Hello everyone.
I am thinking of putting together a new machine in order to play upcoming games on highish settings at a decent framerate e.g COD MW2, borderlands, etc as well as existing games I haven't attempted to play with my existing setup e.g Crysis, NFS Shift, Burnout paradise, Batman & Resident Evil 5.
The rig will be left on 24/7 in our room so needs to be somewhat quiet, power efficiency would be an advantage. Primarily to run the games I mentioned at 1680x1050 (possibly 1900x1200/1080 if I acquire a new monitor) but also general Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign editing as well as word processing etc. Windows 7 64 bit.
It will hopefully keep me somewhat up to date for at least 2 years, with a GPU upgrade during that time probably being the most important factor for keeping me current with gaming requirements (maybe a 300 series in a years times when they've dropped in price or once they start releasing the 400 series).
Existing setup: AMD 64 5600, MSI K9N NEO-F board, 2gb Kingston ValueRam, 4x1TB WD HDD, ASUS Nvidia 7900GS.
I'm not an avid overclocker so really want performance out of the box, unless it's an easy overclock that you would be silly not to do but can still keep the chip cool & quiet and would be able to handle being overclocked for 2 years 24/7. I'm in New Zealand so Pricespy.co.nz is the newegg equivalent here in NZ.
Further thoughts: Will 1 SSD + 3 HDDs + GTX 260 fit in the 300?
Thoughts/recommendations on everything? What would you recommend, what would you advise against? What have I overlooked? Cheers everyone in advance, your advice is very much appreciated.
I am thinking of putting together a new machine in order to play upcoming games on highish settings at a decent framerate e.g COD MW2, borderlands, etc as well as existing games I haven't attempted to play with my existing setup e.g Crysis, NFS Shift, Burnout paradise, Batman & Resident Evil 5.
The rig will be left on 24/7 in our room so needs to be somewhat quiet, power efficiency would be an advantage. Primarily to run the games I mentioned at 1680x1050 (possibly 1900x1200/1080 if I acquire a new monitor) but also general Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign editing as well as word processing etc. Windows 7 64 bit.
It will hopefully keep me somewhat up to date for at least 2 years, with a GPU upgrade during that time probably being the most important factor for keeping me current with gaming requirements (maybe a 300 series in a years times when they've dropped in price or once they start releasing the 400 series).
Existing setup: AMD 64 5600, MSI K9N NEO-F board, 2gb Kingston ValueRam, 4x1TB WD HDD, ASUS Nvidia 7900GS.
I'm not an avid overclocker so really want performance out of the box, unless it's an easy overclock that you would be silly not to do but can still keep the chip cool & quiet and would be able to handle being overclocked for 2 years 24/7. I'm in New Zealand so Pricespy.co.nz is the newegg equivalent here in NZ.
CPU:Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHz 8MB Cache 95W TDP LGA1156 - NZD$330
OR i7 920 NZD$440 OR i7 860 NZD$460? Bearing in mind I haven't been with Intel since my Pentium II MMX 200mhz. OR stick with AMD and go for a Phenom X4 945 NZD$270 or 955 for NZD$300?
- What would you recommend based on my requirements?
MOBO:
Especially need advice here depending on Intel or AMD recommendations. Don't need Xfire or SLI support. Bluetooth would be cool but not necessary. Just need the solid basics. Need 4 sata connectors.
HSF: Was looking at either the Scythe Mugen 2, Xigmatek Achilles or Noctua NHU12P with 1 or 2 fans. These seems to favour quiet over a slightly increased temp but not much.
What can you guys recommend here. As mentioned earlier, I'm not sure if I'll be overclocking, just want something that is nice and quiet and will keep temps cool (especially in summer). Bear in mind here in NZ (pricespy) we don't have as much choice in this dept so not every product you mention will be available or will be ridiculously overpriced.
RAM: 4 or 6gb of something. Most likely 4gb Kingston value ram or G.SKILL ripjaw 1333. NZD$150
- Will I notice a difference between the valueram and G.SKill or Corsair if I'm not overclocking? would you recommend 4 or 6gb?
GPU: Gigabyte GV-N26OC-896I GTX 260 PCIE Video Card 896MB DDR3 NZD$280
- This thing is comparable to a 275 so hovers around the 4890 & 5770 in terms of performance and price - agreed? Mainly sticking with Nvidia as I've never had a problem with one and never owned an ATi card - got nothing against them but if the 260 is on par with them the little less performance + price difference I'm willing to pay.
HDD: Intel X25-M 80GB SATA SSD 2 5" MLC - NZD$484 (GEE!)
- I want an SSD for the OS, probably doesn't need to be this big as already have 3 conventional 1TB drives for storage (not raid). But I have read the X25-M is pretty amazing (but 80gb is the smallest) and with 2nd generation ones support upcoming TRIMS. By having this as the OS drive but the others just for storage is a good way to go right?
OR is SSD just not even worth it for my setup and requirements?
CASE: Antec 300 - NZD$114
- I'll grab some rubber grommet mounts for the HDDs. How would I mount the SSD, would I purchase a 3.5 - 2.5 converter bay?
PSU: Corsair HX 620w - Had it for the past year (still a good capable PSU?)
Further thoughts: Will 1 SSD + 3 HDDs + GTX 260 fit in the 300?
Thoughts/recommendations on everything? What would you recommend, what would you advise against? What have I overlooked? Cheers everyone in advance, your advice is very much appreciated.