Advice on this rig.

[GriM]

Hi all. I'm hoping to build a new PC which will basically be for gaming. This is what I've got so far and would just like some advice from people with some expertise.

Three things - is the Antec Nine Hundred a large case? If not should I get the Coolermaster HAF 932 or another one someone could recommend?
Also, what size monitor would you recommend with the 5850 (link to scan would be appreciated)? And, is it worth spending an extra £30 or so on the 965?

Anything else that should be added?

LN16718
Antec 900 - Nine Hundred Ultimate Gamer Case with 200m Top Fan w/o PSU £76.35

LN19849
550W Corsair CMPSU-550VXUK, ATX, PS/2, 5 year Warranty £69.96

LN27236
AMD Phenom II X4 955 BlackEdition, Sok AM3, 3.2GHz, 8MB Total Cache, 125W, Retail £134.64

LN28456
4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.65V£105.73

LN28510
Asus M4A79XTD EVO, AMD 790X, AM3, PCI-E 2.0(x16), DDR3 1333/1600/1800, SATA 3Gb/s, ATX£89.05

LN28751
500GB Samsung HD502HJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM £38.72
LN28978
1GB Asus HD 5850 , PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 4000MHz GDDR5, GPU 725MHz, 1440 Cores, DP/ 2x DVI/ HDMI£223.23

LN29009
Scythe Shuriken BIG 120mm fan Low Profile 3 Heat Pipe - HTPC Ready S754/939/AM2/AM2+/AM3/1366/1156/7 £29.35

LN29161
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit, Single, - OEM £77.55

LN29445
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22x DVD±R, 12x DVD±R, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black, OEM £14.97

Total £859.55


Thanks, opinions and recommendations welcomed.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Some of the parts are cheaper until midday on Tuesday as they are on special offer on Scan:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

This Crossfire capable 890GX based motherboard costs a bit more but has the latest SB850 southbridge with 6 SATA 3.0 ports:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...-SATA-RAID-ATX

However some of the latest Samsung F3 hard drives have issues with the SB850 southbridge so I would get a Western Digital Caviar Black instead:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=caviar+black

If you want to add another HD5850 1GB you would need a PSU which has 4 PCI-E power connectors.

I would look at the Antec TruePower New 650W,Corsair HX650W or the Seasonic X-650 which are on special offer this weekend too:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

They are all made by Seasonic.

I would also look at cooler like the Titan Fenrir:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Titan...-K8-AM2-AM3%29

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Titan...366-K8-AM2-AM3

[GriM]

Some of the parts are cheaper until midday on Tuesday as they are on special offer on Scan:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

This Crossfire capable 890GX based motherboard costs a bit more but has the latest SB850 southbridge with 6 SATA 3.0 ports:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...-SATA-RAID-ATX

However some of the latest Samsung F3 hard drives have issues with the SB850 southbridge so I would get a Western Digital Caviar Black instead:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Search.aspx?q=caviar+black

If you want to add another HD5850 1GB you would need a PSU which has 4 PCI-E power connectors.

I would look at the Antec TruePower New 650W,Corsair HX650W or the Seasonic X-650 which are on special offer this weekend too:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

They are all made by Seasonic.

I would also look at cooler like the Titan Fenrir:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Titan...-K8-AM2-AM3%29

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Titan...366-K8-AM2-AM3

Do you recommend any of the Western Digital HDD's? As in, 32 or 64 cache?

[kalniel]

Hi all. I'm hoping to build a new PC which will basically be for gaming. This is what I've got so far and would just like some advice from people with some expertise.

Three things - is the Antec Nine Hundred a large case? If not should I get the Coolermaster HAF 932 or another one someone could recommend?
Also, what size monitor would you recommend with the 5850 (link to scan would be appreciated)? And, is it worth spending an extra £30 or so on the 965?

The 900 is a large case, yes. Monitor size is up to your personal preference - I like 20" 1680x1050 16:10 or 23-24" 1920x1080 if you prefer 16:9.

I wouldn't say it's worth the extra for the 965.

[dirky]

Personally for gaming I would go no higher than 1680x1050 as native res

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Do you recommend any of the Western Digital HDD's? As in, 32 or 64 cache?

TBH,the 32MB Western Digital Black drives should do the job although the 64MB caches are their latest an greatest. I don't know whether the extra cache helps improve performance much but IIRC the SATA 3.0 interface does not make much difference with these drives as they have the same performance on a SATA 2.0 interface. However,the SATA 3.0 ports should be useful in the future if you decide to add an SSD.

I would normally recommend the Samsung F3 as they are excellent value for money but is a shame that some of them have these issues with the SB850 southbridge.

[sadbuttrue]

I would look at the Antec TruePower New 650W,Corsair HX650W or the Seasonic X-650 which are on special offer this weekend too:

http://www.scan.co.uk/TodayOnly/Index.aspx

They are all made by Seasonic.

I have the HX650W and am pretty sure it's a CWT model (sure sounds like one ).

[GriM]

This Crossfire capable 890GX based motherboard costs a bit more but has the latest SB850 southbridge with 6 SATA 3.0 ports:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Asus-...-SATA-RAID-ATX

Does this motherboard support the 1600MHz DDR3? I scrolled down to the specifications and I don't see 1600.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I have the HX650W and am pretty sure it's a CWT model (sure sounds like one ).

According to this review it looks like a Seasonic:

http://www.overclock 3d.net/reviews/...650w_atx_psu/3

OTH,even if the PSU is made by CWT it is still quite good!

Does this motherboard support the 1600MHz DDR3? I scrolled down to the specifications and I don't see 1600.

The Phenom II X4 memory controller officially supports 1333MHZ DDR3 but 1600MHZ DDR3 works fine.

Anyway the memory compatibility list for the motherboard has 1600MHZ RAM listed:

http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_I...Ygs&templete=2