Help with choice of parts for gaming build

[sirlemonhead]

Hi guys, little help if you wouldn't mind

I'm currently using a socket 939 machine with an Ati 1800XT so I think it's time for an upgrade. I've been mostly using my xbox for gaming the last few years so i'm totally out of the loop on whats what hardware wise. I want to upgrade because I'm doing a lot of programming stuff so i'd like to reduce compile times, plus play some games again on the pc such as CS:Source as well as Rage when it comes out.

I threw this build together and i'd appreciate some suggestions on whether there's any item that'd be worth upgrading or downgrading, or better alternatives

I'm quite set on an Ati card over the Nvidias, but i'm wonder if the one i've selected is overkill or not. I actually use a 1280x1024 17 inch screen as my main monitor but I also have a 1920x1080 screen I *could* start using for pc gaming. I don't need my graphics to be utterly stunning but i'd like something that'll give me a great framerate on the latest games for the year or so. I was never one for piling on AA and AF..

Overclocking potential would be good - could I squeeze much extra overclock from the cpu with this configuration? Would I get similar overclocks from a lower speed processor than the current one?

Is the ram speed higher than it needs to be (does it matter considering how cheap it is..should I get better?)

I'll be putting the above items on that 850 watt psu, plus a soundblaster xfi, and I also have around 3 internal hard drives i'd like to also add.

Is the blu ray drive decent and reliable? I just want something to let me watch my blu ray movies on the pc. I don't want a writer.

Appreciate any tips

 

[RJC]

Looking ok, you could look at the motherboard below:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-368-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1990

Link to review:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z68xp-ud3-dz68db,2980-19.html

 

[Jony27]

you could save money and get the 650w

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-041-OP&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1489

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-043-OP&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1489

as you wont be needing 850w unless your sli'ng GTX580s.

you mentioned you'll be doing a lot of programming, so maybe an i7 2600k would be a better option.

with the money saved from the case/psu bundle, and this graphics card
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

you could get an i7 2600k
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-358-IN&groupid=701&catid=6&subcat=1859

 

[SheepBeast]

definitely go with the 650W PSU, that'll be more than enough unless you're planning a serious overclock as well as SLI/crossfire.

the graphics card is possibly overkill at 1280x1024. i'd suggest either using you 1080p monitor, or saving some money and getting a slightly worse graphics card.

the rest of the components look pretty solid. the case is awesome

 

[fowler002]

if you can stretch your budget by ~£100 maybe an idea to go with this and this

2nd 6950 in the future would make use of the 850w psu, going with 650w bundle means the CPU cooler isn't as good either.

johny27 do the programming software make use of hyper threading?

 

[sirlemonhead]

Hmm yeah I don't think SLI is something i'd ever bother with, so dropping the PSU wattage would be a good idea depending on how worse that cooler is.

From what I can see, the i5 isn't all that different from the i7 for gaming, and I won't be compiling projects in visual studio big enough to really notice a worthwhile performance difference between the two (I think)

What are the differences between all those Asrock boards apart from fancier better quality capacitors? anything that really matters?

Thanks guys

 

[fowler002]

the extreme4 gen3 has the pci-e 3.0 which makes it future proof, you pop in the ivy bridge and a pci-e 3.0 graphice card without needing to upgrade the motherboard(need to upgrade to ivy bridge from sandy bridge or the pci-e 3.0 wouldn't take effect, just normal 2.0).

the ram is now £49.99, still £10 more than it was 26th-28th aug.

 

[sirlemonhead]

Any suggestions for what would be better ram? I sorta just picked an 8 gig pair at random..