Hi, I am planning to build a new pc in the next two-ish weeks- till 20th if not towards the end of august as i am away for a while.

Currently I have no set parts that I am definitely gonna buy

things I need:

1. CPU- Going for intel not AMD. I like the look of this: Intel Core 2 Duo, E8400, Wolfdale Core, S775, 3.0 GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB Cache, Retail for £130. Might get a quad- but am not sure whether programs would increase in performance or not be used to the full with XP home sp3. Would a quad increase gaming performance over a E8500 ?
2. motherboard- no idea yet...
3. ram- 2gb or 4gb- I dunno if it would really make any difference much
4. graphics card-planning 8800GTX or 9800GTX - a card that is futureproof for a few years and can play crysis ok.
5. power supply unit
6. sound card- unless the mobo has built in sound
7. hard drive around 160gb-I like wd
8. maybe a new screen, haven't planned yet properly-would like around 20", i currently use a vga screen. Would DVI be clearer-better for gaming? i am not going high definition becuase the price is too high for screens.
9. case: Needs to be big enough for graphics card and mobo- I plan to get one with a window and blue lights in
10. OS- I like xp
11. can transfer another cd/dvd combo drive to new comp.

All of the above is open to suggestions/comments/queries, that would be great
If anyone stumbles upon any of the parts I am buying cheaper than the parts I will buy please say
Price range: £700ish max

I need to find out which parts to buy so that I can order at the end of the week. This computer is intended for gaming- but will use for other stuff too. I live in the uk so I would need shipments to be there.

thanks for reading, sorry about all of the questions- this is my first attempt at building a pc

thanks, jake

Hello Jake,

IF you are going to go with XP then dont spend the money for 4gb. xp will only see 2.5 GB of RAM. so if you are going to get 4 gbs then get vista. also for a MOBO go with this one Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EX38T-DQ6 LGA 775 Intel X38 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

it had 7 channel sound on it. good for gaming.

Thanks for the ram info joey, I am choosing to get an 9800GTX and a Q6600 CPU so far.
Does anyone know how much better DX10 is with vista compared to DX9 with XP, for gaming?

thanks, jake

Dependant on the game. You can only make use of DX10 features in games with Vista, so unless your playing a DX10 game it won't matter.

hmm, ty for help upgrader. I have changed my mind, and going for the E8400 becuase it can run all games ok out now with the 9800GTX, and can possibly still run future dx10 games in vista at a good level?
+ it has more chipsets than the Q6600, 45 nanometer technology, and higher frontside bus 1333 MHz, dunno if these make any difference at all atm in terms of performance.

I'm not sure whether to go for vista now, or leave it until dx10 games get more popular. I can play crisis on dx9-XP
"The difference between DX9 and DX10 (in crysis) is better performance and a bit more detail. You want see too much visual difference. In later games you will however as DX10 hardware is released (as right now developers can't work in real-time on DX10 stuff)." Said by a creator of crisis. I plan to game in the future, do you think it is more beneficial to get the Q6600, encase the E8400 gets too little to help the 9800GTX power these better games?

I currently have no idea if the 9800GTX can run on a VGA connected screen- with a DVI to VGA converter?

The motherboard I am currently looking at is the Asus P5KC, and I can see no conflicts with the currently selected hardware, and this one costs about £80. However I am looking for one that supports 2x nvidia cards, and not 2x ati ones, and keeping the ddr/or 3 ram setup on the board. I am very hopeful. This board supports 2xddr3 or up to 4x ddr2
If you can that would be great : D

again sorry about all of the questions, I started planning knowing nothing.

thanks, jake

Does anyone know if the antic 900 gaming case fits the 9800GTX, I'm also not sure about the Motherboard slot positioning either. There has got to be a pic out there somewhere : D
I found here it fits with this board antec 900 and 9800gtx, does size matter?, but the board I am looking at is this

thanks, jake