Advice on planned build

[|ARM|]

So, after about 2 months of looking at various components, I have decided on:

scan.co.uk:

320 Gb Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 £52.28

Gigabyte GA P35C-DS3R, iP35 Express, S775, PCI-E(x16), DDR2/3 £85.29

Asus DRW-1814BLT, DVD±R x18, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, DVD-RAM x14, Lightscribe, SATA, Black, OEM £22.15

2Gb (2X1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC5400 (667), 240 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 £92.92

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300, Socket 775, 1.80 GHz, 800MHz FSB, Allendale Core, 2MB Cache, Retail £72.72

750w Silverstone SST-OP750, 60A on single +12V rail, 80% efficiency, 4x6pin PCI-E, 1x8pin PCI-E RoHS £103.98

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) £68.28

Net Total £423.14

Carriage £10.32

V.A.T. £75.86

TOTAL £509.32


ebuyer.co.uk:

Gecube Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MB GDDR3
Antec P182 Gunmetal Grey Super Mid Tower Case

Shipping Charge:£0.00
Subtotal:£266.54
VAT:£46.65
Total: £313.19


Total total: £819.68 (about $1650)

Summary:

E4300
320gb seagate barracuda
sst olympia 750
gigabyte ds3 p35c
2900xt 512mb from gigabyte
P182
4GB ddr2 667 cl4 twin xms

This is going to be purely a gaming machine, on a 1680*1050 lcd. I know there is going to be a mssive price reduction on july 22, but i'm not sure i really need quad core for now, and i can always upgrade layer with that p35 board, whic also has ddr3 slots Very Happy

The issues I can think of are:

1. The 64bit vista. I decided on this, because of the 4gb of ram. 4gb ddr2 667 costs the same as 2gb ddr2 800! I could always drop 2gb and get 32 bit vista, but i am not getting ddr2 800; it's twice as much as i need to spend.

2. The silverstone psu: will this fit in the p182? If not, can someone make a recommendation (bearing in mind it must have an 8-pin power connector-no workarounds!)?

3. The dvd drive: a good one?


I'm itching to get this tomorrow, because I dislocated my kneecap and am pretty much stuck doing nothing except reading (gah). Why WHY WHY, oh lord, at the beginning of extended school holidays??!?!?!

Obviously, everything has to come from UK. Please remeber to include VAT if you post prices.

Many thanks in advance.

[staffsMike]

well the corsair 620HX fits in the p182 because I just built one.. I cant recommend that psu enough when combined with that case.. its as silent as most could ever care for.

Most PSU's will fit with a bit of fiddling around but longer than normal ones you will struggle with.

Try somewhere like microdirect for the ram. You can get decent pc6400 ram for about £60..its better than the corsair stuff anyway. That will give you more head room for overclocking and future chips with 1333mhz fsb's etc..

You'll want to do a big overclock on the e4300 to see its real potential and im not so sure the mobo you've picked is the one to do it but I may be wrong.

Although theres some very good reviews and benchmarks filtering through for the 2900xt's they suck up so much power and get so hot..i'd be tempted by a geforce 8800gts 640mb or even a cheap GTX.

Oh and you're in the wrong section lol

[Andy3536]

Another word on the ram, there are 2 sets of 2x1gig ram pc 6400 for the same sort of price, it seems strange to spend that money when you can get the same mem capacity at 8oomz for the same amount.http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...Thumbnails=yes
The main board should be good, i've just done a build at the weekend with the cheaper version of the ds3 at £70 from scan, great value for money aswell.

[Blitzen]

Silverstone is a bit meaty for your needs.
Enerma Infiniti is the best around atm. If not, the Corsair 520W.

Ditch the Corsair 5400 and get yourself some Crucial 6400 or OCZ 6400. As good if not better memory, cheaper, both have better RMA procedures and will give headroom for the overclock if you need it.

[|ARM|]

Another word on the ram, there are 2 sets of 2x1gig ram pc 6400 for the same sort of price, it seems strange to spend that money when you can get the same mem capacity at 8oomz for the same amount.
The main board should be good, i've just done a build at the weekend with the cheaper version of the ds3 at £70 from scan, great value for money aswell.

They tend to be £20 more expensive per set, and that's at CL5, which I reckon should be reachable with ddr2 667 at CL4.

Could you post links to RAM like this please?

Silverstone is a bit meaty for your needs.
Enerma Infiniti is the best around atm. If not, the Corsair 520W.

Ditch the Corsair 5400 and get yourself some Crucial 6400 or OCZ 6400. As good if not better memory, cheaper, both have better RMA procedures and will give headroom for the overclock if you need it.

Even the CL5 stuff? Please, links!

I was thinking about the hx620, but I saw that it didn't have an 8-pin PCIe, so I went with the infinity. Are there any easy workarounds for this?

I didn't know where to put this, so I put it where I thought it should be. What is the right forum?

Many thanks for replies

[staffsMike]

The better forum is hard ware just above this one.. you would get more posts that way.

This is the RAM I use..it's very good for overclocking. I can get 1000mhz + @ cl5

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(14777)...l-Channel.aspx

for a tenner more though don't count out this stuff...it's fantastic

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=8&subcat=813

also available for less after delviery at www.crucial.com

[Andy3536]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=585723
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=402849
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=255300
And i'm using the cheaper of the 3 as it was all the was in stock when i ordered bits but still very good!

[|ARM|]

I think I'll get with what Mike suggested, the geil ultra stuff. It's a toss-up between that an the ocz platinum, but since you recommended the geil...

I'll look up some stuff on powersupplies.

Thanks guys!