New build - One last check before I pay up :-)

[hermeticist]

I found a review (may have been posted up on here by some kind individual), that compared various `drives and the Velociraptor was not (if memory serves) a deal faster than the WD640AAKS (£55). If I was looking at spending £300ish (`Raptor + 750GB) on HDDs, I`d buy multiple 640AAKS and raid them.......

I personally feel that wasting the £20 on RAM is worth it, if just for the ability to overclock the newer 1333FSB CPUs, if you decide to "upgrade".

Don`t think I`d go for the Abit X38 (I do like Abit, generally), I expect you`re going for that, due to 2 X 16 Xfire, but I think there are better `boards out there.....

Other than that, you have my blessing to proceed - sorry, got carried away.

[tensim]

I think the 640AAKS kept up pretty well with the old Raptor, but I'm pretty sure the new VelociRaptor is at least twice it's speed and almost as fast as a SSD... it'll be nice to have I'm sure

I am going with an X38 board for its Crossfire capabilities, it's possible I might add a 2nd 4870 at some point (if the 4870X2 doesn't live up to the hype ) I went with Abit simply due to the strong support the company has on this site (I've no experience with any manufacturer at all, so relying heavily on the opinions of others!)

If not Abit, which X38 board would you suggest for £150 or less?

Re. cooling... I'm leaning towards water again, I just can't resist the lure of funky coloured tubes, trick digital monitors and the sheer nerdy 'hardcore' gadgetry of it! I'm a shallow, shallow person...

I like the look of the Aqua Computer stuff, really good looking gear, though not sure if it's the best performing?

[Noxvayl]

I think the 640AAKS kept up pretty well with the old Raptor, but I'm pretty sure the new VelociRaptor is at least twice it's speed and almost as fast as a SSD... it'll be nice to have I'm sure

I am going with an X38 board for its Crossfire capabilities, it's possible I might add a 2nd 4870 at some point (if the 4870X2 doesn't live up to the hype ) I went with Abit simply due to the strong support the company has on this site (I've no experience with any manufacturer at all, so relying heavily on the opinions of others!)

If not Abit, which X38 board would you suggest for £150 or less?

Re. cooling... I'm leaning towards water again, I just can't resist the lure of funky coloured tubes, trick digital monitors and the sheer nerdy 'hardcore' gadgetry of it! I'm a shallow, shallow person...

I like the look of the Aqua Computer stuff, really good looking gear, though not sure if it's the best performing?

I have no idea about water cooling... whichever looks coolest I've been eyeing out the alphacool stuff

As for an alternative to the Abit X38 I'd go for the Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5

I have the GA-X38-DS5 and its simply AWESOME so I have no doubts that the X48 version would be the same. Very good features and great overclockability. I wouldn't say X38 is any worse than X48 its just that this Gigabyte board is better than the solitary option they have at X38 because it has more extra's and a better heatsink arrangement for the motherboard(which means better overclocking ).

[hermeticist]

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/14583/5

Article start:

http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/14583/1

Seems quite a good review, showing lots of different drives.