New System time - advice appreciated

killjoy · 7 May 2008 at 01:54

Looking to build a new system and would appreciate any thoughts or advice in filling in some of the gaps.

User Type
- I tend to build a decent system upgrade it slightly during its life then build a new system 2 - 4 years later.

Usage
- Gaming typically MMO, FPS and RTS.
- General entertainment - music, movies and browsing etc.
- Occasional business - document production and email.
- Often left on for several days when downloading.

Budget
-V loose and flexible ~£950 Ex VAT

Components Selected or Selection Criteria

-CPU - E8400 is my initial thought but any thoughts?

-Motherboard - Open to suggestions - I have had good experiences with Asus motherboards previously so perhaps a slight inclination to continuing with this manufacturer. Ultimately I tend to like spend in this area so I am looking for advice on the better premium models at present.

-RAM - Open to suggestions - looking for a reasonable performer and good match for CPU without stepping into extremist territory / pricing.

-Graphics Card - Open to suggestions was looking at the 8800 and 9600 cards, may stretch a bit further but I doubt I would spend more than a £150 Ex VAT in this area without excellent justification.

-HDD - Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB x 2 (1 OS and applications, 1 games and video).

Monitor - Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP – My only concern is the 1920 x 1200 optimum resolution, as I play a lot of games and doubt I will be able to run many of them at this res. Anyone with experience here got any thoughts?

-Case and Cooling – I have no desire to see inside my PC once built. I am looking for minimal noise, plenty of space and predominantly black colour scheme. With regard to a cpu cooler minimum noise is my preference.

-PSU – Probably best spend here my current system ended up with 7 hard drives. I doubt this one will get up to 5 hard disks though. Enermax have served me well previously but I am open to suggestion. Anyone got a link to a good calculator to determine what real wattage I should aim for.

-Sound Card - Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional not had a sound card since Pentium2 days but people do keep raving about them so thought I would return to the fold and give the above a try. I currently output via s/pdif to a 5.1 AV receiver amp and like the clean sound this gives. Unsure if this is the best way to output going forward or if I should switch to more traditional cables

Appreciate any answers or advice you can provide.

mp260767 · 7 May 2008 at 13:13

what budget do you have to work with ?

martian_aphid · 7 May 2008 at 13:32

decent choice for the cpu, you dont list anythign that really requires 4 cores but if you want a bit of futurproofing the q6600 is getting cheaper and cheaper. another option if you want to save a bit in this area is a e6xxx??

Sounds like you dont want to spend loads on graphics so sli is not in the picture and an intel board would be a good option perhaps a p35 or x38. the asus boards are solid performers but i'll let others offer their recommendations.

ram-wise, i guess it depends on your chosen os but 2 gig should be minimum, most people havent had problems with ocz ram and the corsair stuff is decent.

graphics the 8800gt should run most games are 1920 but dont expect it to take on any big hitting fps like crysis, but what card does at the higher settings?!?! if you want a bit more umph perhaps a gts?

monitor - check the dell out, i've read of input lag on the 2408 so check this out before you commit and perhaps consider a different panel if response in fps is important to you.

case and cooling - the noctua hsf has a super quiet fan included coupled with a case without a side window such as the antec p182 or one of the lian li cases if you have a bit more spare cash [you did not mention a budget?] and you can hide away that silly pink fan and enjoy the virtual silence.

the corsairs are always recommended for a psu!

gl and i'll let some others give some advice as they probably have better choices than me

killjoy · 7 May 2008 at 14:56

Thanks for the thoughts thus far I am looking at them now.

I am fairly flexible on budget and will spend more where it is warranted but the figure I loosely have in mind is £950 Ex VAT.

With graphics cards I have always been an advocate of buy the ~£130 ish one and upgrade 1 or two times over the life of the machine rather than splashing out initially and leaving it longer or never upgrading.

Ethics · 7 May 2008 at 15:01

killjoy said:
With graphics cards I have always been an advocate of buy the ~£130 ish one and upgrade 1 or two times over the life of the machine rather than splashing out initially and leaving it longer or never upgrading.

I'd agree with you at this particular time with the next gen ones apparently just round the corner. Although that amount should get you close to an 8800GT which are pretty tasty, and the new cards will come in at a steep price im guessing

killjoy · 7 May 2008 at 18:40

I found that when I spend 250+ on a card I want to keep it running for a lot longer. Wheras I get far better performance over time buying the middling cards more often. The cards proposed in June are interesting but by the sound of it they are the next batch of extremist cards and will likely have prices to match.
An 8800 xx or 9600 should be fine for now then perhaps a similarly price 9, 10 or even 11 series card in 9-18 months time.