Purchasing a new gaming PC

[Hexon]

I'm guessing this is the right forum to put this in :/

My pc at the moment is reaching the end of its usage and I was really looking to getting a new, top of line gaming pc. Researching however has really confused me :<

I want to try out one of the new quad core cpu's (especially since they dropped in price so dramatically), the new Nvidia board (the nForce 680i SLI board), and as much RAM as possible. I'm also regularly video editting and need the highest performance possible.

Can anyone recommend anything else/better? Its Nvidia's second board released and though there have been some good reviews, I don't know whether it is compatible with quad core processing.

Stressful

 

[CMH]

Well, alot of computer-building threads come here, but they should go into the cooling and modding forum really....

Anyway....

The 680i is one of the best boards out there at the moment, and they're priced so as well, which is why I don't recommend them too often. But if you are going to run SLI, do some overclocking, and willing to pay a considerable premium for the best motherboard out there, the 680i is arguably the best board for you.

However, there are the new P35 boards out there, which may perform equally well. But I'm assuming they're going to be equally priced anyway.

Unless you're going to try to hit the highest overclocks possible, or need something specific available only in the 680i motherboards, I'm going to recommend that you take a look at some of the cheaper motherboards out there. I don't see why you should immediately discount the 650i or the P965 (well, with the P965 I'm not sure how well they support quad core...), and you should definately check out the P35.

 

[Hexon]

Thanks a lot CMH, I'll have a look over those p35 boards.

Also, can you recommend a reliable psu? My local supplier stocks only battery packs and 1 600w server psu.

 

[CMH]

PSUs get a little tricky.

I don't get a huge selection where I live, so I stuck only with Antec. Alot of unfamilliar names come up from other people, and they seem to come up all the time, Fortron (I think) was one thats highly recommended as well.

Depending on what ends up in your system, you'd need anywhere from 400W to 750W PSU. Quad Core should immediately bump that up to at least 500W, and if you're going to get an 8800GTX, make that 650W at least. No point spending 1.5k on a system, to get it blown apart by a $50 PSU (which happens more often than people would like).

 

[Hexon]

Yeah, I guess I should really spend a bit of money on it.
I might start looking around local stores :/

 

[nkid]

i dont know about you but when i looked around my local stores, they really didnt have the right bundles that i was looking for. Dont get me wrong, they were good computers, but i found that i would be spending extra on something in the computer that i didnt think was necessary for my needs.

 

[Hexon]

I'm buying parts individually

 

[nkid]

oh, i was thinking Best Buy or somehting.

 

[nkid]

and HEXON. Just to know a little bit more about you.... How old are you?

 

[CMH]

Buying a fully assembled system isn't one of the best ways to buy a computer. I've looked through tons of bundles, and most of them keep costs down by putting in budget parts. I'll never be caught dead using any of the parts in systems here that cost less than $1000 (well... HDD excepted).

Alot of the time, adding $10 a part will nab you a computer with better quality parts, but this will set you back an extra 75 bux or something, with no real increase in performance. But if you overclock, you'd get much more overclocking mileage out of it. You might get better stability because you've switched out unstable generic RAM to something better. Same goes for PSU/motherboard.

In most cases, you also end up NOT buying a copy of Windows, and you get to install your choice of OS instead, which may save you 200 bux (if you install Linux).

 

[Hexon]

If for some reason anyone would WANT to buy a pre-assembled system, dont just read the front page hype. Look through it all, and chances are you'll find an onboard graphics card with no expansion etc

And I'm 20