New Build Advice.

[Thrashed]

Just looking for a bit of advice on this new build. It's been quite a while since I built my last setup so not really all too sure if theres any thing really great i've overlooked, and anything i've included that I should avoid. Also if theres any glaring mismatches in what i've chosen.
I have a rough £1000 budget (want to stop myself getting carried away.)
My overclocking knowledge is slim to none. Though i wouldnt mind giving it a shot at some point.
I spend most of my time gaming, if that makes any difference to certain choices.

Main Parts:
Corsair TX 750W ATX2.2 SLI - £82.19 inc VAT
Intel Core 2 Duo, E8600, Wolfdale Core E0 - £182.05 Inc VAT
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler - £15.26 inc VAT
BFG GeForce GTX 260 OCX MAXCORE 896MB - £252.17 inc VAT
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2 - £65.38 inc VAT
EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1, NF780i SLI - £156.22 Inc VAT
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer - £54.05 inc VAT
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - £129.00 inc VAT
LiteON DH-16D3S-02C 16x Serial ATA DVD-ROM - £11.20 inc VAT

Case:
Akasa infinti ZOR Gamer Black Tower Case - £75.89 inc VAT

Total: £1,035.12 inc VAT

Planning on getting a 2nd identical gfx card sometime within next 6~ months so thats why i've chosen the SLi mobo.

With regards to ram, I was recommended to get the OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz ReaperX (Priced at £82.24 inc VAT), they don't have them on scan but i was jus curious as to how big an improvement they are on the Corsair ones i've chosen, and if so are they actually worth me getting. I wouldnt mind forking out the extra £20~ if they going to make a major difference.

I plan to keep my mouse, monitor, keyboard and headphones.

Any advice would be apreciated. Thanks.

[staffsMike]

I wouldn't bother SLi'ing those cards, either buy a 280GTX now or just stick with the one card. Unless you are gaming above 1920 x 1200 none of these cards are really going to struggle for a while.

Just noticed the price of that card.. ouch. They are around £170 for bog standards, you might as well get that or the 280GTX as above.

Nvidia boards are a pain in the back side to overclock sometimes. I don't know anything about that board but it will probably be inferior to the intel boards. P45 is the newest chipset (and last 775 board, worth noting i7 is just around the corner). The DFI P45 board is very nice or the Asus P5Q deluxe (or even the -E version).

The E8500 will overclock very well anyway, so you might as well get that if you overclocking and save a bit of money.

The freezer 7 is noisey when it's working at it's best which is not as good as something like the xigmatec towers on scan's today only (today - monday 12pm).

I'd try on board sound first unless you have particular need for the dedicated soundcard.

The WD drives are very nice, I'd be tempted by a couple of 640GB AAKS's though. £100 for both, more space and the cache shouldn't impact too much on performance. They are considered amongst the fastest drives.

[NightshadowUK]

ReaperX memory packs huuuge heatsinks which often get in the way of the CPU cooler so I'd stay clear. The pretty much no diffrence between it and:

- 4GB Corsair TwinX XMS2 CAS 4-4-4-12 ~ £64.57

And I second what Mike said about the soundcard, I'm having a world of trouble with mine in the Battlefield games. Creative are pants. I'm either going to go back to onboard or purchase one of these in the near future:

- Asus Xonar D1 ~ £56.39

All the goodness of X-Fi but without Creative drivers.

[staffsMike]

Agreed with that also, forgot about it lol. Standard heat speaders are fine and cause much less trouble in the long run. Performance wise there will be little difference. That said corsair dominators PC8500 (with the fan) was only about £80 the other week on scan.. thats a nice deal

If you really want to overclock these 1333MHz chips though you might consider 1066MHz (PC8500) ram.

The case is quite new so I havn't seen a review of it yet. Plenty around doing the same sort of thing though. The coolermaster CM-690 is a nice one. Akasa's omega is more expensive but huge.

Oh and with single GFX you would only need 500 -600W. Corsair 650W TX would be good though.

[Thrashed]

Thanks for the speedy reply.
In that case do you think it's worth me waiting for an i7?

[staffsMike]

You've got a decent budget certainly. No idea how that will translate to i7 though. No doubt that will mean DDR3 and new untested mobo's.

Hard to say what will be better in terms of the overall package. Certainly performance wise the i7 should give core 2 a pasting but we'll have to see.

If you are in a position to wait, the core 2's will drop in price anyway..

[Thrashed]

I bought an XFi extreme audio a few months back, but I wanted to leave this setup intact. Also i've never had any problems with this one. So would it make sense for me to just get another one of these?

[NightshadowUK]

You'll be looking a fair way into 2009 before 'affordable' i7 chips and motherboards start appearing. Even then they'll be nowhere near as cheap as S775 gear is now, and then there's DDR3 to consider...

Saying that the performance increase is supposedly a worthy one, but then when are games CPU limited these days anyway?

I bought an XFi extreme audio a few months back, but I wanted to leave this setup intact. Also i've never had any problems with this one. So would it make sense for me to just get another one of these?

It sounds like you got lucky with the first one, unless Creative have got their act together over the last few months - anyone know anything?

[Thrashed]

Is it worth going for the..
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12, DHX
over the..
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-18, DHX

And is it worth me spending the extra cash on the lower range of the gtx280's (an extra £50~) or jus sticking with the top end of the new gtx260's.

[NightshadowUK]

Yeah the former has tighter timings (4-4-4-12 vs 5-5-5-18).

And definitely, the GTX280 dominates the GTX260, but then the ATi HD4870 is faster than the GTX260 in most cases, and a hell of a lot cheaper...

Also if you went ATi you could rule out SLI all together and get a nice, stable P45 motherboard.

[Thrashed]

I'm sorta used to nvidia cards, don't really know whats what when it comes to ATI.

Could anyone recommend me a good ATI card for a reasonable price, in which case i mite consider going for it.

Curious as to which mobo to go for and how much to spend on one?

[staffsMike]

The HD4870 is faster than the GTX260 sometimes, not the GTX280 though, if thats what you meant

[Thrashed]

So am i best to get a p45 mobo for around £100~ Such as the Asus P5Q-E, iP45.
Still can't decide on which gfx card however.

[staffsMike]

What's your resolution?

[NightshadowUK]

So am i best to get a p45 mobo for around £100~ Such as the Asus P5Q-E, iP45.

Yeah the Asus P5Q for £80.83 is the P45 sweet-spot from what I've heard.

[Thrashed]

The Asus P5Q for £80.83 is the P45 sweet-spot from what I've heard.

Thanks, now due to the money saved on the mobo between this and the previous choice i can get a mid range 280gtx i think now.