2 Rigs - Which one would you choose?

[Explicit]

First and foremost, hello to everyone here at Overclockers

I am still shamelessly on an AMD Socket A processor, so it's time for a new rig! I only need the following components: CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Graphics Card, 250GB HDD, PSU, CPU Cooler (£1000 inclusive of VAT)

I have come up with two systems, but can't decide between the two:

Rig 1 - Multitasking Machine

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA4400CDBOX) (CP-127-AM)
£340.69
Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLi Premium nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-111-AS)
£123.32
RAM: OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC) [@2-3-2-5]
£170.32
PSU: Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-002-SS)
£103.34
Graphics Card: PowerColor ATI Radeon X850 XT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-037-PC)
£152.69
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£75.49
CPU Cooling:
ThermalRight SI-120 (Socket 754/939/478) Heatsink (HS-023-TR)
£31.69
Akasa AK-183-L2B Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin (FG-024-AK)
£10.52
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) (AC-000-AC)
£6.46

Total: £1014.50


OR


Rig 2 - Gaming Machine

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
£217.32
Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLi Premium nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-111-AS)
£123.32
RAM: OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series EL-DDR CAS2 (OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K) (MY-057-OC) [@2-3-2-5]
£170.32
PSU: Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-002-SS)
£103.34
Graphics Card: BFG GeForce 7800 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-010-BG)
£240.82
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)
£75.49
CPU Cooling:
ThermalRight SI-120 (Socket 754/939/478) Heatsink (HS-023-TR)
£31.69
Akasa AK-183-L2B Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin (FG-024-AK)
£10.52
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) (AC-000-AC)
£6.46

Total: £989.21

I tend not to game heavily during university semesters, but I do during the summer. I don't multitask (Ha! On an Athlon XP? No chance ) but I am willing to do so on a dual core processor. The other activities include the usual: browsing, emails, MS Office, music, image editing etc.

So, which one would you recommend? Furthermore, are there any changes you would make to the above systems? Alternatively, what can you come up with for £1000?

Regards,

Explicit


P.S. to be purchased at the end of this month/early next month!

 

[Explicit]

Thanks for the suggestions.

How well does the GeIL value RAM overclock?

Interesting to see how Eliminos & BigDom mixed the two specs together i.e. dual core + good graphics card, but 160gb HDD is too small for me. I'll need about 250

Why spend a whole £120 more on getting a 4400 though? Its only 200MHz more and you can get probably 250/300MHz more just out of stock cooling.

It's not the clock speed I'm worried about, it's the 1mb x2 cache Just thought it would be handy.

 

[Explicit]

Hmm, valid points
An x1900xt would be a dream card for me, but they're almost £400

So, I should sacrifice RAM and CPU for graphics?

 

[Explicit]

Rig 2 updated, is that any better?

 

[Explicit]

That's almost perfect. I would however suggest a Thermaltake Big Typhoon over your SI-120 + Akasa fan combo. Its a better cooler by a way. The hard drive is a nice drive but you have a choice. Reliability: go with your current one, speed: go with a hitachi t7k250 250gb. The PSU is fine, although it would bug me because of the amount of cables. You could think of getting modular and if so its £91 for a Tagan 580W Easycon.

I heard the Big Typhoons are a real pain to fit, but offer good cooling. Certainly cheaper than the 40 odd quid for the SI + Akasa combo. Anyone got a comparison between the two?

The seasonics are meant to be really quiet, which is why I chose that one. It also came second in the stress test conducted at tomshardware:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/11/stress_test/page30.html

And HDD, reliability is basically what I need

 

[Explicit]

I'm going to google some reviews for that typhoon

thanks for your help!