Building A New PC - A Little Help Please?

[Calneon]

It would be great to know your budget, because there are a few things we could improve for little cost but give a large performance boost. It's a shame that the site you linked to doesn't give prices, would make it much easier. I'd recommend http://www.overclockers.co.uk/index.phphttp://www.overclockers.co.uk/index.php or Scan to buy from, I know they have good prices and are reliable. Lets take a look at your choices.

CPU
A good choice for just over £100, though you could consider getting an 8200/8400 for slightly more if the budget allows. You could also get the Q6600 if you do a lot of rendering/encoding, stuff like that.

Motherboard
Good choice. Just make sure it has all the features you want, and if you plan on getting a 4850 GFX card you may want to get an X38/X48 Motherboard so you can add a second in Crossfire later.

RAM
VoX, i'm interested to know where you got your information about the RAM and MB compatability from, AFAIK it should work out of the box, it's just normal DDR2 800mhz RAM. If VoX is right it might be worth getting the OCZ RAM.

HDD
Is that a branded model, because it doesn't say so. I'd recommend a Samsung Spinpoint F1 Drive, based on reviews. Get a 500GB version and you're set, it has twice the cache of the one you're looking at.

Graphics card
A 9800GT is just a rebranded 8800GT, they are basically identical cards. Get an ATI 4850 for slightly more cost, but much better performance.

PSU
If that PSU is unbranded, I would highly recommend spending the same ammount of money on a lower wattage branded PSU. A Corsair HX520 powers my GTX280 card fine, so it will handle a 4850 with ease, and you know it's not going to explode and take your whole PC with it.

I really need to know your budget if i'm to draw up a list for you, so it would be great if you could provide that. A few other things, try to get Vista under an educational discount (if you're still in education). The card reader should say where it fits, either in the floppy or disk drive, make sure you have enough on your case. Microsoft works is a toned down version of Office, with less features, so either buy full Microsoft Office or get Open Office as Oric said.

The PC you specced will run Bioshock and L4D at pretty much max settings depending on what resolution you play at, and it will have a good go at Crysis. Though you should still consider getting a better card just so you can handle future games and if you upgrade your monitor.

[What's A User Name?]

It would be great to know your budget, because there are a few things we could improve for little cost but give a large performance boost. It's a shame that the site you linked to doesn't give prices, would make it much easier. I'd recommend http://www.overclockers.co.uk/index.phphttp://www.overclockers.co.uk/index.php or Scan to buy from, I know they have good prices and are reliable. Lets take a look at your choices.

CPU
A good choice for just over £100, though you could consider getting an 8200/8400 for slightly more if the budget allows. You could also get the Q6600 if you do a lot of rendering/encoding, stuff like that.

Motherboard
Good choice. Just make sure it has all the features you want, and if you plan on getting a 4850 GFX card you may want to get an X38/X48 Motherboard so you can add a second in Crossfire later.

RAM
VoX, i'm interested to know where you got your information about the RAM and MB compatability from, AFAIK it should work out of the box, it's just normal DDR2 800mhz RAM. If VoX is right it might be worth getting the OCZ RAM.

HDD
Is that a branded model, because it doesn't say so. I'd recommend a Samsung Spinpoint F1 Drive, based on reviews. Get a 500GB version and you're set, it has twice the cache of the one you're looking at.

Graphics card
A 9800GT is just a rebranded 8800GT, they are basically identical cards. Get an ATI 4850 for slightly more cost, but much better performance.

PSU
If that PSU is unbranded, I would highly recommend spending the same ammount of money on a lower wattage branded PSU. A Corsair HX520 powers my GTX280 card fine, so it will handle a 4850 with ease, and you know it's not going to explode and take your whole PC with it.

I really need to know your budget if i'm to draw up a list for you, so it would be great if you could provide that. A few other things, try to get Vista under an educational discount (if you're still in education). The card reader should say where it fits, either in the floppy or disk drive, make sure you have enough on your case. Microsoft works is a toned down version of Office, with less features, so either buy full Microsoft Office or get Open Office as Oric said.

The PC you specced will run Bioshock and L4D at pretty much max settings depending on what resolution you play at, and it will have a good go at Crysis. Though you should still consider getting a better card just so you can handle future games and if you upgrade your monitor.

It does tell you the price. Just input the info, and at the bottom, go 'Tell Me The Price'.

I'm around £50 over the budget. And, quite frnakly, with people from all over telling me to change so and so, etc, I WANT TO KILL MYSELF. This will play games on good settings for the next few years, and after that, maybe I'll get a new Graphics card, I dunno. I think you all for the input, but god almighty is this stressful. I'm happy with what I have. Very happy. I just want to know if it will WORK. I don't care if so ans so are sort of the same, or whatever, I just wanna know that if I use that Ram with the motherboard, it'll work etc.

Thank you all for you input, but I just wanna lock myself in a darkened room and cry

[Calneon]

The PC you specced will run Bioshock and L4D at pretty much max settings depending on what resolution you play at, and it will have a good go at Crysis. Though you should still consider getting a better card just so you can handle future games and if you upgrade your monitor.

Read my replies please.