I currently have an "ok" system (amd 64 3000+, x1950 256mb, 1gb ddr, azuntech x-plosion, vista).
I want to upgrade to 4gb, but cant bring myself to spend money on outdated ddr memory, so am having to get a new motherboard, which in turn entails a new CPU and a new graphics card.
My aims are to build a powerful all-round PC. I'll be using it for work 8hrs a day, and don't always have music on so want it to be pretty quiet. In the evenings it'll be a part of my home theatre setup, so again quietness is important. I want to be able to play some games as well, but I'm not going to throw massive money at it to be able to play Crysis etc. In reality although I like the idea of playing games, they tend to bore me pretty quickly these days - I always feel I should be doing something else!
Current selection:
E6750
I was tempted to go for a quad-core, but from what I've read I think the performance gain would be minimal, and they put out quite a lot more heat, which in turn becomes noise to cool it down.
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4
Not really sure how I've ended up at this choice. I've heard good things about P35 and gigabyte. Although I have an auzentech x-plosion I'd like onboard coaxial out in case the sound card dies. I also want to be able to modestly overclock the E6750 to 3GHz-ish. Although I won't be using RAID from the off, it seems silly not to buy it in case I decide to.
G.Skill 4GB DDR2-800 CAS4
Again, I'm kinda poking in the dark here, so I've gone for something mid-range. CAS4 instead of CAS5 is presumably good, but is it worth the 25% price premium I'm paying? I don't think there's any need for me to go over DDR2-800 - that will let me OC the proc to 3.2GHz (8 * 400MHz).
Sparkle 8800 GT passive
Seems a bit overkill if I'm not planning on playing many games, but anything less than an 8800 these days seems a mistake... this model has NO fan on it - apparently they run pretty hot but hopefully with a couple of near-silent 120mm case fans I'll be ok.
Vista 64 Ultimate OEM
I'll be honest, I've been using windows for 15 years or so now, and this will be the first time I've ever paid for it... I just can't be bothered with hacking around everything any more, and never knowing whether a windows update will work etc. Fook it, I'll pay.
Any comments? What should I change? What would YOU change, and why?
cheers
I want to upgrade to 4gb, but cant bring myself to spend money on outdated ddr memory, so am having to get a new motherboard, which in turn entails a new CPU and a new graphics card.
My aims are to build a powerful all-round PC. I'll be using it for work 8hrs a day, and don't always have music on so want it to be pretty quiet. In the evenings it'll be a part of my home theatre setup, so again quietness is important. I want to be able to play some games as well, but I'm not going to throw massive money at it to be able to play Crysis etc. In reality although I like the idea of playing games, they tend to bore me pretty quickly these days - I always feel I should be doing something else!
Current selection:
E6750
I was tempted to go for a quad-core, but from what I've read I think the performance gain would be minimal, and they put out quite a lot more heat, which in turn becomes noise to cool it down.
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4
Not really sure how I've ended up at this choice. I've heard good things about P35 and gigabyte. Although I have an auzentech x-plosion I'd like onboard coaxial out in case the sound card dies. I also want to be able to modestly overclock the E6750 to 3GHz-ish. Although I won't be using RAID from the off, it seems silly not to buy it in case I decide to.
G.Skill 4GB DDR2-800 CAS4
Again, I'm kinda poking in the dark here, so I've gone for something mid-range. CAS4 instead of CAS5 is presumably good, but is it worth the 25% price premium I'm paying? I don't think there's any need for me to go over DDR2-800 - that will let me OC the proc to 3.2GHz (8 * 400MHz).
Sparkle 8800 GT passive
Seems a bit overkill if I'm not planning on playing many games, but anything less than an 8800 these days seems a mistake... this model has NO fan on it - apparently they run pretty hot but hopefully with a couple of near-silent 120mm case fans I'll be ok.
Vista 64 Ultimate OEM
I'll be honest, I've been using windows for 15 years or so now, and this will be the first time I've ever paid for it... I just can't be bothered with hacking around everything any more, and never knowing whether a windows update will work etc. Fook it, I'll pay.
Any comments? What should I change? What would YOU change, and why?
cheers
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