Does this look like a good system?

[The Incredible...]

I'm bored with nothing to do at work so i thought i'd go through ebuyer and pick out bits to put a new computer together, as i will probably be getting one before too long. Just though i would post the parts i've chosen here to see if anyone has any better suggestions, anywhere i've gone way overboard or anything like that.

I basically want it to be a fairly future proof machine for some high end gaming.

Will the heatsink i've chosen be suitable for the quad core CPU?
Will the graphics card support DX10?
Would I be better off sticking to XP instead of geting Fista?
Is the physics card a waste of money?

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair)) Retail Boxed Processor £144.67

Asus STRIKER EXTREME 680I SLI Socket 775 onboard Audio ATX £142.12

Antec Nine Hundred - Gaming Case with 200mm Top Fan - No PSU £55.63

Microsoft Windows Fista Home Premium x32Bit OEM 1PK DVD £52.00

2 X OCZ FlexXLC Edition Dual Channel OCZ2FX800C32GK 2GB (2 x 1 GB) DIMM 240-pin DDR II 800 MHz PC2-6400 CL3 2.1 V unbuffered £182.30

Point Of View 8800GTX 768MB DVIx2 TVO PCI-E bundled with STALKER game for a limited time only £272.33

BFG Ageia PhysX Accelerator Retail box £78.04

OCZ Ultra 5+ Silver Thermal Compound £3.99

Zalman CNPS 9700 LED Socket 754, 940, 775, 939 & AM2 CPU cooler
£29.25

Corsair HX Series 620W Modular PSU - ATX12V v2.2 APFC £77.62

Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Soundcard - OEM £25.52

Sony 3.5" Floppy Drive Black - OEM £3.16

Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard UK - USB £42.54

Logitech Black MX Revolution Wireless Laser Mouse £45.08

Cart Total (excluding VAT): £1154.25
Shipping Charge:
Subtotal:
VAT:
Total: £9.19
£1163.44
£203.66
£1367.10

[MrGreen]

Don't bother with a PhysX card, they suck and will be dropped by most developers.

The heatsink is fine as long as you don't really overclock it.

Yes, the graphics card will support DX10, though I might not get a POV branded one, try for an EVGA, BFG or XfX

Stick to XP, it's worth the wait for now, and buying it....

EDIT* and congrats on buying a rig that'll make Chicken cry

EDIT 2* Also, the 900 case is fairly meh and very noisy despite having hooj fans, try a Gigabyte Poseidon which costs about as much

[MrGreen]

Also, you may not want such good RAM or Motherboard unless you are really intent on overclocking, buying the most expensive stuff is not necessarily future proofing.

[deject]

Don't bother with a PhysX card, they suck

PhysX == 100% shit and not worth the money

[The Incredible...]

I'm always of the impressin that higher price = better quality so tend to stear clear of cheaper stuff. What brand of memory would you recommend?

and what mobo would you suggest?

[MrGreen]

I'm always of the impressin that higher price = better quality so tend to stear clear of cheaper stuff. What brand of memory would you recommend?

and what mobo would you suggest?

MOBO (Ironically more upgradeable than the Striker)
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/131173

RAM
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/114721

[spoodie]

CPU heatsink/fan is more than good enough. I have one, it's nice and is massive so watch out for that. Make sure it fits and doesn't interfere with nearby components.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

Personally, I would *NOT* recommend the Striker extreme. It's a Really, Really good mobo, when it works, but is certainly not worth the premium over any other 680i mobos. (and when it goes wrong, it's an utter cupcake)

I'd likely chose a reference 680i board, or a P35/P38 based board (maybe even wait a bit and get a good DDR3 one)

Also, lose the physx card. they're not used by any real games.

I'd buy the 8800GTX from EVGA or BFG, just because you'll want a decent warranty (and, IIRC evga allow you to watercool )

I'd swap the memory for some OCZ PC-8500 if you're overclocking, Crucial PC-8500 if you're not (Crucial's RMA is uk based and really, really fast. OCZ is europe based, not so fast, but far better if you're gonna abuse your rams)

Arctic Silver 5 is probably a better thermal goop.

The heatsink should be fine, there's a grouptest here

PSU should be fine.

I'd personally sink the money you just saved on the physx card into a proper soundcard, an xtreme gamer would probably be a good bet.

Why a floppy drive? just. why?



Oh, and you'll need a HDD.

[The Incredible...]

i'm not sure i like the look of that case to be honest. The noise doesn't bother me too much, as the machine i have now is fairly noisy. i think one of my friendshas the 900 so iwill ask him how noisy it is

also, that mobo says it has 7.1 output for sound, does tht mean i wouldn't need to bother with the sound card?

[Dr. kitteny berk]

also, that mobo says it has 7.1 output for sound, does tht mean i wouldn't need to bother with the sound card?

Sorta. onboard sound is usually okayish, but still gives a slight performance hit (will be negligible on a Q6600)

However, a proper soundcard will sound a great deal better, usually considerably more crisp and clear.

[spoodie]

also, that mobo says it has 7.1 output for sound, does tht mean i wouldn't need to bother with the sound card?

For a games machine you should always have a soundcard, on-board eats your valuable CPU cycles. As they're one of the cheapest components there's no reason not to get a soundcard.

[deject]

not only that, but you'll get lots of static and interference because all the circuits are on the motherboard with everything else. On-board == almost as bad as PhysX.

[HereComesPete]

Is the q6600 neccessary? granted they dont even cost that much, but unless you want to spend your days building bases to crush enemies with dvd's encoding for torrentz in the background whilst photoshopping on another screen, its a bit overkill, and like berk said in another post, it shits heat. Physx=fuck no, use the money saved from getting a non-quad c2d and no ppu to get biggrerererer hard drives+sound card.

[The Incredible...]

i thought the quad processor might be a little overkill, i just want to make damn sure i can run crysis with all the settings turned up to whoa mamma. i could probably get away with a duo processor fine so that will reduce cost slightly

the reason i haven't added HDDs or optical drives ids because i already have 200 and 500gb sata drives as well as a 120gb external hard drive and i have a DVD+/-R/RW drive thats perfectly fine in my current system

as for floppy, you just never know when it might come in handy, i needed one to install sata drivers when i got this computer

[spoodie]

as for floppy, you just never know when it might come in handy, i needed one to install sata drivers when i got this computer

I haven't used or needed a floppy drive in years. Surely you can use a CDRW if you really need it.

[eion]

Surely you can use a CDRW if you really need it.

Only if you slipstream (pre-Fista, anyway).

Anyway, don't you already have a floppy drive in your old machine? Just fit that temporarily while you're installing the OS on the new machine.

[Dr. kitteny berk]

If you're using Fista, I think you can load the drivers off a usb stick, with XP, just make a slipstream and use driverpacks.net

[The Incredible...]

i do have a floppy drive but its dead

[Lateralus]

Sure the cable isn't just upside-down?

[FatherJack]

Will the heatsink i've chosen be suitable for the quad core CPU?

Yes, they do black ones too if you want it to match an EVGA mobo, which I think someone suggested. They are certainly better than stock coolers, or any which face up from the mobo.

Ideally a case with a fan close to the graphics card would be more beneficial, as this is where the bulk of the heat needs dissipating. The front fans on the Antec case look rather superfluous to me - as long as you have enough air holes at the front (ideally a mesh), and good fans at the back, it'll feel like there are fans at the front. Same with the top-mounted one really - it just prevents you putting anything on top of the case and complicates the airflow.

Will the graphics card support DX10?

Yes, although the stock cooler won't be sufficent if you want to overclock it a little, perhaps look at the factory-overclocked offerings from EVGA or BFG, which have meatier coolers fitted.

Would I be better off sticking to XP instead of geting Fista?

For now, probably, but you'll need Fista for DirectX 10. Some games just don't work under Fista, so you might have to run both for a time, and allow enough disk space to allow that.

Is the physics card a waste of money?

Completely.

As for soundcards, yes it's always better for games to have a real one, even though the onboard ones sound quite good (ie :7.1) that likely means it'll just take more processing power than the older ones did. Games are written with the Creative feature set (EAX, etc) in mind. Onboard cards are usually easier to wire up to built-in case headphone/mic ports, though.