Spec Help: Gaming PC

darkcinder · 21 May 2007 at 17:32

Hey, I am a long time viewer of these forums but not a heavy poster and I feel that this would be the best place to get advise for building my new gaming rig. My current rig is so outdated that dust doesn't even want to play with it.

Really what I am looking for is a rig that will be able to run most, if not all of the up and comming dx10 games with ease and the ability to upgrade without having to take out a loan to do so would be great. I have only overclocked once with the help of my friend and it was nothing ground breaking but I would like to give it a try with my new rig as I hear not overclocking with the C2D is a crime! There is no need for a vast amount of space, I think rougly 100GB would be fine but I suppose a little more wouldn't hurt. I don't need a monitor, mouse or a keyboard. Also I would like Vista 64bit. The most important thing of all, the budget. I am not sure how much a decent computer is bought for nowadays and beacause of this I think £1000 is a decent amount of money but if a little more money is needed am sure I can stretch a little. If i have missed anything out please let me know.

Thank you in advance.
DarkCinder.

richjs · 21 May 2007 at 17:37

What monitor do you have currently?

darkcinder · 21 May 2007 at 17:39

fen739 said:
What monitor do you have currently?

Currently I have some old COMPAQ one, but I will be upgrading at a later date when I have a little more money (I hope)

masslac · 21 May 2007 at 19:26

And plenty of change for Kaspersky and some new games...

masslac · 21 May 2007 at 19:28

Forgot the optical drive. Add http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-084-SA.

If your new monitor will be 22 inches or more, upgrade the graphics card to the 640MB version.

4ndy89 · 21 May 2007 at 20:00

Sorry to hijack, but whats the difference between home premium and ultimate?

*Chris · 21 May 2007 at 20:15

Check microsoft's website, it has all the differences in all the windows versions.

masslac · 21 May 2007 at 20:31

4ndy89 said:
Sorry to hijack, but whats the difference between home premium and ultimate?

Ultimate makes you pay for extra stuff you can do for free elsewhere. Home Premium does not.

supernova9 · 21 May 2007 at 20:50

Yeah this is £1015, but it includes a 20" Widescreen TFT. You can take that out if you want to get it at a later date.

masslac · 21 May 2007 at 20:54

So basically my spec but with an inferior case and chipset.

supernova9 · 21 May 2007 at 20:58

masslac said:
So basically my spec but with an inferior case and chipset.

Pfft, The Lian-Li is one of the best VFM cases going. As for the chipset, the DS3P is just as good as the P5N-E SLI, I'd only go for the Asus board if I had more than one IDE drive or wanted to run SLI (which isn't the case here). DS3P has more SATA ports for future expansion.

Larger HDD, Better GFX (though if he only wanted 320MB he could go with the same as yours) and a better CPU cooler.

masslac · 21 May 2007 at 21:06

supernova9 said:
Pfft, The Lian-Li is one of the best VFM cases going.

I am aware of this. I've got one. The Antec, however, is still considerably better.

supernova9 said:
As for the chipset, the DS3P is just as good as the P5N-E SLI

Simply not true.

supernova9 · 21 May 2007 at 21:07

masslac said:
Simply not true.

Benchmarks?? Comparison??

masslac · 21 May 2007 at 21:13

The fact that 650i > 965P is pretty much written all over the internet if you care to look.

*Chris · 21 May 2007 at 21:17

Stop arguing!

If you have 1000 to spend it might be an idea to have a look at the 8800GTX, simply the best around!

(Although vista drivers for it are currently pants

)

supernova9 · 21 May 2007 at 21:19

masslac said:
The fact that 650i > 965P is pretty much written all over the internet if you care to look.

From www.hothardware.com

"Intel’s 965 series chipsets currently have a strong foothold in the budget/mid-range market, and it will take Nvidia some time to catch up, but the 650i Ultra is a strong contender. For roughly the same price point as the 965, you get Nvidia’s more efficient memory controller, very flexible overclocking, and Nvidia’s own GPU-level overclocking/optimizations. However, as these GPU optimization features only work with a scant few Nvidia cards, we wouldn’t consider this to be a major selling point at this time. The 965 series is also a particularly strong overclocker, so this won’t be a cakewalk for Nvidia in the slightest."

Hardly cut and dried. Marginal edge, I'll give you that, but not blatantly superior.

masslac · 21 May 2007 at 21:19

*Chris said:
Stop arguing!

Um, it's known as debate. What forums are intended for. :rolleyes:

supernova9 · 21 May 2007 at 21:20

masslac said:
Um, it's known as debate. What forums are intended for.

Agreed, I'm more than happy to be proved wrong, and if so I'll eat my hat

joeconway · 21 May 2007 at 22:25

i have basically what masslacs suggestion is and its awesome, the only downside to mine is that i have a 7900gs not the 8800gts, come thursday tho...(payday

)

darkcinder · 22 May 2007 at 00:34

mhhhh, now am even more confused the before! I would like the option to upgrade but not have to upgrade very soon after buying it. So GTX? Also not sure about what size of monitor I will be buying, hopfully a nice big widescreen.

Help! :confused: