BF2S Forums System of the Month: Februari '08

So, after a long while of creating my initial System of the Month threads (lost with Gibson’s coma unfortunately) I decided to start making them again. For those (many I guess, didn’t receive a lot of feedback and threads vanished away) of you who don’t know about the aim of this thread I’ll explain it to you.
This System of the Month thread is intended to give you valuable advice about buying the necessary parts  for a new computer/upgrade this February . I know it’s still January but thought I’d just name it in advance so that it doesn’t get old soon.
Anyway everything you want to know about how to configure pc’s in a range from budget to high-end will be covered in this month’s edition (and of course the following too, if this gets popular enough), but all aimed at us gamers.
Now I picked the webshop Overclockers which is located in the UK, but of course you can select the same items I picked on any other shop in your country/your favorite retailer.
I will make a table for all configurations, and after each system I will explain why  I have chosen the parts. This will be done completely with links to the articles I am talking about, so that if you may order from overclockers all you will have to do is click and add to cart. If you aren’t ordering from there it’s also a good spot to find additional information about the product by clicking on the link.
Configurations will be as following:
Budget system
Midrange system
High-end system
Systems will be initially without any extra additional hardware like keyboards and monitors, but I'll include a list of possible options at the end of this topic.
What am I talking about, let’s get started and you’ll see for yourself how it can help you.

Budget system configuration

Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L

Ok, time for some explanations here. First of all, yes that table is being pushed down a lot, I'm sorry. I can't help it I tried a lot of things but it's just the code doing some weird stuff I guess.Second, the actual PC. So this is a pretty neat budget configuration, it's not too expensive and gives good performance. You can play a bit older games on high with this (BF2, CSS, etc.) and newer games will be running for you on medium. This config has a good performing Core 2 Duo CPU, a motherboard with future upgrading capabilities (you can put in a new Core 2 Duo/Quad from the E8xxx and Q9xxx series in this one without problems might you ever want to), decent enough soundcard and 2GB of fast, quality GEIL memory. All stacked in a Thermaltake Soprano case (got a lot of criticism on it the last time I picked it, but I have it and still love it), which is excellent for it's price. It runs cool due to the 120mm air intake fan on the front, and the 120mm one blowing the air out of the back again. It also has a 92mm side fan. Now if you don't like the case no worries I'll include a list of extra options including cases at the end of this post.Now it's time for the next system..The midrange configuration

Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4

Some slight changes in here, not much, but it wasn't needed. The motherboard is a quality Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 (I own one, it's good), I looked for an X38 chipset motherboard but they're too expensive for this system and don't show the difference in performance. A better, newer CPU at 3.00GHz (a true monster for it's price) a better vid card, the 8800GT, which comes with 512MB memory as opposed to the 256MB ATi 3850 which I put in the budget system. This 512MB comes in handy in higher resolutions, which you can use this PC for. Good gaming ensured with this excellent pc, plenty of space too with the new 500GB harddrive and no problems ensured with the 600W PSU instead of the previous 500W.Up next...High-end configuration

Motherboard	EVGA nForce 780i SLI

Double the amount of money spent on the midrange PC, this high-end configuration also doubles the amount of performance. With 2 extremely fast harddrives (put them in RAID 0), 4GB of SLi opitimized RAM, a 780i chipset EVGA state-of-the-art mobo, and a Quad Core CPU (I had to go with this one because the new Q9xx aren't in stock yet , still a good CPU this one). If possible, wait for the new quads, else take this one or a good Core 2 Duo E8 series, and if youre sticking with the Q6600, it's a good idea to get a seperate cooler and overclock it. Add two of the new GTS G92 512 MB cards, and you have a winner. Everything stacked up in a nice Lian-Li case with a 780 watt power supply, never will you have to worry about performance again (ok well in a few years I admit ).

Additional list of possible components

Monitor possibilities for the budget system:
Acer P193W-A 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver
Samsung SM-920NW 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Silver/Black
Wouldn't go over 1280x1024 or 1440x900 resolution with the budget PC, as the video card only has 256 mb in RAM, which means performance will decrease significantly on higher resolutions (higher resolutions can be found on bigger screens mostly). These 19" widescreens are a good choice, though.

Monitor possibilities for midrange and high-end:
Samsung SM-206BW 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Glossy Black Personal recommendation as I own this one, and I couldn't be happier with it.
Samsung SM-223BW 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Glossy Black
Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP-HC 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey (Important note: for monitors like this one, with 1920x1200 and up resolution, I would recommend if you have the money SLi 8800GTX's rather than the new GTS's. They are more expensive and older, but they have a larger memory amount and buswidth.. So at those resolutions I personally wouldn't take risks.)
Samsung SM-245B 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black


Case options
Lian Li Case list
Thermaltake Case list

Extra peripherals
Good gaming mice are the Logitech G5, the older Logitech MX518 which is more aimed at the budget system but still a good gaming mouse, and this entire list of Razers, because they're all good.



Phew.... Ok.. This was a long write, I hope to have helped you guys the best with this and I'd appreciate some feedback on it as I've been working really long now and to see if there's enough interest in this to keep going next months.
As I said I hope I have helped you the best with this and good luck on getting your new PC or upgrade, it's a real fun thing to do, configuring and ordering then getting it delivered at home to see your new good gaming performance
Thanks for reading, xGj.

Changelog
--Sunday 27/01/08 20:04 Updated motherboard on midrange system, now a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 instead of GA-P35-DS3L. Price has also been adjusted with new component.

Last edited by xGj (2008-01-27 11:38:27)