[HELP] Rate My Build v2.1

[phurbs]

All,

I posted here a little while ago to get some feedback on a new build. (Thanks to all that posted in that thread!)

I am now in a position to be able to go ahead with the build, but I am confused between two different specs. AMD vs Intel.

To give a little background, I am looking at swapping my massive tower case for a better spec machine. I use my PC for normal internet browsing, movies/music, and audio encoding (mp3/FLAC). I do a little light non-extreme gaming (Civilisation, Football Manager, Portal2) and some light web development/photoshop. I am looking for the system to generally responsive and a) small b) very quiet and c) energy efficient as possible.

I will be cannibalising my old PC for gfx card (Radeon 512MB HD4850) optical drive and 2x1TB HDD.

Budget is around the £450 mark but obviosuly the cheaper the better. That said, I am not adverse to spending a little more if it is worth it! I will be buying all parts from Scan where possible. (We can ignore carriage, I live 2mins from Scan )

So after the last thread I posted I finalised the following build.





After going back an forth between i3 and i5 I decided to take a look at AMD. Now I realise that Bulldozer is coming soon, but I dont really want to spend the premium on a new release. So, I have come up with this build . . .





Now, my questions . . .

1. Will I get better performance from the AMD rig, even at the lower price point?
2. I know the AMD will overclock to near 4Ghz. Will this be ok on stock cooling? Will I get thermal issues in such a small case?

[kalniel]

1) no.

2) I wouldn't do a large overclock on stock cooling, especially not the AMDs.

[eyezpy]

If you are planning to overclock in a SG03 case, I would suggest something like a Corsair H50 (or H60) cpu cooler.