I am planning on a new system in a couple weeks. I have 2 options buy the parts pay someone to put it together at a local shop. Or go to a shop and have them do the build order parts etc. I have found that the later has proven to be a lot more costly so I prefer the first option.
The problem is I know about what I want but I do not know it all and do not have a clue what works well together or what is best options. Yes I have read till my little eyes go crossed. Still feel dumb as a onion though in regards to many parts.

if I post what I want can someone tell me what I need to get and where?

if so here goes
This will be the last system I will be able to buy for many years so it has to be darn good.
My budget is 1500 to 2000.00.

I do not want to skimp on processor. I want something that is 3.0 or better and has a good track record for multi tasking. The one I have now is a AMD dual core 5000. It is not bad but still hangs on some things.

I want 2 to 3 GB memory would really like 3 GB.

I want the ATI video card I was reading and it says that the 3850 is the best they offer so that is what I want. I play Sims 2 It is the one game and one hobby I have and I want that game to play darn well with clear pictures etc. I have a NVIDIA 8600 with 256 MB on it now and my pics are clear but I have had more darn issues with drivers and crashing than I care to experience again I wanted a ATI on this one and left the salesperson talk me into Nvidia I would like to go back to what has proven to work for me well in the past and that is ATI
I also want 512 Mb on the card.


I know nothing at all about motherboards. I know they say some work better with ATI cards and some work better with Nvidia cards So I prefer the one that will do best with ATI please.


I do not want to skimp in power supply
I want a case that is good in air flow and has any extra needed fans etc I am not caring about looks though it is nice my biggest concern is will it keep things cool.


I am open to any help anyone can offer. I know I could pay someone to put it together properly at one of the local shops.
or if there is a reputable place that offers that I am open to your all's suggestions.

Thank you I have learned so much reading here but as I said I also still feel so lost.

April

Case- the Antec 900 is very popular and comes with 4 fans. As far a as the power supply, I like the Corsairs and they have some good deals at buy.com. The prices have gone up in the last couple of days

http://www.buy.com/retail/searchpa [...] 5&em01=973
I suggest using Newegg, you can put a wish list together, if you share it, you can post it here and get comments from there. You haven't really stated whether you plan to overclock, or the features you want on the motherboard ie, raid ,firewire , ect.

Antec 900, $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] ntec%2b900

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W, $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] ncer%2b610

HD 3870 512MB, $250
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814103050

GA-X38-DS4, $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] GA-X38-DS4

Q6600 OEM, $265 (including shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115018

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro, $38
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835186134

OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400), $96
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227267

WD7500AAKS 750GB disk, $155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136131

SH-S203N DVD/CD burner, $34
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=SH-S203N

Total about $1300, if I added them up right.

Add Windows XP Home 32-bit, maybe a X-Fi XtremeGamer card (you might be happy without it though, try onboard audio first), maybe a second hard disk, modem (if needed), a 22" Samsung 226BW, mouse, keyboard, assembly fee, I think it fits in your budget.

Possible variations: GA-P35-DS3L (save $100 on the motherboard, but lose RAID, Crossfire, FireWire, eSATA), Corsair 550VX (save a bit on the PSU, but lose some upgrade room), HD 3870X2 (much faster than HD 3870 in some games, identical in others).

Edit: the Q6600 is not running at 3.0 GHz by default, but don't worry about that. It is the fastest thing you can get today for your budget. You could also get an E8400, which will be faster in games (except Flight Simulator), but it's less future proof and has some heat issues apparently and may need a BIOS flash (depending on the motherboard). Too much trouble IMO for you since you're not an enthusiast, so I'd stick with the Q6600. Also, with the Freezer 7 Pro on it you can get the Q6600 to 3.2 GHz. I don't know if the local shops are willing to overclock for a fee, you could ask.

Thank you for including all the bits i missed silly me.
i would need to add a sound card i have onboard on this one now and there have been issues for some reason with the game I play( Sims 2 ) working with the RealTek drivers that go with the onboard. Unsure why it is a issue but many of us have sound errors popping all over due to it.

I also meant to ask for a CD burner and player so that was a good catch on your part. I have key boards and mice galore so no need to buy more. I am intending on getting a new monitor and passing the one I have on to my son with this system. I figured I would grab one on sale at New Egg or Tiger Direct or even Best Buy when one pops up.

I will also be sticking with XP not liking Vista too much at all. I do have a copy here I bought with this machine. I am guessing it will have to be bought again?

I am off to read up again many many thanks for catching all those parts I missed.

April

You're very welcome.

About XP: it depends on whether the one you got is "OEM" or "retail". OEM means you have to buy it again.

Retail means you are legally allowed to reuse it on the new computer as soon as you uninstall it from the old one. You may need to call Microsoft Support if activation in the new computer doesn't work. Sorry I don't know exactly how this works, I always bought OEM.

I am not real sure which one it is. I will check into it though.

Thank you.

April

you are very... well... if you want a 3870 for the sims 2, then you are clearly going for overkill...

go for aevm's system nonetheless...

if you are looking for a place that can build you a system at a decent price check out

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com (also if you do this use coupon code "smartcompu" at checkout and get 5% off.)

You could get a system similar to what aevm is quoting but you will get a standard three year warranty. This is the direciton I am going. The only bad thing is it is not totally customizable. But when I looked at what my options were, I don't think I could build what I wanted any cheaper than they could not to mention offfering the warranty. If you want to see the system I am building/ordering look at my post trigger time in this forum. (link below.)

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] igger-time

OK, I did a bit more research on The Sims 2. Here's a very good article:
http://uk.gamespot.com/features/61 [...] ech&page=1

This game has some rather unusual characteristics:

1. It's CPU-limited (like Flight Simulator, for example). This is very rare AFAIK. It's not multithreaded, which means a quad is overkill. Also, some people had issues running it on a Quad CPU. Here's a workaround:
http://forums.thesimsresource.com/ [...] stcount=12
All things considered, it's probably best to go for the E8400 after all.

2. It needs a fast hard disk and lots of RAM to avoid annoying stops. WD7500AAKS and 4 GB of RAM should take care of this. (You'll see only 3.5 GB of RAM with that setup and XP 32-bit but that's fine)

3. As long as the video card is good enough and has enough RAM, you won't see much improvement from a faster card. I'm taking back my comment about HD 3870X2. I don't think the X2 would be a real improvement over an HD 3870 in this game, worth the additional $200 or so. HD 3870 is my #1 choice here. An HD 3850 512MB (careful, not 256MB) should also be good.