Hello,

I plan to buy a new computer soon and I thought it's wise to ask more people about my choices.
Here is what I have in mind:

Motherboard : ASUS Maximus II Formula (200 EUR)
CPU : INTEL E8600 - Core 2 Duo, 3.3GHz (230 EUR)
Video card : ASUS EAH4870X2 Radeon HD 4870 X2 (440 EUR)
RAM : 2 x Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX - 2GB DRR2-800 (100 EUR)
HDD : 2 x Western Digital VelociRaptor - WD3000GLFS (480 EUR)
PSU : Zalman ZM850-HP - 850W (200 EUR)
Case : Thermaltake Kandalf LCS (240 EUR)
DVD writer : Samsung SH-S203P (40 EUR)
Keyboard : Logitech G15 2005 or G11 (80 EUR); hope I will still find G15 2005 (had that cool wheel)
Mouse : Logitech MX 518 (45 EUR)
Display : Samsung SyncMaster 2493HM, 24'', 1920x1200 (360 EUR)

In total it's about 2500 EUR and this is kind of my budget (can go a few hundreds higher but I don't really want to).

And here are my reasons:

Motherboard
- it's a P45 chipset based mobo because I don't trust NVIDIA on chipsets and it's not a X48 because I don't plan to use CrossFire
- has hardware RAID (Speeding HDD)
- performs fine in reviews
- I trust ASUS as a brand

CPU
- fastest Core 2 Duo
- I plan to overclock it and would like not to increase the voltage; from the reviews I read this processor is the most stable with this kind of overclocking (probably brought by the new E0 stepping)

Video card
- needed a bad video card because I want to play all the games maxed out at 1920x1200
- the only thing better than this (but only slightly and not in all games) is 2 GTX 280, and that's at least 300 EUROs more. It's a no-brainer who provides better value here

RAM
- 2 x 2GB seems the best/enough for now (will use Vista or XP 64 bit editions)
- I trust the brand
- it's on ASUS' Qualified Vendor List which means it has been tested with the motherboard so I won't have problems

HDD
- 2 pieces of the fastest hard-drive available
- will use RAID 0
- solid state hard drives are just too expensive now (perhaps in a few years...)

PSU
- has enough juice (including amps)
- respected brand
- performs ok in reviews
- it's very quiet

Case
- looks cool
- it's quiet
- it has water cooling and I want that, but I am not ready to make case modifications. I'm sure that if I were to cut the case myself it would look horrible

DVD RW
- from the reviews it seems ok
- has LightScribe which might come in handy

Mouse
- it's wired (had some bad experiences with gaming using wireless mice)
- can change DPI on-the-fly while you are in the game
- it's lighter than G5 (I don't like brick mice - heavy and big)

Display
- I like 24'' / 1920x1200
- it performs ok in the reviews
- has HDMI
- looks nice
- has TN panel which means it's cheap and it doesn't have noticeable input lag; I don't mind viewing angled: I will be gaming right in front of it


The video card will probably be the most noisy component and I will probably buy a water block as soon as I know there is no fabrication problem with it. I heard that mounting a water block voids the warranty so I want first to make sure I won't return it.

What do you think?
Will I have any incompatibilities?
Known issues with any component?
Are my choices correct?

P.S. Sorry for the huge post.


Thank you.

ASUS is indeed a trustworthy brand. I've build pc's for years. I've only rma'ed 1 ASUS board. That was a s478.

Looks good, but if you're overclocking the cpu, you should get an aftermarket cooler. It's not a must. It'll be cooler & quieter than stock. You should be able to get 3.6Ghz out of stock vcore on that chip.

You don't need HD4870X2 for a 24 incher. It's good for a 30 incher or a bigger one. A HD4870 will let you max out most games on that LCD. However, new games will get more and more demending. The X2 will last longer than the X1.

Look into this monitor if you don't need HDMI. Twice the contrast and black looks more black. Video playback will look better on this one:

http://www.samsung.com/hk_en/consu [...] MYKRBQ/XSH