What parts to buy? - Advice needed!

So i've been flirting with the idea of buying a new PC since my current one is around 4 years old. However i've never built a new PC before and was thinking of perhaps buying a pre-built PC or maybe buying all the parts seperately and getting a local technician to put the system together. But i'm not sure what sort of parts would make a good PC. I did make a topic in here before about this but it sort of got derailed and so here is my second attempt.

Basically i need some suggestions for the following parts....

Case:

OS:

HDD:

GPU:

CPU:

PSU:

RAM:

MOBO:

Optical Drive:

Budget: £1000 / $2000 or there abouts :)

I don't intend to overclock anything, never have done it and don't really want to either. I also don't have any preference between ATI or Nvidia GPU's and i am from the UK so if anyone knows any websites other than Overclockers to buy a PC from then i'd appreciate if they could link me :)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 / Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550

CPU Cooler: Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

MoBo: Asus P5Q Deluxe / Asus Rampage Formula / Asus P5N-T Deluxe

GPU: HD4870X2 / GTX280

PSU: Corsair TX-750W / Corsair HX-1000W

RAM: Corsair 4Gb DDR2 800Mhz XMS2

HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE16 7200Rpm SATA II 640Gb

Case: Cooler Master Stacker 832 / Antec Twelve Hundred / Lian Li PC-P60 Armorsuit / Thermaltake Armor+ / Cooler Master 690 / NZXT Tempest / Cooler Master Cosmos-S 1100

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional / Auzentech X-Fi Prelude / Asus Xonar DX

Anyone else have some suggestions to offer? The GPU's that you mention Sordidus are sort of pricey...1005

What's the point of having a $2000 build if you're not going to put the latest and greatest into it?

[QUOTE="1005"]Anyone else have some suggestions to offer? The GPU's that you mention Sordidus are sort of pricey...webstaxero

What's the point of having a $2000 build if you're not going to put the latest and greatest into it?

Because here in the UK both the GTX280 and the 4870x2 are pretty pricey, after looking around and trying to find all the parts Sordidus suggested it went a little too far over my £1000 budget lol. Is there any chance either of those two cards might see a price drop anytime soon?

artic cooler 7 is worst then ocz vendeta II & notua NH-1up / sunbeam core contazt freezer /Xixgametek best heatsink for few more $$$ sordidus
how i ever agree ur cpu selection / motherboard seleciton but will give a user more detail as he is al ittle confuse
there il say someting E8600 is better for most of the game. as long you overlcock ti near 4.0 / 4,3 ghz beside that
FOr motherboard pick a x48 if you think in futuer you will buy a Crossfire pair of 4870x2. beside that P45 IS WAy enough good
for both overclocking / Cpu cause X48 are really truely better then you get DDR3 one with DDr3s / & 4870x2 crossfire
else P45 is like 1fps Better then x48 in many case but it variate of video card they really good both.
but x48 sorta waste of moeny if you don't use DDR3 1600mhz 2GB + nice video card like 4870x2. which is what im doing
or good DDR3 1333mhz with low latencys

you could also try a gtx260, its a bit cheaper than the gtx280 and still has good performancecornholio157

I was looking at it as an alternative but wasn't sure what the performance was like. My problem with the 4870x2 and GTX280 is their both, here in the UK anyway, at around the £350-£380 price range on a lot of retail and online stores. And i believe if my conversions are right its roughly double in dollars.

Yeah go with the GTX260 if the 280's outta your budget. I'd rather get DDR3 RAM than DDR2 ram also.

4870x2 in the end is mostly better for majority of game. marcthpro

I've got nothing against it other than its price lol. If i could actually afford to buy it and the other components i've had suggested in the past i definately would buy it. But back on topic what do the rest of you think would be good to have in a new PC?

Anyone know some decnet UK based sites that custom build PC's?

on the site i go to, the 4870x2 is in the mid $400 range with a few gettign to the 500s and 600s. the gtx280 is in the mid $300s, still alot though

response to your question, ive found a site in the uk similar to ones i use they list the gtx260 for £246.80 ex VAT
£289.99 inc VAT, i copied that off the website

forgot to put the site http://www.misco.co.uk/indexuk.asp

http://www.overclockers.co.uk 4870x2 much better fore 60$ more

soon 4850x2 for 20-30% Less then 4870x2
misco suck they used to be good but
overlcocker uk & Dabs push deep into them. recently look over
http://www.dabs.com/
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/
vs ur misco i checked many time cause i help people of uk as well build pc my skill aren't for only one nation :D

on the site i go to, the 4870x2 is in the mid $400 range with a few gettign to the 500s and 600s. the gtx280 is in the mid $300s, still alot though

response to your question, ive found a site in the uk similar to ones i use they list the gtx260 for £246.80 ex VAT
£289.99 inc VAT, i copied that off the website

cornholio157

VAT is Value Added Tax and here in the UK its 17.5% its essentially a tax added onto the price of an item that we have to pay here. It can increase the overall price of a PC build by quite a bit. Thats why things like the GPU's i mentioned can be rather costly and go well over my budget :S

are you serrious
marcthpro

Honesty, who uses that rez for serious gaming. And those phenoms are rather old.