New PC time. Some advice please.

[PinkoCommie]

I've always built my own PC's, but I haven't kept up with the scene in the last couple of years, so I haven't got a clue whats good these days.

It will be used as a gaming machine, and I won't replace it for a couple of years, so will spend a decent amount on it (£1500 or so), I have case and PSU (1000W). Current video card is an 8800GTS, so that needs replacing.

I already have a bunch of hard drives that'll do me for general storage, but I'll probably want to put a couple of 1 TB's in as a mirrored array.

AMD or Intel for processor?

ATI or NVidia for video card?

I'm probably never going to overclock it, but it would be nice to have the options at the mobo level.

I assume 4GB of RAM is good enough these days, or should I go the whole hog and shove 8 in?

Thoughts?

 

[Steve2004]

I've just spent about £1.5k on a gaming machine (first time I'd ever built one myself) a couple of weeks ago.

I went for:

Intel CPU, a core i7. Much better than any AMD offering at the moment IMO. So I'd definately be looking at them. I wanted to overclock so I bought the cheapest i7 (the 2.66ghz 920) which I've pushed to 3.7ghz on air no problems. I know you said you didn't want to overclock, but these chips really are easy to OC.

If you're going i7 you'll need a X58 motherboard with a LGA 1366 socket, no others are compatible. I went for an Asus p6t deluxe v2.

As for graphics card you've got quite a choice. I opted for a Nvidia GTX 295, which is a bit of a beast tbh and is currently the most powerful single card available. ATI do some good cards such as the Radeon 4870x2, but for your budget I'd recommend a GTX 295.

As for RAM, if you're going i7 then you can (and should) use tri-channel (so 3gb/6gb/9gb etc instead of 4gb/8gb). I went for 6gb as 3gb isn't quite enough but 9/12 is overkill at the moment IMO.


Hope this helps.

 

[PinkoCommie]

tri-channel? wow I have been out of the loop for a while.

I'll take a look into that and the motherboard you recommended.

Cheers.

 

[Greeny.]

I've just spent about £1.5k on a gaming machine (first time I'd ever built one myself) a couple of weeks ago.

I went for:

Intel CPU, a core i7. Much better than any AMD offering at the moment IMO. So I'd definately be looking at them. I wanted to overclock so I bought the cheapest i7 (the 2.66ghz 920) which I've pushed to 3.7ghz on air no problems. I know you said you didn't want to overclock, but these chips really are easy to OC.

If you're going i7 you'll need a X58 motherboard with a LGA 1366 socket, no others are compatible. I went for an Asus p6t deluxe v2.

As for graphics card you've got quite a choice. I opted for a Nvidia GTX 295, which is a bit of a beast tbh and is currently the most powerful single card available. ATI do some good cards such as the Radeon 4870x2, but for your budget I'd recommend a GTX 295.

As for RAM, if you're going i7 then you can (and should) use tri-channel (so 3gb/6gb/9gb etc instead of 4gb/8gb). I went for 6gb as 3gb isn't quite enough but 9/12 is overkill at the moment IMO.


Hope this helps.

Good advise here!

If you where looking to spend less then have a look into the new Intel Lynnfields coming out soon as these are meant to match the Low end i7's and only use dual channel ram rather than Tri channel. Some say Intel might phase out the i7 920's when the lynnfields are realsed as the performance is so similar but cheaper.

Also the Radeon 4870x2 has recently come down to around £240 which is a bargin for this beast of a card. DX11 cards will be out soonish? I think, ive not read a great deal about them tbh but might be worth looking into.

 

[Darren S]

I've just spent about £1.5k on a gaming machine (first time I'd ever built one myself) a couple of weeks ago.

I went for:

Intel CPU, a core i7. Much better than any AMD offering at the moment IMO. So I'd definately be looking at them. I wanted to overclock so I bought the cheapest i7 (the 2.66ghz 920) which I've pushed to 3.7ghz on air no problems. I know you said you didn't want to overclock, but these chips really are easy to OC.

If you're going i7 you'll need a X58 motherboard with a LGA 1366 socket, no others are compatible. I went for an Asus p6t deluxe v2.

As for graphics card you've got quite a choice. I opted for a Nvidia GTX 295, which is a bit of a beast tbh and is currently the most powerful single card available. ATI do some good cards such as the Radeon 4870x2, but for your budget I'd recommend a GTX 295.

As for RAM, if you're going i7 then you can (and should) use tri-channel (so 3gb/6gb/9gb etc instead of 4gb/8gb). I went for 6gb as 3gb isn't quite enough but 9/12 is overkill at the moment IMO.


Hope this helps.

Got to agree with the above. I'm using AMD currently with an ATi 4870 card onboard. However, both nVidia has the edge in the graphics front at the moment - and definitely Intel does in the CPU market.

i7 CPU and nVidia gfx would be what I'd be looking at, new system wise.

D.

 

[Mike_182]

295 Single PCBs are circulating now as well Got one on order for mine - I'm only on a Q6600 though with a couple of flash drives.