Thinking of buying a new computer

[maan84]

I am using my computer/will use this new on for gaming mainly, other than that surfing the web/chat/download large files/watch movies etc...

I am from Sweden, and will buy my parts from here 🙂 Price range is anything from, hmm what is it in $, let's say $900-1500.
I've always prefered Intel and Nvidia, but been reading a lot of good stuff about the new radeon hd4870, so thinking about it. From my current computer I'll be using the dvd/screen/kb etc 🙂

I've been reading threads here and there, not find one exactly alike, read a lot of tips, but thought about this, but wanted to know if maybe another brand on mem/gfx card etc would be better, dunno much about CAS/Latency and all those words for memories, mostly understand FSB and mhz hehe =)

So wonder if all these parts will work good together? Is DDR3 unneccesary? Since FSB on cpu is 1333 and mhz on memories is 1800, and don't really plan to try OC, and was planning on going crossfire, but the price got a bit too high, so thought about 1 good gfx card, or should I get 2 cheaper ones? Etc 🙂



Here are the parts as they are names in the internet store I'm looking at.



Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6 iX48 4DDR3-DIMM 2PCI 5PCIe SATA Raid Audio DUAL GB-LAN Firewire Socket775 ATX

OCZ Platinum EB XTC 2x1GB (tot. 2GB) DDR3 PC3-14400 1800MHz CL8-8-8-24 (2 of those for a total of 4GB)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 3.3GHz 6MB FSB1333 Boxed (with cpu-cooler!) Socket 775

Antec Performance One P190 + 1200 Advanced Super Mid Tower inkl. 2 PSU 1200W (This might be too much? Originally thought of using crossfire) 🙂

Gigabyte Radeon HD4870 512MB GDDR5 TV-out HDTV DUAL DVI RETAIL PCI Express

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000rpm 16MB cache Backplane-ready SATA2



Total price of that is 13 968:- SEK should be like $1600-1700.
Any advice? Critique? Thanks for you help ^_^
I'm very much up to change something so it becomes cheaper, but still get almost the same output when it comes to gaming with settings that it looks really good and be able to alt-tab out and maybe watch a movie and pause it and alt tab back in etc, with no lag at all in the game 🙂

 

[disports]

DDR3 is still not worth it. Might as well get 4 GB (2x2GB) DDR2-800 especially since you're not gonna overclock (G.Skill, Corsair, Mushkin). Western Digital 640 GB is a fine hard drive. You can settle for a cheaper motherboard (Gigabyte P35, Asus P5Q or even cheaper). Since you're not overclocking, you can settle with the stock heatsink. 1200W PSU? wow crazy overkill. You can settle with a Corsair 650TX or something.

 

[maan84]

Thank you for your reply 🙂

Maybe change memories to
Corsair DOMINATOR TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF 2x2GB (tot. 4GB) DDR2 PC2-8500 1066MHz DHX Heat Spreader *WITH AIRFLOW FAN* CL5-5-5-15

Though then I am thinking I can run FSB at 1333? Wouldn't memories that can run that fast be the best? Or maybe I'm not understanding how it works well enough^^ And I'm not sure what the CL5-5-5-15 means etc, seems different with many I check, is higher or lower better?

Also about the harddrive I really like the idea of how fast it is, I am using a Western Digital Raptor 10,000rpm 36gb right now, and unraring a 4gb file for example goes almost 1 min faster than a 7,200rpm, and from what I've read about the new WD it seems crazy fast =P

And you are probably right about the PSU, though about using that when using 2 gfx cards etc, but got too expensive =) If I use a top of the line radeon or nvidia, with similari setup would 5-600W be enough, or more than enough to be safe?

Thanks ^^

 

[maan84]

Posting again =P Been sitting for an hour now looking at reviews and thinking here and there, and decided to go for something cheaper 🙂

This is what I've decided at, anything that might not work together? Also posting 2 video cards, can't decide GTX260 or Radeon 4870 =/ Always liked nVidia.




Lian Li PC-A05A Silver without PSU

Zalman ZM600-HP Modular Power supply 600W ATX2.2 Silent PSU

Asus P5Q-E iP45 4DDR2-DIMM 2PCI 5PCIe SATA Raid Audio DUAL GB-LAN Firewire Socket775 ATX

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz 6MB FSB1333 Boxed (with cpu-cooler!) Socket 775

Corsair DOMINATOR TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF 2x2GB (tot. 4GB) DDR2 PC2-8500 1066MHz DHX Heat Spreader *WITH AIRFLOW FAN* CL5-5-5-15

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD740HLFS 74GB 10000rpm 16MB cache SATA


Leadtek GeForce GTX 260 896MB DDR3 TV-out HDTV DUAL DVI RETAIL PCI Express
or
Asus Extreme Radeon HD4870 512MB DDR5 TV-out HDTV DUAL DVI RETAIL PCI Express



Would all this work better? Also a lot cheaper, 9500:- SEK, or $1190

 

[disports]

4870 is good. You'll be fine with DDR2-800 ram as it's cheaper and besides you're not overclocking. Besides if you do happen to overclock, you can try and overclock it. If not, get DDR2-1000 ram.

 

[Roguestar]

Seems like your setup has much improved since the original post.

The Corsair Dominator DDR2-1066 is overkill, get yourself any cheap set of DDR2-800 that you can find, and they will do more than well enough for your needs.

The WD Velociraptor has a $/GB level that I just can't abide, unless you're maxing out every other component and have money to spare; I recommend checking out the Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black, instead. Performance just shy of the Velociraptor and many times the storage.

I'd go for the 4870 given your choices.

Haven't heard anything about Zalman PSUs, though given their products in cases and cooling they're probably at least of decent quality. I'd recommend something like the Corsair 520HX if you want a modular power supply.

 

[maan84]

Thanks for the help everyone ^_^ So this is what I ordered today;

Lian Li PC-A05A Silver without PSU

Zalman ZM600-HP Modular Power supply 600W ATX2.2 Silent PSU

Asus P5Q-E iP45 4DDR2-DIMM 2PCI 5PCIe SATA Raid Audio DUAL GB-LAN Firewire Socket775 ATX

OCZ nVIDIA SLI XTC 2x2GB (tot. 4GB) DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz EPP CL5-4-4-15

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz 6MB FSB1333 Boxed (with cpu-cooler!) Socket 775

Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 1GB GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0, 2xDVI/HDMI/HDCP



Only concern is the memories say SLI ready nvidia on them, but guessing that's just to show that they are good for sli builds? Since I'll use a radeon and mobo is crossfire compatible, if I ever want to upgrade in the future so I can buy another gfx card the same. And If I ever try to OC I'll see if the memories work, read a lot of good stuff about them ^_^

Ended up at 7900sek / around $980. Oh and decided to use the HD I have in my current computer, its a WD Raptor 10,000rpm also, just the older model ^^ I'm hoping it's fast enough =P