Help on new build

[stavroshamster]

Hello,
I built my first self-build around 4 years ago, and now its too slow to cope with.
I am a moderate gamer, although recently haven't played much because my hardware is not up to scratch.
Examples of games I will be interested in playing with a new computer include Spore and Grid. I will be playing these games on a 22 inch TFT monitor with resolution of 1680*1050, but also have a secondary monitor which is 19" with resolution of 1440*900.
The PC will also be used as a HTPC. I have a TV tuner already, but this is not compatible with Vista 64 so I will be limited to Vista 32. I have a surround sound system which accepts 5.1 through the analog outputs of the motherboard.
The PC will also be used in moderation for video and photo editing.
I want to overclock it a bit, but not massively, so air cooling is fine.
I have a budget of around £600, although this is somewhat flexible if much better components are available for slightly more, and will be looking to buy components from scan.co.uk or aria.co.uk probably
I probably don't need a new case, but might consider getting a new one if I have some spare cash as my current one is a very cheap one.

I have done a bit of research into components on Scan and have come up with the following core components which I think would be good:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo, E8400, Wolfdale Core, S775, 3.0 GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB Cache, Retail £127.59
GPU: 512MB EVGA 8800GT PCI-E 2.0 (x16), Mem 1800MHz, GDDR3, GPU 600MHz, Stream 112, 2x DL DVI-I £126.77
Memory: 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-18 £58.33
Hard Drive: 1000 GB Samsung HD103UJ Spinpoint F1, SATA 300, 7200 rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ £99.63
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1* 32Bit 1Pk OEM (DVD) £60.50
DVD-Writer: Pioneer DVR-215BK 20x DVD±R, 10x DVD±DL, DVD + RW x8/-RW x6, DVD-RAM x12, SATA, Black, OEM £17.85

Questions I have:
What mobo and PSU should I get? What wattage PSU is sufficient, given that SLI wont be used probably. For the mobo, I don't need anything too fancy apart from 5.1 output for surround sound, and something which is easy to overclock.
I have only used ASUS mobo/GPU before, what are EVGA and the others like?
Is 800Mhz memory fast enough?
Can factory overclocked GPUs be overclocked further? If a factory over-clocked GPU is only a few pounds more than the base model which should I get?
Is this the right time to buy a new comp? Or should I wait a while for the next round of GPUs to come out?
General advice on the above components...

Thanks for your help!

 

[akhilles]

Either nvidia or Intel chipset is fine for light to moderate overclocking. Intel has an edge in high to extreme overclocking. Look at GA-P35-DS3L/DS3R, P5K-E or with WIFI & EVGA 750/780i. The DS3L is like $90/45 quids and can easily overclock the E8400 to 3.6 or 4ghz. The 750i/780i costs twice as much or more. If you're not going to sli, save your money & pick up P35. BTW, if you go sli, you need a bigger psu than the minimum.

Minimum recommended power supply for an 8800GT PC is 400 Watt 22 Amp. Look at the specs of a psu. If you need headroom for upgrades, get a bigger one like 500-600W. One of the tier 1/2/3 is good:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

Yup, the factory-overclocked gpu's can be overclocked a bit further, but not much. That's not the point of getting one. It's for people who don't feel comfortable overclocking the gpu. The 8800GT has a single slot fan, and it can be very hot. If you're going to overclock the gpu, you should look at either stock gpu or GTS512 which has a dual-slot cooling fan which is good for overclocking.

There's no right or wrong time to buy. There's only the wait game. You can keep waiting and waiting until you can no longer operate a computer. I'm sure you don't want that. Life is too short.