Buildin a Hybrid Gaming and Editing Machine

Hello everybody i am new to this forums , not for the tom's hardware website but to the community yes .

So anyway i love videogames A LOT (Hardcore gamer here) i don't play much console nowadays so i am sticking with the PC games , and also i am a graphic design student so i tend to use programs such as Photoshop CS3 , Adobe Premier , Sony Vegas , Maya (just learning now) but i am still no professional, just average in the editing stuff so i think i don't need to much power in that area .

SO that said i came up with the idea to build a new system mostly for the Gaming needs (love fps Crysis , Far Cry , TF2 ,HL2 ,etc...) , my old PC is kinda 2 years or more already so its getting pretty hard to play some new games , my video card its having a lot of problems , lots of sudden shut downs so i am kinda desperate to make a new system . So aside from all the PC drama i am gonna say what i came up too, and what advice do i need from you guys in building this new system.

The system i have in mind for now:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 or Intel Core 2 Duo E8500
Ge force 280x gt x 1024 or 8800 gt Ge force SLI mode (the 512 MB one cause i cant find the 1024 model in common online stores)
4 GB Ram (2x 2b) (DDR2 or DDR 3 and what MHz ? not sure)

My Budget for now : 1250$

The advice i need from you is:

*Should it be wise to get ddr2 or dd3 on this times, and what speed number would be best (1600,1333,1066,etc...)?
*What kind of motherboard would be good for this system.(I have no idea of what motherboard to pick cause of the PCI Express Slots , Pins slot,etc...)?
*What general cooling system would you recommend (the PC wont be on a place with air conditioner so Ambient Temperature is 27 Cº Average) (I'm very noobish with cooling systems BTW i just keep adding cheap fans and never get good temps :_( )
*What Case + PSU would be optimal (Ive seen the 280x gt x and its HUGE!) (don't understand much about PSU )
*And lastly what manufacturers do you think are the best out there to build this PC or it doesn't makes much of a difference?

and that about it.Oh and one more thing!, i don't upgrade that often so i think i need this PC to handle pretty smooth for at least 2 and a half years and i don't OC cause i don't know much about it and i don't want to make my PC Degrade cause i don't upgrade that often or blow it up >_<.

so anyway thanks for your valuable time, i will appreciate a lot and your advice and its always be useful.

Thanks for all

PD: Sorry for my bad English :_(

PD2: I don't need new monitor

you'd be much better off getting a cheaper vid card, then upgrade sooner.
I'd suggest a 1 gig 4870 or a 512 4850

don't get DDR3 unless your CPU requires it.

PS, you can get a new vid card now, and get the rest of system later. that might give the new Intels time to mature a bit.

for a PSU the 280gtx requires 550 watts with 6 pin and 8 pin power plugs.

I'm assuming your not going to SLI it. A p45 based board is probably what you want.

as far as cooling. the stock cooler should do it for you. If you ar worried about heat, get a good case. if you want something quiet, I like the Antec P182. if your a blinky light kind of guy, the 900 used to be popular, but get whatever you like.

Have you been having heat problems with your current computer, or is it you just don't like the temperature you are seeing.

Water cooling is not for you. just put it completely out of your mind.

ok i know i know this is an old post , but i had to take some time until i decided to buy the new pc and so i made a few chages:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550


EVGA nVidia GeForce GTX 280 SC 1GB im not going SLI atm


Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz


not so sure about what motherboard suits this better ive seen some that have CF and SLI and 3 SLI ready but are very pricey like the

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813188039

if u can give me tips on this i would apretiate

then ive seen this motherboard only use the new dd3 chipset , i was going only for 4gb ram 2x dual channel , but ive seen its getting popular the 3 channel 3 gb and the 2 x tri chanel = 6gb , anyway in ram i would need some assistance too :x

I'm not sure if this link will work, but try it. This is a model i7 build that I put together.

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/ [...] D=14386287

In case the link doesn't work, here are the components:

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro RS-850-EMBA 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI NVIDIA Quad SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail

OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600LV6GK - Retail

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

LG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model GH22NS30 - OEM

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

Comes to $1415.91+47.86 S&H

You could swap out that psu for a cheaper lower wattage one if you didn't plan to go SLI and maybe go with a 3gb kit of memory for now and bring the price down lower.

Just a suggestion, something I think you should seriously consider if you want this to last 2.5 years.