Full specs for a new build! Criticism Required!

[pulseezar]

Ok here goes:

CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, 3.0GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB Cache.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=736334

Motherboard
Abit IP-35 Pro, IP35 express, PCI-E x16, DDR2 800, SATA II.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=605522

Memory
2x1GB Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2, PC-6400 (800MHz), CAS 4-4-4-12, DHX.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=585723

Graphics Card
512MB BFG 8800GTS, PCI-E2.0 (x16), Memory 1940MHz GDDR3, GPU 675MHz, 2xDual Link DVI/HDTV.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/productinfo.asp?WebProductID=767817

PSU
620W Corsair HX Series, Modular, SLI, EPS 12v.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=446787

CPU Fan
Coolermaster Hyper TX2.
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=677391

HDD's

250GB Western Digital WD2500AAKS Caviar SE16, SATA 300, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 9ms.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/productinfo.asp?WebProductID=767743

500GB Western Digital WD5000AAKS Caviar SE16, SATA 300, 7200rpm, 16MB Cache, 9ms.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/productinfo.asp?WebProductID=767747

DVD Writer
Pioneer DVR 215BK, SATA.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/productinfo.asp?WebProductID=767996

Case
NorthQ NQ-2200BLK Midi Tower Case
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=588381

Monitor
I'm stuck here, if anyone can reccommend a good sub £200 20-22" LCD that would be fantastic.

Another question: Is this stuff going to come with all the necessary cables? And am I going to be able to play crisis at a pretty high level?

The system will be used mostly for gaming, but I'd like rock solid stablility and for it to be pretty future proof.

Come on then people, pick this rig apart!

 

[Maziar]

Looks awesome mate and it will handle Crysis fine
I play Crysis @ very high(every option) in XP (with the trick that u can play @ very high ) @ 1680x1050 with 0xAA (AA isnt need in this res) and i have no problems with it

for the monitor i say go for SAMSUNG 226BW or LG 226WTQ

 

[grieve]

I can’t say I like this:
Case
NorthQ NQ-2200BLK Midi Tower Case
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Pro [...] tID=588381

It doesn’t come with any fans at all...

Antec900 is a decent case, costs a bit more however but it comes equipped with 3- 120mm fans and a 150mm fan

 

[pulseezar]

Fair point on the case, although I was just going to buy fans seperatly. I took a look at the antec 900 but I think something like that is a little too in-yer-face for my bedroom, I need something a little more low key! I'll have another look around for something else...

 

[Sheepish]

I have the LG 226WTQ and its pretty nice but if you can find a Samsung 226BW for ~£200 i would definately go for that, although I know the 20" version comes in at something like £180 (same res).

Not in your face = Lian Li cases. Smooth and subtle.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-054-LL&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=187
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-045-LL&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=187 <- mine

Also take a look at these

Coolermaster Dominator
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-145-CM&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=29
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=644041
NZXT Hush
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-NX&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=35
Nexus Caterpiller
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1096.html
Nexus Clodius
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1120.html

All in the £50-60 region roughly.

 

[mlaporta]

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

 

[mlaporta]

Antec Sonata III 500 Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply

 

[sprucebr1]

Looks Good, you've made good choices here. You should have no problems with any of the games. The Only thing is what OS are you using? XP or Vista? As for the monitor, Samsung or LG are good choices.

 

[mlaporta]

Also there is a Antec P180 case. Try to get 2 - 7200.11 hard drives (Seagate Barracuda ST3500320AS 500GB 7200.11 RPM 32MB Cache) not sure on that heatsink you selected, it will depend on how much OC you want to do but the ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler is a rock-solid cpu cooler.

Samsung SH-S203B SATA optical Drive

(Get the "Retail" version of the optical drive in order to get software with it. This will include the decoder you'll need to watch movies on it.)

SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22" 2 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1 (DC 3000:1)

Also if you are going with either XP SP2 (I think SP3 is due out shortly) or Vista (I would wait till SP1 comes out) you should bump the memory to 4g 2x2 leaving room to go to 8gb depending on what OS is selected and know that in XP you will see 3.25 or 3.5gb of the 4gb. G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK

 

[mlaporta]

I forgot to mention be careful on the size of the heatsink for the cpu that you order for the E8400 and consider that with the size of the case you get, as some of the cpu coolers are HUGE and I mean ENORMOUS and you may not have the clearance based on the case size

 

[grieve]

Good point mlaporta and now that it has been mentioned, I would in fact choose a different Heat Sink then this:
CPU Fan
Coolermaster Hyper TX2.

You can find an alternative here.... http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm
(You will likely pay more however it is worth the extra money to make sure the CPU is nice and cool)

**edit**
removed dead link

 

[pulseezar]

Thanks for the advice on cases, I think I'm going to go with the Lian Li PC-7B Plus II. I've chosen the LG Monitor and will probably stay with the same memory and disks to stay within my price range (£1000ish), the drive comes with nero 7 essentials on special offer at scan.co.uk.

Looks like I might be placing my order soon!

 

[pulseezar]

Ok how about the coolermaster Hyper 212? Good reviews, not too expensive, although ebuyer only rates it up to processor speeds of 2.4GHz? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/136638/show_product_specifications?spectype=extended

I think I may as well just take the plunge and go for vista home premium, SP1 is out soon anyway right?

 

[mlaporta]

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Cooler

I heard the best version of Vista to get is Vista 64 Business let see if some other folks that know more about Vista comment and you can do a search on Vista SP1 and see what you get but understand take the information with a grain-of-salt as "you-never-know" with Microsoft.