Getting myself a Game PC

[Dutchsemigamer]

Hello dear computer-gods.
Since awhile it?s come to my attention that my current pc (Laptop) isn?t doing well enough for me, and certainly won?t do well enough for most of today?s games. So far I?ve mainly played WoW (World of Warcraft), but I am planning to start playing some new games, which require a stronger pc. (e.g. Modern warfare, Assasin?s creed) This is why I am thinking of buying a new pc.
Some information about myself:
I live in The Netherlands, so that?s where I will get these parts. My budget varies, of course I would like to be off cheap, but I would also like some quality. Say, 900-1200 euro?s. (1300-1700 dollars, although the difference between Euro and Dollar usually is smaller than the actual currency courses when it comes to computer parts)
I will be using nothing but my own Windows XP OS. I've read several threads on this forum, and I am once again confronted with how less I actually know. I don't think I'll be overclocking, since I know nothing about it.

To the point:
I went to my local PC Freak shop, and they made me a list.
Note: Smart as he is, the vendor didn?t supply me with individual prices. The total sum is ?940, which is around a shocking $1400 (Taxes :< ). This includes installation and assemblage, but it doesn?t include a monitor, a mouse and keyboard and an OS.

List:
Power supply: Recom Power Engine 600 Watt, 20- En 24-pins
Case: TXM12 Cooler Master Centurion 5 Silver ATX
Motherboard: Asus P5K, P35 FireWire, RAID, Gb-LAN, Sound, ATX
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (He murmured something about direct X 10.1, as you can see I?m not that good with computers.
Heatsink/fan for the CPU: I was told It was inbuild in the casing.
Memory: IBIE2M Kingston ValueRAM D2 2GB 800-D2-N5-K2 KIT KVR
Primary hard drive: Hitachi SATA II 400GB HDT72516M(?)
Primary optical drive: AD7170S 18X DVDRW DL SATA
Video card: ATi Radeon HD 3850
Monitor(s): Didn?t include one, but recommended Xxodd 20 Inch TFT Widescreen M2-AABW
Mouse/keyboard: None so far.
Operating System: I have a copy of XP ready for use.
Soundcard: Inbuilt, although he advised me to buy one anyway.

Is this any good?
Also, are there any items you think that are overkill or not good enough?
Any other tips/hints/anything is very welcome.

 

[MarcVenice]

Hmm, I think it's rather expensive for the things you get. The powersupply is of iffy qaulity as well, looks like cheap ddr2 800mhz cas 5 ram, and the videocard is very budgetlike. I think I can do a lot better for 940 euro's. Do you mind ordering online? Because I usually order online, from cool-prices.nl for example. I'll slap something together just so you can have a look.

http://www.cool-prices.nl/Prod...RPM%2016MB%20(HD501LJ) 87 euro 500gb HD.
http://www.cool-prices.nl/Prod...d,%20LAN,%20SATA%20II) goed moederbord, 84 euro.
http://www.cool-prices.nl/Prod...eer%20op%20voorraad%20!!! goed voeding + goede kast, voor 100 euro, niet duur
http://www.cool-prices.nl/Prod...(TWIN2X2048-6400C5DHX) aardig geheugen, kan miss goedkoper, 75 euro
http://www.cool-prices.nl/Prod...20%20%20512-P3-E801-AD betere videokaart dan HD3850, met crysis tegoedbon, dus scheelt je 50 euro ofzo. 260 euro
http://www.cool-prices.nl/Prod...333MHz%20FSB,%20Boxed) Processor, met koeler, 159 euro

That would add up to 765 euro. Add 30 euro's for a dvd writer, and your up to 800 euro's. You could replace the e6750 for a q6600, which costs an extra 50-60 euro's. If you don't plan on upgrading or replacing this pc for another 2-3 years, a q6600 might be a wise idea. If you don't mind replacing the CPU in a year or two though, then it shouldn't be a problem. You can have the system assembled there as well, for 50 euro's. My last suggestion would be this cooler: http://www.cool-prices.nl/Prod...20Pro%20(Socket%20775) It will make your CPU run cooler, and it will be quieter then the standard cooler.

 

[Dutchsemigamer]

Thanks a lot mark, that looks good.
A few things I've noticed, as far as my anti-expertise allows me to notice things:
The HD I was looking at was on a special offer of 80 euro's for 400 GB, is 17 euro's really worth it? Since I doubt I will ever reach the 400 anyway.
Another thing is the videocard. Is it really that much better? He valued the other video card for 180 euro's, so that's 80 euro's more. You mentioned a Crysis tegoedbon, so that would be around 30 euro's increase then?
I'll study it a bit more later on, thanks a lot for the input.

 

[MarcVenice]

Hmm, the 400gb costs 80 euro, the 500gb costs 87 euro's. That's a 7 euro increase, who cares, hehe. And the 500gb is a very good HD, which runs cool and very quiet. Got one myself hehe. The 8800gt 512mb does outperform the HD3850, by QUITE a lot in fact, and you didn't specify wether your HD3850 has 256mb or 512mb of memory, and you definately want one with 512mb. Heres another one: http://www.cool-prices.nl/Prod...1%84HTDP%E2%81%84512MB which is 40 euro's cheaper, but no Crysis tegoedbon, but if you don't like Crysis, that's 40 euro's saved. It's not in stock though, so you might have to wait longer on that one. This is also a decent suggestion: http://www.cool-prices.nl/Prod...E%20-%20BFGR88512GTOCE It's overclocked, only a little though, but it will be a little faster then normal ones, making it even faster then the HD3850. If you want something cheaper, then buy the HD3870 512mb, like this one: http://www.friesland-computers...hop_detail.php?id=2145 or this one: http://www.azerty.nl/producten...933/radeon-hd3870.html

 

[Dutchsemigamer]

Hm, Your right, I got mislead by the 79,95. Stupid
Your right about the videocard, It is a 512 one, for the record. It not being in stock might be a bit of a problem, but we'll see about that. I'm not sure whether I'm going to play Crysis or not, but I have a lot of tegoedbonnen lying in my desk, waiting for a game to come out.
When you talk about an overclocked videocard, what exactly do you mean with that? Or if it's quite complicated, could you redirect me to an article about it? All I know about overclocking is that it makes it work faster, with the risk of it getting hotter.

 

[MarcVenice]

Well, it's factory overclocked, so no need to worry about it running 'to' hot. But the clockspeed has been adjusted, from 600 to 625mhz, and the shaderclock has also been raised a little. There's no risk involved, since it's covered by the warranty. I really suggest getting a HD3870 or a 8800gt over a HD3850 though. It fits the budget, so why not ? And both offer good bang for much, I think even more then the HD3850, which offers less performance for each euro.

 

[Dutchsemigamer]

I'll certainly consider them!

 

[MarcVenice]

Nah, both are nvidia cards, but one is made by Asus, the other by EVGA, or BFG, and there's more ... The 8800gt is made by nvidia so to speak, the chip I mean, and asus and other company's then buy that chip, and place it on a pcb, and sell it under their own brand name. Often the cards are identical though. Asus, EVGA, BFG, XFX all sell Nvidia videocards, and all of those are reliable. The HD3870 is made by ATI, and then gets sold by saphire, peak, asus etc etc.

You were correct, that the asus card is basicaly the same as the EVGA card, with the crysis coupon... And yes the 8800gt is better then the HD3870, but if it's worth the extra money is up to you, both are excellent cards and offer same price/performance levels. If you want more performance, you'll need to spend a little more. But the HD3870 will be pretty good for most games as well, and you're not really a hardcore gamer, so I'm pretty sure you will be really happy with it.

 

[MegaVovaN]

Exactly. Myself I'd get 8800GT since I am a hardcore gamer - but if you aren't as hardcore as me, get HD3870.

 

[Dutchsemigamer]

Thank you I've read a comparisons between the 3870 and the 3850, which tells me the following:
Product score - Price/ score - Price
ATI Radeon HD 3870 - 78.3 - 100.0 - ? 221,31
nVidia GeForce 8800 GT - 86.8 - 97.3 - ? 252,42
ATI Radeon HD 3850 - 57.4 - 93.0 - ? 174,63
The GTX has the 100% score, but the price is too high for me, so I didn't include it.
This tells me that the 3850 is 20% slower than the 3870, but also costs 50 euro's less. I'm not sure wether that's worth it or not, but that's something I'll have to think about.
Also, I am pretty sure the power Supply I mentioned isn't the right one. He put it on his list as a Misc Material with the description 600W, since he doesn't have it in stock. (Or something like that), which might explain the bad quality. I've build the exact same PC as he suggested me on Cool Prices, which got me to 780 euro's without assemblage, 830 with, couldn't find a confirmation that it actually is 50. That is 130 euro's less than his price, excluding installation. (Which shouldn't be that much of a problem, I suppose)

 

[MegaVovaN]

You can install it yourself. If you know how to use a screwdriver, you'll be able to assembly it all yourself.
Just remember a few key things like motherboard must be screwed to "risers" and not directly case itself, that you need to take off plastic covering from the bottom of heatsink, etc.

There are manuals around here that show you exactly how to build a PC from parts, with pictures and descriptions.

 

[MarcVenice]

Nah, building it yourself is easy peasy. Btw, cool-prices has fairly good prices, but azerty for example might have better prices, so don't forget to check it out !!! I use http://tweakers.net/pricewatch to check prices. And honestly, from what I've seen from other gamers, you'd really want a HD3870 or a 8800gt, it will simply last a bit longer, and allows you to play games at good settings for longer then with a HD3850. You don't want that Recom powersupply btw, I picked the antec sonata III for a reason, it looks decent if you ask me, it's pretty quiet, has some nice features, and the powersupply that comes with it, is plenty strong and very reliable. Buying a case and similar Powersupply, will often cost more then 100 euro's ...

 

[Dutchsemigamer]

Ok, awesome. Thanks for the great help so far I'll see what I can find about assembling it myself then.