Could use a little advice on a new system build.

[Xenteko]

Hello all!
I've been lurking on these forums, reading guides and opinions for quite awhile now and I think it's finally time to get myself a new PC. The old one is horribly outdated (single core AMD) and I've been missing PC gaming badly!
I will mainly be using it for gaming, but ideally I'd like a nice system that's capable all around for stuff like watching HD video, encoding and whatever else I may need it for in the next 3-4 years reasonably.

Anyway, here is what I came up with after long deliberation and I'd really appreciate some advice on any possible changes. The budget is around £1500-1600.

The main things I'm unsure about are whether it's worth investing on a 1000w PSU for any future changes I might make, such as Crossfire, sound card, drive bay devices, etc. Another is the possibility of a 2x Raptor RAID0 setup, as I've really no idea how much of a difference this would make. Finally, whether or not it's worth trying to overclock myself, given that I have never even attempted it before.


I look forward to your sage advice

 

[95thrifles]

Do you need ultimate edition windows? most dont
850W is more than enough, even allowing for future xfire
You could buy the mobo etc separate and save a bit of money, OCing yourself is quite easy
You could also look at getting a SSD for OS/apps and an additional SATA for storage, better solution than raptors imo

 

[Xenteko]

I've been thinking and looking around and you're right about not bothering with Win7 Ultimate and the Raptor. The performance differences I saw on benchmarking tests weren't enough to justify it instead of a single 500GB Caviar Black drive. I could even get two and use a RAID0 for £40 less. Though it's probably not worth it. I think I'll hold out on an SSD drive until the technology becomes a bit more established and less expensive.

I tweaked the list a bit, but I still think I'd rather pay for people who know what they are doing to OC for me. I can understand about wanting to do it yourself however. The problem is I really have no idea how difficult it really is. For the sake of £60 I think I'd rather save myself the stress.

Anyway, here it is:

Ohh, and thanks for answering my query about the PSU.