New build, need advice/suggestions

Samfau2

Samfau2

Samfau2

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Joined
2 Oct 2008
Posts
225
I've been thinking about building a new machine for a while, my current pc has just had some major issues so now seems like a decent time. It will be used primarily for gaming and id like it to last at least a year playing new games at high settings. I will be overclocking but am a complete novice at the moment so id have to do some research and reading up on things, that'd be a future project but id like the scope to do so.

My budget is around £600. I already have a case (antec nine hundread), Monitor (samsung syncmaster 22"), speakers (logitech z-2300), dvd drive, keyboard and mouse. I have an idea of what i might buy but would like to see what others suggest..

Cpu – Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
Graphics – ATI HD 4870? – not sure if ill get the 1gb version for a bit extra
Motherboard – not a clue, preferably SLI for the future, what is the best chipset for gaming?
ram – probably 2gb of ddr2, i dont know what speed i should get though
power supply – is around 600w enough power?
hard drive – western digital Sata II 640gb 7200rpm

As i said id like to see what people suggest, the things ive suggested are just thoughts and im totally up for scrapping them. Any suggestions or advice would be really appreciated.

One more thing, I will probs be using XP professional 32bit, am i right in saying that 32bit XP limits my ram to 2/3gb? Is 2gb still enough?

CHEERS
 
Go for 4 gigs of ram, ddr2 is really cheap at the moment (ddr3 isnt worth it), this would be a good choice as its on this week only offer: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...th Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPR800C44GK)

with a 22" monitor you dont need the 1gb version of the 4870, get the 512mb one, it will be perfect for your screen.

why would you be going SLI in the future, when your buying an ATI card? ATI's equivilent of SLI is Crossfire. go for an asus p45 board, they're really stable and great overclockers:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

for your psu, a corsair 520w will be fine:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...X2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)

i have one with a similar setup to yours and its does the job easily. its also modular and will help a lot with your cable management which isn't great in the antec 900. However if you do go for crossfire in the future with another 4870, then go for the corsair 650:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...name=Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU
 
Cheers for your responses, that ram looks good. Probs will go for 4gb, although i wont get all of that in 32bit OS will I? Is 64bit XP worth it? I think my friend has a copy i can have but ive heard its not very stable and there can be quite a few driver issues.

And yeh sorry, i meant crossfire, my previous builds have all been nvidia and im running SLI at the mo so it just slipped out :p

I will be overclocking, so is there anything i need to do about matching ram/fsb speeds?
 
Change of plan, don't think i will be getting a second 4870 as ill probably only be using the pc for about a year and the single 4870 should last me. is the p5q still a good choice?
 
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