Now its my turn....

[fais7]

A couple of months back you all helped me assemble a pc for my friend. Now that she is happy with her PC, its time for me to upgrade mine.

My current PC is a P4 2.4ghz(overclocked to 3.0), 512MB ram, 370GB HDD, 256MB 6800GT(overclocked too) on a Asus P4P800.

The problem with my current PC is that its heats up. I live in UAE where its goes up to 50'C in summers and my PC is located in the corridor of the house where there is no Air conditioning unit to cool it apart from a wall fan (and its internal fans, obviously).

So basically I need a PC that will be on the cooler side meaning fast enough on itself that I wouldn't need to overclock it plus with good quiet fans.

There is no specific budget in mind, just maybe a max price ceiling of $1200 (does not include monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers)

Usage: photoshop, video editing, gaming (first person shooters, racing etc), surfing, storage of photography (lots of it), RAW conversion.

This is what I have already on my mind....
A 6000 series Intel core 2 processor or a quad equivalent
At least 1GB DDR2 800MHz (or more MHz if available)..corsair or Kingston
One 320GB SATA 2 HDD from Western Digital.
Maybe a Nvidia 8800GT/GTS/GS/Ultra, whichever I would require.

Any Advice is welcome. I'll be heading over to various computer shops on the coming Sunday according to which I'll adjust my needs [as per the prices].

Thanks all....

 

[hmammen]

for 1200$ i would get this-
EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - 260$
Newegg.com - EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - 240$
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - 75$
Newegg.com - Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - 240$
Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - 125$
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100 - 240 V UL, CUL, CE, CB, FCC Class B, TUV, CCC, C-tick - Retail

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - 70$
Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - 154$
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD7500AAKS 750GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM


TOTAL-1164$

You can add your own monitor, keyboard, speakers, mouse.

That build will pretty much kickass though. And its extremely future proof. You could always upgrade the e8400 to a quad core if you needed to. And with the 780i mobo you could always go SLI or even Triple SLI.

 

[veedubfreak]

If you are interested i have 2gb of corsair xms2 5-5-5-12 ddr2 and a brand new 8800GT that i can make you a good deal on.

 

[Andyf]

I wouldn't advise 780i, but thats your choice.

I'd go P35 meself.

 

[hmammen]

780i is much newer and has newer features and can support tri-sli, as well as many other things. He wants a build that will last and id recommend either an x38 or 780i board, since p35 will eventually die.

 

[boogey]

Whats up with everyone riding P35 mobo's on this forum?

 

[fais7]

Thanks for your replies...its kinda late right now so I'll look up the links given above tomrw...

@veedubfreak.....I'd be interested but then the transportation cost and warranty issues might pop up......but I'll keep it in mind

Basically this is the first time I'll be building a pc for myself as its always been my brother who's doing it....I'll still have to run the specs through him...

btw $1165/- can very much mean $1500/- here so I'll have to check the prices...

whats the difference between a P35 and 780i as I got my friend a P35..these were her specs

Intel E4500
Gigabyte P35 DS3-L
1 GB corsair XMS2 ram
Western Digital 320 GB HDD
Gigabyte 6600 GT [256MB]

Also whats the advantages of a Quad over a dual core apart from the FSB...

 

[veedubfreak]

2 extra cores...The q6600 is really the sweet spot as far as cpus go. It has a 9x multiplier, overclocks really well, and has 4 cores. If you do a lot of multitasking its great. Also, as more and more games come out, quad cores will get utilized more.

As far as the video card and memory go, i could put it all in 1 box, priority shipping is only around 15 bucks. The card hasnt been registered yet so you could just register it and say you bought it off of newegg

 

[fais7]

sure I'll keep your offer on my mind...

btw any other configuration I should be looking at especially other motherboards...??