Gaming PC for a student in the UK

[loosebruce]

Hi there,

Oh just before I ramble on, I would like to say a big hello from Scotland and thankyou for letting me join your community :lol:

Ok so heres the thing, "summers a' commin" and instead of being ill prepared and missing all the summer jobs like I did last year. I managed to bag myself a nice job in the hospital working as a Phlebotomist (taking blood) for four months at £8.50 (17$) an hour and as many hours as I like.
It then came to me that If i was to work lots of hours I could quite easily amass a small fortune.

A small fortune that could go towards building my new rig.

However im thinking of maybe taking advantage of the weak dollar against the pound and buying stuff from accross the pond. The only problem is that most of the stores like Newegg and the other big Computer shops online don't ship abroad. Is it because of the exchange rate?
So I was wondering if any of you guys know an American site that ships components like the latest AMDs and Nvidia GPUs.

So what I will need to do is plan a buying strategy for my new rig which I need you guys expertise to help me do this.

Im planning on going AMD due to two reasons; theyre cheaper and also I dont like the unethical practice of Intel and their bed buddies EA games.
The new Phenoms seem ok but I think I read somewhere in here that there will be a new revision to the chips and faster clocks. So when would be the best time to buy a Phenom processor?

Also what nVidia chipset motherboard would be a compliment to a Phenom?

Im a big PC/console games fan so I think I will fork out for an SLi setup of two BFG 8800 GTX's OC2, how does that sound or is that a waste of money seeing as those cards are now inferior to the 9 series chips?

Last but not least cooling?

I dont have a problem with noise from a computer but im quite curious to this whole watercooling business, sounds great but I dont really know how to go about buying it. It seems really confusing. For instance
Do you have to buy GPUs fitted with a water cooling heatsink or do you by a normaly fan assisted GPU and then take the fan off and buy a water cooling heatsink seperately?
Is there any kits out there that have the whole thing, I've visited many online shops where people complain that the kits dont have certain fittings or enough piping.

What would you recommend for this then?

Thankyou for your time.

P.S. Im not being lazy im just really confused

 

[mihirkula]

1) Summers a comin'.....is any American friend of yours planning to make a trip to your place..for that would be a great option indeed...

gimme a lil time, i'll find out if there is such a site which delivers abroad...very slim chances though .. Bush and Elizabeth ain't much on talking terms.

2) The Phenoms are a little expensive right now... and the tri cores are more expensive than the quad cores... since you mentioned you need this rig for gaming, the E8400 is the very best CPU option out there ... the Phenoms are no match for the Penryns, both for price and performance.

3) 8800GTX was the boss last year..now its an old girl...would be a waste of $$ getting two of them... go for the SLI 8800GTS instead. The 9x series (apart from the 9600GT) is quite underwhelming.

4) Watercooling is a costly affair...you're better off with air cooling ....XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 being the prime choice.

 

[hughyhunter]

I agree for the most part with mihirkula. However XIGMATEK IMO doesnt mount as nice as the TRUE. I like metal mounting hardware which the XIG doesnt offer. I may be wrong but last time I looked it mounts with plastic just like stock cooler.

8800GTS is a great option. 9800GTX would be a better choice if it were under $300 US.

AMD is a public company too. There main interest is making money. They couldnt care about much else. I however put my money toward a product that is superior for the price paid. E8400 is a great gaming chip. If you want quad the Q6600 is second best. However not quite as fast as E8400 when it comes to games. The Phenom 9850 might be a good choice too. It is not much of an overclocker though.

Water cooling for GPU's is not a good idea for someone that is not willing to gamble with vmod's. GPU's with proper air cooling are not thermal limited when overclocking. They are voltage limited when overclocking. The only way to change this is with Vmod which entails soldering. If you are willing to do that than water cooling is a good option. Mind you it voids any warranty with your gpu when you vmod and it complicated IMO. CPU water cooling though is super efficient and is a great option as they are generally thermal limited when it comes to overclocking due to your ability to give it as much voltage as you want.

 

[loosebruce]

thanks for the tips so far, keep em coming

 

[iluvgillgill]

loosebruce im in uk as well.but its not a good idea to post from overboard.as the parts might get damage during transit.you might get charge at custom duty fee also the postage wont be that cheap.it will all make up or being higher then buying from here in the uk.

if you need any help you can PM me for advice if you like.

 

[loosebruce]

ok i will pm you