First of all, i won't be buying from OcUK because they don't ship to my country (Iceland).
But i'm not asking for any links to any other stores or best prices or anything like that, just general advice on hardware.
I need a new PC from scratch, i sold my old one a few months ago and went abroad to study, using my laptop, and am buying a new one when i get home in a week.
I play games (mostly MMORPGs), programming, heavy photo editing among other things.
I've always overclocked my computers, but lately i've grown tired of "maintaining " the computer so i'll basicly find the limit and then go down 30% or so to be on the safe side. But i definetly do overclocking and not scared of that.
So..
CPU:
I'm 90% sure that i'll be getting a Core 2 Duo E6600 or E6420. The price difference is not big, only about 30 pounds. I'm leaning towards the 6600 unless there is a very noticeable difference in overclockability.
I know Intel are dropping prices in July and Quad cores will be very viable, but i just can't wait for a month or two to get a new computer. I dispise my laptop.
Motherboard:
I have no idea what's hot and what's not these days. I've always liked Abit and i have an MSI right now that is serving me well.
Something that is stable and good for overclocking would be good. And quiet.
Memory:
Again, don't really have an idea except that i'm getting 4gb. Not sure what speeds to get at all. I won't be doing EXTREME overclocking but still some.
Monitor:
Samsung 244T, 24" inch widescreen with 1920x1200 resolution. Will also have another 19" ViewSonic LCD(1280x1024) as a 2ndary monitor.
Graphics:
8800 GTS 320MB. That's good enough to handle both these monitors at their resolutions right? Should i consider SLI? Isn't that just a waste of money?
Hard disk:
I have a 5 month old 250gb Seagate Baracudda SATA disk that i used as an external hard drive for my laptop, and i'm considering using that.
But i've also considerd the WD Raptors, but noise just kills me, but mainly idle noise. I've heard that they are only really loud when they are working?
Space is not a big issue for me as i have a networked fileserver with 2 terabytes of storage.
Sound card:
Is it worth it to get like a Sound Blaster X-FI XtremeGamer card? I have Sennheiser headphones and a Creative 2.1 speaker setup (might consider upgrading the speakers, not sure, but they've served me quite well.
Or is the built in adequate?
Case:
Again, no idea what's hot and not here. I'm a fan of minimalist design, NOT neon light and curve madness.
I do not need a lot of space for HDD's and CDroms, but i still want it to be roomy, and preferably be able to fit 120mm fan(s).
Considering the Thermaltake Tsunami, is it any good?
Power supply:
No idea. Adequate and quiet.
I don't want to pay extra for fanless, as i'll have a hard disk, gfx card and a cpu making SOME noise anyway, so a fanless PSU would be pointless.
I won't have a lot of components to power, so i think a 500w would be enough, right? (or is that CPU and GFX card really power hungry?). Btw i'll possibly want to upgrade to a quad core in the future, but i doubt i'd ever do SLI (it's no good right?)
Cooling:
Clueless here too. Something that allows me to overclock a decent bit, not super expensive and is somewhat quiet. Actually quietness is not a huge deal as i'll use speedfan to regulate it.
Considerin the Thermalright Ultra 120 with some 120mm fan. The extreme version is not availible in Iceland AFAIK.
Network:
No need for WiFi and i'm assuming any decent motherboards would come with built in gigabit ethernet, yes?
Well that's about it, i think. I suppose a lot of this was a case of "talking to the cat", which is always helpful.
Any input is appriciated.
But i'm not asking for any links to any other stores or best prices or anything like that, just general advice on hardware.
I need a new PC from scratch, i sold my old one a few months ago and went abroad to study, using my laptop, and am buying a new one when i get home in a week.
I play games (mostly MMORPGs), programming, heavy photo editing among other things.
I've always overclocked my computers, but lately i've grown tired of "maintaining " the computer so i'll basicly find the limit and then go down 30% or so to be on the safe side. But i definetly do overclocking and not scared of that.
So..
CPU:
I'm 90% sure that i'll be getting a Core 2 Duo E6600 or E6420. The price difference is not big, only about 30 pounds. I'm leaning towards the 6600 unless there is a very noticeable difference in overclockability.
I know Intel are dropping prices in July and Quad cores will be very viable, but i just can't wait for a month or two to get a new computer. I dispise my laptop.
Motherboard:
I have no idea what's hot and what's not these days. I've always liked Abit and i have an MSI right now that is serving me well.
Something that is stable and good for overclocking would be good. And quiet.
Memory:
Again, don't really have an idea except that i'm getting 4gb. Not sure what speeds to get at all. I won't be doing EXTREME overclocking but still some.
Monitor:
Samsung 244T, 24" inch widescreen with 1920x1200 resolution. Will also have another 19" ViewSonic LCD(1280x1024) as a 2ndary monitor.
Graphics:
8800 GTS 320MB. That's good enough to handle both these monitors at their resolutions right? Should i consider SLI? Isn't that just a waste of money?
Hard disk:
I have a 5 month old 250gb Seagate Baracudda SATA disk that i used as an external hard drive for my laptop, and i'm considering using that.
But i've also considerd the WD Raptors, but noise just kills me, but mainly idle noise. I've heard that they are only really loud when they are working?
Space is not a big issue for me as i have a networked fileserver with 2 terabytes of storage.
Sound card:
Is it worth it to get like a Sound Blaster X-FI XtremeGamer card? I have Sennheiser headphones and a Creative 2.1 speaker setup (might consider upgrading the speakers, not sure, but they've served me quite well.
Or is the built in adequate?
Case:
Again, no idea what's hot and not here. I'm a fan of minimalist design, NOT neon light and curve madness.
I do not need a lot of space for HDD's and CDroms, but i still want it to be roomy, and preferably be able to fit 120mm fan(s).
Considering the Thermaltake Tsunami, is it any good?
Power supply:
No idea. Adequate and quiet.
I don't want to pay extra for fanless, as i'll have a hard disk, gfx card and a cpu making SOME noise anyway, so a fanless PSU would be pointless.
I won't have a lot of components to power, so i think a 500w would be enough, right? (or is that CPU and GFX card really power hungry?). Btw i'll possibly want to upgrade to a quad core in the future, but i doubt i'd ever do SLI (it's no good right?)
Cooling:
Clueless here too. Something that allows me to overclock a decent bit, not super expensive and is somewhat quiet. Actually quietness is not a huge deal as i'll use speedfan to regulate it.
Considerin the Thermalright Ultra 120 with some 120mm fan. The extreme version is not availible in Iceland AFAIK.
Network:
No need for WiFi and i'm assuming any decent motherboards would come with built in gigabit ethernet, yes?
Well that's about it, i think. I suppose a lot of this was a case of "talking to the cat", which is always helpful.
Any input is appriciated.
