New system help, Let your fantasies flow!

Right.. I am so unschooled in these things.. yet I want a killer rig and I really need some help with picking the components!

First things first: this is a gaming rig. Total of like €2200+/-, may be some more if you give me an absolutely stunning setup.

Thus I decided to go with an E8500 processor, or anything of the same price range if you think its better. If OCing, I want it to be extremely durable while still atleast in the 3.5ghz range.

Now one of the lighter questions, the video card.
I am thinking of price-range; ATI 4870, GTX285. Do you think these cards are wise?

8gb of memory is probably fine, but again i know nothing about memory.. Would I need alot more in the future? I know Vista sucks memory like a vampire and I keep alot of programs running while gaming.

The motherboard does not need room for improvement, just handle the rest perfectly and OCing the processor to 4ghz would be pleasant.

Thats about my essential requirements, for a harddisk 320-500gb would be enough.. I have over 100gb of music and over time I'd aquire about 150gb of games, so 320 is about the minimum.. Work and college stuff I save on an external drive.

Network card needs to be able to handle all the traffic very well and all that blabla. Cd drives need to work without flaws obviously, housing will probably be picked by myself so I'd like it if you posted any necessary information about requirements please!


Any questions I will answer asap!

THANK YOU x5000 IN ADVANCE FOR POSTING! I don't know where else to go and all those reviews on the internet make my head spin.

 

Here you go:

Case: Antec nine hundred
Motherboard: EVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLI 775 A1 Version Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16GHz) Socket 775 Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed ProcessorIntel Core 2 Duo E8500 (3.16GHz) Socket 775 Wolfdale 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Graphics Card: EVGA GTX280 SSC SuperSuperClocked Edition 1GB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PhysX and Cuda ready PCI-E Graphics Card
RAM: Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1800MHz Dominator Memory With Fan
Power Supply: Enermax Revolution 1250W PSU - 91% Efficiency Certification
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI-Express - OEM
Hard Drive 1: VELOCIRAPTOR 300GB 16MB - SATA 3GB/S 10000RPM 3.5IN
Hard Drive 2: Western Digital WD3200AAKS 320GB SATAII 16MB Cache 7200 RPM - OEM

 

I thank you very much for your post! A single question, 280gtx? money-issues?
Aside from that this is a very nice buildup from what I can see!

 

After doing a little bit of research, I can't find that sound card OEM.
Also, theres a II(2) version of the case.. is that better? for a meager 20 I would certainly take it.
Also, the GTX280 doesnt fit in the case.. ><

Network card, would it be wise to get one?

The system is fully operational with those components right?

 

Sorry for posting again(why cant I edit?), but I'd like to add to the previous post that the processor needs two fans. not to mention the powerhouse GTX285 super superclocked needing an additional fan.

 

Right, so I'm looking for a case with two fans and an additional fan for the video card. Any ideas? I really like this setup.

 

The Antec nine Hundred has a few case fans built in, and provision for more.

As for the GTX280, I was doing a money-no-object search.

I think it would be possible to cut it back to this:

Gigabyte GTX260 896MB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDCP HDTV out PhysX and Cuda ready PCI-E Graphics Card

 

Im sorry, I actually meant to ask if the 280 pick was due money issues of my given limit. I was actually aiming for the 285 or 4870x2.

I've read alot of reviews on the 790i's.. They seem to be full of crap and to my eyes they are extremely overpriced for what they offer..

The rest I pretty much exceedingly like!

 

I must admit I have not priced anything, but for 2200EUR I don't think prices will be an issue.

As for the graphics card, maybe this would be more to your liking:
PNY GeForce GTX295 1792MB PCI-Express Graphics Card

 

Right, last issue then! The motherboard..

I've set my eyes on Intel, due to the instability of the nVidia mobos. But, what would you guys recommend, quad or dual? I must say I like dualcore more for gaming, but the 775 socket is really limiting in my opinion. Should I go for a completely different mobo, like an AMD3? or actually go quad with the 1366 socket, or maybe even stick to the 775 sockets. What is the big difference between these, and are the 1366 actually alot better than the 775 ones?

 

The 1366 are better than the 775, but the processors are only just at the 3GHz range. Also, they are very expensive. You might end up spending 1000EUR on the processor and Mobo alone.

As for the processors, Intel are currently better than AMD at performance processors,. which is why I recommend Intel right now. A quad core will be faster for things like video editing etc, but most games are not yes optimised for quad core. A quad core will work with them, but maybe not as efficiently as a dual core.

however, quad cores are more likely to be future proofed.

Big dilema:yum

 

I just built a new system based on the Core i7 920 and ASUS P6T Deluxe mobo.
Combination was approximately 600 USD. Might take a look at that arena.
I haven't tried overclocking but from what I have read , you can easily get higher clocks with a better HSF for the processor.
My 2 cents.

 

+1 for velociraptor for boot drive/programs- I'd go with a 1TB cavier for a storage drive- then you have room to backup the raptor- besides, hard drives are cheap right now