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Need some advise on my PC build project

S

seiryu76

Junior Member
I have read through the "Attention System Builders" topic and have some idea on my PC components. Any input will be greatly appreciated.


1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Mainly, gaming

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
$1000 - $1200

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
I live in Singapore

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
I'm no fanboy, I much prefer performance/price

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
mostly minor stuff, like monitor, keyboard/mouse, HD

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
Yes, I follow the "Attention System Builders" topic

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Don't know yet, I do not plan on OC right of the bat but will consider it in the future

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
ASAP

I'm thinking of getting:
CPU : Q9550
GPU: Radeon HD 4870 1GB
Casing: Coolermaster Cosmos
Power Supply: Antec earthwatts EA500 500W ATX12V v2.0 Power Supply 100
CPU Fan: ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm

Please help me pick out the Motherboard, and RAM

I want my PC to be future proof, meaning I want to be able to upgrade to DDR3 in the future and Crossfiring my Radeon

Thank you in advance

Cheers..
 
Forget future proofing, it really is just a myth. As you move up the performance food chain your performance per dollar spent goes way down and the performance gains you do get are typically only seen in benchmarks.

Crossfiring is a right-now solution and I think you'll see single card solutions become to norm again in the not too distance future (history shows us that, look at Voodoo).

I'll now get off my soap box and give some feedback.

CPU - Overkill for gaming. The Core2Duo is the way to go for games and the E8400 seems to be the sweet spot
GPU - High end but probably a good choice for games like Crysis
Case - Personal preference here, but that is certainly a nice choice
Power Supply - I'd suggest a modular Corsair in the 600W range
Fan - I like the Zalman 9500

Stuff you don't have listed:
Hard drive - 640GB Western Digital is the best bang for your buck
RAM - 2x4GB DDR2, get a speed that will give you some overclocking headroom
Motherboard - Asus P5Q I think is the one people like right now
 
P5Q Pro*
For the price of the Zalman 9500, you might as well get the Tuniq Tower 120 or something similar.
 
Once again:
Gaming = dual core. Get a faster dual core than spending money on a quad core that is slower, and will have three cores going to waste.

Don't bother with DDR3.

The Zalman 9500 is nice but it's outperformed by quite a few coolers in its price range.
 
Thank you for your great input. I have done some research and read some review, this is the configuration I'm aiming for:

All price quoted on Singapore Dollars

Casing: Coolermaster Cosmos : $389
GPU: ASUS HD4870 1GB : $426
CPU+MB Combo : E8400 + P5Q PRO : $461
RAM: 4GB KINGSTON DDR2-800 : $96
PSU: Coolermaster 650W : $110

Let me know what you think.

Thanks in advance
 
Originally posted by: seiryu76
Thank you for your great input. I have done some research and read some review, this is the configuration I'm aiming for:

All price quoted on Singapore Dollars

Casing: Coolermaster Cosmos : $389
GPU: ASUS HD4870 1GB : $426
CPU+MB Combo : E8400 + P5Q PRO : $461
RAM: 4GB KINGSTON DDR2-800 : $96
PSU: Coolermaster 650W : $110

Let me know what you think.

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...


Looks good to me, but you seriously don't sound like an enthusiast user so the case seems very overkill.. Pick a cheaper case like the Coolermaster CM690 or Antec P182 and spend the extra money on 8GB of memory.

Unless ofcourse I'm wrong and you intend to OC the crap out of that E8400 and install Watercooling and whatnot, and you need the big full-featured case for that..
 
No, I'm not

I'm not even a fan of OC, but like I said, I prefer to "future proof" my parts.

My upgrading cycle is 4 years, and the current case that I'm using, I bought it way back in 2000! =)

I'm just attached to my hardware, I don't like upgrading every 2/3 years.

So with that case, my future option remains open, I can even upgrade to water cooling if necessary. I also read a whole bunch of review of that case and I think I'm in love especially with its one button cd drive bay installation.
 
Originally posted by: seiryu76
Thank you for your great input. I have done some research and read some review, this is the configuration I'm aiming for:

All price quoted on Singapore Dollars

Casing: Coolermaster Cosmos : $389
GPU: ASUS HD4870 1GB : $426
CPU+MB Combo : E8400 + P5Q PRO : $461
RAM: 4GB KINGSTON DDR2-800 : $96
PSU: Coolermaster 650W : $110

Let me know what you think.

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Looking very good.
 
Originally posted by: seiryu76
I'm not even a fan of OC, but like I said, I prefer to "future proof" my parts.
Click to expand...

You are paying an awful lot to "future proof" your case, if such a thing is even possible. :disgust:

None of us really want or expect a form-factor standard change (like ATX/BTX), but it wouldn't make the Cosmos any more "future proof" than a CM690 or Antec case.

Just say you love the style of the Cosmos and are willing to pay for it. 🙂

 
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