My first build - recommendations please

JoshBrowne · 14 Jul 2010 at 22:48

This is the key-parts list I've gone for, but if anyone has had bad experiences with the listed components, or especially good experiences with similarly priced parts, I'd be grateful if you could leave a reply to this post.

i7 920 D0 stepping OEM
Asus P6X58D-E Motherboard
Corsair Dominator GT 1600Mhz (3x2gb)
Asus ATI HD 5850
Zalman copper cpu air cooler - (the one with the blue LED)
NZXT Tempest Evo Mid Tower
WD Black Caviar 1TB 64mb cash / 6g/bit SATA3
OCZ 700W Mod XStream Pro PSU - 2x PCI-E 6x SATA

stulid · 14 Jul 2010 at 22:59

cheaper motherboard, www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-235-GI&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=1692

and a samsung F3 harddrive, not the slower ecogreen version.

xBLiNG · 14 Jul 2010 at 23:10

Go with the mobo that stulid suggested.

Get this RAM as there isn't much need for the Corsair Dominator stuff, the heat spreaders tend to just get in the way.

Get a better heatsink, such as the Titan Fenrir.

I would get a different case personally, the Coolermaster CM-690 II is good.

Also get this HDD as it is a brilliant price, failing that then the Samsung Spinpoint F3 that stulid said to get.

JoshBrowne · 14 Jul 2010 at 23:46

Thanks for everyone's responses so far - really appreciated. I want this computer to last, so I want to get it right - keep it coming! Thanks again!

shadow_boxer · 15 Jul 2010 at 00:10

JoshBrowne said:
Thanks for everyone's responses so far - really appreciated. I want this computer to last, so I want to get it right - keep it coming! Thanks again!

Hmm, wanting it to last. How urgently do you require this pc. We all want things to.last, but imo if were in your shoes and there was no rush to get it I'd think about waiting for Intels Sandy Bridge range, ie the replacement for i3, i5 and i7. If on the other hand you want an i7 now, go for it, overclock it to 4 ghz, and you'll have a excellent system for a year then upgrade to newer ATI 6000 series.

CM 690 case is good, very sturdy and nice size. Will take larger cards no problem. +1 Titan fennir too, beware its massive tho! does fit into my cm690 just about however.

xBLiNG · 15 Jul 2010 at 00:22

shadow_boxer said:
Hmm, wanting it to last. How urgently do you require this pc. We all want things to.last, but imo if were in your shoes and there was no rush to get it I'd think about waiting for Intels Sandy Bridge range, ie the replacement for i3, i5 and i7. If on the other hand you want an i7 now, go for it, overclock it to 4 ghz, and you'll have a excellent system for a year then upgrade to newer ATI 6000 series.

I'm sure sandy bridge will be good, but personally not worth waiting for, an i7 at 4GHz is currently overkill for most things so should last for a good while.

When the first SB chips are released they will be quite expensive too, as I would assume they will start off with the Extreme Edition CPUs to start.

So personally I would get the 920 now, overclock it and then if more power is needed a few years down the line then pick up an old S1366 6 core chip and just drop that in.

JoshBrowne · 15 Jul 2010 at 03:09

Thanks for your advice. I'm not really fussed about how fast it will be outdated - if I wait for the new processor, by that time I'll have something else to wait for anyway - I'd simply like to make sure I get the very best parts I can within my £1250 - I know this generation of pc will keep me satisfied for a long time - been using my q6600 for the past 4 years now - I just don't want to end up buying a mobo that hasn't had a single unit not explode or something horrific like that

But like I said I'm really grateful for the response so far so if there are any more ideas anyone wants to throw my way, please do.

PS - I checked out the Titan CPU cooler! Looks awesome. Going to try and find the article for which it won an award!