AM3 Newbuild

[PureAlpha]

Hi,
I'm about to buy the components for my first build. It will be mainly used for movies and gaming, running two 1920 x 1080 monitors.

Here is the current spec:

CPU - AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition 3.2GHz 8MB (Socket AM3) £160.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-244-AM

MOBO - Asus M4A78T-E AMD 790GX (Socket AM3) £98.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-335-AS

GPU - XFX 4890 XT 1GB £140.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-126-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=

RAM - OCZ Gold 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1333MHz £62.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-151-OC

PSU - Corsair TX 650W ATX SLi Compliant Power Supply £71.98
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-014-CS

HDD - Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB (OEM) £59.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-053-SA

OPTICAL - LG GGC-H20L Lightscribe SATA BD-R HDDVD-R DVD-RW £79.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CD-074-LG

WIRELESS PCI CARD - Linksys WMP54G 54Mbps £22.99 (chosen this over cheaper models as has been proven to be compatible with W7 64bit)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=NW-003-LS

CASE - Antec 900 Ultimate (No PSU) £79.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-065-AN

TOTAL COST - £778.90

My questions are:

1) Are all the components compatible with each other, and with W7 64 bit?

2) If I am to overclock do I need to buy a CPU cooler?

3) Can you recommend any improvements / are there things missing (bar monitors / mouse / keyboard)?

Any help hugely appreciated ... trying to avoid as many mistakes as possible on my first build

 

[mollymoo]

If your going to oc then yes you would most likely need a good cpu cooler............. imo and its just me I would go for the asus board but thats based purely on the fact I've heard lots of good things about them and nothing at all about the sapphire ones .............. once again me personally would go for a slightly higher rated psu than the one you've chosen maybe 600 plus otherwise looks like a nice machine

 

[siumatfung]

PSU to CORSAIR 650W extra 3£

ANTEC 902 case extra 10£

i would choose a gigabyte UD board tbh

 

[DELETED_83755]

I'm hoping to build a similar but lower end first build!

Specs look good to me as a noob, only thing is the AM3 motherboard can only take dual channel DDR3 RAM. The triple channel RAM currently is only for Intel I7's.

Well thats all I know!

 

[PureAlpha]

Thanks! I added the Corsair 650W and provisionally the Asus mobo. I suppose the Gigabyte alternative is this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-168-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1377

I'll research the two of them now.

Is the Antec 902 worth the extra £15 over the 900 for the LED on the top fan and washable air filters? And I'm assuming it's big enough for the kit?!?

 

[PureAlpha]

I'm hoping to build a similar but lower end first build!

Specs look good to me as a noob, only thing is the AM3 motherboard can only take dual channel DDR3 RAM. The triple channel RAM currently is only for Intel I7's.

Well thats all I know!

Oh - thanks for that! An oversight on my part (as you can guess I'm a noob too) - maybe I can find a dual channel solution a bit cheaper.

Good luck with your build.

 

[PureAlpha]

Lol. Does anyone know if the Triple Channel DDR3 will work on a Dual Channel DDR3 AM3 board? I've searched online and at the Asus item page and can't find a definitive answer. Many forums seem to have conflicting opinions so atm I'm none the wiser...

NM - I found the answer. Silly me.