It's that time of year when new parts are issued and need to update my guide in purchasing new computer systems during the month of January.

I've given a lot of useful information in my last post, which should be very useful and worth reading.

I will show you 3 different configurations to a increasing price and performance levels. I'm not going to include the cost of a monitor and peripheral devices in these systems, so you can take this into account when calculating costs, as it can add a few hundred dollars. We mainly just want to look at the best value available parts and justify the reasons for or against different updates.
Entry Level System ($ 500 – $ 1000 U.S. $)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E2160

Motherboard: ASUS P5K Good quality or Gigabyte to suit your choice of processor for under $ 150 U.S. $

Memory: 2 GB DDR2 667

Hard-Drive: Western Digital 250GB

Graphics Card: ATI HD on board or 512 3850

DVD Drive: LightScribe / Pioneer DVD Burner

Power Supply and Case: 400-450W easy will suffice and your choice of case, I would not recommend any expenditure over $ 150 here. My suggestion is go to your local store and take a look at the range, then make the decision.

This system is ideal for the home user. To be responsible for all office applications with ease and have enough power as a HTCP low end machine.

If you do not intend to play, then the HD 3850 is a waste. Simply use the integrated video cards, or buy a cheap ATI HD 2600 Pro, which can easily be enough.

If you are looking to build one of these systems, which I suggest you do is select all parts except the processor and see how much money remains. From here, we want to do research on the various processors available and see what can fit into your budget. From there you can look back on their previous choices and opting for cheaper parts if you have the need. The range can be from U.S. $ 75 U.S. $ for the E2160, through to $ 185 U.S. $ for the E6750, if you can afford;)

Midrange System ($ 1000 – $ 1500 U.S. $)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 or Q6600 (G0 stepping)

Motherboard: ASUS P35 – Look at the website and choose one that suits your needs and budget

Memory: 2 GB DDR2 800

DDR-800 alone, if overclocking, if not, DDR-667 is sufficient, since otherwise is wasteful.

Hard-Drive: Western Digital 320GB

Graphics Card: 512MB nVidia 8800GT (if no stock, then the ATi 512 3870)

DVD: LightScribe / Pioneer DVD Burner

Power & the Subject: 450-550W should be enough. If you plan on overclocking, you may want to consider putting some extra money on the cooling system. Good recommendations are the Antec 900, Cooler Master Stacker 830 and the range of Lian-Li, which offer a good quality design. Also, pay more for a good quality supply of energy! It is one of its most important team and do not want to fail on you (I speak from experience here).

For now four cores, which means performance benefits the latest games and extreme multitasking capabilities, with strong potential for overclocking, then go for the Q6600.

If you want a fast powerful machine where you have several minimum-task and can achieve similar performance at this point in time as quad cores and even more potential for overclocking, then take the E8400. Note, there is a fair price difference of ~ $ 100 U.S. $. If I had to go out and buy a computer tomorrow should be the 8400, is the newest technology and are quieter and cooler with 45nm architecture.

You could go from 2 GB to 4 GB, depending on how your budget are looking for, but another rule of thumb is this;

It gets more than 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, unless you have 64-bit Windows Vista.

If you do not have this, additional RAM will not be recognized and will be a waste of money.
The hard disk size is between you, the greater storage capacity, the higher the cost.

The 512 8800GT is hands down the best card on the market value at the time of his sheer power and thermal control.

High End System ($ 1500 – $ 2000 U.S. $)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 or Q6600 (G0 stepping)

Motherboard: Asus or Gigabyte board 650/680i allow you to have SLi. Note, this may put the final price beyond just $ 2k and I do not think is a realistic option in this time, but at least you have the option later down the road. If you do not want SLI, then stick to the P35 boards.

Memory: 4GB DDR2 800

Hard-Drive: Western Digital 500GB

Graphics Card: 512MB nVidia 8800GTS

DVD: LightScribe / Pioneer DVD Burner

Power Supply and Case: 550W is more realistic. Again, you want a good power supply quality (Thermaltake is a good brand for this) and the case should provide considerable cooling. I suggest you do some research before you buy your case and decide what really want and need. Many people still swear by the ability of the 900 Antec cooling, but many will tell you otherwise, realistically, that have to make a decision in this case.

The same question applies to the CPU in high-end system in the midrange and the low price of the E8400 almost irresistible.

The 512MB 8800GTS is simply the most powerful card to a realistic value. Going SLI is a big decision and I suggest you read about the disadvantages and benefits thereof.

I have a forthcoming article for this to mark the site (Ctrl + D) or subscribe to my RSS feed in the upper right corner of my site!

Stay for new updates and I hope this helps you in your next computer purchase.

Article direct from http://www.dimmportal.com/

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Extreme overclocking – Q6600 G0 – My Rig