Sorry to bother you all (Build)

[Airlemental]

Hey everyone,

I know theres a lot of these threads doing the rounds at the moment (as always) & i hate to add another but i know how good the advice seems to be. Basically I'm finally able to build my new pc this week (first time self built). I'm pretty sure on my spec list but if i've missed anything silly or there is anything that could be changed I'd appreciate any help.

This is my current list

Q6600
DFI LANPARTY DK P35 T2RS
Corsair HX 520W Modular PSU
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400
Xigmatek HDT-S1283 Cooler - Not sure if the crossbow kit is worth the extra £5
GTX260 (Novatech)
Vista Home Premium 64bit
Already have Hard drives, DVD drives & a case (NZXT Lexa)
(Come to just under £600 which is my budget (give or take a few pounds)

I'm planning to overclock but nothing too major (3.0-3.2ghz)
Last thing - Should i buy a tube of thermal paste, does the Xigmatek come with any?

Thanks

[PeterStoba]

The Xigmatek comes with some thermal paste, it's pretty good too, so i wouldnt bother with the extra.

Why get the gtx260 from novatech rather than, presumably, scan?

[Airlemental]

Ah ok won't bother with it then, thanks

Urm because on novatech at the moment it's £169 whereas scan (yep, getting everything else from there) have it for £187 min.

[staffsMike]

I'd probably get some MX-2 tbh, I've never really liked anything pre-packed from scythe etc.. especially if you want to overclock, might as well have the best you can get really.

Whats the reason for the Q6600? Not that it's a bad choice, far from it. However, if the system is just for gaming I would personally get a E5200 pentium dual core and save £70 or so.

[Airlemental]

Oooh perhaps i'll have a look at that.
Well i want the Q6600 because I tend to find myself doing a lot of multi-tasking (encoding videos, watching films, internet etc) and i just generally like the sound of all that power I know it's not strictly neccesary but i'd just like one.

[staffsMike]

You've hit on my quad buzz word there.. video encoding.Gaming while video encoding is perfectly acceptable on the quad so I would go with it as duals will struggle. But under the right conditions the E5200 can hit 5.0Ghz apparently

[Powderhound]

You've hit on my quad buzz word there.. video encoding.Gaming while video encoding is perfectly acceptable on the quad so I would go with it as duals will struggle. But under the right conditions the E5200 can hit 5.0Ghz apparently

Would those right conditions involve large quantities of LN2 by any chance?

[staffsMike]

Probably.. I've not seen a review of it just hearsay.

[mediaboy]

I've heard of people OCing Q6600 to some ridiculously high figure using LN2... no actual reviews though.

If you're going to start using LN2 you could go up a notch or two and OC a little more dramatically on something a little bigger...

Or wreck your computer trying. I'm not taking responsibility for it though.

[Pob255]

Umm no the e5200 could in theory hit 5ghz, however getting it over 3.2ish becomes a sturggle, requireing lots of extra volts and temp.

Most I've seen so far was 3.7ghz, stable 12hour prime, people can get it boot windows at 3.8ghz but not error free when stress testing.