New Computer.....self built? Mac? Dell?

[Dymetrie]

Originally Posted by divine

He said he'd use Windows 7 if he self built.

Good point, must be the FDD you're missing off the list then

[Stan_Lite]

I've come up with a system fairly close to Divine's. I've gone with a P35 board but stayed with Gigabyte. I still think the Q6600 CPU is excellent value for money and I have three systems at home with them in. 4GB memory is essential for Vista in my opinion and OCZ make good, solid, dependable RAM.

I've included Vist 64bit in my list (you'll need 64bit with 4GB RAM), if you don't need it, use the spare cash to upgrade to a Blu-Ray drive or something and I've gone with an ATI card with HDTV output. The stock Intel coolers are perfectly well equipped as far as cooling goes but the Arctic 7 is a bit quieter and pretty cheap.

If I was building a system to your spec with your budget, this is the system I'd build but if Divine built me his system, I'd be more than happy with it.

Edit: Bloody Picasaweb playing silly buggers - image rehosted.

[divine]

There are lot of components that are all equally as good as each other when it comes down to it and a lot of it is personal preference.

ie. I prefer Corsair RAM to OCZ though neither really has a huge advantage at this price range.

One thing though, the ATi cards with HDMI out can cause annoying issues with sound and i've seen a many cases on help forums with people with 'missing' sound etc. because of the HDMI sound drivers.

What this has rather unhelpfully done though is demonstrated I could upgrade my PC quite cheaply and easily now. Damn you.

[Dymetrie]

It might even be making me think about a Q6600 system as well!

Will my 500 watt Antec PSU have enough juice to run a system like that though (it currently runs an X2 4000+, 2GB RAM and an 8800 Pro...)?

[Stan_Lite]

Originally Posted by Dymetrie

It might even be making me think about a Q6600 system as well!

Will my 500 watt Antec PSU have enough juice to run a system like that though (it currently runs an X2 4000+, 2GB RAM and an 8800 Pro...)?

Hell yeah. I had 2 similarly specced systems at home running on 430W Antec PSUs.

[divine]

Probably. You'll want to check it has all the relevant cables (I think ATX2.1 is the current spec though, it might be ATX2.2, i'm not sure off the top of my head) but i'd be surprised if it didn't.

A Q6600 with average graphics will probably only draw about 250-300W in reality. The larger sizes are to provide both a safety net in terms of power and also to allow the PSU to run more in it's most efficient regions, which are generally approx. half the rated RMS output.

When you start overclocking the CPU and stringing up beasty graphics cards then you want to start looking at 650W or so in a PSU.

[Dymetrie]

It may well be time to initiate a strokey beard meeting with myself!

[Stan_Lite]

Originally Posted by divine

Probably. You'll want to check it has all the relevant cables (I think ATX2.1 is the current spec though, it might be ATX2.2, i'm not sure off the top of my head) but i'd be surprised if it didn't.

A Q6600 with average graphics will probably only draw about 250-300W in reality. The larger sizes are to provide both a safety net in terms of power and also to allow the PSU to run more in it's most efficient regions, which are generally approx. half the rated RMS output.

When you start overclocking the CPU and stringing up beasty graphics cards then you want to start looking at 650W or so in a PSU.

Pretty much what he said. The two systems I mentioned above were clocked to 3.5GHz but only had low grade gfx (they were purely for F@H) to balance things out.

My gaming rig runs a Q6600 at 3.6GHz and an 8800GTX OC2 with a 650W PSU.

[Garp]

Stepping out of the geek fest.

Self built, vs pre-built. It's down to how much money you have to spare and how much less hassle it's really worth.

Pre Built:

+ Works out-of-the-box.
+ All repairs are handled by the one company.

- Usually noticeably more expensive than self built.

Self Built:

+ Significantly cheaper
+ More control over specs, guaranteed quality components as opposed to generic.

- When things go wrong you need to identify exactly what and arrange repair / replacement under manufacturers warranty if it's not covered by the store's one.
- Needs a little bit of skill to put together. (actually I'd call that only half a negative at best, it's really not difficult and parts come with manuals that help you out anyway)

[Stan_Lite]

Pre-built does have the advantage that it should just "work out of the box" and the entire system is covered by the builder's warranty.

Personally, I derive a great deal of satisfaction from researching which components will be best for my needs, sourcing them at a good price and then hammering them all together and overclocking the living daylights out of it I understand that not everybody shares my enjoyment.

It all really depends what you want out of the experience. You need to decide whether a machine built to someone else's specifications with a warranty that covers the entire system and it's construction is good enough for what you need or whether you would like to have the pleasure of owning a purpose built machine that you built yourself but has several different warranties, any of which may be invalid if you've cocked up somewhere along the line. I prefer the latter but I can understand perfectly well why the majority of people prefer the former.