OT: New PC!

[AgentZero]

Cool, thanks. The extravegant speakers are mainly for turning small animals into piles of gelatenous goo, but also for a having "ooo... wow!" quality set up for gaming, and to double as a home theatre system.

[Combat Wombat]

I'd go with a AMD processer and motherboard personally.

[Fyron]

From what I have heard, "home theater" setups generally aren't worth it without going high end. You would probably get better quality sound with the Swan m200s, not just mediocre sound pumped from a bunch of speakers. Its up to you whether you prefer impressing the small animals with high audio quality or "turning [them] into piles of gelatenous goo."

[NullAshton]

First, get an AMD processor. They tend to work better for games.

Second, I'd probally get the 6800, not the 7800. The 7800 is only a minor increase in power, for a big pricetag.

And Fyron, it would be awsome to play Battlefield 2 with a large monitor, and surround sound speakers. Most people would start drooling once they heard surround sound.

[Ragnarok-X]

Agent, in what price-segment do you expect your configuration from post #1 to end ? Im going to buy a new pc as well, though in january, and i personally feel like spending a max of 1300 $ (= 1100 € for me) is by far enough to get a system which will stand about 2 years.


edit: given im only talking about a tower here, no display, no keyboard/mouse, no boxes.

[AgentZero]

Ragnarok-X said:
Agent, in what price-segment do you expect your configuration from post #1 to end ? Im going to buy a new pc as well, though in january, and i personally feel like spending a max of 1300 $ (= 1100 € for me) is by far enough to get a system which will stand about 2 years.


edit: given im only talking about a tower here, no display, no keyboard/mouse, no boxes.

Ignore post #1, it's obsolete. The second system comes out at USD2370.60 on NewEgg, but if you just want the box it's USD1866.00, or USD1647.00 if you don't want dual SLI video cards. And you could probably shave a few bob here and there if you don't ease off on the processor a bit, take a RAM hit and go for a smaller HD.
In case you're wondering, here's the price breakdown of the above system:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Processor $400.00
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 ATX AMD Motherboard $249.00
Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300R0 300GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive $126.50
2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) $219.00
eVGA 256-P2-N383-TX Geforce 6800 256MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card $219.00x2
SONY 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive $10.00
NEC IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A $38.99x2
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card $93.00
Creative Inspire P7800 7.1 Speakers $85.25
Sennheiser HDR120 Wireless Headphones $49.00
NEC Display Solutions 19" 16ms LCD Monitor $299.99
Logitech Media Keyboard $19.95
Razer Diamondback Mouse $49.99
Enermax EG701AX-VE SFMA(24P) ATX12V 600W Power Supply $129.99
3com 3C996B-T 10/100/1000Mbps PCI Network Adapter $123.00

Total $2370.65USD

[Caduceus]

Oog, that's a ton of bread, man. What are you going to be running that you need an SLI set-up? Just curious.

I just made an AMD 3700+ system from the ground up in late May and it is still running. I would recommend Thompson's book - Building the Perfect PC

[Thermodyne]

What’s the NIC for? Doesn’t that board have two already built in?

Ditch the IDE hard drive and go with SATA. Personally, I would use the included raid and go with a pair of SATA drives.

I would also go with a 7800 video card. Despite what other peeps have said, it is worth the price. It has noticeably better performance and runs a lot cooler/quieter than the 6800’s

Also, while the DC AMD chip is a good pick, you should get some better cooling for it. The best air cooling is still a Swifty pin sink with a Delta. You can quiet it down by going with a 120mm fan and an adapter.

As for sound, I would use the onboard for now, and wait a few months. There are some new cards on the horizon that should push the state of the art.

EDIT:

You also don't neet that $250 board unless you plan to SLI a pair of vid cards. One of the sub $100 boards will do you fine. We actually don't use the ASUS boards for HiPo systems. The DFI Lanparty boards are the top of the line at the moment.

This is what I would use Lanparty

[AgentZero]

wildcard06 said:
Oog, that's a ton of bread, man. What are you going to be running that you need an SLI set-up? Just curious.

I just made an AMD 3700+ system from the ground up in late May and it is still running. I would recommend Thompson's book - Building the Perfect PC

Well, considering that I've gone from a pricetag of 4,179.88EUR to 2,028.97EUR for essentially the same cost, its looking positively affordable at the moment. SLI, well that's mainly for running FPS at insanely high resolutions at insanely high speeds. Kind of a 'can your machine do this?' to all my console owning friends. And, traditionally, the video card has been the weakest part of my rig, so it's also me making sure that my new system will be OK in that department for some time to come.

[AgentZero]

OK, so I've done a little revision after reading that parts guide Fyron was kind enough to supply, and I've done a little revision. Biggest change is swapping over to AMD from Intel, since AMD scores higher points in gaming. Even though Intel scores higher in 3D rendering, I doubt I'll be doing anything complex enough to notice a difference for some time yet.
All the bits & pieces are basically those recommended by Fyron's link, and bits taken from the Alienware website. I know Alienware makes wicked gaming machines, but f***ed if I'm going to pay THAT much. I took this shopping list to Newegg.com and it came out 1550.00EUR cheaper, even without a case, and I know that even if NewEgg delivers to Ireland (anybody know anything about that?), I'm gonna get drilled on the shipping, but I don't think shipping'll cost me 1550EUR.

So, without further ado,

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Processor
ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 ATX AMD Motherboard
Maxtor MaXLine III 7L300R0 300GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA133 Hard Drive
2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)
eVGA 256-P2-N383-TX Geforce 6800 256MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card x2 SLI
SONY 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive
NEC IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS (7.1) Channels PCI Interface Sound Card
Creative Inspire P7800 7.1 Speakers
Sennheiser HDR120 Wireless Headphones
NEC Display Solutions 19" 16ms LCD Monitor
Logitech Media Keyboard
Razer Diamondback Mouse
Enermax EG701AX-VE SFMA(24P) ATX12V 600W Power Supply
3com 3C996B-T 10/100/1000Mbps PCI Network Adapter

Couple extra questions on top of the obvious, 'what do you think?' One, since I need a case, how exactly would you recommend I make sure everything fits? Get all the parts together then go out and find one the right size? Or is there some sort of number/model system for cases that would let me know which is the right one?
And two, that 3com Network Adapter is what I want to plug my broadband (ADSL or DSL) line into. Is that the right one?
Three, does the brand of RAM make much of a difference? If so, what manufacturers are recommended?
Four, if anyone sees any components on the list that'll go boom (or something equally unpleasant) if combined with other components on the list, please let me know now rather than later.
Finally, um, am I missing anything?

Edit: Took Ashton's advice and switched to a 6800