Ok so it's that time again.

My current spec below is really starting to struggle, BF:BC2 can only run at decent FPS on Low settings.

Intel® Core™2 Duo E8400
4GB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz
ASUS® P5K SE: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 2 PCI, 3 x PCI-e x1
320GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
512MB GEFORCE 8800GT PCI Express
600W Quiet Quad Rail PSU

I've got a budget of around ~£800 and as you should all know by now, i'm a bit lacking in the I.T department

What I want is something futureproof, that should hopefully last over the next 2-3 years.

I've been looking at the Intel® i5 750 and maybe the ATI 5850 card. As I understand it, a good MB and PSU are a must for future upgrade. Ideally something with Crossfire so I can pop another GFX card in when the time arises.

I was thinking of saving some £££'s and building my own, as the savings appear to be quite substantial. Cal suggested I try and mock one up on www.cyberpowersystems.co.uk. Below is my attempt...

•CAS: CoolerMaster Elite 310 Mid Tower Gaming Case with see-thru side panel
•CS_FAN: Maximum Case Cooling Fans for your selected case [+10]
•CPU: Intel Core i5 750 2.66GHZ 8MB Cache LGA1156 ***Overclockable XXX***
•CD: Sony Optiarc 22X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (Black Color)
•FAN: Coolermaster Hyper TX3 CPU Cooling Fan ***Overclockable XXX*** [+13]
•HDD: Single Hard Drive (1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive [+38])
•MOTHERBOARD: Asus P7P55D LE Intel P55 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX DDR3 LGA1156 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB2.0, SATA-II RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe X16, 2 PCIe X1 & 3 PCI *** XXX overclocking *** [+27]
•MEMORY: 4GB (2x2GB) PC12800 DDR3/1600mhz Dual Channel Memory [+45] (G.SKILL NQ Series w/Heat Spreader ***Overclockable XXX*** [+20])
•NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
•POWERSUPPLY: Corsair Power Supplies [+66] (750 Watts CMPSU-750TX - Quad SLI Ready [+20])
•SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
•USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
•VIDEO: ATI Radeon HD 5850 PCI-E 16X 1GB Video Card [+217]
•WARRANTY: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Total inc Delivery - £950

I'm shit at sticking to budgets!

All the above is from www.scan.co.uk

Had to change the motherboard. Apparently not all the P55 motherboards can do symmetrical Crossfire, which is what I'd be aiming for next year.

Looks decent to me, and it's only a 15 minute drive so I can save on the delivery (or slap someone if it goes bang).

Total £811.52

Can't you just reuse your current dvd drive? only save you a few quid but it's a saving :p

I'm donating it to charity