So, I am building a new pc because my Athlon XP 2700+/GeForce 6600 combination is starting to lose its sharpest edge PC will be used mostly for gaming, Internet, music, movies+ some other multimedia-stuff. Here we go; What I already have: -Sound card Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer -Headphones Sennheiser HD-555 -Keyboard -Mouse pad -Surge protector Parts I'm thinking of bying: -Case Cooltek Storm ATX (sry, but not in English) -Case fans 2x Thermaltake coolers for the 120mm-slots -Power supply Corsair TX650W/TX750W - which one would you suggest? -CPU Intel Q9300/Q9450 -CPU Cooler Zalman CNPS9500 LED -Hard Drive WESTERN DIGITAL HDD 320GB 16MB Caviar SE Sata -GPU EVGA GeForce GTX 260/GTX 260 SSC Edition -OS Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 32-bit -Mouse MX518 Gaming-Grade Optical Mouse As for the CPU and GPU, there are two different possibilities, which both cost me roughly the same: -Combination 1: Intel Q9300 + EVGA GTX 260 SSC Edition -Combination 2: Intel Q9450 + EVGA GTX 260 I'm currently leaning towars combination 1, but which one would you suggest? Especially for gaming, which one gives me more FPS? Next, parts I'm having trouble choosing. Please give me some good suggestions! Motherboard - all I know is that I want it to be ASUS (and of course socket 775) and it may cost no more than 100€/150$/80£ (less is better). SLI I don't need, but it doesn't bother me if it has that feature. Gigabit LAN would be nice. Atleast 2 basic PCI-slots needed. I really can't decide cause there's too much on offer. Memory - So Vista 32-bit can only use 4 GB of memory, right? But if I've understood it right, that number also includes the memory on video card? Since the GTX 260 has almost 1 GB of memory, I should only buy 3 GB's of 'normal' memory, correct? If I am right on this one, should I really get 3 GB, or is 2 GB enough? Atleast I don't want to buy 4 GB if 1 GB of that amount is for nothing... So, suggestions needed! Oh, and I want it to be CORSAIR. Optical Drive - Again, too many brands and products to choose from. What's a good basic model, or a good brand. Suggestions... Monitor - Well, I know it will be a widescreen Samsung SyncMaster, probably either this 20" or this 22". Shouldn't the 20" have a sharper image because they both have the same number of pixels? Would you suggest the 22" over the 20"? Does size matter here? One more thing, my (PS/2 of course) keyboard is really REALLY old, so should Vista detect and accept it nevertheless? Are all the parts chosen thus far compatible with each other? I hope this was all. Thank you all in advance.
Go with a ATHLON x2 6400+ its so much better as a CPU. IF you wanna do games, music, movies, photos, etc. then it would be a better idea to get 4 drives of your size choice and do a Raid 5 to protect your data. I have 4 500gb drives in raid 5 its fast and flawless.
LMAO. RAID 5 is a realistic proposal, the X2 6400+ is laughable, ignore it. Most of your parts are good jellyfish, but you'd be miles better off with a Radeon HD4870 as your graphics card - cheaper, just as fast, and probably more reliable. EVGA SSC cards have had a troubled past. I'd also recommend a Thermalright ultra 120 heatsink above a Zalman.
Thx for the suggestions, I think I'll really have to consider that Radeon HD4870 + the Thermalright ultra 120 heatsink. I might also do the RAID, but but not until Christmas (no money, no funny). I think I will get the Intel Q9450. Motherboard - I think I'm going to get this MSI P35 Neo2-FIR I still don't know how much DDR-2 I should get? And is the Corsair 650W PSU enough, or should I get the one with 750W?
If you buy an Asus board that costs less than a hundred euros, it'll be pathetic. Asus stuff is only worth buying if it's expensive - the cheap stuff just doesn't last, it isn't built properly. Instead, get a gigabyte EP35-DS3R - very solid boards, go with that over the MSI. Corsair PSUs are very powerful, the 650W will be fine, you could actually get away with a 520W unit with this PC and still have room to spare.
Wow, that Gigabyte-board looks really good, has pretty much everything I need, nothing I don't need. I have never ever owned a Gigabyte-mobo so I just hope they produce good, reliable products. Also, the MSI-board had that copper going all over the place- but I guess I'm not losing much there? And I suppose you're absolutely right about the PSU, 650W it'll be. Will still have to think about the optical drive and the monitor, but those aren't that important.
The P35-DS3R is perfectly well cooled enough, I've had one, and many of the users here still do - the only reason I sold mine was to swap to a board that has two PCI express slots. It's still in use in a friend's PC, and his old Gigabyte board is still in use in another friend's PC - the reliability of Gigabyte stuff seems superfluous in this price range.
