Check on new PC bits please.

[mark_t50]

Hi,

Really sorry to do yet another spec me type thread, but it's been ages since I did a full upgrade and want to make sure I get it right. I'm going to be using the following bits from my existing system: 8800 GTX, Xfi Fatal1ty, 650w Corsair PSU, 2x74gb WD Raptors, Floppy drive. Then looking to buy the following:

Asus Striker Extreme nForce 680 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £159.99
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £136.99
2 x Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065) £64.99
2 x Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKS) £55.99
Sony NEC Optiarc DDU1615S 16x SATA DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £10.99
Pioneer DVR-212BK 18x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66R-00838) £101.99
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (E85-04026) £75.99
Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black) £74.99

Can anyone spot any big problems with the stuff I'm thinking of ordering (I don't want to do anything silly like buy memory that isn't compatible etc).

Any advice gratefully received

Cheers.

 

[Wiggins]

Why the 2 Operating Systems?

I'm assuming you want to dual boot with them but if your having 2 WD 500GB Hard Drives then why not take advantage of the RAID on the motherboard and install Vista only.

Get Vista Premium also as the Ultimate is a bigger memory hog than the rest and unless you have several other pc's networked up then its not worth the time.

Even though the Asus Striker Extreme is a daddy of a motherboard, unfortunately it will only take DDR2 memory up to 800Mhz so have a look at maybe getting the 2GB Corsair DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 memory. Asus boards have always done well with Corsair memory and overclocking capabilities of the Corsair memory is very good.

Here is the spec. I have not included XP Pro and have changed the Hard Drives to the Hitachi Deskstars. I have one of these and they rock. You also chose 2 beige optical drives to go with a gun metal black case

 

[mark_t50]

Thanks for the reply,

Yeah I'm going to be dual booting, I'm planning on puting in 2x74gb Raptors as a RAID 0 and installing Vista on it, then the 2x500GB drives as a second RAID 0 and install XP on that and using it as a datastore. I'm basically wanting to install XP for any games that are either not compatible with Vista, or that currently don't run as well under Vista.

Thanks for the tip on the motherboard/memory side of things, not sure whether to maybe look for a different motherboard now, or change the memory like you say.

Hmmm decisions, decisions.

Cheers.

 

[Wiggins]

You could maybe go for one of the Asus P35 boards instead. Especially if its more RAID than SLI your looking to go for.

Maybe the Asus P5K WS Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard. These are good workhorses and give you a wider scope for RAID also. Plus you can still get the DDR2 1066mhz RAM then.

 

[mark_t50]

Thanks for the help, glad you mentioned about the motherboard/memory thing, just put my order in for the following

Asus P5K WS Intel P35 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard 1 £119.99
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail 1 £136.99
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Dual Channel Kit (BL2KIT12864AA1065) 2 £129.98
Samsung SpinPoint T 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD501LJ) 2 £113.98
Zalman CNPS9500-AT CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) 1 £29.99
Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black) 1 £74.99
Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7191S 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM 2 £35.98
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66R-00838) 1 £101.99
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition inc. SP2 - OEM - 1Pk (E85-04026) 1 £75.99
Western Digital Scorpio 250GB 5400RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (WD2500BEVS) 1 £66.99 (For use in a PS3).
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 - Retail 1 £19.99
Compad CounterStrike Pro Mouse Mat 1 £9.99
Sony Floppy Drive - Black 1 £4.99

Just got the joys of building it all when it comes now.