Buying a new gaming system...thoughts?

[Teknobry]

Been spec'ing up a shuttle system with TFT monitor... Reason being is I need it to be as portable as possible, as I'll be spending Mon-Fri in nottingham and then weekends in manchester, so the pc needs to come with me! Laptop was considered, but I won't need to use it on the move, and I'll be driving so no hassle having to mess about with trains/buses.


Shuttle:
Shuttle XPC SD37P2 Aluminium Barebones System - Intel Core 2 Duo (LGA775) £300.79 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prod id=FS-073-SH (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-073-SH)

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) £150.39 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prod id=CP-128-IN (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-128-IN)


RAM:
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £62.26 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prod id=MY-064-GL (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-064-GL)


HD:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache £51.69 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prod id=HD-078-SE (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-078-SE)


Optical Drive:
Samsung SH-S183ABEBN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter £22.31 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prod id=CD-086-SA (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-086-SA)

Graphics card geforce 8800GTS
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)
500MHz Core, 320MB 1600MHz GDDR3 Memory - £171.54

Http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prod id=GX-054-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=877 (Http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-054-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=877)


Monitor Samsung SM-931C 19" LCD Monitor £176.24 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prod id=MO-053-SA&groupid=17&catid=276&subcat= (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-053-SA&groupid=17&catid=276&subcat=)

Comes to about £935 ish, although I can get some of the bits a few quid cheaper from local suppliers.

Thoughts?

[2mean]

The ram you've chosen wont work with the motherboard in the shuttle, mobo is 533/667mhz and the ram you have chosen is 800mhz.

The psu with the shuttle wont support that graphics card and tbh I'd buy a decent one anyway rather than go with one you get in a package.

The monitor looks sweet but then it had better for that price :P

Apart from that everything looks good!

[2mean]

O and if you wanted to use the crossfire that your mobo will support theres always these babys:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prod id=GX-114-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=404 (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-114-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=404)

I know they arent dx10 but very few games out soon will run it anyway, by the time the majority of the games do use it I imagine you'll need to upgrade again.

EDIT: Actually I'm being completly special, you'd need a master for the crossfire and thats an extra hundred on top of those, go with your original choice instead. my bad :s .

[Teknobry]

Thanks for the replies! The PSU I've found out is a pretty damn good one, I've checked with the manufacturer and it'll run the 8800GTS fine.

RAM is a problem though, I've already ordered some low latency DDR2 800mhz (was on special offer) will it still work in the motherboard, but not as fast as it could?

[2mean]

I'm skeptical but my mate whose built loads more PC's reckons it will, just limits it down to the mobo supported speed, in theory theres no reason why it wouldn't so you'll probably be fine :)

[squerl]

The R600 is coming out next Monday so you might want to wait to see the price/performance of that before you decide. (pretty sure I'll be getting one)

[2mean]

If everything I've read about it is true it does look pretty amazing, it apparently can use crossfire without a master card and is 5-10% better than the 8800 but the source for that information was dubious, plus some versions will have GDDR4... nice!

[squerl]

Yeah, it's supposed to be comparable to the GTX in performance (just even or a little worse) on stock.. the price should be around GTS levels which is what I'm looking forward to, and they might even include an Episode 2 Black box voucher (-$40 in cost). We'll see!

[dontleave]

I have the AuthenticAMD dual core (over clockable but not overlocked yet)... anyone know what its called... I bought it recently, because I needed a dual core processor for this game, I dont even really know the specifications with it. I just checked steams system information when I left this morning and im not at my home pc so idono realy.

Back on topic though, I'll check the benchmarks for the R600 first, I dont NEED a new video card (8800GTX alreadY) but if its as much better as everyone says than I might consider getting it for my other PC. But I also heard it will be like $600 bucks (Canada, so every thing is like 600 dollars) so I hope for you and everyone else the price for the 8800 series drops.

[Tobold]

I really need a new computer, but before that i need ~£1000 :<

[Teknobry]

The R600 is coming out next Monday so you might want to wait to see the price/performance of that before you decide. (pretty sure I'll be getting one)

I won't be buying this rig for at least 3 weeks, so I'll deffo look into that g/card!

I've been very tempted now to try find a desktop case thats as small as possible, but can fit a normal size motherboard in, so I can use the 800mhz ram to full effect.

[No Shelter]

The R600 is coming out next Monday so you might want to wait to see the price/performance of that before you decide. (pretty sure I'll be getting one)

The R600?

[squerl]

The ATI HD 2900XT. All the information out about it right now shouldn't be taken too seriously, the NDA on benchmarks/performance etc. ends on Monday.

[No Shelter]

Oh, what I heard is Nvidia is still above ATI and Nvidia.. is better?

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=7052

That card is doomed!!!!!