First Build: Spec Check/Advice please

Qel · 12 Apr 2008 at 00:38

Hi,
Looking to do my first build in the next couple of weeks, this is what I've just put together quickly on the site:

Asus P5E Intel X38 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £119.99
(£140.99)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £121.99
(£143.34)
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB) £57.99
(£68.14)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £144.99
(£170.36)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (ST3500320AS) £53.99
(£63.44)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Sound Card - Retail £47.99
(£56.39)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £74.99
(£88.11)
Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Gun Metal Black) £78.99
(£92.81)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-01939) £59.99
(£70.49)

Comes to around £929.25

Budget would be £1000 max, this would mostly be for games but also some general use and would be playing on a 19" monitor for now and won't be overclocking,
will just be glad to build and have it run nicely

Basically is the above any good? will it work together etc. Any suggestions on things to change?

Thanks in advance.

steve258 · 12 Apr 2008 at 00:43

Looks good. But a decent P35 mobo can do the job just as good unless you want to go crossfire in the future?

If you're gaming on 19" and have no plan to upgrade your monitor in the near future a 8800GT is sufficient for quite a bit less.

Qel · 12 Apr 2008 at 07:49

PCI-E 2.0 not something to bother with then? e.g. new/future cards don't need it and will run on 1.0?

If yes, would this be a decent p35 board?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-086-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913
or this?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-266-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=913

or this, has pci-e 2 but £40ish less than the x38
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-265-AS&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1057

or any recommendations?

Thanks.

steve258 · 12 Apr 2008 at 20:22

nope AFAIK PCI-E 2.0 makes very little difference to current generation cards.

I'm a ASUS guy so personally would go for the P5K-pro but the gigabyte is just as good, although I'd just go for the DDR2 only DS3R - when DDR3 becomes popular standard you'd have changed mobo anyway for next gen chips.

And no I'd avoid the 750i like plague.