Unsure of components

Sepheh · 9 Jul 2007 at 17:23

Basically I know this forum gets flooded with spec threads but I have got a fair amount of money coming towards me and decided to spend about 2000-2500 on a new computer. Want it to be the best I can afford for this money, already made my mind up on a lot of the components and unless you guys can suggest a lot better then please do. I am a massive fan of asus for anything and want a full tower case. Unsure about what is better at the moment intel or amd so there is no preference I just want the better out of the both of them.

So in short I basically want suggestions on the best motherboard processor and graphics card(s). Always had intel in the past but honestly no longer have a preference.

I will be using my computer for a lot of gaming and would love to experience the benefits of two graphics card in sli so top of the range would be great because i want it as future proofed as possible.

As for the operating system, is it about time i moved forwards and embraced Vista over windows xp?

Anyway my current choices:

Lian-Li PC V2000B PLUS Black Aluminium Full-Tower (No PSU)

LG L1900J Fantasy 19" LCD Monitor - Black/Red x 2

Enermax Galaxy 1000W EGX1000EWL ATX2.2 Modular PSU

Logitech Z-5500 THX® Certified 5.1 505 Watts Speakers - Retail

Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 Soundcard

Soundgraph iMON Ultra Bay - Black

LiteON DH-20A1P-45C 20x DVD±RW x12 Ram Dual Layer DVD-Writer (Black)

Western Digital Raptor X 150GB WD1500AHFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache

PC2-8500 1066MHz SLI-Ready Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2N1066SR2GK) OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB)

Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme (Socket AM2/LGA775) Heatsink

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD

stickroad · 9 Jul 2007 at 17:30

Hey Sepheh, a couple of things.

What else do you plan to using the system for if its just for games a Dual core would do you fine. Knowing people on here will spec you a Quad which is really unessary how ever cheap they will be. By the time you actully will use a Quad Core fully, their will be something better out.

As for SLI, theirs only a certain amount of games that can atually take advantage of a SLI configuration which isnt that many. By the time games do your GTX or what ever card you will get will be outdated so. Unless you play on a 30inch screen no need for SLI.

Will you be overclocking?

Growlingfish · 9 Jul 2007 at 17:37

Personal preference - I'd get a larger HD instead of the Raptor, or at least another larger HD (or two? storing any media?) as well as the Raptor.

I like Vista *a lot* on our media PC - it looks very nice and has given me no problems whatsoever. STALKER and LotRO both running smooth on a relatively weak spec. I did however install it along with completely new components that I'd checked beforehand for compatibility. Get 4GB RAM if you are getting Vista - you have the money to spare.

Not had any experience with that heatsink personally so cannot give my opinion. I like my Noctua though

I think you will have all recommendations for Intel. Probably Quad, and I'm sure people will suggest you wait a couple of weeks for price drops, but with your budget that might not be an issue.

Again, SLI/Crossfire is out of my experience so I cannot offer advice on it. Can't say I've ever seen anyone singing its praises though ...

stickroad · 9 Jul 2007 at 17:40

How does this look:

Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey :eek:

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 "LGA775 Conroe" 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail
Asus P5K Deluxe WiFi Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400C5 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2
BFG GeForce 8800 GTX OC 768MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 5000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
Samsung SH-183LBEBN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA Lightscribe
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Fatal1ty Professional 7.1 Soundcard - Retail
Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case - No PSU
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU

Total : £1,928.56

The Dell 24inch Screen is well worth it so seriously consider it. Along with the GTX, games will look beautiful.

Like i said about the Quad Core, by the time you actully use its full power something better would be out and if your only going to play games, it really is pointless going Quad. So i put the E6850 in their for you, if you wanted to get a bit morepower out of it you shouldent have any problems overclocking it. Though it is already rated at 3GHZ.

The ASUS P35 motherboard is very reliable and has great overclocking potentinal.

If your running Vista, 4GB will be very nice indeed, it will help all round performance.

Thiers 2 x 500GB of storage of storage for you, not sure if you will need 1TB of Hard disk space all together but i always think you can never have enough storage space.

The DVD Drive is SATA which will help with cable managment.

That soundcard is a great card, you will hear things that you thought were never their.

The Akasa Case is one of the best in my view, fantastic build quality and great cooling.

The Corsair power supply is one of the best around and it will be plenty of power.

orthen · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:36

you dont need a 1000w psu, nothing you get is going to need that much :rolleyes:

MADEinSTOKE · 9 Jul 2007 at 18:52

stickroads spec is spot on ....but i would go with a seasonic power supply ..just my prefrence

Sepheh · 10 Jul 2007 at 03:07

The main list of components I am happy with, I have 320gb of storage from my current machine going into the new one so the raptor i went for purely for access speed. As for the monitors I like having dual monitors as opposed to one widescreen, just personal preference. The powersupply was to be just as powerful as possible as i have a fair bit of hardware running off my current rig and the 480w i have now is seemingly struggling.

So SLI isnt necessary, thats good to know because that cuts down the cost and does mean i can spend more money on a better graphics card. The information about the quad core is what i was after. Honestly when it comes to processors and motherboards i am very out of date. I have an ASUS P4C800-E motherboard at the moment and would preferably like to stick with ASUS because I have never had a problem with all my ASUS products (3 motherboards and 3 graphics cards so far).

As for overclocking, yes I will be tinkering with this but not to much, so if you could pair some good overclocking RAM in there then feel free. The information so far has been awesome!

Thanks for the replies guys!