Have I made the right choices ?

[OutpostCommand]

Hi. Building a PC for the first time (was a Mac user for many, many years), and I would just like to know if im using the right components.

First things first though - here is the list of stuff im planning to get my local PC shop to order and assemble for me.

Monitor: 22" Samsung 223BW (good choice ?)

Processor: Q6600

GPU: EVGA 8800GTS 620MB KO ACS3 (I realise that the extra 320MB is seldom useful, however, I changed my mind after reading FiringSquads World In Conflict beta review, and the extra 320MB of VRAM came in ultra-useful (http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/world_in_conflict_beta_performance/page5.asp))

RAM: Could someone recommend me some ? Ive been eyeing the Crucial Dominator 800MHz 4-4-4-12, but could someone offer me advice in this area ? Should I go with the Dominators ?

Mainboard: Abit IP35 Pro (is this a good choice ? Excellent reviews have made me heavily consider this board)

HDD: Western Digital 500GB 300MB/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM

Soundcard: A area of difficultly for me actually. I originally intended to get the X-Fi Fatali1ty, but then realised that not only is the number of games which support the XRAM small, but also since Ive got a Quad Core processor, the performance advantage is will be negligable. So, I thought of getting the vanilla X-Fi Xtreme Gamer, which had excellent reviews.
THEN, I noticed Razer had a counter part (Barracuda AC-1) which had excellent OCUK user reviews, but was really damn expensive. Looking deeper into this card, reviewers have had mixed feelings.
Looking further for a card brought me to 3 others - the ASUS Xonar, Azuntech X-Fi prelude and the Azuntech X-Meridian.
I have no idea which to pick - all seem excellent. All I want is the best sound for gaming. Could someone tell me which would fit my needs best ?

Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-112DBK (is this a good choice ?)

Case: Antec 182 Special Edition (Ooooh, shiny ! It also seems to be a good choice for a quiet and cool PC (upto 4 120mm fans)

PSU: Corsair HX 620W (good choice ? I know the PSU itself has recieved brilliant reviews, but im not sure if 620W is enough for me. Is 620W enough ? And if it is, how much leg-room do I have)

Extra cooling: Another area of difficulty for me. Aid would be appreciated. Im looking for something which will keep my system as cool as possible without it sound like a aircraft taking off. I dont mind a bit of noise, but I dont want a lot other. Thankfully, the case depletes a lot of unwanted sound.

Sound system: I like the idea of getting a headset, but I want no compromise in sound. While im not a audiophile (regardless of the fact I paid £200 for my earphones ), I do appreciate good sound. Could someone recommend me a excellent headset for gaming ? (excellent sound quality + a mic to go with top quality sound card).

There headsets ive been eyeing:
Razer Barracuda HP-1, Raptor-Gaming H1 (Albeit in concerned by the USB sound card 'freebie' - usually when stuff like that is given away, its to compensate for something), and the Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset.
Ive also heard good things about the Sennheisers, but havent looked into them. Could someone recommend me a headset for my needs ?


Keyboard: Raptor-Gaming K1 (is this a good choice ? Ive heard this keyboard to be 'legendary')

Mouse: Yet another area of difficulty for me. Ive seen quite a few, but the three which have stood out to me at the Logitech G9, Raptor-Gaming M3, and the Razer 'DeathAdder'. Could any shed some light on which of these is better than the others ? And in the event of all of them sucking harder than a vaccum cleaner, which one could you recommend ?


If anyone could answer any combination of those questions, I would be ultra-thankful.

 

[BillytheImpaler]

I can't knowledgeably address all of your questions but I can address a few. The Sammy 22" is a fine choice, as is the Q6600. The GPU is just fine, 640 MiB memory will be useful in upcoming games at 1680x1050. The IP35 too is a fine choice. If you wanted to spend a bit more you could get an Asus P5K Deluxe. Both will do nicely. As for RAM you don't really need 800 Mhz since the quad's multiplier is relatively high. Unless you intend on lowering the latencies you might look for some C3 memory like Crucial Ballistix PC2-5300. Optical drives are all fairly similar. I'd get the cheapest SATA drive available since PATA cables are huge and nasty and the interface is on its way out. Definitely get an SATA drive. The Samsung SH-S203BEBN seems like a good choice. The WD drive is a good choice. The AAKS series is just about the fastest 7200 RPM drive you can get. I'm not particularly fond of that case but I'm sure you'll find it satisfactory. 620 W is overkill. Look at the Corsair 520 W model instead. It's a great PSU and will be more than sufficient. For a CPU heatsink consider the Thermalright Ultra-120 paired with a Scythe S-Flex 1600 RPM fan. It's just about the best combo you can get.

EDIT: Also, welcome to the forums. Read the FAQ and enjoy yourself.

 

[truebluecfc]

Processor: Q6600

Good choice, cant go wrong for how cheap they are.

GPU: EVGA 8800GTS 620MB KO ACS3 (I realise that the extra 320MB is seldom useful, however, I changed my mind after reading FiringSquads World In Conflict beta review, and the extra 320MB of VRAM came in ultra-useful (http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/world_in_conflict_beta_performance/page5.asp))

Good decision at 1680x1050 its totally worhit to get the 640MB version instead of the 320MB GTS.

RAM: Could someone recommend me some ? Ive been eyeing the Crucial Dominator 800MHz 4-4-4-12, but could someone offer me advice in this area ? Should I go with the Dominators ?

You dont really this fast or expensive RAM, any PC5300 RAM will do, i can highly recommend the Crucial Ballistix PC5300 RAM, will also clock to 1000+MHz! speeds.

Mainboard: Abit IP35 Pro (is this a good choice ? Excellent reviews have made me heavily consider this board)

Yep, excellent board as are all the P35 motherboards.

HDD: Western Digital 500GB 300MB/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM

Western Digitals AAKS Harddrivers are extremelly quick aswell as quiet, i cant hear mine at least.

Soundcard: A area of difficultly for me actually. I originally intended to get the X-Fi Fatali1ty, but then realised that not only is the number of games which support the XRAM small, but also since Ive got a Quad Core processor, the performance advantage is will be negligable. So, I thought of getting the vanilla X-Fi Xtreme Gamer, which had excellent reviews.
THEN, I noticed Razer had a counter part (Barracuda AC-1) which had excellent OCUK user reviews, but was really damn expensive. Looking deeper into this card, reviewers have had mixed feelings.
Looking further for a card brought me to 3 others - the ASUS Xonar, Azuntech X-Fi prelude and the Azuntech X-Meridian.
I have no idea which to pick - all seem excellent. All I want is the best sound for gaming. Could someone tell me which would fit my needs best ?

I recently deicided to buy a Soundcard and in the end I chose the X-Fi Sb XtremeMusic edition even though i wanted it for gaming dont be put off the the word "Music" in the name, its slightly cheaper and defiantly worth the look.

Case: Antec 182 Special Edition (Ooooh, shiny ! It also seems to be a good choice for a quiet and cool PC (upto 4 120mm fans)

Very nice case, excellent choice.

PSU: Corsair HX 620W (good choice ? I know the PSU itself has recieved brilliant reviews, but im not sure if 620W is enough for me. Is 620W enough ? And if it is, how much leg-room do I have)

Yep, the Corsairs are the most recommended PSU's around here, the 620W is more than enough, the 520W would still be enough for your system although if you want it for future proofing the 620W is a good option. I would have thought your have a lot of headroom for future upgrades,the 620W edition has been demonstrated to run Quad Core, SLI 8800 GTX's etc, also remember new things coming out are being designed to be more efficent using less power (Penryn and G92's for example).

Extra cooling: Another area of difficulty for me. Aid would be appreciated. Im looking for something which will keep my system as cool as possible without it sound like a aircraft taking off. I dont mind a bit of noise, but I dont want a lot other. Thankfully, the case depletes a lot of unwanted sound.

An aftermarket cpu cooler is a good choice, Noctua & the Tuniq Tower are both beefier enough to cool a Quad Core and highly rated. As for case fans you might not need any but Yate Loons are recommended a lot.

Keyboard: Raptor-Gaming K1 (is this a good choice ? Ive heard this keyboard to be 'legendary')

Mostly personal preference, Saitek Eclipse are my favs.

Mouse: Yet another area of difficulty for me. Ive seen quite a few, but the three which have stood out to me at the Logitech G9, Raptor-Gaming M3, and the Razer 'DeathAdder'. Could any shed some light on which of these is better than the others ? And in the event of all of them sucking harder than a vaccum cleaner, which one could you recommend ?

Again, all comes down to personal preference although the Razaer 'DeathAdder' is a popular favorite.

 

[buachille]

you thought of building it yourself. it is easy. i could not stick the hassle of having someone else build it and then having to go back to them to ask questions about what's what.

do it yourself, save money, and know exactly how your system works.

that is the advantage of using a pc over a mac. yes there are advantages the other way too i admit, but you might as well know what the benefits of pc's really are (in a nutshell - you're the boss).

 

[OutpostCommand]

I thank all dearly for the advice,
and thanks for the welcome too.


I will act upon the advice, and its too good to know that most of my choices were good choices.

I do have a question about the recommend 667MHz RAM though.
This RAM appears to be excellent for overclocking, but (ironically, judging by the site name ) im not much of a overclocker.
Perhaps in a few years, but currently, I dont think im ready for that kind of thing. So, even if I dont overclock, do you still recommend this RAM over the Dominators ? And if so, how large will the performance gap be ?

Oh, and 'buachille', the issue with that is that because im still very much new to the PC camp, I dont think im ready to build my own PC. In a few years perhaps though.

The only other question which now remains is now about which headset to choose.

Once again, I thank you all for such for such a comprehensive reply to most of my questions.

 

[truebluecfc]

I do have a question about the recommend 667MHz RAM though.
This RAM appears to be excellent for overclocking, but (ironically, judging by the site name ) im not much of a overclocker.
Perhaps in a few years, but currently, I dont think im ready for that kind of thing. So, even if I dont overclock, do you still recommend this RAM over the Dominators ? And if so, how large will the performance gap be ?

I'd still recommend it yeh, you wont notice any performance difference unless benchmarking really.

Also about overclocking, its a fairly simple process tbh especially since you're buying such a good overclocking cpu, motherboard and RAM. Have a read up on it, heres a good starting guide: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17612922.

 

[OutpostCommand]

I'd still recommend it yeh, you wont notice any performance difference unless benchmarking really.

Also about overclocking, its a fairly simple process tbh especially since you're buying such a good overclocking cpu, motherboard and RAM. Have a read up on it, heres a good starting guide: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17612922.

I see. Well, thank you.
As for overclocking,
well, perhaps you are right. I have heard of Q6600s being overclocked to ridiculous speeds like 3GHz, and the RAM going to up to stuff like 1066MHz.
Yes, you are right !
I will make this my first overclocking platform ever
Thanks for the link, I will be sure to give it a thorough read through.

 

[truebluecfc]

I see. Well, thank you.
As for overclocking,
well, perhaps you are right. I have heard of Q6600s being overclocked to ridiculous speeds like 3GHz, and the RAM going to up to stuff like 1066MHz.
Yes, you are right !
I will make this my first overclocking platform ever
Thanks for the link, I will be sure to give it a thorough read through.

Hehe good for you, any help or questions then dont hesitate in asking

Might want to be a decent cpu cooler, Tuniq Tower is highly rated