atm for games dual core is better than quad cos the cores can run faster which mean the threads which run the games are faster until developers write games with more threads e.g. Crysis.
GPU is tricky depends really on your view of value/performance/longevity/DirectX10(Vista).
I've just bought a top of the range GPU, its like the fastest on the market but its shite value for money. EVGA have a stepup program which is useful if a new product is released 90days from your purchase like the ATi R600 series or Nvidia 8900/8950 which aren't out yet.
Like me Apoc you have a problem by liking FPS games
_________________
"But its written in the starlight,
And every line on your palm
Were fools to make war
On our brothers in arms"
ok looks like I might need to do this sooner than later. Fatal you mentioned you could save me £££'s on building a top spec comp... lets have it then big boy, show me what you can do.
Yea, BBT I'm going for the best to kinda of future proof myself for a few years. Also cooling will (obviously) be a big thing as well.
while ordering the parts online you can safe alot of cash IF you have someone to put it all together for you in your area .
no use ordering a expensive part cheap over the internet if you brake it by making a shortcircuit while screming in the screws to hard .
if you want a gamers rig then build your rig around your gfx card . pick a good value one that can support most changes for the next years . then go select a motherboard that supports that card perfectly .
if you select RAM memory go for enough and at a speed that will also cover the grow the next years . dual is a good choice but remember you only have 4 slots and at the very least you need two slots for that so buy 2 ramcards with enough capacity .
2 X 1 gigs is overkilll now but in the next years to come ???? and its cheaper to go for two slots 1 gig then 2 X 512 and again 2 X 512 later.
you save now but if the standard becomes 3gig ram you ll have useless RAM cards if you ever want to pass 2 gigs
( all depends on how many years the rig should do for gaming )
i always say its no use making a highway from your processor if you send all the traffic over a rural road .
processor : dont gonna go into amd intel discussion , get what you trust , i still use intel but AMD has made some serius processors lately too . go for one that is killer now ( look at the limits of your motherboard !!! ) but can be pimped later on if you find someone who knows how to do it for you .
if gfx card , processor , motherboard and ram are good the rest is up to taste .
dvd writers and harddisks can be reused , just like any periphals ( mouse , keyboard , printer ) i usually use my old harddisk as second slave drive and a new BIG one a master harddisk ( games will grow in the future 1.4gig COH )
ok click on that link and scrolldown, you will see a custom build your own comp section. Now it's filled with stuff I just have no idea about... So if anyone could spare the time to have a look for me.
To give you an idea.. I want dual 8800 Ultra's (or even settle for one 8800 ultra) so go from there and build around the dual graphics. This is to give me a much better idea of what I want cos I'm not sure at this point exactly what I need. I way too behind in the tech knowledge stakes...
so with the card in mind, Cooling to handle it, a fast harddrive, basically no bottlenecks. Don't worry about bits that ask colours.
The new Intel P35 motherboard/chipset is due out soon, I would aim for that if I were you.
Asus Striker Extreme has a bad reputation.
http://www.beastcomputers.co.uk/ These guys make good gaming rigs, but they aint cheap... look at the parts & spec to get some idea for your own setup.
Bear in mind you are going to want Windows Vista Ultimate for DirectX10 and media center support.
FYI Nvidia SLI doesn't work on Vista yet.
If you choose the 64bit version (like me), you can use over 4GB of RAM either now or in the future. But the 64bit version is very fussy about drivers and potentially at greater risk for software incompatibility which includes games unfortunately.
_________________
"But its written in the starlight,
And every line on your palm
Were fools to make war
On our brothers in arms"
What can i say..... Cheapest high quality parts around. I built Clarissa from there... and a mates PC. Plus their warehouse is near to you Apoc so you can avoid shipping/postal charges by picking the parts up. They will also replace any duff parts and help you get it working for when it all goes wrong.
On a side note I'd say a new HDD is important... the speed at which they can deliver data matters too, and there is considerable variation between HDD's.
www.overclockers.co.uk (not always the cheapest, but very good range of products with a great forum for hardware advice)
www.scan.co.uk (scan's today only offers are hard to beat, scan also carries good stock levels often the 1st major supplier in the UK to get new parts)
I used to use www.dabs.co.uk but it has changed ownership recently and although it is cheap there is NO sales support of any kind! so don't shop there.
There are a couple of UK suppliers that specialise in water cooling you can find them on google.
_________________
"But its written in the starlight,
And every line on your palm
Were fools to make war
On our brothers in arms"
alrite time to put my 2 sense in....
WC is hard to maintain and can be costly if broken.. the antec 900 gaming case as enough airflow in it to cool just about anything... i got a comp at work running 2 geforce 8800 in sli, 2 hard drives raided and an intel core 2 duo extreme with 2 gbs of ram... the cpu fan still shuts off even with the fans on the lowest setting...
as for a card setup i would suggest that you go 2 cards rather than 1... sli will trample any single card that is out atm... so what i am saying is it is better to go 2 geforce 8800 with 640 compared to 1 geforce ultra... the sli will give you better performance hands down....
the faster the hard drive the better... the 10000 rpm raptors just came out with a 120 gb hdd... i havent had much experience with the 10000 rpm so i can not say if their better or not than the 7200.... to keep in mind though the solid state hard drives are on the verge of being released and those will dominate any normal hard drive out now... expect them around the same time next year i believe is the estimated date ( i could be wrong though) the ram and all that people have had good suggestions that i cant top...
vista ultimate is the key idea to get right now... it may be buggy but it will eventually become great... and allow the sli and all that.. while you got your check book out you might as well spend all that you can....
if your looking for a good sight newegg.com has really good deals going on.... you can call them to arrange an international shipment... problem is you may be paying a normal price because of shipping charges so you would have to research that...
if i have forgotten anything i will add it later in another post but to recap... case antec nine hundred series http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
a pair of 8800 compared to just 1
and a decent hard drive of at least 7200 rpm.....
_________________
--So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.
i could be wrong.... but last time i checked you just couldnt do it online... you had to call with the part numbers ready to order and all that stuff to do it over the phone
_________________
--So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.
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