Building a new pc - suggestions and help

hey guys,

i'm in the market for a new pc. i'm not very knowledgeable with computers as i haven't followed them in a couple of years. i've done a bit of research and this is what i have come up with.

Gigabyte X48-DQ6
q6600
Samsung 22" LCD 2253LW
G.Skill-PI 4GB Kit (2x2G) DDR2 1066
WD 2 x 500GB HDD
ASUS 512M 8800GT
Sonata III
Pioneer 215BK combo drive

I'm located in Australia so these are the most up to date parts in my price range i can find locally. can you guys please tell me whether this is an ok system and if there are any parts i should include or exclude from my choices. all up this build is about $1600AUD and i don't want to spend much more then this.

also i wish to run 2 x 500gig HDD's instead of 1 x 1 TB HDD. i've been informed that running two HDD's can cause excessive heat which could lead to potential problems, is this true? is it safe to run 2 HDD's?

finally is there anything else i need apart from keyboard, mouse and software that i am missing?

Thanks,

Danny

well from what i've read the Sonata III provides 500watts which i thought would be more then sufficient?

also i chose to run 2 HDD's as i'm constantly burning DVD's and on the computer at the same time, and have been told that burning DVD's is quite straining on the HDD so if i used two HDD's then i could still go about my business while not being interfered by the burning

The Sonta III is just fine for your build danny.

@dagger- Seagate makes 500GB drives with 32MB cache also, but you are assessment is right.

@milhirkula: He says 8800GT/+1 for the motherboard change

@danny- Change the Asus to an eVGA- lifetime warranty and the step-up program to move to the 2xx series within 90 days if you wish.

500gbx2 vs 1tbx1 -- If you are going to run the 500gb HDD's in Raid-0, you would get increased speed, but a greater chance of failure because instead of having data on 1 hard drive w/ x% chance to fail, you would have data spread across 2 hard drives with x (x2)% chance to fail. So its up to you. However it would be "better" to have raid 0 as you would be able to access data faster. Heat won't be a problem as long as you have a good case. If its not that well ventilated, just be sure not to put the HDD's next to each other. I.E. leave a HDD rack empty between them.

Also like shadowduck said, get a dual slot cooler EVGA 8800 GT. You get the step-up program and better warrenty:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130357

I'd get a better PSU, so it won't become obsolete so soon. Maybe a 650W cosair, or a 750W PC Power and Cooling Silencer, but thats just my personal choice.

Also are you going to overclock? If you aren't, there is not point to getting the X48/X38, and even if you are, the P35/P45 will let you overclock the Q6600 easily and they are MUCH cheaper. I would suggest the GA-P35-DS3L.

Other than that it looks fine.

As long as you don't get a 6xx nvidia motherboard, you're fine for overclocking. I've seen plenty of good/amazing overclocks on the 750/780/790i motherboards.

also for the GPU i have the choice of either the 512MB 8800GT or the 1GB 8800GT, will the 1GB have significant advantage over the 512mb? the price difference is only $30AUD so is it worth it?

Try a q9300 if you have some extra cash to spare. And yeah, the 8800GTS(G92) is pretty damn good.

at the moment $30AUS is probably around $28US, so yeah i'll go for the 1GB version then.

in regards to power supply will the Sonata III provide enough power? and how much would i be able to OC this system?

^...yep thats a good idea.

Maybe the 4850 might ship to Aus very soon too. So you could get one of those.