Ok everyone, so I'm not sure exactly where to post this so if it is in the wrong place please move it. Anyways, My Fiance is a HUGE Sims fan. Meaning she has every single expansion pack made all installed in her crappy Old Computer with only 512mb of ram and a 128 or 256mb cheapo video card. So she got a very large settlement recently and asked me to build her a serious gaming computer with an eye on the future. She really only plays Sims 2 but wants to be able to play anything she wants now and in the future but also do everyday things too. If money is not an object what would you build within reason I would say no more than $3000 for parts including case and maybe keyboard and mouse but no $1000 processors. And I most likely will overclock the processor and am pretty familiar with water cooling. Also I will be recycling her 300gb ide drive in it but all others will be SATA. I also want to use Intel Processor and Nvidia Video card. And this is not a hypothetical question, I really need the help. Thanks very much.

Sims is not that system intensive. If you build something that will play Crysis, Sims will be more than happy on it.
Check out the other recent "what should I get" thread. Skip over the animosity and get to the suggestions.
The suggested machine was under $3000 if memory serves and is about as good as current tech allows.

You actually seem to know what you want already.
Why don't you put something together and have us critque it instead?

But why do you want to water cool? Do you really want to do the maintence associated with it?
Why not leave that hdd in the old computer and update completely? (two running computers is better than one, IMO, especially when the WC'd computer is down for cleaning)

The things I am having trouble deciding on is the Motherboard, memory, video card(s) and any intel processor suggestions. I am completely clueless as far as those things go. I am definately going to load all of her sims files from the 320gb ide drive onto a 300gb velociraptor to help the game run a little faster. And maybe use another sata hd to run all the other stuff ie: vista or xp.

I'm not saying that she's not worth it, but watercooling seems a bit over the top for a lady's computer, even if she is the "Lady-to-be"... Unless you're going with a phase-change or some other more exotic and complicated cooling solution, a good air solution will meet or beat most basic (and some of the more complicated) water solutions these days... There is also the cost of said air systems vs. the cost of the complete water system. Besides, I don't see her being able to brag to all her lady friends about having a water-cooled system that you built for her without their collective eyes glassing over... "...So he put a computer in your CAR???"

As for parts... you don't have to go all out on parts to build a kick-ass system for her. Again, not saying she's not worth it, but you get her a kick-ass system, that handles just about anything she throws at it without breaking a sweat, AND you do it without spending the big bucks, and you come out looking so smart and frugal in the end... Aside from what Gumby mentioned, the majority of the games that I hear people (non-FPS/RTS/RPG) fawning and drooling over are not really system hogs, they don't need the massive computational power of a QX9850/280GTX/8GB of DDR3/VelociraptorHDD/etc...

Processor: Intel Q6600 or E8400. From what I recall, either one will serve you well. Yes, you can find slower processors, or you can go with AMD, but there's that little "future-proofing" thing you mentioned. You can also find faster processors, but those are moving you up into the $1K/cpu neighborhood...

Video: the 88xx/98xx cards are running pretty cheap, now that nVidia's 260/280 cards are out. I'm personally very happy with my 9800GX2, but am still somewhat kicking myself over the price, when I could have gotten 3 9800GTXs for a fraction of the price of the GX2, and run them in 3-way SLI.

Memory: DDR2 is easy to find, DDR3 is more expensive, but seemingly so more future-proof (I remember back when it was DDR vs DDR2)

Motherboard: Based on my experiences with their products and support, I would recommend an eVGA board. They have several to choose from, whether you're going fo bleeding-edge gaming, or just the casual hour or two on a weekend... Often not as expensive as comparable boards by other makers, but still...

PSU: here's where a lot of people choose to skimp on the good brands and re-allocate funds to a nicer part elsewhere. BIG NO-NO, IMO . Would you think it wise to build a Ferrari around a Volkswagen engine from a bug, or vice-versa? PC Power & Cooling have never done me wrong, and there are many other members who will vouch for them as well. A well-known and respected name brand for PSU is a generally GOOD thing. It means they have been around, have a reputation to protect, so they won't be slapping their name on an inferior POS PSU. If it does go south on you, their reputation is what keeps them from slamming the phone down when you call to get an RMA.

Case: Again, name brand is better, but the compromise between price and name brand is best. I'd pick an NZXT case that I can get for next to nothing over a Lian Li at full price, and I am a big Lian Li fan...

Aluminum cases generally run more expensive, but they are so much nicer IMO than their steel counterparts. The whole case tends to act like a heatsink, sloughing off heat from the system. I have no empirical proof of said statement, but I have experience with both steel and alum cases. Considering I'm a big Lian Li fan...

OS: I'm not going to get into the whole XP Pro/Vista/"7" debate. An OS is a personal choice or preference. Keep in mind, though, that I walked through my local Staples and XP Pro full was only about $30 less than Vista Ultimate full... "7" might be a bit better, but that's still off down the proverbial road a little ways...

All in all, you shouldn't have to spend very much at all to build the "Mrs.-to-be" a very nice and future-proof system. Take the extra money that you might have originally set aside for the build, and once you're done building it for her, take her out someplace NICE (The Olive Garden or Red Lobster DO NOT COUNT!)

Good luck and let us know what you pick out, we're always here to help (well, some more than others)...

Thanks so much I really appreciate it. That is everything I needed to know.

Very good advice the only thing i think i could add to that is maybe consider a 45nm cpu the q9300 goes for about $270

I'm agreeing with everything GrandpaNoob said. It is excellent advise

Quote: Originally Posted by xgeko2 Very good advice the only thing i think i could add to that is maybe consider a 45nm cpu the q9300 goes for about $270

Q9300s are rubbish. Smaller L2 cache than the Q6600 and lower multiplier, so they don't overclock nearly as well.

To the OP: Core i7 is launching in a few months, and it's going to make Core 2 redundant, so you might want to wait a bit.

GrandpaNoob, Thanks for share the greatful advices.

Also consider that the system specs GPN put up there will run you $1k, max. Take that extra $2k and put it towards an upgraded diamond ring (if you haven't already bought one) and she'll be more happy with the larger diamond than she will with the high-end computer ... and it will last forever ... and she'll have bragging rights with ALL her female friends.

Take this from a guy who knows from experience.

-godling

Ok everyone, 1 Last thing. When I built my computer I used a Asus Striker Extreme Motherboard and a Q6600 CPU. When I tried hooking up my old IDE drive to it, to transfer all my files to my 150 Raptor it would not work. I am planning on transferring her old files from the IDE drive the same way. My question is if I use a Asus P5QC Mobo Newegg.com - Suggested Products
will I run into the same problem I did with my Mobo?

You never know what may happen when switching mobo's. I recommend burning everything that's important to a DVD 1st. And then if anything goes wrong you still have your important stuff.

Quote: Originally Posted by Slaymate You never know what may happen when switching mobo's. I recommend burning everything that's important to a DVD 1st. And then if anything goes wrong you still have your important stuff.

Or keep the hdd in the old system and transfer over the network ... if you can do that.

But Slay's right: you can never tell how a new mobo is going to handle an old HDD. You could also use an enclosure, that might work ... I've got an IDE enclosure that is network accessible, so it's basically a NAS. I dump everything there, upgrade, and pull it all back. Note: I did notice that when I tried to take an old HDD and put it in the enclosure, it told me I didn't have rights to access the files, so I probably needed to set some accessibility options.

-godling