Building a PC - Need help planning.

[DominusDomno]

Well, it's time my P4 'Northwood' 2.4ghz, GeForce 4600Ti and Live! 5.1 digital get a rest after 4 years.

I'm looking for a powerfull gaming machine which I will be able to play unreal 3 engine games on, and PlanetSide. I am also gonna be getting a PVR to record in game videos on.

So far I've planned:

Hiper HPU-4K580-MK Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU
Akasa Eclipse-62 Aluminum Case
Akasa Window Side Panel for Eclipse
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS Edition
Samsung SpinPoint P SP2504C
Crucial Ballistix 2gb DDR2 6400
Hauppage WinTV PVR-150 MCE
SpeedLink Medusa 5.1 Headset

Which should cost £684.74 (Obviously excluding P&P).

However due to rapidly changing 'top' products I'm not sure what the core hardware I'll be getting. I'm considering getting an Intel Conroe when it is released (in a few months as far as I have gathered from the web).

I've also been considering getting a X1900XT or XTX but the ATI motherboard chipsets seem a little backwards. Would a 7900GTX 512 be a better choice, with a Nforce chipset? (I'm not looking to go dual card right away, but I'd like to leave options open - I have been swaying away from dual cards though and saving money for a future card when the need arises)

Also I been looking between two monitors:
Samsung SM940BF 19" LCD Monitor - £292.52
Viewsonic VX922 19" LCD Monitor - £293.69
They both claim to be 2ms gaming monitors and I'm a little perplexed.

So here's my questions:
1. Would the ATI Crossfire chipsets be able to take a USB mouse@ 1000hz?
2. Is it worth waiting for the Conroe CPU's or AM2's?

Anyway, thanks a lot for any help!

Edit: Oh, and any recommendable CPU heatsinks/fans? Looking for a powerfull one, but I don't want to damage the motherboard if I transport the PC.

 

[SuperFly03]

Lets see if I can't help ya.

@Monitors, I have a 16ms Samsung 204T that doesn't wonders with Battlefield 2. I see no ghosting, the response time is more then enough for me. Your eyes may be better, but just know anythign 12ms or under is probably more then enough.

@Crossfire/Sli, I personly like the NForce 4 chipset, however the X1900XTX is the fastest SOB alive, not by as much now iwth the 7900GTX availible, but it still beats it. I can't imagine that the Crossfire chipset would have toruble with the USB mouse, but i am honestly guessing at it. which mouse in particular is it?

@Conroe/AM2, it depends on how patient you want to be. As far as I know Conroe is set for Q3 2006 which means anywhere from july to September. AM2 is either set for mid June or Mid July, i just can't remember right now lol. If Conroe's marketing benchmarks hold true (please lets not argue this here) then Conroe will be a huge step forward for Intel. As for which one, we will have to wait for reviewers to get thier hands on both before I could recommend one.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the Socket 939 A64's now, but if you go that route you will force yourself to upgrade mobo's if you want ot change procs at a later date, so keep that in mind.

@Dual Cards, they are honestly not worth it, I know I use SLI. Yes there are benefits, and possibly a future one is SLI physics, but thats just a posilbility now. Its 100% more cost for 15-25% improvement, not the best value, but then again it was never meant to be a value tech.

In the end, if your northwood still works, I would try and hold out for Am2 and Conroe in all reality, but your the judge of your needs.

 

[DominusDomno]

Thanks a lot SuperFly!

'Tis good to hear the X1900 is still the fastest, since it's between £120-200 cheaper than a 7900GTX 512.

I'm not sure on the monitors then, but one of my greatest hates is mouse/input lag. I'll probably be using either a G5 or a Copperhead, so at the very least I'll have my USB running at 500hz.

I'll definately be waiting on new processors then, hopefully the Conroes are released the earlier part of Autumn (Unless the AM2's rip them up, and that their statistics are to be trusted).

 

[SuperFly03]

Yeah I support nVidia but right now the X1900XT does win sadly, grrr lol.

I use a Logitech G5 and its marvelous. My only compain is that there used to be 2 thumb buttons and now there is only 1, such is life.

 

[mdd1963]

"I've also been considering getting a X1900XT or XTX but the ATI motherboard chipsets seem a little backwards. Would a 7900GTX 512 be a better choice, with a Nforce chipset?"

TOugh call....

In single card config, the two roughly split the number of wins in the popular gmaing benchmarks..(I disregard any of the 3dmark05/06 numbers, preferring benchmarks of actual games, i.e, UT2k4, HL2, Q4, and FEAR is a more than reasonable cross-section....)

Most prefer the NF4 boards, but the Crossfire chipset boards are attractively priced, and tend to OC just as well....

Flip a coin on that one, although I think I'd opt for a single 1900XT just for it's attractive price

 

[DominusDomno]

Ahh now I have an even worse question: Which OS?

I currently have Windows XP which I could put onto a new PC (remove it from this one..) but what about XP64 bit?

And then when it comes to buying the PC I'll be thinking 'hmm well it's only a few months from Vista's release..' but I suppose if I think too much like that I'll be thinking at the time I get Vista/new PC 'hmm these new Dx10 cards seem good..'.

 

[shadowduck]

Ahh now I have an even worse question: Which OS?

I currently have Windows XP which I could put onto a new PC (remove it from this one..) but what about XP64 bit?

And then when it comes to buying the PC I'll be thinking 'hmm well it's only a few months from Vista's release..' but I suppose if I think too much like that I'll be thinking at the time I get Vista/new PC 'hmm these new Dx10 cards seem good..'.

Windows XP x64 is awful, don't touch it with a 21 foot pole. Unless you can find drivers for all your gear (iffy) it is totally pointless to use. Stick with XP Pro and wait for Vista to go 64-bit if you so desire. The driver support is supposed to be much improved.

 

[SuperFly03]

There is much debate about 64 bit v 32 bit, but I tried 64 bit and it just flat out wasn't stable with a few apps that i routeinly use. For some unkown reason BF2 crashed immediately upon launch in X64, so I stick with 32 bit XP until vista. No need to buy a new OS unless somethign is wrong with your current one. Then there is linux... and I just don't know a thing about it lol. I'd just stay away from XP home if posisble, XP Pro has alot more options I like to tawek, but agian thats personal reasoning.

 

[horstmann]

For a heatsink a Zalman 9500 is a great option. It has lower weight than many other heatsinks and has a quiet 90mm fan. The fan can be changed to a 120mm pretty easily. Google it and there are some pretty good articles on how to do it.