A new computer..

I am spending about 2000 to 3000 Euro to buy a new computer, although i want one that is as fast as possible.

Anyone got tips for this? I have been thinking about making a dual xeon or even Opteron (crazy). Although AMD Athlon 64 looked pretty good also.

I am putting a ATI Radeon 9800 Pro VideoCard in it.
1024 MB Memory or more.

For the rest i don't really know what i should put in it, well of course a soundcard... lol

Give me some suggestions!

Thanks,
Phantium Longwell

Is SL going to be your primary game? If so go nvidia not ATI. All performance, stability etc issues aside, SL just runs a LOT better on NVidia cards in the PC version.

For gaming you are better off with a single processor setup, Athlon 64 is a nice one, and if you can afford the top one it performs really well. Get good quality memory too, not just any sticks. Corsier is good as is my personal favorite of crucial.

Yes SL WILL of course be my primary, guess i could go for a NVIDIA then, i always buy Kingston memory becouse i never had any problems with them.

i don't think 64bit is really needed yet for current technology, you might want to save your money.

Well, theres almost no difference and no i don't care to save my money.

Sounds good so far, except yeah I would go with nVidia instead of ATI, I have an ATI Radeon 9800 pro, and while its great, when it comes to SL it can be tempermental, I have the usual ATI problems, as long as I keep AGP acceleration and Avatar Vertex off I'm ok... but to be safe I'd go with nVidia unless you really want ATI.

For a soundcar, I like my Soundblaster Audigy Not sure if thats top of the line or not but it works for me.

STANDARD TEENY BIT O' ADVICE for NEW COMPUTER SHOPPERS:

Regardless of what you buy, or who you buy it from, make sure its upgradable. Then again, you probably already considered that.

The simple fact that many people miss is that with the exception of the P4 Extreme edition (with 2mb of cache!) the Athlon 64 is the fastest 32bit CPU out there. That it does 64bit also is besides the point. The Athlon 64 is the next generation Athlon, think of it as Athlon II. While Intel is still on the Pentium 4 that competed with normal Athlons (all right, it mostly kicked Athlons arse at the end), the Athlon 64 is. AMDs next generation of CPUs and it sports many architectural advancements in the 32 bit arena as well as 64.

I do have to point out that, while AMD tends to be faster than an Intel of the same clock speed, many of the problems people seem to be having with the ATI video cards seem to be worse with the AMD CPUs. I have a Radeon 9100 along with a Celeron processor and a motherboard with an Intel chip set, and I have never seen the problems that so many other people have with the ATI cards.

Do some research on the web about AMD vs Intel, especially if you are planning on using the computer for intensive graphics applications such as CAD, 3-D modelling, etc.

I would second what Dusty has written. I am running a Radeon 9700 on an Intel chip/board and I have not experienced any of the problems I keep reading about (touch wood!). Upgradeability is the key, alongside plenty of RAM and a fast (7200 rpm) hard disk.

The Audigy soundcard mentioned above is a fine piece of kit too.

Planning a TFT screen? If so, be cynical about the manufacturers' performance claims....

Good luck...

Although money is not an issue, remember that if you buy the absolute top of the range bits (fastest available processor etc) you pay about 5x the price for like a 2% increase in speed. Whilst funding seems to be no object, I see no sense in literally throwing it down the drain Any money you save by not blatantly wasting it, spend it on some nifty peripherals or something

Personally I've gone back to Intel after several years on AMD, and can certainly recommend the P4 HyperThreaded processors (Just after I bought mine they brought out the Extreme Edition line which are even nicer for gaming)
Aside from the fact it's nice not worrying about crushing the CPU die when you install the heatsink... heh

I'll base suggestions on what I built a month or two ago and love...

Thermaltake XaserIII case (big, heavy, lots of fans, brilliant to work on)

Abit IC7-MAX3 motherboard (or its more recent equivalent if there is one...)

Seagate Barracuda ATA-V SATA drive (160GB or whatever seems best)

Gainward FX5900 256MB card (I got the 128, but this was before I was into SL... SL is *very* reliant upon graphics memory, so the more the merrier)

Onboard sound and LAN are absolutely fine on the MAX3

1024MB (2x512) paired DDR400 RAM. Remember to get the stuff actually labelled as "Paired DDR", not just two different chips. (You might find DDR533 is the stuff to go for now... just check for compatibility with CPU and mobo)

Other cool things to add..

A DVD writer (+/- R/RW etc) (Plextors are good)

An internal card reader (seem to be becoming popular) - nice replacement for floppies and useful for cameras/MP3 devices etc.

One of the Logitech or Microsoft wireless optical keyboard/mouse sets. I got the Logitech Cordless Desktop MX... very nice indeed but the mouse (MX700) eats batteries and basically dies unless you remember to put it on charge before going to bed (not an easy thing to remember IMO!)

I've seen reviews of the latest Microsoft and Logitech sets, both look excellent and now operate as a bluetooth hub so you can use other bluetooth devices without getting a dongle.

That'd be about it! In the end I ended up spending about £2000 for a machine with the items I specced out, which would be near the price you're looking for in Euros I think.