Building a PC in the next month or so, need some advice.

Ok... going to be building a decent machine in the next few weeks. I know what im doing as far as building pc's, its just i have been out of the loop on current tech for awhile. Im Looking to spend around 1500 bucks, can go over a tad but would like to stay in that area. Dont need a monitor as i have a decent one but i do need windows vista.

What i had in mind thus far.....

GPU.... I want to go high end here, was looking into the 4870 x2 but honestly im not sure as it may leave me lacking in other areas. Im used to nvidia so i might be better off with a single gtx280... Im not resolution freak.

Mobo... No idea here, i know crap about gaming mobos.

CPU.... Was looking at this one... Not really sure here either. Is quad core being used alot in current games? Also hows AMD's Processors compared to intle right now? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115017

Cpu fan.... Agian depend what i choose.... I dont overclock for the most part but i dont like stock fans...

Ram will depend on the mobo...

Case, was looking into the Antec 900 as i have heard alot of good things about it.

PSU... this is what i had in mind. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

Hard drives, Disc drives etc... Dont matter much... I figure i will get a 500gig for storage and a smaller drive for windows. Not a major issue just keep that in mind for cost.

Also as i dont plan to make this order untill the end of september or early october is there anything coming out that should affect my decision?I want this system to be future proof for a few years anyways, i realize its impossiple to make a system to run anything at high for the next 2 years or so but i do want somthing that i can go to the store grab a game and not have to worry if i can play it half decent.

I dont need nothing fancy for overclocking as im not really into that... Once i build a system i really dont mess with it other then formats and upgrades.

Thanks for any help!

If you want to go high-end,

GPU - I would go with HD4870x2. If you MUST have Nvidia, then get the GTX280. But the HD4870x2 is the most powerful card out now.

PSU - Corsair HX 1000w. You dont want to mess with a TX750w. Not only are the cables really messy (understatement), but you'll want 1000w if you're packing a high-end GPU and build. You'll be set for a long time too. If you plan to run multiple GPUs in the future, you'll need a minimum of 1000w or sometimes even 1200w.

CPU - A dual-core will give you more clock speed and overclock ability for gaming. Quad-Cores are not utilize in gaming yet. If you're one of those people that like to open 6 web pages at once, while running iTunes, and downloading 3 items at a time, I would get a Quad-Core, NO QUESTION. If you have a bit more patience, I would go with Dual-Core as it's cheaper and is solely better for gaming right now.

CPU heatsink/fan: If you're not going to overclock at all, you dont need an aftermarket cooler unless you like the coolness factor and the looks, OR you have money to blow. I would recommend a Tuniq Tower, Thermalright 120, Arctic Freezer Pro 7, or Noctua. There isnt one that's significantly more dominant than the other, if you dont plan to overclock too much.

Case: If you can, avoid Antec 900 and get something you like. Get a case that you'd like to look at everyday. It's time for personalization.

RAM and Mobo - I would stick with DDR2. In gaming, performance is on par. With Nehalem around the corner, there's really no point to blow your money on a DDR3 motherboard because you'll just have to replace later anyways. Nehalem uses a different socket. You'll be able to reuse the DDR3 ram but that's about it. So whether you get DDR2 or DDR3, performance wise, it's pretty much the same, except with DDR3, you'll be paying a lot more.

Heres what i came up with guys....

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=10599808

Few questions... should i go with the 64 bit windows? Do i need a sound card or am i fine with the on-board? I usually just use head phones... Also, dose it matter that the board is normal pci express x16 and not 2.0? Im fairly sure its backward compatable and dont matter much but im asking anyways.

Thanks!

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=10600048

New List ^ Meets my budget and all.... I wnet with home for vista to cut cost as i guess i really dont need ultimate. Go with the 64 bit since i went with 4 gigs of ram? I thing on 32 only 3 gigs show up.... Also i realize the mobo only has one pci express slot but i dont see myself going to a crossfire setup. The power supply is the one you suggested.

a quad core would be more future proof than a dual core IMO

once games start supporting it, performance will probably increase

the best way to go, its expensive, but if you can get a quad core that runs @ or over 3 GHZ that would be the most powerful route to go because in the long run youre getting 12GHz compared to 6GHz from a dual core...

yeah you may be right as far as that goes with the future and native coding...

but as far as the scaling goes.. i like to think of it more as spreading the workload.. i do agree with you though, as far as now goes, there just arent enough programs that support threading the cores..

i guess for budget sake, get a dual core now, and then later if something starts supporting multicore processing, not only will the chips be cheaper, but probably better

btw, would you say 3+ cores are more aimed at office productivity? and the dual cores may not be aimed at, but are more fit for gaming?

^ Not to mention theres no way i can fit a 500 dollar + cpu into this build..... I said 1500 bucks not 2500 ( =

When quad cors become cheap is when they will be used.... No game developer is going to make it criticle to have a quad core cpu for many yeayrs and by then they will be the 200 dollar cpu's. Im trying to future proof this as much as i can but i also gotta be realistic.

Im going to go with a e8500... my only issue now is do i go with the 4780 x2 or the slightly cheaper but slower gtx280...

well

i compared them on GPUreview.com and im going to go with the 280, for price sake

my current list.... With shipping and after rebates its 1520 bucks.... Just want someone to make sure its all compatable.... Im leaning more for the gtx280 as i really dont like the current limitations multi-gpu setups have and how hit and miss the support is.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=10600548

That power supply has more then ennough juice right? I just couldent do the 300$ psu mentioned earlier. I always have had good faith in evga so thats where i stuck my cash... Any other suggestions?

Oh and is the 64 bit windos vista ok? Hows driver support for that now? I heard alot of bad things before but i dont think i can run 4 gigs on a 32 bit os... Any advice there?

Dont recommend 9800GX2.. come on now.. it's a microstuttering GPU. You should know better. It's been discontinued already because that card is a joke. Elann2008

No i woulden't go with that... But im leaning more for the gtx 280 now... I realize i could get more performance out of the 4780 x2 but at my res 1280x768 will it make a huge difference? Heres my build as it stands now...

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=10600828

That motherboard should be okay, I suppose. Do you care about overclocking?Thompsonwhore

No, i tend to just run it all stock clockings.

No, i switched to the e8500, heres my current setup...

the only vista64 compatibility issue ive come across so far was with NERO... nero doesnt work at all with vista64

but that doesnt make much of a difference anyway.. nero is bloated and i dont like it anyway... lol

How about this board?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188024

Im going to sleep guys... thanks for the help... will work on this a bit tomorrow .