New PC Build help needed

[Fargo]

Thinking about building a new gaming rig but I haven't built a PC in years, the original Unreal was the last time I upgraded a PC to play games on. So far I have the following
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
MSI P45 NEO-F, P45, Socket-775, DDR2,
Corsair TWIN2X 6400C5DHX DDR2, 2048MB

an extra 2 gigs of ram, a case with a 500w psu and a g5 laser mouse(always wanted one) I'm completely lost when it comes to graphics cards, I'm not looking to upgrade for a while after I build this one so it has to be something future proof. Any ideas? my budget would be around 800 euro for the whole thing.

[abigsmurf]

Wait a bit and the Core i7's will be out. Much faster (30% or so) and future proofed. Will require a different motherboard though.

The current winner for graphics card is the ATI 4850 which is an incredible card for the price. There's also the slightly cheaper 4830 but the 4850 is currently the most popular.

[Fargo]

Cheers for the help. A couple of people have said to what for intel's new processors but im guessing at first they'll be expensive compared to whats available now. As for graphics cards the ATI 4850 does look good, i've also seen the 4870 for a good price I'm guessing its the next step up. Thanks for the advice anyway

[NW2013]

I'd be surprised if the i7's were that much more expensive. Intel tend to be very consistent with pricing. Plus they'll push down the cost of existing processors so its still worth waiting.

[Hohum]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=5&subid=1283

The price of motherboards alone are reason to avoid i7 for a good while yet. There might be sensible pricing by the middle next year if you're lucky... besides that, you need to factor in triple channel DDR3 for such a system.

If you wanted to upgrade now, then a Core 2-based system is the only sensible way to go. Just purchase the best 'bang for buck' components and you'll have a decent system for a good while. Future proofing isn't really possible due to how fast technology advances in PCs, so you shouldn't attempt to do that.

[Matt]

Unless a new tech is out next week, don't bother waiting to upgrade the PC. Do it when you need to. There's always something better just round the corner. Get what you can now and enjoy it

[abigsmurf]

The Core i7 CPUs are fairly reasonable but yeah, the motherboards are pricey. I'd be surprised if they didn't release mainstream boards very soon, especially as Intel are discontinuing a lot of their core 2 line.

[Hohum]

We'll have to see if a more reasonably priced chipset appears. Currently there's no incentive for Intel to drop prices, for the simple reason that AMD cannot compete with them at this moment in time.

[Brannigan]

I doubt that you'll see a marked improvement with gaming on the new Intel chips. They are much more designed to improve server type performance, as this is where Intel lag AMD. Go for a fast Core 2 and you'll be fine. Graphics cards are much more integral to gaming performance at the minute anyway.

If you can I would go for the 4850, as others have said or the 4870, which is its more powerful bigger brother. You could also have a look at the 9800s from Nvidia.

[Fargo]

Pretty much decided on the follow, Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
MSI P45 NEO-F, P45, Socket-775, DDR2, 4 gigs of ram, Gainward Radeon HD 4870 1GB GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0, DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort "G, 700w psu and a nice case. I'm guessing I'll have no problem running Crysis etc with those specs, thanks for the help its much appreciated

[Hohum]

Sounds fine, is the PSU of decent quality? Will avoid a lot of potential issues if it is.

[Fargo]

Had to delay the build for a couple of weeks, problem is the processor bundle had changed somewhat and is now a intel Core? 2 Quad Q8200 2,33GHz, instead of a q6600. Is this as good or better ? Hopefully all going well I'll have it built for xmas anyway.