New Comp - Opinions?

My new computer is almost ready, and before i click the add to cart button for the components, i would like some suggestions on it. I'm going for super powerful upgrade (if not total replacement) of my current computer for less than 3000$

anyway here are the specs:


I'm hoping it will run Oblivion like its no problem

I think you should get a bigger power supply ( and ensure it's a quality brand as well ) and at least two gigs ( total ) of ram, if not three or four.

Otherwise, that quad core cpu and the overclocked 8800gtx are going to be severely hampered by limited power and not enough ram.

Great motherboard for overclocking. Mine's never let me down.

Double the ram to 2GB, 1 GB these days isn't that much. It'll make a big difference to games like oblivion and any other resource hungry games.

As said, get 2 gigs of ram minimum.
Drop the overclocked gtx stuff. Waste of money.

*eh hem*

16MB / SATA-300 / OEM / Hard Drives

did I hear that right? does it seriously have a 16mb drive?

Isn't 16mb the cache or something? It says 320GB.

As the other guys have said, more RAM.
Oh, and you really should opt for a bit faster RAM as well.. No point in having a superfast system, when RAM speed is the bottleneck..
You should atleast go for something like the PC9600, if you don't want to go all the way and get DDR3 RAM.

my 2 cents. :)

oh, and I would drop the overclocked graphics card; they reduce the lifespan of the component, and you really don't get *that* much more performance..

3000 bucks? For that money, I'd buy a Mac Pro.

Jo, or MacBook Pro.

no, its actually like a 2400$ upgrade. Not sure what it is with rebates, ill have to check.

@Plash - The 16mb is the buffer i think

and it is a pre-overclocked graphics card with a warranty (actually, im not sure how they can give you a warranty with an overclocked card)

Thanks for the help, ill go back to searching tigerdirect now

Get 4GB of ram, the ram is so cheap these days and no need for it to be 800MHz either, you can easily go with DDR2-667 since your CPU FSB is 1033MHz, and that even if you go with the 50series (E6750, etc), their FSB is 1333MHz, which is DD2-667. DDR2-800 is useless for now, especially if you only get 1 GB.

hey, you posted two seconds after i posted.

I think if i rememeber correctly, I was going to get two of the ram, but I didnt add it to the list.

You can still get a Mac Pro for that 2400 bucks, which would be a 64 Bit Xeon workstation (and fully compatible with Windows, too). And it isn't as noisy as a regular PC and has a much better design, too.

It's just the direction where I would go. ;-)

thats far too expensive for what your getting, unless your in a a small country with bad imports.

Some ppl have such a system for their email alone.. (and Minesweeper!) :P

Anyway, I dunno, I'm not sure a new PC should cost this much. My new PC, last year, was 1000 euro ex VAT, and that's a DualCore i3.4/4GB mem/640GbRAID/simplevideocard/dvdrw (e.g. the right system from my sig). Still a more than sufficient system today I think. The problem with very new components is that they tend to drop in price rather fast after you bought 'em. I prefer to get hardware that's not old but not entirely new either, so I won't have to face the most radical pricedrops.

also, dpeends what your using it for? multiple core systems are overly hyped. If your using alot of different applications then its useful, but it most cases (especially for games) it will only be usign 1 core.

For example, we have quad cores at work and maya can only use 25% of the CPU (being 1 of the 4 cores) becuase its not programmed to use the rest. But the renderer is, so for rendering we get all 4 cores on it.

But for games, typically there not programmed for running multiple cores, so your only going to be getting 25% of the CPU.

What this means for you is if your wanting to get this system primaraly for running games, a cheaper 4ghz single core processor will run faster than a 2.5 ghz quad core.

$2400 - is that US dollars? If so, that's way too much for what you're getting.

And as said, upgrade to 2GB, and go for a cheaper graphics card - I recommend an 8800GTS 640mb.

I never thought I'd say this (especially here), but "get an XBox 360 (Falcon - to reduce the RROD probability)".

As others have mentioned, unless that's New Zealand wooden dollars, it's WAY too expensive. Besides right now really isn't the best time to get a new PC, with Microsoft conceding that no-one wants Vista anyway, and extending the sale of XP until June 2008, there's no immediate need to rush an upgrade, unless you really have that much money to burn.

Too much power consumption! I would go for a completely different system... :O)

Quad core? Do you really need quadcore? I would buy core2duo instead and go for 4gigs of overclock special ram and a killer 7+1 sound system with a good soundcard.

yea you can get an xbox360 for a fraction of that price if you want to play oblivion :)

I think you should have gone for one Western Digital 750GB drive. Their newest drive is exceptionally fast. Couple it with a high-speed flash drive, like an 8GB Corsair GT USB and you have a good storage subsystem.

750GB O_O .. sniff sob, how time flies.. 10 years ago my PC had a HD 250x smaller than that one, would that mean that in 2017 a big HD is 250x750GB (e.g. 183TB)?

Nah, bigger. Exponential growth, I'd think. :P

And as i said, I forgot to add that i'm getting two of those 1 gb memory cards.
Not to get snippy though...



Its not just Oblivion, it has GOT to be the ultimate so I can play and work with no lag.
And no, I'm quite quaint with my Wii.



If youre basing the quality of a computer to how much noise it makes and how good it looks, thats not true.

With rebates the total price was around:
1800-2200$ (US)
Depending on how the rebates change.


I've changed the specs on top to include the two memory sticks, for those that dont read the entire posts...

I think the 8800GTX is too expensive at the moment - unless you're playing the latest games on a 24" screen or bigger.

Sure. But are you really willing to pay top dollar to play games with no lag for about 3-6 months? Look at the minimum requirements for the PC port of Straglehold (providing it'll even run, a lot of people seem to have problems with the demo):
* Windows® XP SP2 or Windows Vista™ operating system(s)
* Intel® CoreTM Duo or AMD X2 Processor
* 2 Gigs of Ram
* 15 Gigs of Hard Drive space
* ATI™ X1300 or Nvidia GeForce® 7800 or higher**
(linky).

So tell me. How long do you reckon it's going to take your ultimate $2200 gaming PC to turn into an obsolete doorstop? And you don't even get to play Mass Effect!

Wait. Wait. Wait. I'm confused. One minute your telling me to downgrade then turn right around and saying its not even good enough to last a couple month.

No I wasn't. I was telling you to buy an XBox 360 so that you could play top games at high frame rates for years (as opposed to months).

It won't be state-of-the-art for very long. In fact it only just meets the minimum requirements for Stranglehold (which I admit is an extreme, but an extreme that runs well on the XBox 360). For 2200 USD you can get an XBox 360 and a fairly decent 1080p HDTV - and use your old computer for the boring stuff.

If only the 360 would just release a FPS mouse/keyboard combo. I don't get why they won't...

Because then there truly would be no reason to get Vista, and they need the money from Vista to fill in the giant hole left by the cost of having the worst managed console since the CD32.

Is it going to be a gaming only pc or are you planning to use it for coding, modelling etc.

@mortiis - yes, its not only a gaming pc, its will be the only desktop in my house, since I'm planning on getting rid of the other two and replacing them with just this one