My First Build - £1000 Core2 System

[sitalchauhan]

I am planning to order all of the following components, which all total to just under £1000 as I can get a discount. I have already got a monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc, so it is basically just the base unit.
I am planning to build a system that is virtually silent, stunning to look at, while yet very powerful.
As my budget is £1000, if you have any recommendations, please consider that to upgrade any component to a more expensive, I must downgrade/remove another.

Many thanks for any opinions and recommendations


Thermaltake Tsunami Dream Black
Asus P5W DH Deluxe WiFi
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Retail
Zalman CNPS9500-LED
OCZ GameXStream 700w
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA-II
HIS ATI Radeon X1900 XT ICEQ3 512MB
NEC ND4571 DVD±RW LabelFlash (Black)
Pioneer DVR-111BK DVD±RW (Black)
3.5" Floppy Drive Black
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
ArctiClean 60ml Kit
2x Scythe S-FLEX 1200RPM Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan
AcoustiFan C-Series Ultra Quiet 92mm Fan
Akasa Rounded Floppy UV DAY-GLO Cable (0.45m) Blue
Akasa Serial ATA 45cm DAYGLO Blue Data Cable
Akasa Rounded Ultra ATA133/100/66 IDE UV DAY-GLO Cable (0.45m) - Blue
Akasa Dual Blue Cold Cathodes
Akasa Dual UV Cold Cathodes

 

[Posty]

You can save a few pennies on the fans, Akasa Ambers are very nice case fans in both performance and looks
700w is abit overkill for that system , systems that require that much have dual graphics multiple hardrives cd drives etc. a high 400's -500w PSu would be fine and save you abit of cash
with those few extra pounds saved you could think about getting a OEM version of the e6300 and get a decent cooler and overclock to get the most performance out of your chip + RAM

 

[sitalchauhan]

Thanks for the reply. I considered the akasa ambers, but unfortunately akasa's listed specifications seem to be quite a bit out. In many reviews, they have shown to be quite a bit louder than the rated 18dB (more like around low 30's). That put me off them slightly, and made me wonder about their lifetime and air flow ratings aswel...

I am planning to buy another graphics card soon so that I can go crossfire, hence the 700W psu and the crossfire motherboard. I wouldnt want to get a 500w psu now and then have to replace it again when I get a second gfx card...

You said that by saving, I could get a "decent cooler". I presume you mean getting a sythe ninja with a good fan. I thought the cooling difference between the 9500 and the ninja was only marginal? Would it really make that much difference?

 

[hp7909]

{snip}700w is abit overkill for that system , systems that require that much have dual graphics multiple hardrives cd drives etc. a high 400's -500w PSu would be fine and save you abit of cash{snip}

With the Cathodes, might as well go 700Ws.

Get the OEM E6300 & the £23.44 ( WTF, was £17 just the other day ) Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR), see here why.

Rest looks good/compatible