Advice needed - considering a new gaming PC

[cactusjack]

Hello all,

At Christmas time, I am considering the potential of buying a new gaming PC from Scan - my current Dell PC (i7 920, ATI 4850) is 3 years old.

I am reluctant to buy from Dell again - whilst their onsite service has been very good to me (when my hard drive failed), prices for their gaming PCs (Alienware) don't look ideal for me. I also was not impressed by the design of my Dell PC case (temps seem high and my ATI card reaches temps of 80-100 degrees - by design apparently, but not reassuring).

I am attracted to Scan due to their onsite warranty option - I am IT and software literate, but don't like dabbling with hardware and components inside the PC when something fails.

I am looking at Scan's gaming PCs - budget is £900-£1300. I play World of Warcraft - but may now consider some of the newer games on the market (Assasin's Creed, etc).

With this in mind, I have some questions:

1) On one of the PCs I looked at, I noticed a Corsair CMPSU-850HXUK HX 850W Modular Power Supply - does this use a sleeve or ball bearing fan?

2) How many case cooling fans would be ideal - they seem cheap to add on when customising the PC configuration, but I have never had to spec for those before.

3) What serious benefits does an Intel i7 processor actually provide over an i5 - assuming I will use this PC over a 3 year time frame (for gaming, listening to music, working with multiple work documents, etc).

4) Is a 2ms monitor any better over 5ms for gaming and long term health of one's eyes?

5) What graphics card is recommended for the next 3 years of decent mid setting gaming (I have no real need to play games on the absolute highest settings) - My ATi4850 went to 90-100 degrees - by design, but still concerning. I am also wondering over ATI vs Nvidia - I have done some reading, drivers seem to be an issue with ATI for some users (although I presume that could also be the case for Nvidia). Also, is there an imminent launch for any next generation of graphics cards anytime soon?

6) Scan's onsite warranty is reassuring - how does it compare to Dell? - i.e. in a similar situation, let's say the hard drive / PSU failed and needed replacing, would an engineer come onsite to fix, with repairs, parts and labour costs all covered?

I am sorry if some of the questions above sound basic or silly - I would be grateful for any answers to any or all of the above questions.

Many thanks!

[cactusjack]

Does anyone have any thoughts on questions 1-6 above? :-)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Does anyone have any thoughts on questions 1-6 above? :-)

I have a build guide with components suggestions:

http://forums.hexus.net/pc-hardware/...er-2011-a.html

I will update it this week but the suggestions for gaming rigs will probably be the same.

However,your Core i7 920 is still a decent CPU and would still be fine with a modern graphics card. BTW,you can use software to increase the fan speed on your HD4850. Having owned both Nvidia and AMD cards I have found both fine TBH. One of my mates has an HD5850 1GB and it can run WoW at high settings at 1920X1080. This means an HD6870 or GTX560 or any higher end card will be enough as these are faster.

There is noise that AMD is going to release the HD7000 series at around the end of the year or early next year.

[cactusjack]

Thanks CAT-THE-FIFTH!

[cactusjack]

Would someone from Scan be able to answer questions 1, 2 and 6 from above please?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Would someone from Scan be able to answer questions 1, 2 and 6 from above please?

The HX850W uses the fan in the picture:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules/NDR...0/DSCF1076.jpg

It seems to be a ball bearing fan:

http://www.yateloon.com/detail/38839/38839.html