First Time new build, need advice suggestions b4 I buy

[Tony2cakes]

Hello all. I have a £1000 approx to spend on my build. i have the follow items in my basket. Could you all take a look for me and see if there any hardware/confilct issues my selection. All advice appreciated. Thank you all in advance for the help


LN20298 750W Corsair CMPSU-750TX, SLi, Single 12V Rail, Quiet & Cool 80%+ Eff

LN25348 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.65V

LN32138 Intel Core i7 930 D0 SLBKP Bloomfield 45nm, 2.8 GHz, QPI 4.8GT/s, 8MB Cache, 20x Ratio, 130W, Retail.

LN32365 Gigabyte, GA-X58A-UD5, X58 Express, S1366, PCI-E (x16), DDR3 2200, USB3 SATA 6Gb/s, SATA RAID, ATX

LN28822 896MB Asus GTX 260 Glaciator+ 55nm, 1998MHz GDDR3, GPU 576MHz, Shader 1242MHz, 216 Cores.

LN32170 1TB Western Digital WD1002FAEX Caviar Black, SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache, 8 ms

LN27845 120mm Akasa Apache Ultra Silent Fan HDB Bearing PWM fan w/4 pin connector & Rubber Pins

LN28040 Prolimatech Megahalems Super 6 Heatpipe Tower Cooler for 775/1366 (Fanless

LN29453 Coolermaster Gladiator 600, Black, Mid Tower Case w/o PSU

[Ulti]

You could probably stick with a lower PSU to be honest as you're not powering an awful lot. Even the TX650W will be easily enough IMO and allow you to add another graphics card if you choose to do so in the future.

CPU is fine but the i7 920 isn't that much worse and you can save a bit of money. Some people say that the i7 920/930 may even fall in price slightly due to Thuban's release but it's rare to see Intel adjust prices nowadays.

Memory is a fine choice for the price, triple channel memory kits seem quite expensive again... Can't see any high speed sets as the i7 platforms prefer fast memory but the difference is small in reality so nothing wrong with what you've chosen.

The GTX260 is overpriced at the moment, it would be better to get a 5770 which will have slightly weaker performance but it is also cheaper and produces less heat and uses less power and can be overclocked better. If you're gaming at 1920*1080 or higher you might wanna get a 5850 though as it will perform much better than the two at high resolutions.

Is there any reason you chose the case specifically though?

I'm not sure how much the total to that is but if you have around £100 to spare then you may want to look at the Intel X-25V 40GB SSD as it will allow your system to be very responsive and boot up fast. (Personally I use that SSD for OS and light programs such as Firefox with a WD Black drive for games and storage too)

EDIT: Forgot to mention, why that motherboard? If you're going for USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s then they're really unlikely to be used but if you know you definitely will use them then it makes sense.

[Tony2cakes]

Hi Ulti,
Thanks for the advice. I will look at adding an SSD drive. I liked the case based on the looks and esata on the front panel, plus cooler master has a good rep?

Do you think my cooler choice is ok or should I go with the CM V8?

I choose the MOBO for the SATA 6 and gigabyte support seems better from the reviews I have read.
plus this on will support the upcoming 32mm 6 core processors.

While not a great amount for a mid level system I want to make sure I have made the right choice b4 blowing a grand on a new system. Thank you very much for the advice so far.

[Ulti]

Hi Ulti,
Thanks for the advice. I will look at adding an SSD drive. I liked the case based on the looks and esata on the front panel, plus cooler master has a good rep?

Do you think my cooler choice is ok or should I go with the CM V8?

I choose the MOBO for the SATA 6 and gigabyte support seems better from the reviews I have read.
plus this on will support the upcoming 32mm 6 core processors.

While not a great amount for a mid level system I want to make sure I have made the right choice b4 blowing a grand on a new system. Thank you very much for the advice so far.

Yes Coolermaster, for cases too but there are some better offerings now IMO. There's some Fractal Design, NZXT and Lancool cases that you can look at for a bit more or on the same price as the case you chose.

With the CPU cooler you'd need to research a bit for whether or not the cooler will be able to fit in your selected case though, I'm not too sure which cooler is better either as I have no experience of them. Most midi towers are just about wide enough for the 160mm tall coolers which can mean either not being able to put on your side panel or just having enough space.

I'm not sure how much the 32nm 6 core processors will cost so I can't comment on that. SATA 6 Gb/s is only useful if you're using a fast SSD as HDDs will never reach those speeds.

Tbh a grand is quite a lot (or maybe it's because I'm still a student? ) but even if you did go with your build it would be fine, just I prefer to spend money more "wisely" if you get what I mean haha.

[dirky]

Hello

What is the main use for this new PC?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would be considering the Core i7 920 over the Core i7 930:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel...io-130W-Retail

Also I would wait until the Phenom II X6 comes out to see how these perform and how well they are priced too. The AMD motherboards also tend to be cheaper. The 890FX chipset is also being released soon.

[Tony2cakes]

Hello

What is the main use for this new PC?

Hi dirky,

Work Converting hi res cad drawings to various formats.

Home Converting MKV files and other video formats to DVD/Divx e.t.c

[Tony2cakes]

I would be considering the Core i7 920 over the Core i7 930:

Products/Intel-Corei7-920-D0-SLBEJ-Bloomfield-45nm-266-GHz-QPI-48GT-s-8MB-Cache-20x-Ratio-130W-Retail[/url]

Also I would wait until the Phenom II X6 comes out to see how these perform and how well they are priced too. The AMD motherboards also tend to be cheaper. The 890FX chipset is also being released soon.

I see the 920 is about £30.00 cheaper, are there other advantages?

[Ulti]

If you're going to be converting and such you might want to get a Phenom II X6 as I am guessing 6 physical cores will be better than 4 physics cores and 4 virtual cores but you'll have to wait until actual reviews come out which shouldn't be too long from now as the Phenom II X6 is coming out soon.