I'm still up in the air as to what system to go with as far as processors and such go. I've been trying to catch up on tech and to config systems through IBP and CYBERPOWER for that past year. Anything at this point will be a major upgrade for me. Right now I'm on a 2.8gig, 1mb ram machine not made for gaming. My last good pc I gave to my sister several years ago and it was a P4HT 3.6 gig, 2mb ram, geforce6800 Dell machine.

Basically I want to be able to play my sims again and hopefully maxed out for the first time. I also want to play some of the newer stuff that's out.(new to me but has been out a couple of years now)

ex. of things I own that I want to play again:

Thirdwire sims
FS2004
IL-2
Lock On FC
SHIII
Source games
Oblivion

ex. of new sims/games I'd like to be able to play and enjoy with good performance:

FSX
Blackshark
SH4
Cyrsis
AMRAII

This is the fastest dual core system I could come up with. But at already just under 1200 dollars I don't know if its worth going ahead and getting a new core i5 system for basically only 150 dollars more. Once again you can see what my last "good" computer was so I've arleady missed a generation of hardware. So if a system like this would do me well and for less than that would seem to be the way to go. Unless once again the core i5 will stretch my pc's lifespan a little more when it comes to newer sims/games on the horizon.

Special-A
Case ( Thermaltake Element G Gaming Mid Tower Case w/Colorshift Fans - Black )
Processor ( Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E8600 (2x 3.33GHz/6MB L2 Cache/1333FSB) )
Motherboard ( [SLI] Asus P5N-D -- Nvidia nForce 750i SLI Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394, Dual PCI-E MB - EPU Technology )
Memory ( 4 GB [2 GB X2] DDR2-800 PC6400 Memory Module - Kingston HyperX )
Video Card ( NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 – 896MB - Single Card )
Case Lighting ( None )
Power Supply ( 800 Watt -- Power Supply - SLI Ready )
Processor Cooling ( XIGMATEK Dark Knight 120mm CPU Cooling Fan System - H.D.T. (Heat-pipe direct touch) technology )
Video Card Brand ( Major Brand Powered by ATI or NVIDIA )
Primary Hard Drive ( 500 GB HARD DRIVE -- 16M Cache, 7200 RPM, 3.0Gb/s - Single Drive )
Data Hard Drive ( None )
2nd Optical Drive ( None )
Optical Drive ( 22X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black )
External Hard Drives [USB 2.0/eSATA] ( None )
Sound Card ( Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE )
Speaker System ( iBUYPOWER 2.1 Channel Stereo Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System )
Network Card ( Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100) )
Floppy Drive ( None )
Monitor ( None )
Keyboard ( iBUYPOWER USB Keyboard - Black )
Mouse ( iBUYPOWER Internet Mouse - Black )
Operating System ( Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium + [Free 60-Day !!!] Microsoft Office 2007(Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access ....) - 64-Bit )
Warranty ( Standard Warranty Service - Standard 3-Year Limited Warranty + Lifetime Technical Support )
Rush Service ( Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) - No Rush Service, Estimate Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days )
Video Camera ( None )
Power Protection ( None )
Headset ( None )
Printer ( None )
Meter Display ( None )
Flash Media Reader/Writer ( None )
MP3/MP4 Player ( None )
USB Flash Drive ( None )
2nd Monitor ( None )
iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction ( None )
iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion ( None )
Netbook / Notebook Bundle ( None )

Thanks for any suggestions.

1) I think people configuring online would do well to not post the whole config here, it's damn hard to read. Or at least bold the CPU, Vid Card and RAM.

2) For CPUs, I keep myself to this Arma2 benchmark:
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/aid,687567...imulation/Test/

It's the one "Game-relevant" CPU test across all platforms that is around. Going by the C2D E8400 on that list, your E8600 is not going to reach the performance of the latest Phenoms or i5.(i5 being generally on the level or slightly above a 3.4 Ghz Phenom II)

3) GTX260 is on the lower end of current performance lineup. Get a GTX275, it has more shaders, slightly better clock speed and IMHO is best value for money on Nvidia side currently. Or get a HD5850 for about the same money with some more performance reserves.

4) Your PSU is oversized for a single card.

5) The newest NForce Chipset for Intel is the 780i, but it doesn't offer considerable more over the 750i.

What he said...

And can't you salvage some stuff from your old rig? Save some money by not buying the things you don't need, or use that money to boost your CPU and/or GPU options.

Thanks for the tips. I can't salvage stuff from old rig as I don't own it anymore. And its not feasible upgrading the machine I'm on as it was in no way made for gaming to begin with. Its new pc time. I'm not very techy savvy so I don't know enough to know what would end up meeting my needs. Like I said I've already missed a generation so any choice no matter how varying in appearance/config would probably do well for me. I'll probably lean towards a core i5 system.

RSColonel_131st, you mentioned the ps was too much for one card. Is that still true if I were to go with a faster GTX275 like you suggested? The particular case I selected has I think three LED fans. Don't I need to make sure I have enough power to run all that extra jazz?

Thanks again to both of you for the responses and suggestions.

Looks good, Coot.

And it's eerily similar to the PC I just ordered from iBuyPower a couple of days ago. You're is more powerful and more expensive but they're not that far off. I went with the 3.0GHz CPU but I got the same video card. I also got a smaller HD and on-board sound.

A power supply being too big. That's a good thing. The newest Nvidia chiset for the 775 socket would be the 790i. The 750i is a offshoot of the 780i which will work good with a Wolfdale and be pretty overclockable. You could do away with that sound blaster as the onboard sound will be pretty good.

I have the same heatsink on my system. It's just the plain jane version and is identical except mine is not called the Dark Knight.

If the price difference between a dual core E8600 and a core i5 system is $150
Get the I5 system.

Long term value, more upfront value...

I'm not seeing much to like in that component list.

speedbump, there's just no reason to spend the additional money on 800 watts if you can do with 650, plenty of reserve for a single card.

Even the GTX275 draws only around 220W under load, the CPU Intel states at 65W, but that is not full load - lets say 100W, add the HD, optical drive and some fans you are at max. 400W if even that much. LED Fans draw little to no power anyway, don't worry about stuff like that.

With PSU it seems the same as with Megapixels - everyone is trying to sell you the most, but better quality at less Watts often beats more Watts at less quality.

For comparison sake: my Phenom II 965 on order is rated at 140W, the GTX285 or HD5870 are both at about 220W, and the shop (staffed by knowledable geeks) gave me - by default - a 620W Enermax. They didn't even pretend to require 800W.

Oh, and I agree with Speedbump in another thing: The NForce onboard sound is pretty good, and you might even save some of the Soundblaster headaches that still seem to infest certain games.

I also have a motherboard question. I don't want to do sli, but do I have to get a sli capable board to be able to use nvidia brand cards? The reason I ask is because from my understanding sli is nvidia and crossfire is radeon's version. The motherboard I'm looking at for a core i5 system says crossfire only. I'm looking at that one because its an EVGA brand and the least expensive of the EVGA boards listed. So basically my question is do I need to get the EVGA motherboard that says both crossfire and sli supported in order for my nvidia card to work?

EVGA P55 LE -- Intel P55 Chipset CrossFire Supported w/7.1 Sound, Dual-Channel DDR3, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E MB


EVGA P55 -- Intel P55 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/7.1 Sound, Dual-Channel DDR3, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Three PCI-E MB

I know next to nothing about motherboards really. Is there a brand I should go for or stay away from? Here are my choices for a core i5 system:

Asus P7P55D LE -- Intel P55 Chipset CrossFire Supported w/7.1 Sound, Dual-Channel DDR3, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-Ex16 MB More Options


Asus P7P55D PRO -- Intel P55 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/7.1 Sound, Dual-Channel DDR3, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Three PCI-Ex16 MB More Options
[+ $49]

Asus P7P55D Deluxe -- Intel P55 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/9.1 Sound, Dual-Channel DDR3, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Three PCI-Ex16 MB More Options
[+ $114]

EVGA P55 LE -- Intel P55 Chipset CrossFire Supported w/7.1 Sound, Dual-Channel DDR3, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E MB More Options
[+ $38]

EVGA P55 -- Intel P55 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/7.1 Sound, Dual-Channel DDR3, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Three PCI-E MB More Options
[+ $75]

EVGA P55 FTW -- Intel P55 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/7.1 Sound, Dual-Channel DDR3, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Three PCI-E MB More Options
[+ $104]

GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R -- Intel P55 Chipset CrossFire Supported w/7.1 Sound, Dual-Channel DDR3, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E MB More Options
[+ $17]

GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD5 -- Intel P55 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/7.1 Sound, Dual-Channel DDR3, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Three PCI-E MB More Options
[+ $98]

GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD6 -- Intel P55 Chipset CrossFire and SLI Supported w/7.1 Sound, Dual-Channel DDR3, Dual Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Three PCI-E MB More Options
[+ $132]

Intel DP55KG -- Intel X58 CrossFire and SLI Chipset w/10-channel Sound, Dual Channel DDR3, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, PCI-E MB More Options
[+ $96]

MSI P55-GD65 -- Intel P55 CrossFire and SLI Support Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Dual Gb LAN, Dual-Channel DDR3, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Dual PCI-E MB More Options
[+ $46]

MSI P55-GD80 -- Intel P55 CrossFire and SLI Support Chipset w/7.1 Sound, Dual Gb LAN, Dual-Channel DDR3, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, Three PCI-E MB

I'm interested now in the one highlighted in red. Its both crossfire and sli supported and only had two pci-e slots which seems better for me especially when I'm not interested now in going sli. Therefore I definately do not have need for a board with three pci-e slots. Is MSI good? Thanks for any tips.