Technical dufus builds new system

[websemantic]

Hello folks!
I'm looking to build my third business computer as the current one is getting a little 'twitchy'. I have to say I really enjoyed building the other two but my knowledge is pretty basic and I rely heavily on reviews to choose hardware. I have come up with a spec and would be interested to know what you all think and if it will work as I hope.

Firstly, my objectives:
-I'm a web developer so I would like applications to open quickly and be very responsive.
-3D rendering and video work is common so speeding that up would be good.
-Low noise would be great as I'm at my desk most of the day.
-Good cooling to help components last longer – us Scotsmen don't like parting with money for new components when we can avoid it ;-)
-Low energy consumption so I can save the planet a bit.
-A little gaming if work is quiet...
-The system should be 'future proof' for 2-3 years.

The spec (there will be other peripherals and gubbings but I've listed performance relevant parts):
-MOBO: ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe Wifi
I've had an Asus Mobo for the last few years and have been happy with it. My only concern is that I would be stuck with DDR-2 – would DDR-3 make that much of a difference to me over high spec DDR-2?
-CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300, Yorkfield Core
I was tempted by the Quad Q6700 but I think the new chip is more efficient. Would I notice a big difference if I moved up to the Q9450?
-CPU cooling: Thermaltake Big Typ 120 + Fan
-RAM: 4GiB pack of Corsair TwinX XMS2 PC6400
-Graphics: 8800 GTS 512 ??? Willing to spend up to £200
Really stuck on this as the market seems about to change and some of the 'new' 9600 cards from NVIDIA seem no better than the 8800's in reviews. Keeping in mind that cool and quiet is more important to me than gaming performance, I would still like a decent card as I run two monitors and I think Flash Player will make the GPU do more of the work in future. I also like to watch DVD's on it.
-Graphics cooling: Not sure – will build and test temps then add if required
-OS: Vista business 64 OEM
-Case: Antek P182
Meant to be quiet and neat and I think it looks lovely.
-PSU: Coolermaster UCP 900W
Has a good energy rating
-Hard drive A: 300GB Western Digital WD3000GLFS VelociRaptor
Used for OS and applications
-Hard drive B: 750 GB Western Digital WD7500AACS Caviar GP

Any input, suggestions, laughing and pointing where I got it really wrong are greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Patrick

[Noxvayl]

High spec DDR2 is still the preferred choice among us here at Hexus. DDR3 doesn't offer significant enough performance gains to warrant the extra price tbh. The DDR2 is relatively similar in performance because of much lower latencies anyway.

The Q9450 would be quite a bit better than the Q9300 specially for 3d rendering and video work because of the extra cache memory it has(12Mb compared to the Q9300 only having 6Mb). So it would be worth the extra imo.

This is a pretty good heatsink to use for the quad> http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=480662 I use the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme myself but its more expensive with a fan not being included.

The 8800GTS 512Mb is a very good GFX but there aren't many left tbh. I'd rather wait for the new GFX cards as the HD4850 from ATI seems set to beat the current 9800GTX and is only estimated to be launched at £140-£130 so seems to be a bargain

You don't require a huge PSU like that tbh, even with 2 9800GX2's you wouldn't need any more than 700W max. This PSU would do just fine for you> http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=777991

Hope that answers your questions

[websemantic]

Man, that is some excellent help thanks. That does answer my questions. Should I really feel like a kid in a sweety shop when I'm buying this stuff?? I think I'll go for the higher spec CPU and take some time to read about the other bits. Thanks again!

[Katar]

Looks good.

You'll be lucky to find any 8800GTS's or even GTX's for reasonable prices, they seem to be being phased out very quickly very early. 8800GT's are still around but they run pretty hot, the 9xxx series cards do run quite a bit cooler and they are dropping in prices now. You might want to add in an extra fan at the front of the P182 for a bit more air flow but you can wait and see what the temps are like before ordering one.

Does the second hard drive need to be fast? As a 640GB WD drive with 2 320GB platters will be faster then a 750GB with 3 250GB platters. Also about £13 cheaper unless you really need the extra 110GB of space but with a VelociRaptor you might not care about the extra speed for drive B.

[websemantic]

Hi Katar, thanks for your feedback. The choice of the second hard drive was my (probably) clumsy attempt at being a bit more green - purely going by a review and the 'green' badge they stuck on it :-). We are probably talking minimal difference but I thought I would try. I think the WD caviar GP saves energy by spinning slower so I gues that is the sacrifice I'm making.

[Katar]

Well your green option uses about 4W at idle compared to 7W for the one I was looking at, quite a difference. If I was going to make my PC more green then there are other components I'd worry much more about then the HDD.

[websemantic]

Would you be able to tell me which components please? I'm trying to get a balance between less power usage and having enough performance to keep my work flow smooth but I'm always interested to hear where I could do better...

[Katar]

I'm not an expert on the 'green' components, I'm very un-PC and go for performance without worrying much about power, so you'd need to look up things yourself. Basically you need a lower wattage very efficient PSU, and then I think the things that use most power are the GPU, CPU, Monitor. So do a bit of research on them, Hexus has reviews that give power usage.

[staffsMike]

Enermax Modu82+ is a great psu and 88% efficient that said corsairs 520W HX is the tried and tested PSU and loved by most

Reading SPCR's review of the velociraptor it is certainly a great drive.

They Named it quietest, fastest and best power consumption but it's only the quietest if it's taken out of it's heatsink thing which with steady airflow is not required anyway.

I wouldn't bother with the GP drives though, bit slow really but if it's just for data then I guess it's OK.

As has been said the Q9450 is a nice chip if you don't want to overclock but stay away from DDR3. I'd go with P35 and DDR2, cheap and effective

[websemantic]

Hello, just a quick note to say thanks for all the reply's. Getting the right balance between power consumption and performance is going to be an interesting project. I'll post how I get on and how the machine runs... Thanks again!