Advice on buying a new PC

[Alexius]

Hi all,

I am planning on buying a new custom PC. This was an offer I got from a company. I am an expat living in the Netherlands.

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00GHz 1333 6MB Box voor € 172.00 (artikelnummer: 046255), http://www.4launch.nl/shop/product/046255/

Motherboard:
Asus Striker II Formula nForce 780i SLI, SATA2 voor € 249.00 (artikelnummer: 045513), http://www.4launch.nl/shop/product/045513/

Video cards:
2 x EVGA Videokaart PCI-e GeForce 8800GT 512MB 2xDVI/HDCP voor € 209.00 (artikelnummer: 045203), http://www.4launch.nl/shop/product/045203/

Memory:
Corsair 2x2GB DDR2 SDRAM PC6400 CL5.0 TwinX voor € 92.00 (artikelnummer: 034683), http://www.4launch.nl/shop/product/034683/

Casing:
Antec Midi Tower P182 Performance One ATX No PSU (zwart) voor € 117.00 (artikelnummer: 029347), http://www.4launch.nl/shop/product/029347/

Power Supply:
Thermaltake Powersupply Toughpower 750W Modular voor € 115.00 (artikelnummer: 024289), http://www.4launch.nl/shop/product/024289/

DVD device:
Samsung DVD-/+/RAM SH-S203D 20x/20x/12x BEBE Bulk (zwart) voor € 23.50 (artikelnummer: 037383), http://www.4launch.nl/shop/product/037383/

Hard Disk:
2 x Samsung 1TB SATA300 32MB, HD103UJ voor € 231.00 (artikelnummer: 037577), http://www.4launch.nl/shop/product/037577/
These can be put in RAID 0 for more performance.

Alternative CPU cooling:
Cooler Master Processor Koeler RR-CCH-L9U1-GP Hyper TX2 AMD & Intel voor € 12.00 (artikelnummer: 030486), http://www.4launch.nl/shop/product/030486/

Windows:
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit UK OEM voor € 94.50 (artikelnummer: 026290), http://www.4launch.nl/shop/product/026290/


I was thinking about getting quad core (Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66 or Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40GHz), 1TB instead of 2TB and maybe a better video card (2 cards that is).

I want it to be my work station and somewhat a high end gaming PC. To run games like Crysis (smoothly but not perfectly) and other high demanding games. I was planing on buying a Mac Pro but it's way too much for my budget.

I am not an expert in hardware. Please bear in mind I will be buying all my stuff from 4lunch.nl it's known to be one of the best site in the Netherlands.


Thank you in advance for your advice and tips.

(p.s I have posted this very same question on other tech forums hoping to get the most feedback from the hardware gurus.)

 

[floppybootstomp]

All looks pretty good to me

Only changes I'd make are a different PSU (Look at Corsair; Seasonic; Tagan; Enermax).

A different CPU cooler (Look at Noctua; Zalman; Scythe; Thermaltake).

And I'd go for one higher specced video card like an 8800 Ultra instead of running 2 x GT's in sli mode.

It would give you better gaming performance. Sli is really not value for money as the performance gained for the extra cost is minimal.

PS: Welcome to the Forum

 

[netBooger]

I would agree with floppy, you should upgrade your video cards. There is no reason to waste money on two GT's when they will give you similar if not worse resluts than an Ultra.

Also definitely change to a different CPU cooler, the ones that ship with the duo processors suck.

 

[PotGuy]

Depending on the size of your monitor it may be compleetely uneccessary to have either 2xGTs or an Ultra.

Do you use your workstation for CAD or anything else graphically demanding?