Hello SimHQ, I'm looking for help choosing components to build a new PC from. My current Athlon 3500+-based system is mostly 5 years old now and crippled by an AGP interface. Because I can't upgrade my system without replacing motherboard, CPU and graphics card, I thought I'd start completely fresh and ship the old system to my little brother (currently stuck with a laptop that can't even play Portal ) I was originally intending a quick and dirty move to a system which can be incrementally upgraded to stay current over the next four-five years.

I'm quite keen to play X-Plane 9 with good graphics, and Black Shark, Storm of War, Rise of Flight etc, all of which I can't really do on the current system. I'm hoping to spend a lot of time with X-Plane, which prefers nVidia cards apparently.

I'm sitting on a pile of components which will form the new system in a week or two. All I need to do now is choose the CPU and graphics card! This is what I've got so far:


I've been buying the system piecemeal as the weekly paychecks roll in, instead of waiting and getting all at once, because I'm an impatient idiot.

The original plan was a system based on the Q8400 processor and GTX275 graphics card, which I'd selected based on the highly technical procedure of going to the online retailers and seeing what products appeared to be about 1/3rd of the way from the bottom of the price list and assuming they represent good performance for money. I posted the original list on another forum, where someone recommended the 450W branded PSU, and then on a second forum, where I was told that 450W is a major bottleneck and means I'll be using a relatively low-power graphics card. I had no idea that a powerful graphics card can pull 250W...

I'm currently thinking of completing the system with something Q8400ish and an nVidia 9800GT of some description. There are some mildly crippled ones available which eat less than 75W, which is useful, and at what appears to be a good price (well, compared to everything I've already purchased anyway). I can return the 450W PSU, but that means more shipping charges and spending even more money on a more powerful one, and I'd prefer to stick with the 450W and find a CPU and graphics card which will work with it. Completely backwards logic, yes, very stupid, but it's a learning experience and I'll be doing better next time :-)

I'm having a hard time comparing the 6000- and 8000-series dual- and quad-core Intel Core 2 processors. All the guides seem to be about finding which is the absolute best, or how they compare to Athlon processors, but I'd already got a socket 775 motherboard because I'd taken it as granted that the Core 2 processors beat their AMD counterparts hands down before I'd read any of them. And I'm not particularly interested in what's the absolute best, because by definition that's also bad value for money. I'm just looking for what's good enough to run today's sims well, and can be replaced with something three tiers higher in a year's time for next year's games!

So, I have these questions:

1) will a Q8400 with 9800GT work nicely with a 450W PSU?

2) is a Q8400 a good choice, or would it be best to choose dual-core?

3) What nVidia graphics card would complete the system?

These are my provisional choices, for what it's worth:


edit: I'm now wondering if a £85 E7400 is better value than a £125 Q8400 for now...

1. If you choose a top quality PSU like the one you listed from Corsair, then 450W is enough for that CPU + gfx card.
Running an overclocked C2D 8400 + 8800 GTS 512 + 3HD´s + 2 Optical Drives + 2 system coolers with a 4 year old 500W Enermax PSU without problems here.

2. The Q8400 seems to be in the same price range as the C2D E8400, which would be my dual-core CPU choice.
The E8400 is an excellent overclocker and has plenty of Level2 cache which is great for gaming.
But with sims like Rise of Flight on the market and more to come which take full advantage of a 4-core CPU, the Q8400 may be a bit more future proof.

3. A GTX 216 would be my choice for that kind of system you plan to build.

I think I would want a little bigger PSU than a 450 now.

There are a lot better direct touch heatpipe coolers than the one you specify. It's not bad, just not really up to the task of cooling a hot quad.

http://www.frostytech.com/