I'm thinking about getting a new computer too, and have been doing some research. My potential new computer is going to be something like this:
1 INTEL Core2Duo E8400 (S775 - 1333MHz - 2x3 MB) 3,0Ghz
1 ASUS P5K-E WiFi-AP (iP35 - S775)
1 PC2-6400 - 2 GBx2 - DDR2 (brand to be determined)
1 MSI NX8800 GT Silent - 512 MB - PCIe - TV+2xDVI
1 Antec P182 (no PSU)
1 600 Watt PSU - Zalman ZM600-HP (or Corsair 650/750W)
2 Samsung 500 GB HD501LJ (SATA300 - 16 MB)
1 Arctic Freezer 7 Pro (Socket 775)
1 DVD±RW Samsung SH-S203D/BEBN - SATA - black
1 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64B- OEM
1 Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Audio-PCIe
1 Disk drive (for Raid setup) and/or card reader
Notes:
* I doubt the 10K harddisk is going to do much; 2x500Gb in raid should have the same performance. (and even that is probably useless in games!)
* The ASUS P5K motherboard is one of many options. I read it has problems with RAID, so I might pick another.
* The MSI nx8800GT is more expensive than regular 8800GT's, but it's supposedly silent, which is a bit pro for me. I don't know if it's any good, though... Still thinking about it. I could also get an Asus card.
* You could get another case if you don't like the high price; I was going to get it because it's quiet.
* The X-Fi sound card probably isn't needed, but it's not too expensive, so why not.
* I already have two good TFT screens, a good 5.1 speaker system, and a good keyboard and mouse. If you don't, you'll need to add those.
* I dunno how much it's going to be where you live, but in the Netherlands, I'm looking at about 1300 to 1400 Euros.
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Ah, just saw your budget... hmm, not even close to what I'll be spending. You'll have to make some cuts then.
- you could drop the second 500 Gb harddisk, and get one 750 Gb for a bit more. Or get one 500 Gb HDD.
- Get a cheaper motherboard and CPU. AMD might be an option.
- not so much computer case, less PSU.
- 2 Gb memory instead of 4.
- perhaps get a nvidia 8600GT, or a similar ATI card.