1st home build - system advice

[CarmineB]

Ok so Im about to begin building my 1st pc!!! I really wanna push the boat out as much as possible without going too far on $

Advice needed for -

CASE

First thing I need is a nice case to put it in! Which manufacturers are any good? Im in the uk so I need ones on sites that do int shipping or ebay etc... Antec seem a decent one but are there any others I should know about?

MOTHERBOARD

I need an agp 8x slot on the mobo for my ATI Radeon HD3650 512MB AGP Graphics Card. Will I find a quad core atx mobo with agp slot???
And obviously I don't want a built in grfx card

Also preferably one that can take 4gb or > ram and sata I or II (think my drives are II but there are cables that can go from 1 to the other)

I need one from a quality manufacturer that wont fail within 5 years

PROCESSOR

Quad core - Intel or AMD??? I've always gone with intel before but performance/price ratio is more important than brand loyalty. I'd like one that's really good but not really expensive. obviously mobo has to be compatible



Everything else I'm good with: 2 x 1tb sata, dvd r+_rw, dvd rom or blu ray, 2 x usb/sata cards, 400w psu, fans, OS, etc..

This is mostly for hd video playback and some work... but Id like to be able to run NEW games reasonably well

 

[hunter315]

Ditch the AGP card, the $60 for a PCI-E 4670 will cost you less than needing to get a new one when you need to upgrade your GPU. We really need to know what you intend to use the system for to suggest parts properly, if you could fill the template out shown here it would help
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

what 400 watt PSU did you select? Except for the Corsair 400CX, EA380, and EA430 most low power power supplies are crap and should not be used.

 

[CarmineB]

ok thanks here goes:


APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 2 weeks

BUDGET RANGE: $1500 – 1800 around £900

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: watching movies, gaming (nothing else I do is slow on P4 3ghz so shouldn't matter)

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: cheapest source that ships to uk or ebay. newegg is fine for examples I can source parts.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UK

PARTS PREFERENCES: mid to high end reliable brand names amd intel saphire ati asus etc

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: no

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1280x768 (general use on 30’ lcd would increse for games if possible) This is what I use now.

ACQUIRED PARTS:

ATI Radeon HD3650 512MB AGP Graphics Card
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=227863

I bought this to update a sony computer, but decided that P4 wasn’t enough and I would build a new one

I bought a cheap 400w psu to power this card as I only have a 300w!


I want a reasonably/very powerful system that will last 5 years or more, looking at the antec 300 or p160 cases.
I don't mind switching to pci-e or other interface, but the graphics card needs to have hd-dvd and blu ray capabilities.

This one looks ok?
http://www1.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_overview.php?gpid=253