New Computer

Asus P5N-D Motherboard

The Asus P5N-D motherboard is a great motherboard with an excellent price/performance ratio. It supports the new 45nm Intel processors and has an Nvidia chipset. It has full support for PCI Express 2, the latest in graphics card interfaces as well as dual Nvidia graphics cards if needed (SLI). Has built in 8 channel audio along with Gigabit Lan connection and firewire. Has SATA ports with support for 3 Gb/s (300MB/s) transfer speeds Has an Energy Processing Unit which makes it one of the most energy efficient motherboards available, regulating power available to the processor and graphics card when doing low performance tasks. This can cut energy used by almost 80%, saving power. Comes with 3 year manufacturers warranty
http://za.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3= 627&l4=0&model=2033&modelmenu=1

E8400 Intel Core 2 Duo Processor

The E8400 Processor is part of the new family of processors from Intel. It is built with the 45nm process which is the size of the transistor. This makes it a lot more power efficient than previous models which in turn leads to much lower heat output. These processors can use more than 40% less power than their predecessors. It runs at a speed of 3 GHz with 2 execution cores, almost like having 2 processors working together. Comes with 3 year manufacturers warranty http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx? sSpec=SLAPL

4GB OCZ DDR2-800 Dual Channel Ram kit

This is a kit of 2 x 2Gb RAM sticks which run at 800 MHz (double the speed of the RAM we have now). When combined with a motherboard with an Nvidia chipset, it can automatically adjust the RAM settings to perform at an optimum level. 4GB of RAM is as much as a 32bit based system can use and with so much RAM, multitasking is a breeze. You can run games, email programs, excel and word all at the same time with no noticeable performance impact. 4GB is the most amount of RAM a 32bit system can use. http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/m emory/ocz_ddr2_pc2_6400_sli_ready_edition_ 4gb_dual_channel

Cooler Master Stacker 690 Case

This case is a mixture of style, performance and price. It doesnt look like a typical gamers case with weird lights shining out of every crack and looks more professional but still supplying the good airflow of a case built for gaming. It has 2 x USB ports, 1 x Firewire, 1 x eSata (external SATA for external hard drive) ports as well as the standard speaker and microphone plug. Tool-free design with cable management so there is no clutter in the computer. Rated as one of the best budget cases (<R1000).

OCZ 600W StealthXTreme Power Supply

This power supply provides great performance for the price. It can output a constant 600W to the computer, with a peak of 780W if needed. It supports the latest system components, which will future-proof this system for many years. Very efficient power supply, with more than 80% efficiency, one of the highest in its class, saving you power and money. Has overload protection ensuring that in case of a fault in other components, it will shut down before damaging the computer. Guaranteed to run continuously for 100,000 hours (more than 11 years). Comes with 3 year manufacturers warranty http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/po wer_management/ocz_600w_stealthxstream_ power_supply

Seagate Barracuda 250GB Hard Drive

A 250GB hard drive for a cheap price. SATA 3Gb/s transfer rate Has 16MB of cache memory which increases the speed that the drive can access and write information. Comes with a 5 Year warranty http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/produ cts/desktops/barracuda_hard_drives/barracu da_7200.10/

LG 20X SATA DVD Rewriter

Utilizes the fast SATA connection Up to 20X DVD write speed. Burn labels direct to disc with Lightscribe Compatible with all DVD/CD formats

Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110

Cordless mouse and keyboard set Media keys for accessing music, internet, mail and calculator Spill resistant design 5 year warranty http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products /details/ZA/EN,CRID=2162,CONTENTID=10850 Other keyboards or mice (wired or wireless) can be chosen for the computer.

Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1

Vista Home Premium is the preferred version for home users, offering the full experience of Windows Vista without the price tag of Ultimate. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products /windowsvista/editions/homepremium/defaul t.mspx

Pricing: Item Price

Asus P5N-D Motherboard

R 1300

E8400 Intel Core 2 Duo Processor

R 1900

4GB OCZ DDR2-800 Dual Channel Ram kit

R 850

Cooler Master Stacker 690 Case

R 650

OCZ 600W StealthXTreme Power Supply

R 800

Seagate Barracuda 250GB Hard Drive

R 650

LG 20X SATA DVD Rewriter

R 290

Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110

R 390

Windows Vista Home Premium

R 675

Total

R 7505.00

This system is one of the best you can get at the moment, and such a system would be future proof for more than 5 years i.e. the computer would handle games and applications well for more than 5 years mainly due to the fact that the motherboard can support the latest graphics card interface and it can support 2 graphics cards. At the moment, our Graphics cards are bottlenecked by the performance of the CPU and RAM and the true performance of the card isnt being shown. Therefore, at this time, we wouldnt need to get a new graphics card, but rather put the existing ones into the new system, and use the onboard graphics in the HP computer, which is more than good enough for anything except playing games. At this time, a system with an older generation processor but with a R1000 graphics card retails for over R12 000. If needed a 8800GT/9600GT (or better) Graphics card could be added in the future for an extra R2000 which would provide extra performance. The power supply can also support 2 graphics cards which could be utilized in the future if needed / wanted. Thats all you would have to change to run games on the highest settings for more than 5 years.