Long time forum reader,first time builder-critique required

[skully78]

Ok, so my boss kindly said I have about £650(pounds sterling) to build a base system for myself to go with our new shiney offices. We are a web design and development company. Monitor & periphals will come next.

So this is what I have thrashed together:

-Athlon 64 4200 Dual Core 2.2GHz 512kb L2 cache AM2 940 pin - £208.96
-Asus M2N-E Socket AM2 NF570ULTRA Audio Lan USB2 2000FSB SATA ATX £59.53
-Seagate ST3160812AS 160GB 7200.9 SATA II 7200rpm Drive - OEM £40.65
-Antec P180 EU Aluminium Super Miditower - £59.56
-Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W 500PGB PSU - AtX 2.01 Dual Rails - £46.10
-Sapphire Radeon X850 XT 256M GDDR3 PCI-E VGA / TVO / DVI-I - £110.59
-2 x Crucial 1GB kit (512MBx2) DDR2 PC2-4200 CL=4 UNBUFFERED NON-ECC DDR2-533 1.8V 64Meg x 64

It's a little over budget, but arms are meant to be twisted.
Basically a nice office pc, with a liitle power under hood, not really for gaming. Storage not important, but multi-tasking is a big must. and I think upgradabilty is important too.

Just want a spiffy pc to work and play on really.

My uncertainty lies with the compatability with everything - Will this work out ok?
Your input, and suggestions to burn my boss's limited budget is incouraged. Just go easy on me, remember I am a virgin to this, and I have done a bit of research. Well I tried.

Thanks once again
Skully

 

[skully78]

You're right Prozac26

A little more arm twisting and i could go for the 7900GT or X1800XT. They easily add an extra £80 to the budget.
And I have to justify that these cards are great for "office work".

I don't think the boss will be happy with me "testing out" HL2 and Prey all day long.

Keep them coming, thanks.

 

[Fursecul]

Forget the x850xt and go for a 7900gt or a 7600gt or someting with SM 3,the x850xt is way to expensive for it's performance and technology,and try a diferent mb ASUS makes good mb but the customer service is really bad,try MSI or ABIT.Good luck with your build. and your Boss)

 

[mesarectifier]

If your home rig isn't as good as that one just stick your home rig in a new case and take it to work and keep the good un for yourself.

 

[skully78]

OK, so far you guys don't see any potential problems with this build.
I don't want put everything together and it doesn't even boot. you know.

The last thing I want my boss to say is "
Skully, you really screwed this one up buddy, didn't you?. !*%head".

Once I get this rig completed, I am going full guns blazing for my home rig, I can feel the addictiveness oozing through my blood already.

 

[skully78]

I have another question, whats the difference between going with AMD's AM2 socket and Intel's AM2 socket.
Which am I better off with? Conroe will probably be a bit pricey.

 

[mesarectifier]

Conroe is already available at Overclockers.co.uk http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Intel_Pentium_Core_Duo2.html

They start at a very reasonable price. I'd wait to see what eBuyer and Dabs can come up with in terms of price rivalry, though.

 

[jap0nes]

the difference is none, because there is no intel AM2 socket
AM2 = AMD
socket 775 = Intel = Core 2 = Conroe

 

[skully78]

the difference is none, because there is no intel AM2 socket
AM2 = AMD
socket 775 = Intel = Core 2 = Conroe

AAhh, ok, sorry my mistake.
I guess I have to check out the whole AMD~Intel debate.

But so far I am still happy with my choice. I hope the AMD price cuts hit UK shores too.

Thanks guys.