First Ever Build

[MaD]

Right so i have some money for the first time in my life, and i have decided to spend it on a new computer, and ive realised that if i build one, i will get a much better computer for the money. Before i started i knew a little bit about computer hardware, ive been working on this list for a while now, and i have put it bellow. If there are any major compatability issues with the stuff im buying please say before i buy it, and if there is anything that i should change that will give me a big price cut please say. Well heres the list:

CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-161-IN
£100.99

GPU
MSI GeForce 9800 GTX OC 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-079-MS
£149.99

Memory
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GB24GB6400C5DC)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-069-GL
£46.99

Motherboard
Asus P5N32-E PLUS SLi nForce (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-222-AS
£89.99

Monitor
LG L227WT 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-054-LG
£184.99

PSU
Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-008-CS
£54.99

Case
Miditower NZXT LeXa Aluminium
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000JCZP4U/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=A1HVS4RF533X76
£84.76

HardDrive
Maxtor Diamondmax 22 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (STM3500320AS)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-160-MD
£39.99

DVD Drive:
Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-000-PI
£14.99

Keyboard:
Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 (B2M-00008)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=KB-055-MS
£23.99

Mouse
Razer Krait 1600dpi Professional Gaming Mouse - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=KB-021-RA
£16.99

Headphones
Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset (51MZ0310AA001)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-091-CL
£19.99

CPU Cooler
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-017-AR
£10.99

Mouse Mat 0.o
Razer Goliathus Omega Control Mat Gaming Surface
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GS-010-RA
£8.99

Total Not including VAT: £848.63

 

[MaD]

Ive decided to downgrade my 9800gtx to a 8800gtx. Its a £30 difference that i could barely afford anyway, and ive decided that for what im doing i probably wont need it.

 

[rammar16]

so what you got there look excellent but here is a few things you many want to think about....

first off i am in the USA so sorry if i use American currency i believe the ratio is about 1:1.5 so...

you may want to look at the 4870 or the 4850 the 50 is cheaper and almost equal performance the 70 has better performance and is just alittle more obviously you would need a different motherboard if you went that direction like an X38 or X48 but nvidia is fine if you like them better

the next and probably biggest thing i see is the 650 watt PSU i love corsair but for SLI you would probably want a little bit more i would go with their 750 watt it just gives a little elbow room if you know what i mean.

finally OS???? i don't see one and here is the big thing you need to know if it is 64 or 32bit ok. if it is 32bit you will only be able to use 3gb of memory total to use all 4 you will need a 64 bit version and that can be a problem

hope this helps and good luck

 

[rammar16]

i just saw your second message the 4850 like i said would be better in my opinion and you can pick it up for $180 or... E120 about

 

[skittle]

pickup an aftermarket heatsink for the 4850, if you decide to get it. the stock one is barely adequate

 

[MaD]

Ive made some changes, looking at the P35 motherboard it looks a lot better for overclocking, ive looked at reviews for the 650i chipset and it loks like it doesnt overclocks as well. As for the CPU cooler is the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler that i was origionally going to get still worth getting.

 

[evongugg]

This is great motherboard with the P45 chipset, albeit more expensive:

Gigabyte GA-EP45-DQ6 Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-131-GI

 

[MaD]

Only £100 more expensive, i cant really afford that for this current build as i am limited to below 800 pounds without VAT

Im guessing the P45 cant be too much better then the 35.

Anyone know whether the coller is worth it, or if there is a better one for the same price or cheaper.

 

[evongugg]

The cooler is good. If you can find the Xigmatek plus bracket, that would be better.

Top 5 heatsinks:

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-cooler-charts,1967-12.html

 

[evongugg]

This is a great case, a little less expensive:

NZXT TEMPESTAIRFLOW 14CMX2/12CMV4 W/OPSU

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NZXT-TEMPESTAIRFLOW-14CMX2-12CMV4-OPSU/dp/B0016L3FDG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=A1HVS4RF533X76&s=generic&qid=1216741591&sr=1-1

Other cases: Antec 900 or Coolermaster 690. Not sure of prices in your country.

 

[evongugg]

This hard drive ranks pretty fast for the same price

Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD502IJ)

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/hard-disks/average-read-transfer-performance,658.html

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-058-SA

 

[MaD]

Just wondering what does the chache on a Hardrive do? I only selected the one i have because it has a 32mb cache. Is that spinpoint F1 still better then the one i already had selected eventhough it has a 16mb cache.

 

[omicron_15]

The exchange rate from pound to dollar is 2 to 1, You really cant find any 8800 cards for less then 240 dollars? None of the American distributers sell overseas?

 

[evongugg]

This is faster and cheaper. Choose a different brand if you like.

HIS ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-099-HT

 

[evongugg]

You can save on the power supply if you go with the 4850:

ATI Radeon HD 4850 System Requirements

450 Watt or greater power supply with 75 Watt 6-pin PCI Express® power connector recommended (550 Watt and two 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)
Certified power supplies are recommended. Refer to http://ati.amd.com/certifiedPSU for a list of Certified products.

 

[MaD]

The power supply that i have selected at the moment seems good, do you recon i can keep it with the ATI Radeon HD 4850.

Normally im a nvidia fan, so this graphics card better change my mind T_T im risking it, its quite a lot of money off, which is always good. Also the powersuplly that i have selected at the moment says it is SLI ready, im guessing that means it can take CrossFire as well, i wont be buying straight off with 2 graphics cards, but i may well upgrade in the future to 2.

So basically, i dont know how to edit my first post for some reason it wont let me. But these are the things i have changed so far:

Changed to ATI Radeon HD 4850
Changed to a P35 Mobo

Things i am looking into are the Memory, im looking for a nice 1066mhz ram with low lattency, but for not much more then i have atm.
Not sure about the PSU

 

[geofelt]

Your initial list is quite good. Any changes are just nitpicking and personal preferences.

What will be the primary use of this PC? If it is for heavy multitasking, then the Quad core cpu is good. If it is for gaming, or running one task at a time, then the higher clock speed of the E8500 or E8500 would be better for the same price. If the main use is gaming, then the vga card is most important.

Cache on the hard drive allows the drive to satisfy a request out of cache memory instead of a mechanical reading of the drive. It's benefits are highly application dependent. For their new high performance velociraptor, WD went with only 16m cache because they found that more did not help. More is probably better, but I would not make a buying decision on that.

If you want to save a few pounds, then there are some minor changes you can make.
1) look at the Antec300 case. Good quality and cooling for less.
2) look for a more basic motherboard. There is no need to pay for SLI and extra pci-e slots if you aren't going to use them.

 

[MaD]

Ive decided to go with this Memory here, it wasnt that expensive, but it is 1066, and its lowish lattecny for this kind of ram and price.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-114-OC

 

[Shadow703793]

^Be careful with DDR2 1066 RAM. Most of the DDR2 1066 RAM have compatibility issues. I recommend just getting good DDR2 800 and OCing them.

 

[Shadow703793]

Intel Core http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =CP-161-IN
£100.99

GPU
MSI GeForce 9800 GTX OC 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express ) - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =GX-079-MS
£149.99

Memory
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz Black Dragon DDR2 DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit (GB24GB6400C5DC)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =MY-069-GL
£46.99

Motherboard
Asus P5N32-E PLUS SLi nForce (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =MB-222-AS
£89.99

Monitor
LG L227WT 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =MO-054-LG
£184.99

PSU
Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =CA-008-CS
£54.99

Case
Miditower NZXT LeXa Aluminium
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obido [...] S4RF533X76
£84.76

HardDrive
Maxtor Diamondmax 22 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (STM3500320AS)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =HD-160-MD
£39.99

DVD Drive:
Pioneer DVR-215DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =CD-000-PI
£14.99

Keyboard:
Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 (B2M-00008)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =KB-055-MS
£23.99

Mouse
Razer Krait 1600dpi Professional Gaming Mouse - Retail
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =KB-021-RA
£16.99

Headphones
Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset (51MZ0310AA001)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =SP-091-CL
£19.99

CPU Cooler
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =HS-017-AR
£10.99

Mouse Mat 0.o
Razer Goliathus Omega Control Mat Gaming Surface
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =GS-010-RA
£8.99

Looks good! You might want to consider getting a P45 board and doing CrossFire later with a 4870. Providing you get a 4870 instead of the 9800GTX.

 

[geofelt]

Go use the OCZ memory configurator to verify compatibility with your mobo. I don't think your selection is on the list.
Corsair, Patriot, and kingston also have memory compatibility configurators.

 

[MaD]

Ok, i didnt realise, il go back to the GeIL 800Mhz ram. Im guessing i can buy another set of it at some point, also i was reading something in a magazine that having 8gb makes no difference to vista then having 4gb or ram, is it worth buying another 4gb at a later date?

 

[MaD]

K, also ive found this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-040-AS&groupid=701&catid=10&subcat=951&name=Asus%20DRW-2014L1T%2020x%20DVD%B1RW%20SATA%20Dual%20Layer%20Lightscribe%20ReWriter%20(Black)%20-%20OEM

It looks the same as the other poineer one, but with lightscribe, i dont know whether lightscribe works well now, i know i heard complaints when it first came out, and for like 2 pounds more.

 

[Shadow703793]

^Providing you have a x64 (64bit) OS like Vista x64 or XP Pro x64 the OS WILL use 8GB RAM. XP/Vista x86/x32(32bit) will be limited to 3.5GB.

 

[MaD]

K, ive heard vista 64 bit will run on 4gb fine, in a magazine i was reading, they said that 8gb doesnt give that much of a difference. Also i dont really have the money to get another 4gb right at the moment, il have to wait till i have saved up another 30 pounds.

Im still sort of confuzzled about the PSU, ive noticed loads of the PSU's have all SLI ready and stuff on em. Does this mean that they only work for Nvidia graphics cards, or are they all the same fitting from the psu to graphics card, and this means that this will run 2 4850's when i come to buy a second one.