Look over my next PC

[RedPutty]

I am building myself a PC for xmas and would like your input on it.
I want the PC to be able to cope with gaming with ease and also anything else I throw at it I will be reusing my current 1280x1024 monitor and other peripherals. I tend to upgrade my monitor out of sync with my PC, this one is less than a year old.

CPU:
3800+ AMD x2 Boxed ~£235, will be using standard fan.
I might oc this a little if its amenable.
Dual core is a must, since tasting the goodness of two CPUs a couple of PCs ago I have not been satisfied with only one.


Motherboard:
Asus A8N-SLI Premium ~£120
I am getting the premium as it doesnt have a chipset fan (which is apparently noisy and unreliable on this mobo). I am going SLI with the hope that in a year or so I can drop another video card in

RAM
Corsair XMS-3500LL PRO 2GB Kit ~£220
I definately want 2GB as it should help future proof the PC.
This is pricy at £220 but it has tight timings of 2-3-2-6 T1 at DDR437 (218 MHz) pre-tested in an a8n so its fast to say its 2GB.

Here is a good review of the ram and it taught me a few things too
http://www.guru3d.com/article/memory/301/1/

I know spending a lot of money/effort on ram can be a bit controversial e.g:
http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=62502


PSU:
Seasonic S12 Powersupply 500W ~£90
I am not too excited by this PSU but it seems it will cope fine. I don't believe in skimping on PSUs and would also like it to be quiet so this one fits the bill.

Graphics Card:
7800GT ~£205 - as these are seemingly all the nvidia reference design I am just going to go for the cheapest at the time

Case
Antec p180 ~£95 - I like the cooling arrangements and sound deadening panels - the looks are good too.

Hard Drive
Not decided yet here. I toyed with the idea of a raptor but after reading lots of arguments for and against them I am just more uncertain than before. Suggestions? I dont need more than 200GB, I have 120GB at the moment and haven't struggled for space.

[NightshadowUK]

Go for a Samsung hard drive!!

And you're aware that very few programs make use of Dual Core aren't you?

[RedPutty]

And you're aware that very few programs make use of Dual Core aren't you?

Yep, I am aware that currently most programs don't use them both simultaneously

[sgoaty]

Buy the raptor and keep the 120Gb for storage. I have an x2 3800 and i love it

[NightshadowUK]

I'm was really tempted to buy a raptor for Windows boot and various games but I wasn't sure the difference would be so immense...

[RedPutty]

Buy the raptor and keep the 120Gb for storage. I have an x2 3800 and i love it

the core of this PC will be my wifes so the 120GB will go with it i'm afraid.

[sawyen]

Apparently most scientific programs utilises multi cpus pretty well.. AnalystQS, PDQuest, ProQUANT and Mascot chews up both my lab's Opteron 246s anytime (with 90% of the 8GB of memory)..

Running them on my RIPed single core A64 is just plain sluggish, even at 2.7Ghz. The extra cpu makes everything finish 40% faster..

[MD]

I'm was really tempted to buy a raptor for Windows boot and various games but I wasn't sure the difference would be so immense...

The difference isn't and it get's worse when you factor in the sound volume increase too.

Matt.

[Nox]

The difference isn't and it get's worse when you factor in the sound volume increase too.

Matt.

I agree with the relatively small performance difference, but quite frankly don't notice any sound difference - its all drowned out by the gfx fan...

Nox

[ajones]

its all drowned out by the gfx fan...

Nox

I would consider some 3rd party cooling to reduce fan noise on your CPU, and gfx card - although I've no experience of the noise levels from a 7800xyz

[RedPutty]

Well its all ordered now . My credit card is glowing red hot as i've had to buy a few other things recently too