New UK build to last a while!

Victor2112

Distinguished
Mar 29, 2007
10
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18,510
I'm biting the bullet and finally upgrading. My current system has lasted nearly 4 years, and is starting to show its age. I cast envious glances at the prices newegg et al give, but anyway, as I'm in the UK....

I'll be using it for the occasional game, possibly Oblivion, but mostly for work, encoding and Football Manager, which is processor and hard drive intensive. I'll salvage the optical drives and a large IDE drive from my current machine for dumping stuff on.

Processor: E6750. Can't really stretch to a Q6600.
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=19964

Motherboard: GA-P35-DS3R P35. This seems to get great reviews, and should go well with the processor and memory to give a decent overclock, should I want it.
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=17916

Hard drive: 36GB Western Digital Raptor. Thought about a couple of SATAs for a RAID array, but this should give a better result, speed wise (?), and I don't need much space, given the IDE drive I've already got which can be used for storing photos, vids etc.
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=14454

Memory:Geil Ultra DDR2 2.0GB PC6400 Dual Channel memory kit (2 x 1GB) 800MHz (4-4-4-12) + Aluminium heat spreader
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=14777

Graphics:INNO3D GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB DDR3
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=16579

Case: Antec 900
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=16013

PSU:This is where I'm really not sure. There's the Coolermaster eXtreme Power 650W PSU ATX http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=17221 at £74.99, Antec Truepower Trio 550W http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(14998)Antec-Truepower-Trio-550W-PSU-TP3550-GB-PSU.aspx at £60.16, Sharkoon 535W Silent Storm ATX12V version2.0 http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(9941)Sharkoon-535W-Silent-Storm-ATX12V-version20.aspx at £64.61, Coolermaster RealPower 550W PSU Supersilent http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(17222)Coolermaster-RealPower-550W-PSU-Supersilent.aspx at £66.98, and the Antec NeoHE 550W Modular http://www.microdirect.co.uk/(11448)Antec-NeoHE-550W-Modular-ATX20-EPS12V-PSU.aspx at £69.91.

I am probably wanting to overclock, so will need a decent PSU. The 8800GTS draws a lot of power, as well: will any of these do the job? In which case I'd definitely go for the cheapest one. ;)

Processor cooler: Tuniq Tower 120 http://www.yoyotech.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=487

Total: about £670.

Any suggestions for how to achieve the same result for less cash will be most welcome!
 

FlyingDutchman

Distinguished
Jun 5, 2007
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18,530
I don't consider myself an expert, but as I'm building a system in the UK at the moment as well, I've done some research.

If I were you, I'd lose the Raptor it's a waste of money. For a tenner more, you can get 2x WD 250Gb (WD2500AAKS) in Raid-0, have 15x the storage and you'll notice no difference in speed compared to the raptor.....

(I've got a computer with 2x 160Gb WD in Raid-0 myself, not even particularly fast models and I'm really satisfied with the performance)

As far as PSUs go, I'd go for this one:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/productinfo.asp?WebProductID=446788

It's in the same price range as the ones you mentioned and it will be able to handle your system without any problems.

Just my 2 cents...