know you could overclock ram
As for the blue ray Yes I know its only a dvd burner. Just want a drive wich can play rays. As long as blue ray dics are so expensive theres no point in getting a burner

 

[Mumu2k]

Yeah my second build has a 5850 in it.
Any other suggestions ? I switched the PSU for the 600W Modular OCZ Extreme and shaved of another 30quid of

 

[Mumu2k]

Thanks, good to hear I didnt do to much wrong after not building a pc in so many years. I will drive up next saturday so keep any good sugestions comming specially now that the build is almost sorted for a good lcd to game with 32"-37"