new build spec - buying tomorrow

Hi all,
I just wanted to run this by u all & see what u think. Not sure about the motherboard - I thought I had made up my mind on the Abit IP35-E but Ive been hearing great things about the Gigabyte board too. Should I be worried about the different revision versions?

The pc is for work and will not be overclocked or used for gaming. (design apps, 3ds max etc).. I already have a Quadro FX 3450 and a couple of other hard drives for storage. I also have Windows Vista business. I want to keep the cost as low as possible but get the most stable pc I can. I realise that my 32 bit Vista wont use all of the 4Gbs of RAM but I think since it should see about 3Gbs + should make a difference, especially in 3d apps. If anyone can suggest any alternatives pls be my guest! Im guessing the PSU should suffice, I've been reliably informed these are excellent?

Q6600 - £151.56
Abit IP35-E or Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L! - £58.74
Akasa ZEN V2 Tower Case Black - £30.19
Optiarc/NEC AD 7200S DVD burner - £15.57
250 Gb Maxtor STM3250310AS DiamondMax 21 (boot drive) - £37.88
450W Corsair VX Series PSU - £44.05
4GB (2x2GB) Super Talent TwinX DDR2 PC2-6400 (800MHz) - £58.69
Logitech Desktop S510 Cordless Keyboard- £27.61

Grand Total = £424.29

wow thats some similar bits im just looking at getting.

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, S775, 3.0 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB Cache, Retail
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK)
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L, iP35 Express
Scythe Ninja Plus Rev B Fanless HeatPipe Cooler
120mm Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F Fan 1600 RPM
Akasa ZEN V2 Tower Case Black w/o PSU (NEW Version)
520W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU, ATX, EPS12V
512MB Gainward 8800GT Bliss, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1800 MHz, GDDR3, GPU 600 MHz,

Maybe you should wait for the new Q9450 quad core it will be slightly higher priced than the Q6600 but will be better at overclocking and better in design app and 3ds max and so on. I would also recommend you get a after market cooler somthing like a thermaltake ultima would do you good. Im guessing the PSU would be ok but im not sure, you could get a 520 for a slightly higher price but like i said im not the best when it comes to PSU :P

Maxtor hard drive.. I'm sure you can do better than that. Get a western digital.

Everything else looks ok. Stock intel cooler is a bit naff.

Corsair VX450 will be sufficient I would expect unless the graphics card is really power hungry.

As for everything else looks good I would get a WD hard drive as well and an after market cooler either a Thermalright Ultima 90 with a quiet 120mm fan or if thats a bit expensive then perhaps the Scythe Mine would be better suited.

I have a Samsung HD250HJ 250GB.

It's much faster than my previous 250GB drive and extremely quiet due to the single platter design. I'm really liking this drive and will always seek a single platter drive in future or solid state when the prices are more sensible.

thanks guys. The drive I will be using for storage is a Samsung and Ive been very pleased with that. On the cooler front, as I wont be overclocking this beast Im not really sure its worth paying any extra for an after-market cooler.

I'd love to wait for the new quad cpu's but time is money and I need to replace my aging oc asap.

oh, and does anyone have a preference between the Abit or Gigabyte boards?

If you want stability, is it perhaps worth getting a slightly more expensive `board with solid caps etc. especially with a relatively hot and hungry processor like a q6600. Abit IP-35 or MSI Neo2 FIR are both about £12 more than your `board price and have solid caps, Firewire & RAID?

Also, noticing the price of your Q6600, is it OEM? If it is I think you`ll need to buy a cooler anyway. A freezer7 or similar, is I believe better than the stock & about £12

hi there hermeticist.. my technical guy want me to get a asus so would you recommend an Asus P5KC as a stable board alongside the others u suggested..?

Not sure about that `board, if I remember correctly the "c" part of the name means it`s a combo `board, it accepts DDR2 & DDR3 (though obviously, not simultaneously). Some people like the idea of being able to upgrade. Many people feel it`s rather redundant, as DDR3 is very expensive and offers marginal improvements (just as DDR2 did over DDR, in my opinion).

The Asus P5K-E/WIFI-AP is, I believe, highly regarded but £95 approx.

There are no problems with your initial choices that I know of, but I just felt that if your paying £58, you may be better of with a board £10/15 more with RAID, Firewire etc. and the solid capacitors if running a Q6600.

I`m sure that there are a host of better qualified people on the board, who`ll help you out. I personally would be quite tempted by the MSI Neo2 FIR/FR (FIR has firewire, if you think you`ll need it). It`s built on the P35 Platinum `board, but with less extreme cooling. £66 at Scan, although not in stock (?), this is about the average price though.

Has anyone on here got experience of the: Asus P5KC or indeed any of the other `boards running a quad?

thanks for that. I need to make the purchase asap so Im gonnd give the p5k a go. Ive read some good reviews and I always had good stability from any asus boards Ive had in the past.

Good luck Dangermoose, I`m sure it will be fine. Asus have a good reputation.

cheers! here I go...