Hi,
i am buying a new PC and i have the specks of what i can roughly afford but i just wondered what other people thought and any surgestion on improving with out increasing the price too much

Processor (CPU) AMD PHENOM™ X4 9600 (2.3GHz) 4 x 512K L2 Cache
Memory (RAM) 4GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz
Motherboard ASUS® CROSSHAIR: DUAL LAN, SATA II RAID, 2 x PCI-Ex, 3 x PCI
Operating System 64 BIT WINDOWS® VISTA Home Premium
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory 500GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 16MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st Hard Disk Partitions 100GB, 300GB, 100GB
1st CD/DVD Drive 20x Dual Layer LightScribe DVD Writer ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd CD/DVD Drive 16x DVD-ROM WITH 48x CD-ROM
Graphics Card 512MB GEFORCE 8600GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
2nd Graphics Card 512MB GEFORCE 8600GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT
Sound Card 8 Channel SupremeFX High Definition Audio (CROSSHAIR)
Network Facilities WIRELESS 54Mbps NETWORK CARD (£12)
Floppy Disk Drive 1.44MB - 3.5 INCH FLOPPY DISK DRIVE
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Case CoolerMaster CM Stacker 831 Silver Aluminium Case
Power Supply & Case Cooling 1010W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£139)
Processor Cooling ASUS SILENT KNIGHT II PURE COPPER ULTRA COOLER (£36)
Firewire & Video Editing 2 x IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PORTS (1 onboard, 1 at back panel)
TV Card NONE

Thanks all to your replys

If you can return the cpu within 30 days return it on the 29th day and hopefully the new b3 phenoms will be out by then and pop one of those in instead, otherwise get the bios fix and chill.

The Phenom isn't really the best choice.

One good GPU is better than two mediocre ones in SLI.

And you probably could save a little cash by going with a 500-600w single rail PSU of good quality.

I agree with ^. Phenom aint the best choice for now. No guarantee it will OC at all and it may, not for sure, come with a bad core.

I suggest either a 8800GT(G92) or HD3870. Much better cards for gaming and will still be better than 2 8600GT's in SLI.

The PSU is overkill unless you plan on 3 8800Ultras in tri SLI later.

The cooler might not be the best for a Phenom as their thermals are hgiher than you would think. Might want an active cooler like a Thermalright ultra120 w/fan.

go with a slow intel quadcore and 1 fast graphics card... you will be able to get more overclocking with the slowest intel quad and by getting a fast single graphics card you leave the option of adding another one in a year or so when thye get cheap. you will prolly see better performance from a single hd3870 or 9600gt or 8800gt (all good cards) than with two 512mb 8600gts

My advice is similar to others. Don't buy a B2. Wait till April for a B3.

You'd be better off putting the cheapest X2 you can find in it until April when B3 arrives. B3 will be designated with a "50"; i.e. B2 Phenom 9600 but B3 Phenom 9650. Even if you're not likely to encounter the TLB errata, there have been some reports of a bad core in some B2 Phenoms.

Don't bother to go SLI with the 8600gt. Get a 9600gt instead and then go SLI later. Actually, I'd go with an AMD board and Crossfire, but I'm a bit prejudiced towards ATI image quality and AVIVO -- so ignore that if you like Nvidia.

The 9600gt alone should be faster than two 8600gt's, and another down the line should be slightly faster than my 3870x2 in some games.

Regarding overclocking, not everyone wants to bother with it and even the Phenom 9600 beats some Wolfies and Conroes in Supreme Commander, while losing to the Q6600. It beats some Wolfies and Conroes in about half the video and 3D apps, so Phenom at stock has a future depending on how many more games arrive using more than 2 cores this year, or what apps you run besides games.

When B3 arrives, my dilemma will begin. Triple or quad core Phenom's on our 690 boards, or just stick with the X2's until 45nm Phenom's arrive? This time next year, I want CrossfireX.

ok cool thanks for help.

any ideas on how much better the 9600 would be over two 8600?

The 9600 would be like going from a '98 Honda Civic to a Corvette.

I would have gone with an Intel proc for quad-core, but that's still a sweet rig, way better than what I have.

Its a good system I would have used the Althon X2 6400+ till the B3 revision of the phenom came out and just picked up a single 8800gt or 9600gt.

Thanks for all the advice people.
I'm changing the graphics card to 9600GT. everything else going to keep though leaves me plenty of room to upgrade when i need to.

500GB sata2 32mb is better... and its only little extra...