600GBP Gaming PC

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: (Within the next 7 days)

BUDGET RANGE: (example: 500-650GBP - could nudge up to 700 if needs be)

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: (Gaming, Internet, DVD burning from time to time)

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: (keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, sound card)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: (overclockers.co.uk dabs.com pcworld.co.uk and any others that you recommend)

PARTS PREFERENCES: by brand or type (Intel CPU, ATI Graphics Card)

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

HARD DRIVE: 500GB+

OPTICAL DRIVE: DVD/CD

MONITOR RESOLUTION: (examples: 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1440x900, 1600x1200, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 1920x1200)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: (Quiet PC, good case, good PSU)

Hi folks,

I have read the guide by Proximon which was a great help but I am still a bit lost so please bear with me.

I have never built a PC before, just changed a couple parts in my current rig, but thought I would give it a bash. I've been mulling this over for the past week and a friend gave me a list of parts from a site he uses but I have no idea if it's any good or that I could be getting more for my money, but after seeing what some folk spend I guess I am pushing it there. My mate also recommended to get XP rather than Vista but I am not sure about that.

Here is what he recommended:

Asus ATI Radeon 4870 512Mb (Twin Turbo Cooler)

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_99101.html

Antec Truepower NEWTP-650

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1719.html

Samsung EcoGreen F2 500Gb SATA HD502HI

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_6267.html

Silverstone Precision PS02B ATX Case

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1210.html

Sony AD-5200S-0B Black IDE DVD-RW (with Nero)

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_4227.html

Asus P5QL-PRO Motherboard WITH 2x1GB Crucial DDR2-667 NAD Intel C2D E8500 - NOTE - Several options avaiable for RAM and CPU

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_5534.html


Any help appreciated!

Ive looked through your parts and i think the E8500 is a good choice.

Alternative PSU [/url] or [url=http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141503]

Alternative Motherboard [url=http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Biostar-TPower-I45-iP45-S-775-PCI-E-20(x16)-DDR2-1066-1200(OC)-667-800-SATA-II-SATA-RAID-ATX][/url] This is a great mobo i have one and you can check out what ppl are saying about it on `overclock.net`.

Alt GFX card [/url] this is the same card but has 1GB memory which makes a lot of difference. Or you might want to try one of these, they overclock very well and are great for Xfire [url=http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1GB-XFX-HD-4890-PCI-E-20-(x16)-Mem-3900MHz-GDDR5-GPU-850MHz-Cores-800-2x-DL-DVI-I-HDTV]

Alt Hard Drive [url=http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/1TB-Samsung-HD103UJ-Spinpoint-F1-SATA-300-7200-rpm-32MB-Cache-89-ms-NCQ][/url] The 1TB Samsung is much faster than the 500GB and gets rave reviews.

These are the only things i would change except maybe a bigger case with better cooling because the mobo overclocks very easily and you may want to add a larger cpu cooler and your case will restrict your choice.

Thanks, I'll check those out.

Some motherboards support DDR3 RAM and some DDR2. What's the difference? Does DDR3 have any worthwhile advantages over DDR2?

Thanks, I'll go with DDR2 then.

Another question. Dual Core or Quad Core?

For a Dual Core I was thinking about an E8500 (137.99GBP) for a Quad Core I was looking at either the Q8400 (136.99) or the Q9550 (169.98). My mate said Quad Cores aren't worth it but looking at some charts the Quad Cores generally did better. Which CPU?

I've heard Crossfire (maybe it was SLI) is quite temperamental. I looked into an i7 build but it overshoots my budget.

Here is what I have got so far:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =CP-203-IN

Asus ATI Radeon HD 4870 Dark Knight 1GB

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =GX-192-AS

Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =MB-280-AS

Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 8500C5

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =MY-039-KS

Corsair TX 650W ATX

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =CA-008-CS

Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =HD-053-SA

Sony Optiarc AD-7201S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =CD-027-OT

Coolermaster Elite 335 Case - Black

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/show [...] =CA-160-CM

What do you all think? Everything compatible? What about the RAM, I wasn't really too sure what was the best from this section:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/prod [...] 01&catid=8