buying my new pc - worth it??

ok so my current pc is 3 years old - seriously and i havent upgraded it since - i dont have the specs with me as i am currently in a different country to it but i will post them up in a few days. now i am looking for an upgrade to my system and i have come to the conclusion that if i want to upgrade my Gcard then alot of other things have to change aswell - notabley my MOBO (AGP to PCI express) and my power supply - apart from that everything else is still pretty middle/high class - 1GB ram and 2.16Ghz AMD processor is what i can remember off the top of my head.

so i think that instead of paying 1000 bucks for a great Gcard then upgrading the rest - i may just buy a brand new system from the same company - xpc.

i have just found a spec that i like and i was wondering if i should buy this system now or maybe wait a bit for the next gen of Gcard to come out?

here are the new specs:

Windows Vista Ultimate

QX6800 (4x 2,93 GHz) Intel CPU (Core 2 Extreme Quad-Core)

4 GB DDR2-667 (4x1024 MB)

SATA 500GB Hard Disk Drive

SATA 250GB Hard Disk Drive

DVD +/- Dual Writer - black

NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX

the dvd writer i have a better one on my system so i can swap it out and i dont have a surround sound system so i havent put up a sound card - save a bit here and there hehe

the price of the whole system is around 3900 USD

thnx for any help in advance

way better off building your own system man. if you want a quad just get a q660 and you really only need 2GB of ram. IF you need help building your own system just ask us for help, I recently built one in this thread http://www.gamespot.com/forums/show_msgs.php?board_id=314159272&topic_id=25888390

so if you need an example you can follow that. But yeah building your computer yourself will save you a lot of money while allowing you to get the best performance/money ratio possible.

Corsair HX 620W

MSI Platinum P35 mobo

EVGA8800GTX

AntecP180case

thnx for all of your help guys, i went online and went to www.aria.co.uk where i put together a little shopping basket for about £773

i was just wondering what you think of it and if it is good value for that amount of money. thnx in advance!

XFX GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4800+ 2.50GHz (AM2)

MSI K9N Neo V3

Patriot 4GB PC2-5300 Signature (2x2GB)

Xilence 600W Gaming Edition PSU

Raidmax Gamer Case Black Diamond

Thermaltake CL-P0257-01 Blue Orb II

Arctic Cooling Silencer 3 nVidia

Zalman ZM-NBF47 Northbridge

Arctic Cooling 120x25mm Case Fan

Pioneer BDC-SO2 Blu-ray Combo Kit

If you're going with an X2 proc, seriously, get faster memory. Minimum of PC6400 and 2x1GB would be enough for now. Corsair, or OCZ would be my choices. Everything else looks good for gaming. Really like the vid card. 8)

Edit - Hey, is it me, or do the amps look a little funky on the 12v rail of that PSU?

Edited edit - Hmmmm... Maybe the 12v rails are funky. Check the conclusions of this review. You might want to reconsider that particular PSU.

thanks for your advice - i have changed both the memory and the PSU to these:

Corsair 620W HX V2 Series Modular PSU

Corsair 2GB PC2-6400 XMS2 (2x1GB

i have also swapped the blu-ray drive for :

LiteOn DVD±R/RW/RAM 20x SATA

as i dont really need the blu-ray yet and next year i will get one when they are cheaper :P

also i am was looking around and changed the MOBO to this:

MSI K9N SLI PLATINUM 570 Socket AM2 MOTHERBOARD

as i do want the ability to go sli in the near future

thnx for all your help and if someone who knows a bit more about pc building could just scan through and tell me if all of the parts will fit in the case, to each other and what not that would be a great help as i havent built a pc for 7 years and i was only helping and wasnt that involved lol

Good choices on memory and PSU. I can't say about the Mobo, but maybe someone else can fill you in on that.

Personally, if you can spare the extra money, I'd go for a little bit faster processor. Maybe the 5600+ X2 for only 55 dollars more. (not sure what that is in euros)

Either way though, looks good.

Good move on the blueray drive. Better to spend the money on more essential components. ;)

Edit - BTW, that MSI Platinum motherboard looks ok, but according to NewEgg specs, the second PCI-E x16 slot is compatible only with PCI-E x8. Why don't you take a look at this one?

Gigabyte GA-M57SLi-S4 Socket AM2 Motherboard

From what I've read the 570 chipset runs quite hot. You'll want a case with good ventilation...or an after market chipset cooler/fan.

thanks for your help guys - i am beginning to understand a bit more hehe - i have updated my list of stuff so here it is:

XFX GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI

Raidmax Gamer Case Black Diamond

Thermaltake CL-P0257-01 Blue Orb II

Corsair 2GB PC2-6400 XMS2 (2x1GB)

Corsair 620W HX V2 Series Modular PSU

LiteOn DVD±R/RW/RAM 20x SATA

500GB Seagate Barracuda SATA2 8MB

Gigabyte GA-M57SLi-S4 Socket AM2 Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+ 2.80GHz (AM2)

AKASA chipset cooler AK-210

this comes to a total of £831 inc. VAT which is a good price i think lol - big reducton from the beginning :P

i am just wondering about the thermaltake fan, what is it for? is it for the MOBO or for the case or so? because im not sure if i really need all the fans

thanks again for all your help :P

thanks for your help guys - i am beginning to understand a bit more hehe - i have updated my list of stuff so here it is:

XFX GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI

Raidmax Gamer Case Black Diamond

Thermaltake CL-P0257-01 Blue Orb II

Corsair 2GB PC2-6400 XMS2 (2x1GB)

Corsair 620W HX V2 Series Modular PSU

LiteOn DVD±R/RW/RAM 20x SATA

500GB Seagate Barracuda SATA2 8MB

Gigabyte GA-M57SLi-S4 Socket AM2 Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+ 2.80GHz (AM2)

AKASA chipset cooler AK-210

this comes to a total of £831 inc. VAT which is a good price i think lol - big reducton from the beginning :P

i am just wondering about the thermaltake fan, what is it for? is it for the MOBO or for the case or so? because im not sure if i really need all the fans

thanks again for all your help :P

lord-of-gamers

The Thermaltake Blue Orb thingie is a CPU heatsink and fan. Probably with a blue LED, or some such...given the name. I don't know how well this particular cooler functions. Beware, though. Some after market coolers actually perform less well than the stock ones. You'll want to Google around to see if there are any reviews. When I think after market air cooling, I think of the Zalman 9500, or 9700 (although 9700 is gimougous and hugegantic). Both tend to bite the hand that feeds them, during install, but they do drop the temps, as advertised.

I like your design so far...but... The hard drive only has 8MB of cache. If you want a 500GB Seagate, take a look at this one...

500GB Seagate Barracuda SATA2 16MB £63.39 inc. VAT

It's actually cheaper than the one you listed, with double the cache and an average latency of 4.16ms. ;)

ok thnx for that advice - i missed it lol with the HDD lol -

excuse me for asking a probably stupid question but in the cpu box will it come with a stocl heatsink/cooler whatever or do i HAVE to buy one? cause i dont mind going stock on them for the first part until i can run some heat tests lol