Fairly high budget, fairly clueless

[tobz1000]

I'm looking to build a high-end computer, able to handle games decently, but hopefully geared more towards playing media and running typical office/editing programs effectively. My budget is £1,000 (about $2,000), or anything less. I already know the processor I want to use (link (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=530347)), and while I'm open to the idea of changing this I'd like to stick to using an Intel quad-core. Any suggestions as to what motherboard/psu/graphics card to use to get the most out of it?

Edit: Oh yeah, I'm buying Vista Ultimate (hopefully but not necessarily to be included in my budget) and possibly running Linux too. Aiming for 2GB of RAM. All replies are greatly appreciated.

[tobz1000]

No responses... :( *bump*

[Cricket]

You may not have gotten responses because you want to use the Core2Quad processor...we don't know much about those yet.

You may want to look over the other "Build My Own Computer" threads in this forum to help get you started. Just remember that you want to stick with good quality parts for this build.

:) Cricket

[tobz1000]

You may not have gotten responses because you want to use the Core2Quad processor...we don't know much about those yet.

You may want to look over the other "Build My Own Computer" threads in this forum to help get you started. Just remember that you want to stick with good quality parts for this build.

:) Cricket

Hmm... you're probably right; thanks for the advice! I might just end up looking for a quad-core workstation someone else has made and use their config :p

cheers

[Mr.Ferrari]

For the motherboard check out the P5K Deluxe (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-236-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913)

Memory: CS VS DDR2 667 2GB (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-097-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=144) or if you plan on overclocking in the future, Corsair XMS2 C5 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-092-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813)

Video: EVGA 8800GTX (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-031-EA&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=877)

HDD: Your choice as far as space goes, but stick to the Seagate 7200.10 SATA series.

Optical: Liteon sata (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=568839)

PSU: Corsair 520w (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-005-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=823)

Cases: Your choice. Just make sure its ATX.

Onboard sound included (mobo), if you ever wish to upgrade that, go with a X-Fi series sound card.

You can customize that list to suit your needs.

[tobz1000]

For the motherboard check out...

Thank you so much! With the HDD and case I want it's just over £1000, which is fine. I chose the normal memory as overclocking scares me...

Thanks again :D

[perkster]

what i will say is that that processor is in the planned intel price cuts due in july, so if you really want to build a system with it, wait til end of july to save about 50% on the cost of it.

[Mr.Ferrari]

And in addition to that, if you want to save some money without loosing all that much performance or ability, then go with the 8800GTS videocard and the vanilla P5K.

[jer888]

You may want to wait on the quad core thing. Not only is there going to be a price drop, but the current Intel quad cores are just two Core 2 Duo's put together, and they have to communicate through the Front Side Bus, while the new quad cores coming out at the end of this year and beginning of next year will communicate with eachother directly. The P5k is Penryn ready I think (Intels next generation of CPU's). Also, you probably don't need quad core yet, since most apps arn't even multithreaded for duel core.

[Mr.Ferrari]

You may want to wait on the quad core thing. Not only is there going to be a price drop, but the current Intel quad cores are just two Core 2 Duo's put together, and they have to communicate through the Front Side Bus.
They communicate through the in house PSB (processor system bus=the dies and cache), the FSB is the relay between the CPU (2 dies included), Memory, and Northbridge. Atleast thats my understanding, do correct me if im mistaken.

Nonetheless there will be a good performance boost with having a native quad core all into one die. Less heat and lower power consumption too.

You could just stick a placeholder in there for now, or you could wait until July 22nd and get the Q6600 for half the price, $266.

[tobz1000]

Thanks for all the help - I really appreciate it. I'm gonna stick to what I was using before, but wait for the price cut in July and see how much of a different it makes here in the UK. I've already managed to bring the price down about £100 by buying everything (except graphics) from scan.co.uk.