Help me with my specs life

[simonfitba]

OK so I've got the courage up to do my first ever build. But I need some advice about the specs before I order the stuff.

I've been reading these boards for a while now and have picked up some knowledge so here's what I have come up with...

I already have an Akasa Eclipse 62 case and am now considering this to put in it

Power Supply: 620W Corsair
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Heat Sink and Fan: Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
Memory: 4GB (4 x 1gb) Geil (Not sure about this but want cheapish 800mhz stuff)
Motherboard: Asus P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP
Graphics Card: GeForce 8800GTX
DVD Writer: Pioneer DVR-112BK Sata
Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Music
Hard Disk: 320GB Seagate Barracuda
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64 Bit (OEM)

Oh and will probably get a couple of those Yate Loon 120mm fans. (I need two, right? One for the front and one for the back of the case?)

How does this lot look? Is there anything I've missed or any componet that would be wildly better? My budget is about a grand. Trying to get best bang for my bucks. I'm pretty much set on the CPU, mobo and gfx card, even though there are cheaper options.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Simon

[staffsMike]

Thats pretty much perfect.

The geil ram is fine i'm using it.
Mate uses crucuial ballistix which is also very cheap and good.

[redddraggon]

It looks good, wouldn't the 520W Corsair be sufficient and save you some money?

I'd go for 2x2GB when it comes to the RAM.

[staffsMike]

It's only £20 odd quid and gives it more headroom.

2x2gb is probably a good idea but limits choices a little

[simonfitba]

2x2gb is probably a good idea but limits choices a little

How does it limit choices? And is it not a lot more expensive?

I was only going for 4gb because RAM seems so cheap just now.

[redddraggon]

Theres less 2x2GB packs about,


but I think its about the same price as 2 dual channel 2GB kits.

[staffsMike]

Yeah be about the same price (probably a little bit more though) but the timings seem to be a bit slower than the 2 X 1gb kits..

[Colossous]

Your research is good !!

[simonfitba]

Your research is good !!

Thanks. But it's really down to you guys on Hexus.

Oh another quick question. With the google checkout discount (£10 off for £30+ spend) can I make several seperate purchases from say, Ebuyer, or can I only use the discount once?

[Flewis]

You can use it as many times as you want. I ordered 4GB of corsair ram for ~£94 using 2 lots of gc.

[amjedm]

Have you looked at other hard disks?

The Seagates can be noisy. Then again your graphics card could be noisier than the Seagate

[wmsteele]

I would recommend changing your had disk choice to a Samsung, very quiet and reliable, the 400Gb & 500Gb SATA drives are particularly good and a bit of a bargain at the moment. Changing your memory choice to 2x2Gb sticks is also a good idea, I know 4gb of memory is a lot but you never know what the future holds, at least with 2x2gb sticks you have the option of upgrading again in the future.

Corsair PSU are very good (made by Seasonic) modular is the way to go, helps keep things nice & tidy in your case and improves airflow. CPU & heatsink are fine although if you intend to overclock to the max you might consider a better cooler, for a modest overclock the freezer is fine. Motherboard, graphics & sound are top of the line components and should be perfect for your system.

[simonfitba]

Thanks for the advice, folks. Now to hunt out some bargains...

[simonfitba]

Which should I get?

4Gb (2x2Gb) CorsairTwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-18, EPP

for £178

or two lots of

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400UDC) 800MHz RAM Speed, CAS 4-4-4-12 Timings, 1.9-2.3v VDIMM

for

£160

I don't mind using all the slots on the mobo. I'm just curious about performance.

[Flewis]

I dont think performance changes much, i think there would be a very small decrease though going to 4 sticks if same size.

[simonfitba]

Even though the timings are better for the four sticks?

What about for overclocking?

I'm slightly confused.