Help building a PC

[kvbrock82]

Hey guys,

Im new to customizing PCs so any and all help will be most appreciated!

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Feb2010 BUDGET RANGE:EUR1400

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: LCD

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: www.scanmalta.com COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Malta

PARTS PREFERENCES: None really.. Just want the best possible for my budget.

OVERCLOCKING: No clue how SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Open to suggestions

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Preferably the platform would be upgradable in 2 years time instead of having to purchase a new one.

Asus Maximus GeneII sky 775 EUR158
Transcend 4Gb kit axeram DDR2 1066 CL5 x 2 EUR213
Intel QuadCore Q9550 2.83G 12Mb 1333 Box EUR201
WD 1.5TB Sata300 32Mb 7200rpm EUR100
Transparent Side Ninja Case EUR90
Xilence 700W SLI gaming powersupply EUR73
LG DVDRW GH22NS Black sata EUR22

GFX CARD - NEED HELP!

My knowledge is far from up to scratch, which is why i am here so ill appreciate any advice you guys can offer me.

Thanks!
Brock

[CaptainHaplo]

OK as soon as I get a chance I will look over the site and see what I can suggest.

However, I will likely not be able to until tommorow - have this machine to "cannibalize" and then have to build it and another back up from scratch.

[kvbrock82]

thanks capt

This is the reply i got on tomshardware.com

Would you agree with it?

"Intel has discontinued Core2, socket 775 CPUs; DDR2 RAM production is dropping off in favor of DDR3. There will be no upgrades for the system you have selected, its all dead end, expired parts.

As far as I know, Western Digitals 1.5TB HDD is an older design and likely has six 250GB platters. They have a new 2TB model that has four 500GB platters that is much faster. Samsungs F3 1TB has two 500gb platter drive is very fast and inexpensive. (Twice the platter density lets the heads read twice as fast at the same speed, these new 500GB platter drives are faster than velociraptors).


For future upgradeability want to look at an intel i5 750 CPU and a P55 motherboard with 4GB DDR3 RAM or an intel i7 920 CPU and an x58 motherboard with 6GB DDR3 RAM.


As far as graphics cards, the new ATI 5770 is a strong DX11 card at 1680x1050. The more powerful ATI 5850 would be the next step up if you want to play almost every game at its highest settings."

[Arclight]

That's about the best advice you can get without people telling you exactly which parts to get imo.

Just 1 remark:
1 graphicscard > P55
2 or more cards > X58

In other words, an i7 will run fine on P55.

* I lied! You don't get triple channel with P55.
Still, P55 isn't a good choice for SLI/Crossfire.

[kvbrock82]

Ive come up with the following..

Arclight, Im going withthe X58 because next year i will buy a 2nd gfx card to run in Xfire. Ill also double the RAM.

What do you guys think? Am i leaving anything out? Is everything compatible?

Cheers
brock


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Samsung-F3-Spi...item45f0514435 EUR95

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/INTEL-i7-920-S...item2c51046c32 EUR330

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ASUS-SKT-1366-...item2c51d3125f EUR210

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/XFX-ATI-Radeon...item19b8dc521c EUR310

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CORSAIR-Domina...item2304c03997 EUR 150

http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/compo...ality-psu.html EUR127

http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/compo...e-w-o-psu.html EUR132

TOTAL 1354

[Arclight]

Originally Posted by kvbrock82

Arclight, Im going withthe X58 because next year i will buy a 2nd gfx card to run in Xfire.

Good, because I just made an edit.

* I lied! You don't get triple channel with P55.
Still, P55 isn't a good choice for SLI/Crossfire.

[kvbrock82]

What do you think of the other parts?

[Arclight]

List looks alright.

- info on that PSU is a bit vague, doesn't give a modelname for example. Might want to check what exactly it is they're selling.
- instead of Corsair you can get Kingston memory for less. Kingston just doesn't overclock (at all, trust me). But considering your budget, might as well go with Corsair (their lifetime warantee only applies to some resellers, in case you didn't know).

My personal preference goes to WD for HDs, but then I never needed anything bigger than 640GB. If that F3 is as fast as they say, probably a good choice.

A soundcard, perhaps? Little better quality, a little more performance, and my X-fi is a lot more powerfull than my onboard (ie. volume).



Btw, you have the budget to consider a SSD. I don't know that much about them, but it's worth mentioning.

[kvbrock82]

thanks for the advice arclight.. Ill get more info about the psu at the store. As long as it can handle the comp comfortably it should be alright.

Ill have a look at the X-Fi card too, even though i heard the onboard 7.1 soundcard is already quite good. Might as well go the whole road i suppose.

Now all i have to invest in is a gaming mouse and keyboard, a saitek X52 joystick, and trackIR 5. The money i spend on simulations..

This all started when i heard SH5 was coming out.

[Arclight]

The soundcard is just a suggestion really.

Personally I like having 2 devices; X-fi goes to the speakers, my headet is on the onboard.

A dedicated card can do the audio processing in hardware, but some say onboard chips do the same thing nowadays. I'll see if I can find something more helpfull, or someone more knowledgeable could chime in.



Lol yeah, sims tend to get expensive.

[kvbrock82]

I just noticed the prices in the local store are slightly cheaper than ebay because of the postage and packing of the items. Also, id get a warranty with the local items. Gonna get an even better case with the money saved. Going for this:

http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/compo...-incl-eco.html

http://www.computerexpo.com/images/B...C-1100%204.jpg

I think I'm in love.

Regarding the sound card, I bought an external Xfi sound card last year for about eur50.00 and i havent even hooked it up yet because my gaming machien was pretty much ancient. Ill have a looksy and if i feel i need an upgrade ill go with that too