Please cast your expert eyes over my system-to-be

[Festisio]

Hi,

Decided to build myself a new gaming powerhouse. Picked out all these components from eBuyer. Done my research and as far as I can tell, these should all work together well. However, since I'm spending a fair amount of £££'s on this I'm keen to double/triple/quadruple check with some knowledgeable folk, to ensure I don't end up with a load of incompatible components

So, here's my selection. Links included.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134804 - ASUS P5KC AiLifestyle Series iP35 Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141517 - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2. GHz (FSB 1333MHz) Socket 775 L2 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/105994 - Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro Socket 775 Processor Cooler

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143103 - Point Of View 9800GX2 1GB Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132904- OCZ 4GB Kit (2x2GB) 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory Platinum Performance CL5 (5-4-4-18) (*2 = 8GB)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139739 - Samsung HD753LJ 750GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm *32MB Cache* - OEM

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/124927 - Arctic Power 700W PSU - With PCI-E, 4x SATA, 20+4, ATX12V, 8pin +12V Connectors - Retail Boxed

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134804 - EV Silver/Black Full Tower Case with Feet - No PSU

I know 8GB's of RAM is way over the top and downright gluttonous but I thought why not? Also I am a big fan of multitasking, I will quite often have a latest game running in the background, browser, outlook, maybe winamp - so it does add up resource wise.

I plan to run Vista x64. The main aim of this machine is to be able to play the latest games in excellent quality. I am also interested in overclockability of this CPU and gfx card, any experiences on this?

I'm quite open to suggestion as to how to make this setup better so if you think I'm doing something wrong please let me know!

Thanks in advance

 

[amd_fanboi]

1. HELL NO to that PSU. want to see your stuff go BANG after 2 months? i wouldn't. Take this instead

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114941 (Corsair HX620) or http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134677 (Corsair TX750)

2. If you want to OC, you'll not be doing yourself a favour with that Q9300 - it doesn't OC so well. Try a Q6600 (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/131950) or better yet, an E8400 http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?IL-E8400. You'll need a better CPU cooler though, if you're planning a more extreme OC - i personally would not advise going past 3.2hz with an acf7 pro on the Q6600.

3. i would get a better case, something like the Antec 900, but that's more a personal preference type of thing.

Do you plan on doing SLI? oh, and ebuyer are fast shippers - i go most of my components within 2/3 days, when i opted for free shipping: I'm EXTREMELY pleased with their service. Post or message if you need more info


also, tell us your budget

 

[Festisio]

Cheers for the reply.

I will definitely go for a better PSU - probably one of those - they look pretty heavy duty.

I'l also change to the Q6600 as I've heard good things about their overclocking potential so that's good to have echoed here. I'll go for this heatsink which I've read is up to the job of handing the quite substantial heat the 6600 gives off:

http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=607686&gclid=CPqe_Ljf4ZICFQpEMAodEBPb5w

case wise - dont have much of an opinion of that - just want a full tower for lots of inside space.

RE:SLI - I would love to SLI two 9800GX2's but £700 for gfx cards is pushing it for me costwise - if I could achieve a better result than a 9800GX2 by SLI'ing two lesser cards then I would very much consider that, although maybe then I would be heading into 1000W PSU territory?

Budget - well I'd like to keep it around the £1000 mark - although it's not set in stone or anything. I've already got the monitors and DVD writer.

Thanks for the helpful reply, think I'm on a better track now than I was previously.

 

[amd_fanboi]

that's the best heatsink, but be aware you need a spare fan...

I thinnk £1000 and a 9800GX2 is pushing it a bit... are you looking to play Crysis or anything? cos it might be a better idea to just buy a cheaper card now, ie an 8800GTX, and then upgrade later...

whatever you get, be sure to get a case with good cooling.

what resolution is your monitor?

 

[Festisio]

My list of parts were on £900 on ebuyer last time I checked, although I may have added bits to my list since, but still around that figure.

Completed crysis! Latest game I've been playing is Assassins Creed - and that is running choppy on my system (geforce 7900GT 3GB ram :-o) - and is the main impetus for and upgrade - such a fun game.

The antec 900 does look fan-tastic (did you see what I did there?)

The monitor is 1280*1024 - 19" LCD - never tried running games above that, (I can increase game res above that can I? I have never tried before because I knew it would run at too low an fps - brain freeze, and cant check since I'm at work) mind you - had that screen for almost 3 years so maybe I could get me a fancy widescreen or something (in which case budget would increase accordingly)

thanks

 

[amd_fanboi]

Pleh. to be honest, you're REALLY wasting money on a 9800GX2 at that res then get a better monitor.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132860 something like that at least. I mean, at that res, even a 3850 256 will do well... rather just save the dosh and get a single 512GTS, and upgrade later... that'd be my advice.

 

[Festisio]

It doesn't take much pursuasion to get me eager for new gear. And since I do watch a fair amount of stuff on the computer I think I'm due a monitor upgrade. This is my forerunner at the moment - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130991/show_product_overview - you should get commission off ebuyer!