My first Self build any pointers?

[eyezpy]

Bulldozer is AMD's upcoming CPU, new architecture, six cores, hoping to to compete with Intel's Sandy Bridge. Not sure yet if it will be faster clock for clock, but will at least be better priced. Looks promising none the less.

"I thought the more cores the more ram was required=quicker computer" is not true.
The software needs to be written to make use of those cores and HT. Dual core is still more than enough for everday use and gaming right now, not many use quad core let alone six.
Same with RAM, for everday use and gaming, you wont see it go pass 3.5gb most of the time, if that. So a 2x2gb or 2x4gb should do.

Revodrive maybe priced better, but does not have TRIM which means performance will degrade over time much much more. I would stick to the new SATA3 SSDs like Vertex 3 or even the even the Vertex 2 over Revodrives.

[watercooled]

I have opted for the Z68 purely to future proof my build, OC possibilites & SRT, also I have had realiable use of a P5N32 for nearly five years.

Z68 will not be any more future-proof or OCable than P67, the actual board will make a difference but not the chipset.

Will 16Gb of RAM be to much? I don,t want to buy it for it to gather dust.

As I said, unless you know you need that much RAM for a reason, 4GB should be plenty, or go for 8GB if you're looking to spend money. 16GB would probably be a complete waste of money considering more than 75% of it would be sitting their doing nothing for probably the whole life of the system.

In some cases, having more RAM can mean better performance for multi-core systems, but this means having more channels and/or faster RAM - just adding more to the existing channels won't make any difference. Current Sandy Bridge chips have 2 memory controllers on the CPU so 2 channels. Even so, the difference of more channels will likely make no to very little difference on a desktop PC, as 1366 showed us. In fact, the more sticks you have the lower their maximum stable clock so if you're planning on overclocking that's another reason to use 2 sticks.

[planet436]

The resolution of your monitor will determine your need for a graphics card. If its 1920x1200 or lower then a single 6950 will be perfectly adequate, a 580 is massive overkill and a waste of money. I would not recommend sli/xfire unless you are going to get multiple monitors.

Also as said in this thread, spend more on a top quality power supply from Corsair, Antec, Seasonic or Enermax. Check jonnyguru for reviews on PSUs.

[bigizzman]

I have a copy of win7 pro, so no problem there.

I do want to us 2 if not 3 monitors, (that's for another day or a lot of overtime later)

will be upgrading PSU on this build 1Kw ish gold standard bearing in mind i do want to run twin large monitors & GPU's

2x4Gb RAM it is then.

Without stirring up the hornets nest I have always had intel cpu's, Bulldozer would have to be very special to tempt to the darkside....?

That said I will be waiting until it comes out now, a cheaper I5/i7 can't be a bad thing?

Will a HAF 9XX be enough cooling for this setup?

Thanks cat-the-fifth for the info £300 saved ain't a bad thing Hmm maybe a new monitor....????

After reading Bulldozer chit chat, all 9 pages looks like i ain't doing anything untill the middle of June?

More time to dream sorry should read plan & shop for bargins