help, I'm out of touch!!

[tindale]

I know you guys can help, I've taken my eye off the ball, for a year or so, and now I've forgotten how to spec a good system.

I've decided to lie my Athlon 2800 Ideq SFF media centre machine to rest, and start again, this time with something which can play games on the lovely big LCD screen

So far, I've got an ATI 1950 Pro, and want some components to go with it, but I've no idea whether to go AMD or Intel, or where to start. The case isn't important to me, as long as it doesn't look hideous, and so far I've got:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £104.99
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C5 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit
£49.99
Antec NSK1300 ATX Cube Case - 300W PSU Antec NSK1300 ATX Cube Case - 300W PSU
£49.99
(Abit IP-95 Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £29.99
HDD and DVD drive are already sorted, and TV will be through USB.

Is this a balanced system? Should I go with AMD instead (I'll not be into serious overclocking, as I'd like it cool and quiet). And will 300 watts be enough?

thanks for the help, you've helped part me with my cash before, so please do it again,

 

[tindale]

thanks for the quick reply. I'm not really looking to spend much more than £350, beating mind that I've got the HDD, DVD and graphics card already (and yes, it is PCI-E).

Also, I'd rather go for m-atx than a shuttle style barebones, as at least that way I've got some flexibility.

Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[tindale]

thanks again. Time to go and see the bank manager (and scour the for sale forum) to see what we can afford....

 

[tindale]

Thanks for your help, I've plumped for:

Akasa Ultra Quiet 400W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.2 PSU - Black Nickel £34.99
Western Digital Caviar SE16 400GB 4000AAKS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £44.99
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £52.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.66GHz (1333FSB) - Retail £109.99
Lian-Li PC-V300 Aluminum Micro ATX Mini Tower Case - Black £67.99 Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £64.99

now to go and see who wants to go any buy some second hand stuff before the bill comes