I've had a quick perusal of the forum and so I've got a bit of the 'gist' of whats good or not. But some specialised advice never hurts and thanks in advance for it!

So my current computer is a laptop that I really use only as a desktop for uni. It's a pentium M 1.5ghz, 512 mb of ram etc etc. (Read: quite spectacularly crappy). I'm looking for a desktop that will run the latest games but more importantly run photoshop and all that jazz ( i want to do some website design and photography, possibly some video stuff too). Oh. We cant also forget diablo 3!! it must work with that!!

So what do i get?

I wouldn't mind getting an overclocking type setup as I'm not totally alien to that ( though the last one i overclocked was like a celeron 333 to 450 mhz or something like that)

The Specs:
Prices are in AUS DOLLARS
Q6600 Quad ~210$
My friend has a quad 9750 AMD setup, he tells me they are similar perf but cost less. From reading I've found this to not be true. Correct?

4Gb ram DDR 3??? Whats the difference?!?!?

Dual 22 inch monitors (Cost less than a single 24 inch)

2 by 500gb HDD ~ Seagate or WD? 92*2

Video card: the same mate recommeneds a single G-force 9800GT or something of that sort. On the forums i've seen that 2*radeon 4850 ~350 $ are the stuff to get.

Case: no idea, should be quiet, cool (naturally as needed for Oclocking)

Mboard: no idea either. I need a WIFI card if that means anything.

CD/DVD burner. I listen to a bit of music, but i've heard unless you do surround sound (i dont) then a better one that the standard one is overkill.


Mouse and keyboard: I've heard logitech G5 combo is the way to go?



My budget is roughly Sub <2k

Thanks for any advice! Please let me know what you think and what i can improve as i obviously have no idea!

Stick with the q6600. It is faster and easier to overclock.

Get 8GB of DDR2 instead, the difference between ddr2 and ddr3 are very low in term of performance.

Two 22inches, fine with me

Try to get WD 640GB or Seagate 500GB with 32MB of cache.

Video Card(s): I would perosnally go with a single card solution: 4870 or wait the 4870x2, but the later might be out of your price range.

Case: Umm not really up to date in those, but i would recommend the Antec 900

Motherboard: Get a p45 if you want single card solution (or dual 4850) or a X38 if you want to crossfire more powerfull cards then the 4850.

CD/DVD: Get a standard one.

Mouse and keyboard: Can't help on those, never used them.

Hope I helped a bit.

As long as you are just gaming on one monitor Dual 4850s on a P45 board would do you well.

AUS P5Q Pro, -E, or the fancier Deluxe would all work.

No reason to get DDR3, unless you are planning on upgrading to Nehelem next year and want to reuse the memory.

if you are planning to game at resolutions over 16x10 then you'll want to lay out more cash for a x38/x48 board.

Thanks for the replies guys.. they have been very helpful!

Would 8gb be overkill??.. and should i go a particular brand? I've heard corsair is good.. but the play i go to only has apacer transcend kingston, a-data or ocz platinum / g.skill pl or kingston hyper X

and what about this thing called RAID... for the HDD

HardOCP HD 4850 review
Overclocked 4850 in CrossFire review

The G5 is a great mouse but it's pretty expensive. Look at the MX518 for a similar substitute. It doesn't have weights though. To save some bucks, go with DDR2.

Hey guys.

So I went out and bought some parts and put it together since last time i've talked to you!

Specs:
e8400 (they were out of 8500s)
Asus motherboard (forgot what model number, the PRO one)
4 gb OCZ ram
Samsung 22 inch monitor
Corsair PS
Coolermaster Case
750Gb WD HDD
Lightscribe HP cd rom
Mx5500 and Revolution mouse combo
Radeon 4870 powercolor


I'm pretty happy with what i've got, came in at roughly 1500$AUD

Just wondering if you could help me with a couple of things.



I'm looking to OC the cpu (as i might aswell right), what aftermarket heatsink / fan combo should i look out for? and what GHZ should i be aiming for with air cooling?

Another problem i've encountered is when i turn on the computer, the monitor doesnt detect it automatically. I need to hold down the power button (turn off) then turn the computer on again for the monitor to recognise and turn on. Is there any reason for this happening? I'm assuming its a motherboard setting or something (I put the computer together myself)

Finally, the audio jack at the front ( i connected it with the HD audio cable to the MB rather than AC 97) only plays sound in the left side of headphones. The back jack is fine as i've connected it to speakers with no probs. Does anyone know why this occurs and how to fix?

Thanks for your time again!! MUCH APPRECIATED!!!