About to order...

[Fraservet]

OK, I have more or less decided on my new system - budget £750.
Ideally I want it to be fairly upgradeable, so I can get away with just replacing the odd bit over the next couple of years.
I have got a couple of slight niggles about some of the bits, so...


Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GT OC 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) -

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775)

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.00GHz (1333FSB) - Retail

Asus P5K Pro Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard

Asus DRW-2014L1T 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Reaper HPC Enhanced Bandwidth
Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPR800C44GK)

Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ)

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk

Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)

I am also keeping 2x74gb raptors from my existing setup and my antec p160

OK, so my options are - replace the corsair 620w with the 520w version - I'm unlikely to ever be running 2 graphics cards, but I don't want to not have enough power if I upgrade my card in a couple of years. Saving about £15

and

get the BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) instead of the gt, for an extra £25 - is it worth it?


so 520w + GTS or 620w + GT???

 

[Fraservet]

the cpu is hopefully going to be in stock next week? unless they are expecting a shortage.

I have a dell2001fp - 1600x1200, and I would like to be able to turn aa etc. on for a change.

The Tuniq Tower looks good, but is it necessary if I'm not overclocking - I know it's only £10 more, but still.

I may well go for the 520w psu - i am unlikely to ever run 2 graphics cards, and it seems like power consumption is improving anyway

 

[Fraservet]

is the standard cooler that comes with the cpu ok?
it's been a few years since I built a system, but they always used to be noisy and not very good at cooling.
if i do use the stock one, do they still come with a thermal paste pad on them, and is it good enough or do you have to take it off and put some arctic silver on like in the old days?

If I can save on a cooler, and get the 520w psu, then I will be able to get the gts card instead.

 

[Fraservet]

ok thanks

will go for the gts, 520w psu and stock cooler.
should come in at pretty much spot on £750

so is the thermal pad good enough, or should I replace it with AS?