Please can someone check this?

[TwinEgo]

Ok, so basically this friday I am ordering components for a new build, this computer will have to do for a couple of years apart from two possible upgrades which I will mention after:

AMD Phenom II X2 550

I am aware that the Phenom II X4 955 would possibly be a better purchase for my system, however I am looking only to spend £650-750 and the motherboard I have selected below is capable (with the right firmware) of unlocking cores, I realise that this is a case of 'luck of the draw' and is not a given. However if it does not then at worst I am left with a very overclockable dual core until the Thuban is launched of which I will be buying immediately.

Asus M4A79XTD EVO 790X

Not much to say, this mobo has crossfire and I will in a few months be sticking another 5850 in, whilst im aware the PCI-E lanes are reduced to x8 in dual mode, I have looked online and apparently with these cards it is barely noticeable over x16 mode. Also this board allows me to easilly overclock my ram to 1800mhz

G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) 1600mhz

Good, fast, reliable ram. Enough said?

Powercolor 5850 PCS+ Factory Overclocked

This card in particular, as the cooler is supposed to be excellent, whilst it doesn't look great I don't care about that. Apparently it is easily overclockable to within 1% performance of a stock 5870 according to various benchmarks. I will also be cross firing two of these in the summer.

Coolermaster Storm Scout + Coolermaster 700W Modular PSU (85%+ Efficiency rating)
Great looking case (well imo anyways). However whilst AMD's site states 700w is enough for crossfired 5850's (in fact it says 600w is), in reality is this true?

Tuniq Tower 120-Extreme

I have done a LOT of research on HSF's, and this seems consistently brilliant for AMD cpu's.

Essentially I want to know if anyone has any idea's of where I can improve (don't wish to spend more money). I have modded my system plenty of times but never built from scratch so basically I'm a bit nervous and just want to know if these will work well together and/or if there is anything I can change for the better.

I should mention I already have a Samsung 320gb F1 Spinpoint and DVD drive, thus don't need these parts.

Thank you.

 

[Lmeow]

All looks good, although the PSU is a bit overpowered IMO. At legitreviews, HD 5850s in CFX only consumed 478W, and this was with an o/c Core i7 920 at 3.5GHz. 600W should be more than enough, something like a Corsair HX650W would do it perfectly.

 

[killerhurts]

I'd trade the powersupply out for something like OCZ 600W modxstream.(modular) or a OCZ stealthxtreme(non modular). I'd also trade out the motherboard for something cheaper and instead spend the extra money on the the CPU and do away with the luck factor. You may want to trade the storm scout for a Antec 900. The antec 900 includes 3 120MM Blue LED fans and a HUGE 200M top fan. You'll loose the ability to adjust your lighting though. You'll gain better airflow and you get removable harddrive bays, so you can position them and the fans anywhere in the front of the case that you want.

 

[TwinEgo]

From what I have read though about the coolermaster 700w silentpro PSU, its supposedly excellent, outperforming OCZ for efficiency, just not corsair and alike. Also is the Antec 900 case tool free? Thats one thing I liked about the scout is that the HDD bays etc use a lock and load mechanism that is supposed to be excellent.

Also as for cheaper motherboards, there isn't anything that is cheaper that offers x8/x8 dual mode, they are all x16 in one lane and x4 in the other, meaning x4 dual mode which would cripple my second 5850. I see what you're saying but I can't find a cheaper x8 crossfire mobo, unless you know of one? Also what are the Antec 300 cases like for air flow?

 

[Silvune]

I can't find them now, but I remember reading that the Coolermaster Silent Pro series had voltage drops when powering the equivalent of two graphics cards, it wasn't a catastrophic drop, but if you could get a better power supply instead it would be what I would advise. However the review that I can find for it: http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/power_supply/cooler_master_silent_pro_700w_modular_psu/1 Says that the voltage starts off very high and comes down to an acceptable level when it is loaded with two cards. It's possible that when I read this months ago I misinterpreted it.

I think you are right about the motherboard.