New Gaming Rig - Building Advice??

[Tiger69]

Hey. I am new to the forum and im hoping to get a new system. I was hoping that people could give me some advice as whether to build it myself or not. Bear in mind that i have never built a computer before but i do study A-Level ICT aswell as A-Level Electronics, and im generally very good with computers. Additionally i have a brother who works for Intel and im sure he could help. The reason i ask is because i live in Northern Ireland and i got a system built for me 1 1/2 years ago by (what i thought was) as reputable company - who couldnt get it working and hadn't a clue what was wrong, so i ended up getting a refund. As of now this company has went bust and i dont know of any good system builders around Belfast. I dont wanna buy a pre-build computer coz i wanna choose my own parts, and i dont wanna buy from the likes of alienware or mesh because i prefer to deal with people face-to-face rather than people in another country over the phone. Custom building is the only option.

Im pretty sure i am capable of reading a few step-by-step guides and component manuals and putting the system together, its just installing all the drivers and configuring the system to work properly that i think would pose a problem. I was wondering if i am at the right forum for asking setup questions about stuff like that, would i be able to find help with problems i encounter?

I hope that i havent bored people with my essay - but ill prolly be spending £2000+ on this system and i dont wanna go ahead and buy the parts, screw it up and not be able to find any help.

Any advice would be appreciated. Here is the list of components i hope to get. I hope people can help me initially by maybe spotting any possible compatability issues etc with the components i have chosen:

PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 Express / SLI
ASUS A8N32 SLI Deluxe
AMD 64 X2 4400
Zalman CNPS9500 LED
Corsair TwinX 2048 - 3500LLPRO
2x XFX GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB (SLI)
Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Extreme Music
NEC ND-4551A
NEC DVD-ROM
NEC Floppy
Maxtor Diamondmax 10 80GB SATA II
Maxtor Diamondmax 10 300GB SATA II
Windows XP Home SP2

Finally, can anyone recommend any decent cases? Also does anybody have a website address for any people suppling the PCP&C Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 Express / SLI in the UK?

Thanks every1
Tiger69

 

[PSUstoekl]

Woah, woah, woah. First, are you sure that SLI is really what you need (is your monitor at least 1600x1200?). Since I see you have both 2GB of RAM and a dual-core processor, I must assume that you do extensive video editing, or workstation-type stuff like that. Otherwise, A dual core would be unnecessary much less 2GB of RAM (I speak from experience, 2 gigs isn't what it seems, maybe a 3-4% boost in performance). Re-evaluate a bit.

 

[GreyMittens]

... and think twice before asking your brother for advice if you go AMD


Edit: and no disrepect meant towards PSUstoekl but I *would* go for 2gb of ram. This is by far the biggest bang for your buck, and with the price of memory right now, I don't understand why any system would be made without 2 gb. For gaming especially, I know BF2 made a big leap in performance for me going from 1gb to 1.5gb and my pals that have 2gb seem that much quicker.

I agree though with the dual SLI cards, they may be overkill unless you have money to burn, while it doesn't appear that you are on a budget here, perhaps evaluate the merit of either 1gtx or 2 gt's in sli.

 

[Tiger69]

hey. Yes my monitor can go up to 1600x1200 and i dont intend on getting the second 7800GTX untill a few months afterwards, to let the price fall a bit. I have went for 2GB of RAM because some of the new games, and indeed neare future games are going to be using more than 1GB of memory, so rather ive opt'd for 2GB so im prepared for future games. This system is hopefully going to last me a good few years, so 2GB is a sensible option in my opinion. As for the Dual Core Processor, i dont edit video, but aside from games i would run alot of apps simultaneously on my comp. Its the same as the RAM, future programs will be produced to make use of dual core processors so i want to avail of that technology now by getting a dual core. Its either that or an FX-55 so i decided to go dual core.

Thanks m8,
Tiger69

 

[LOUISSSSS]

you said you want 2gbs ram for later on, then why not buy the other 1gb later on when it gets cheaper? a case i recommend for all your upscale parts would be a Lian-Li Midtower (PC-v1000, pc-v1200) or a full tower (pc-v2000).

 

[Tiger69]

lol d'ya greymittens that never once occurred to me =)

Im sure he wont care - he'll be as eager as i will to get this up and running.

Tiger69

 

[Tiger69]

the RAM isnt costing me that much. I dont think id save much by waiting. May aswell just buy them now.

Thankyou
Tiger69

 

[DefRef]

C-Net did a test of AMD X2s vs. Intel dual-cores and AMD beat Intel in every category by a good margin. AMD is the only way to go.

 

[royalk4]

I wouldnt' get XFX GPUs I would go with 1. eVGA 2. Leadtek 3. BFG 1000000000. XFX. I've not heard one good review about the quality of components they use, and hear they are rather cheap low end components.

 

[Tiger69]

Oh i was going with AMD no matter what. Best for gaming IMO and as u say, are currently ahead of intel as far as benchmarks are concerned.

XFX - Cheap components? I never knew that, ud like to think they put quality components in their cards seeings as they're one of the dearest. Ill bear it in mind thhx.

 

[zagood]

XFX has come a long way in the last year, their warranty is much better, and better customer support. eVga and BFG are always good, LeadTek I've heard more bad things about recently.

-z

 

[Finns14]

Parts for all those video cards are very similar why I chose my eVGA was because of the life time warranty even when OC'd. I've never once been sold on the SLI idea because like you most ppl say "I got the sli board so in the future I can upgrade" well if you look at past cards one 7800GT or even more so with the GTX beats 2 6800 SLI and do I think that trend will continue in the futur YES! Your better off selling your card and putting that towards a newer card rather than going SLI you will save money and see better performance. (Probably) As far as CPU's go if you have enough money then sure go X2 or dual core opteron if not go with an 146 opteron. To me when most ppl say I will be running alot of things at once to me that means like AIM, itunes, and word at the same time(maybe burning a CD too) taks suck as these really don't demand the power of an X2 but thats just my 2 cents.

 

[Tiger69]

Yeah i guess thats a fair enough point about SLI. I guess having the SLI MOBO gives me the choice anyways.

Thx
Tiger69

 

[Finns14]

Yeah I was just saying you could save money and go with a better ocing non SLI mobo and put more money towards other parts. Plus I dunno how much you want to spend on MOBO's anyway because in the some what near future there is a new MOBO type but I dunno how prevelent it will be.


Oh yeah and welcome to the forums

 

[Tiger69]

thx for the advice m8 but i think ill stick mobo.

 

[Finns14]

WOW that MOBO is $230 not including shipping!!! Thats more than my CPU and RAM combined but hey to each their own.

 

[Tiger69]

well £150 over here in the UK