My new system

I have been playing this game to this day on my laptop and its time for me to go to a more powerful system where i don't have to put up with crappy graphics this is what i have in mind.

Case: coolmaster cosmos 1000
Power: Coolermaster Real Power 700w Modular Power Supply
Motherboard: Asus P5Q Deluxe Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz Socket 775 1333FSB 4MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Graphics card: BFG 9800GT OC Edition 512MB Dual DVI HDTV Out Cuda and PhysX ready PCI-E Graphics
sound card:Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium - Fatal1ty Professional Series 7.1 Sound Card
monitor: Samsung SM2223NW 22" TFT Monitor 1680x1050 1000:1 300cd/m2 VGA

Basically I want to build a mid range system that is nice and quite where can can game as well as do multimedia tasks for my work that also be as painless as possible when it comes to compatibility and upgrading.

Tell me what you think of these and if there is any problems that could happen.

Lots of people choose a cosmos case for water cooling, they look nice, the results can be amazing.
All that gear seems decent to me, have you thought about spending an extra £30 or so to get a Q9300 which is still 45nm but has 6MB L2 cache instead of 4MB.

Cellar dweller seem to know about this better than me, gave me some sound advice when I was looking for new CPU.

asus p5e3 m/b works great for me m8 its the x38 chipset 1600fsb etc etc rock solid ive got to say

I missed out on some stuff

main HD: Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB 10000RPM SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM
backup HD: Western Digital Caviar Green 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AACS)
OS: Window vista home premium 64 bit

I already got the case was blown away how big it was but it still looks good and is will be great as case to have for my first build.

20" and 22" both have the same resolutions, so I'd go for 20"...well actually I just bought this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... sy%20Black

I'm waiting for this to be delivered any day now so I can put it together, so that's what I would recommend

Case: Thermaltake V9 VJ40001N2Z
Fans: 3x Fractal Design Silent Series 140mm
2 x 3-pin to 4-pin fan cable adapters
Fan controller: Zalman ZM-MFC1-Plus
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-650TXEU 650W
MB: Asus P5Q-Pro
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3,0GHz Box
Cooler: Thermalright Ultima-90i
Fan: Nexus Real Silent 92mm PWM
Thermal paste: Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound
RAM: Corsair DDR2 Dominator TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF
GPU: Gigabyte Radeon HD4850 Multi Core Cooling Dual-DVI 1GB
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 32MB 640GB
DVD: Samsung SH-S223F
Monitor: 22” Samsung SyncMaster T220

I want it quiet while still going for a decent overclock.

The WD Caviar Black 640GB has a bigger platter and is faster than the 500GB version. If you're on a budget I'd recommend going for that rather than the Velociraptor.
For a quad CPU you could probably do well with the P5Q-E mobo based on the P45 chipset. Also, what RAM are you planning on?

Jelly Fox wrote:20" and 22" both have the same resolutions, so I'd go for 20"...well actually I just bought this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... sy%20Black

well i want a bigger screen due to it more better to do my work with more space but why would there not be bigger res on a 22" that offers more space than a 20".

Cynips wrote:For a quad CPU you could probably do well with the P5Q-E mobo based on the P45 chipset. Also, what RAM are you planning on?

Im going for Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered
I should get all 4Gb out with the motherboard and 64bit OS

I have not considered that other parts for the CPU yet but im not overclocking it so I won't have to worry about cooling since the case should provide plenty of that.

Allso im staying hell well away from Radeon gf card since last time they provided me with poor support for a gf i had some time back. Anyway gf should more than enuff for me with the one i picked out.

SND wrote:

Jelly Fox wrote:20" and 22" both have the same resolutions, so I'd go for 20"...well actually I just bought this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... sy%20Black

well i want a bigger screen due to it more better to do my work with more space but why would there not be bigger res on a 22" that offers more space than a 20".

It doesn't offer 'space' It offers a larger viewing area at the same res, so you'll be able to fit the same amount of 'work' on both of the monitors. On the 22" it will look bigger as the pixels are bigger, but on the 20" it will look smoother, crisper and clearer as the pixels are smaller.

Read http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/534 ... apparently

If it's 'space' you're after then the next monitor/res up from 20/22/1680x1050 would be 24 @ 1920x1200 which is obviously going to cost more and possibly have a slower response time. And with cost in mind you'd might as well buy 2x 20" wide screens giving you 3360x1050

The only problem with buying two was if he were to split screen, his crosshair would be right in the middle. : /

yea i see on the 22 and 20 benfit of 22" is that i can sit well away back from the monitor to enjoy same viewing feild as i would get with a 20 if was closer. Its nothing that I would really notice really and would preffer to have that extra 2" to enjoy my films on.

I remember a while back there was a 22" Samsung SyncMaster 226CW which was going around for £180 or so that had a 2ms with a lovely gloss black finish with silver lines and a blue led button. Its better than there new model which has that swivel adjestment base that i don't like that much and it chunky design.

Right now no one is selling other than by sellers that charge too much and the ones that you get decent price no longer run that screen. I think after Jan I may just see it reapear since they must of sold them and are out of stock plus prices usually drop by then.

it's your money, your call.

badinfluence wrote:The only problem with buying two was if he were to split screen, his crosshair would be right in the middle. : /

true, but he probably wouldn't run games split screen souly for that reason.

I When I bought my Samsung 206BW I bought 20" for the reasons Jelly pointed out.

i think it looks pretty solid snd. there are some other good suggestions in this thread as well. although i'm fond of the intel core 2 duo for gaming, i know you work pretty extensively with graphics. so i think the quad is a good compromise for you, especially with vista... if you feel you must have vista.

but i'll give the same advice about the stock intel heatsink/fan. i generally think it's junk. you have a good airflow case, but monitor your temps initially and be prepared to install a better quality hsf in the future. for sure, wipe the factory thermal grease off your cpu chip and use a quality thermal grease instead.

AMD have released the phenom 2 now so may be worthwhile havign a look at those see how they compare.

SND wrote:I have been playing this game to this day on my laptop and its time for me to go to a more powerful system where i don't have to put up with crappy graphics this is what i have in mind.

Case: coolmaster cosmos 1000
Power: Coolermaster Real Power 700w Modular Power Supply
Motherboard: Asus P5Q Deluxe Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz Socket 775 1333FSB 4MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
Graphics card: BFG 9800GT OC Edition 512MB Dual DVI HDTV Out Cuda and PhysX ready PCI-E Graphics
sound card:Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium - Fatal1ty Professional Series 7.1 Sound Card
monitor: Samsung SM2223NW 22" TFT Monitor 1680x1050 1000:1 300cd/m2 VGA

Basically I want to build a mid range system that is nice and quite where can can game as well as do multimedia tasks for my work that also be as painless as possible when it comes to compatibility and upgrading.

Tell me what you think of these and if there is any problems that could happen.

the psu is unnecessarily powerful for a single card pc. get a corsair vx450w instead.

also, green power winchesters are to be avoided. get a standard hdd with no fancy environmentally friendly seal of approval BS.

the rest is fine, although keep in mind hl2dm doesnt utilize more than 1 cpu core so a single core (even its a core 2 one) running at 2.33 ghz will not give you KICK-ASS fps. just saying in case youre one of those few people who get anxious when their fps drops below 100 (like me). the option is always there to overclock the cpu, even without buying a better cooler or raising the voltage.

whats good about having 4 cpu cores in everyday use is that youll be able to watch full hd videos (1080p) without a problem. (just an example)

Jelly Fox wrote:

SND wrote:

Jelly Fox wrote:20" and 22" both have the same resolutions, so I'd go for 20"...well actually I just bought this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... sy%20Black

well i want a bigger screen due to it more better to do my work with more space but why would there not be bigger res on a 22" that offers more space than a 20".

It doesn't offer 'space' It offers a larger viewing area at the same res, so you'll be able to fit the same amount of 'work' on both of the monitors. On the 22" it will look bigger as the pixels are bigger, but on the 20" it will look smoother, crisper and clearer as the pixels are smaller.

Read http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/534 ... apparently

If it's 'space' you're after then the next monitor/res up from 20/22/1680x1050 would be 24 @ 1920x1200 which is obviously going to cost more and possibly have a slower response time. And with cost in mind you'd might as well buy 2x 20" wide screens giving you 3360x1050

True Very. i got 20" Samsung and its a secs therapy. visuals are secs. very accurate. colors are secs. i'm secsie.

Sitting here with my new 22" Samsung Syncmaster T220 I believe the pixels would be too small for my old and tired eyes if I were to go with the same resolution (1680x1050) on only 20" inch of real estate.

Your preferences might differ from mine of course, but personally I don't think 22" is a waste, especially not when it's the size with most competition right now.

the bigger the better... the t220 looks kick ass btw.

keefy wrote:AMD have released the phenom 2 now so may be worthwhile having a look at those see how they compare.

Its junk for building a new system. www.hardocp.com shows a fair comparison of clock for clock against a few CPU's. The architecture on it just wasn't that good.

Basically the Phenom II OC's ok, but the QXXX OC'd to 3.2 ghz and a Phenom II oc'd to 3.2 ghz the QXXX wins.

If just upgrading its not bad though.