Speccing out new PC

[sherer]

Hi

I've got an old coolmaster case sitting at home with nothing in it.. i need a new PC so i'm looking at putting some parts in here to build a new gaming machine for COD and a few other games.. i also have a blackgold DVB-T card so will prob but that in too.. will either run Xp Pro or MCE 2005 as i plan to get a XBOX 360 when the price starts to drop

Here's my list of components so far

Mobo

either

Gigabyte GA-K8NPro

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/produ...oductID=358997

or

Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe 939 NF4 Dual x16 SLi DDR400 SATAII Raid 2xGbE Lan 8Ch Audio

I prefer the Asus board but have seen a few people have bouht these and had problems with them posting.. plus it is abit dearer..

abit worried about the number of PCI slots though as if i have SLi and 2 DVB-T cards not much room for anything else

AMD Athlon 64 Socket 939 Dual Core 4200 + 1MB 'Manchester' Retail

GFX Card

i know ATI cards are probably better but i prefer the N-Vidia mobos.. snot really too sure on what would be better here a single card or 2 SLi ones

ATM am thinking of 2 of these

256Mb XFX PCI-E 6800GS SLi Extreme XXX Edition GDDR3 ViVo Tv Out, D-Sub, DVI, HDTV

Any advice on the GFX card would be great as that could end up be a performance stopper if i get the wrong one.. and end up being an expensive mistake

will put in 4 GB or Crucial PC 3200 RAM

2 Sata II maxtor HDDs prob 200 to 300 GB

just need some advice now on PSU and heatsink \ cooling

would like the system to be as quite as possible but need an ATX 2.0 PSU

maybe this one

620W Enermax Liberty Modular Series SLi - ELT620AWT aPFC ATX2.2 2xPCI-E 4xSATA 12cm Quiet Fan

but any advice would be great

[Gareth]

My initial thoughts are that I wouldn't necessarily go for 4Gb of RAM, but would knock that down to 2Gb and use the saving to buy a slightly faster CPU... not that I'm suggesting the one you've chosen is a bad one, but I would possibly go for 4800+ if you can afford it.

Only other thing that I'm wondering about is whether I'd go for one mutt's nuts graphics card, a la 7800GTX instead of 2 x less powerful cards.

2 gig ram go crossfire mobo x1900 gfx and as Gareth says a 4800 or a 4200 at least.If you want better memory performance buy some nice xms4000 will clock nicely then
Coolermaster do some nice cases
Suck air in from the from bottom of case and out top rear
I like the hiper modular powersupplies

edit memory here top one http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Corsair_XMS.html

[sherer]

will have a look at a 4800 CPU.. was thinking i might get better performance from a dual core 4200

would be nice if AMD made the names easier rather than San Diego, Venice etc

the only cross fire mobo i've seen is the Asus MVP but not a great fan of that board

also need to get a TFT one that supports 1080p HD as only got a VGA monitor..

look on overclockers at the dfi lan party or the sapphire crossfire boards mmmmmm the 4800 is a dual core cpu

---------- Post added at 16:40 ---------- Previous post was at 16:40 ----------

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Socket_939.html

---------- Post added at 16:41 ---------- Previous post was at 16:40 ----------

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Sapphire.html

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

look on overclockers at the dfi lan party or the sapphire crossfire boards mmmmmm the 4800 is a dual core cpu

Just make sure it works on your mobo before buying it!

[Gareth]

Oh, didn't it work, Rammy?

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by Gareth

Oh, didn't it work, Rammy?

Not tried it/hasn't arrived yet but I'm going to give it a miss......see the thread.....

[sherer]

thanks for the advice on the ATI stuff but i think i'm going to stick with the n-vidia gigabyte board.. i've used gigabyte boards loads of times and really like them and find them easy to use

more need advice on the GFX card to put in it.. either SLi or a high end single card plus some info on a good quiet PSU

[sherer]

ok am thinking of getting either two of these

XFX GeForce 6800 GS Extreme XXX Edition 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-056-XF)

Price Price: £124.95 (£146.8 2 Including VAT at 17.5%) from overclockers or

one

Gainward BLISS GeForce 7800 GT "Goes Like Hell" 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GWGFFX7647) (GX-026-GW)

price Price: £219.95 (£258.4 4 Including VAT at 17.5%)

not sure what would work out better

[Paddy1]

How about

256MB XFX PCI-E *Extreme* GF7800GT *450 Core 1.05Ghz Mem* (256bit) ViVo 2xDVI
£171.99/£202.09

from www.scan.co.uk/todayonly

Edit: just noticed the 512MB

Im sorry but im firmly championing the X1900 range of cards massively higher clock speeds

If you have to go with Nvidia I would go full hog and buy a 7800GTX
Don cut corners for the sake of 40 quid here or there

Buy the best you can with the cash you have unless your going to upgrade again next year

[Gareth]

What Zing said... I'd go for something from the X1900 range over an nvidia card if I had the cash. Even after the hiccups I've had with getting ATI to play under *nix, I was so impressed by the X1900 that I'm prepared to forgive ATI.

If you're adamant about going with nvidia, then the GTX is better than the GT. I wouldn't bother with the 2 x 6800 option.

If you've got the time and the patience, have a read of this article over at Tom's Hardware, which covers a range of nvidia cards.

[Ramrod]

Check this out!

[handyman]

You need one of these