Thinking of building - Up to €2k budget

Cmar-Ireland

Ok Guys, just thinking about this at the moment.
Currently have a dell 720 h2c, 2x8800gtx, 4gb ram, 2xraptors 1x storage drive, physicx card etc.

What I'd like is a high spec machine, that will run modern game a high settings. A system that runs quietly is high on the agenda, so quieter components are definitely a plus. Regarding the case, I would prefer a big alloy case, minimalist style.
I don't really need to upgrade/change but I'd like to take the leap to a self build machine. My budget could go up to €2k, but lower is better!

I have a dell 27" monitor and 4gb of Ballistix Tracer ram that I will hang onto. So I need everything else. Probably will go with Vista (unless advised otherwise).

Advice greatly appreciated!

the_syco

Have a Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 case. It's f**king massive, but _EXTREMELY_ quite. Open, fans are noisy. Closed, not a peep.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=341529

As for the 2x8800gtx you'll get about 20% extra power with the 2nd card. Unless you're using graphic applications, IMO you should just go for one higher spec card.

towel401

2k is a huge amount to spend on a pc these days.

maybe you can connect up two 9600's. there are passively cooled versions of it available.

buy a few SSD's and raid them? Like samsung sata-2 SSD's not the cheap and nasty MLC stuff

Anti

what a waste of 2k. What you have is already fairly high end. You could upgrade the cpu and the case. And then add on quieter coolers to the graphics cards, swap out the fans for quieter high cfm models.

Dingatron

the_syco wrote: »

Have a Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 case. It's f**king massive, but _EXTREMELY_ quite. Open, fans are noisy. Closed, not a peep.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=341529

Nice case. I was going for one of them but picked up a P182 instead and am very happy with it. That Komplett price for it is crazy though. HWVS has it for €100 cheaper. http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=18596&agid=632

Cmar-Ireland

Thanks for the suggestions folks.
I like the idea of an ssd drive, perhaps just for the os and add some other drives for the rest?
I have the reaptos in raid, but I think its overkill and just adds to the noise.
I hear the 4870x2 is the quickest card would it be a good choice?
Are there mobo's that are sli and crossfire compatible.

I know I could upgrade my existing system, but I have a buyer for it and it's hard to pass up an opportunity to self build a high end system.

I like that cosmo case Syco, just looking at the coolermaster site, there is a cosmo 1000 s. Looks the same but has a cover for the top connections. They seem to get good reviews for quiteness alright.

the_syco

Dingatron wrote: »

Nice case. I was going for one of them but picked up a P182 instead and am very happy with it. That Komplett price for it is crazy though. HWVS has it for €100 cheaper. http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=18596&agid=632

Actually, the one from Komplett also has a 850Watt Coolermaster PSU in it as well. The one from HWV doesn't.

Cmar-Ireland: the covers for the top would be nice, esp as the on/off & restart buttons are on top. Means that you can't let some eejit (you know who you are :P ) plug in a USB key to the USB ports nearby the restart button

Here's pictures of it: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055346729

The front with all the stuff plugged in. Nice cable management system.

Also shows the 850Watt PSU that came with the one from Komplett.ie

Oh, and look at the space for the graphics card. I've seen a few cases where the card would take up some HDD space, but there's plenty of room there!

Skatedude

I have the 4870x2 in my system and its quite a bit faster then my old 2 x 8800gtx oc's in sli. its a very fast card, also heats up your room during winter quite nicely

Cmar-Ireland

Skatedude wrote: »

I have the 4870x2 in my system and its quite a bit faster then my old 2 x 8800gtx oc's in sli. its a very fast card, also heats up your room during winter quite nicely

How does it compare noise wise? Is it louder or quiter than the 2 8800's?

colonel-yum-yum

Just buy a dell

Silenceisbliss

I hate when people have 2k to spend on a PC...it sickens me!

Cmar-Ireland

Silenceisbliss wrote: »

I hate when people have 2k to spend on a PC...it sickens me!

I have up to 2k to spend, that doesn't mean I will spend it!
I will be keeping my monitor and the ram if its good enough, the rest of the components I will buy as cost effectively as possible.

Spiritine

Your pc is better than most the pc's people are still building lol, If i were you i would stick with a dell, you can get quare headaches building ur own pc when ya run into problems like them crashing for no reason....you cant ring up Dell and tell them to come and fix it then

Ive experienced both and with a dell, youv no headaches, i spent in excess of 3k on building one 2months ago and i can tell u it hurts hard when it would crash for no reason, then not crash for a week, then do it 5times in 1 day.... Im still not sorted! Running tests to figure out what part needs to be sent back and hope its taken back & refunded for!

Theres my tought.

Cmar-Ireland

Thanks for the input Murray. Yeah it is good to know I can ring Dell and ask them to help with any issues, but id I built one I'd have the board.ie experts to help me .

I have 4gb of ballistix tracer 8500 ram and a monitor that I'd be keeping.
From reading around, so far I'm thinking of the Coolermaster Cosmos S case. 4870x2 gfx card. A Samsung f1 1tb harddrive. Maybe an SSD for the OS. But I'm not too up on the motherboards or psu that I could use.

Spiritine

no prob, good luck , ive had loads of help but im still where i was:(

DanGerMus

Asus Rampage is a pretty sweet ddr2 board.