my (hopefully) under £700 new social life!

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Hi, I'm looking to spend around £700 on a new pc, including a new monitor and a case. I don't really have a clue what I'm doing but after reading some of the stickied malarky I've thrown together some pieces that I liked the sound of. Being a bit dim however, I haven't a clue if these things are what's best either in terms of value for money or if they are even compatible.
My main requirement is that it's a good games machine, and that hopefully it'll still be able to play new games in a couple of years or so at a decent fps/resolution.

Ok so this is what I was thinking of...

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.33GHz (1333FSB) - (£111.61)
BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC 320MB GDDR3 - (182.11)
Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - (£96.34)
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-8500 1066MHz SLI-Ready Edition Dual Channel DDR2 - (111.61)
Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU - (£70.49)
i don't have a clue what to use for a motherboard nor monitor


I'm concerned the graphics card and RAM are a little modest, but I was thinking that these are easily upgradeable in the future (by easy I mean I can add to them rather than replace them altogether) so aslong as they're going to be able to handle games over the next year I don't mind forking out for another 2gb and the same card for sli down the road assuming the price will have dropped a lot by then.
The processor on the other hand is where I'm having a bit of a problem. Obviously I can't add to the processor in the same way, so I'm wondering if I should fork out for a quad now... is it worth it?
I went for a fairly basic case/PSU, mainly because I'm not too bothered about pc aesthetics other than what's being displayed on the screen. I'm not sure if 450W will be enough if I did stick another 2gb and another 3d card in there later on. Would it be able to handle that?

As I said above, I haven't a clue what to get for the motherboard/monitor, but if any suggestions could try and keep the whole system below £700 that would be excellent, thanks!
 
Motherboard...try the Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99

I would drop the raptor and go for say Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB. <or smalller to save a few quid.

Raptors are fast (and noisy) but your not going to see any difference.

Your ram is too high spec as well...all you need is say...

OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £51.99
(£61.09) £51.99 or
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit

You don't say in your post if you intend to overclock it.

2 Gig of ram is plenty in a 32 bit OS (that you haven't included)
For what you have listed above the PSU should be fine. It's when you start talking SLI or overclocks etc you may need more.

Slip the above in your budget, and see what you have left.
 
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Like has been said I'd recommend you go for lower spec RAM such as:
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C3 667MHz Dual Channel Kit
which is meant to be very overclockable, also if your RAM is running 1:1 then PC 5300 is all you need.

Do you really need a raptor? Other HDD's wont be much slower in normal usage and much better value for money in terms of £ ---> GB.
 
Don't skimp on PSU, i.e. 450W* is cutting to low for a 8000 series cards + any future upgrades. Also, think your spec will be over budget.

How about...



You don't need peripherals, OS, etc?

EDIT: *recommended for (single) GTS is 425W & GTX 475W :(
 
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OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C5 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £51.99
(£61.09)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £49.99
(£58.74)
Samsung SH-S203BEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£19.96)
Samsung SpinPoint T HD501LJ 500GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £53.99
(£63.44)
Antec Sonata III Piano Black Quiet Case - EarthWatts 500W PSU £60.99
(£71.66)
LG L204WT 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £139.99
(£164.49)
Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24)
Leadtek GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £151.99
(£178.59)
Sub Total : £595.92
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £12.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £106.55
Total : £715.42

Screen is out of stock right now but I think it's worth a wait to get an 8800, 500GB HD (faster than the raptor too, in some cases). The spec you done only left around £120 for both a monitor and motherboard which really isn't enough unless you want to be using an old CRT.

With this combo the ram and motherboard are fine for getting the CPU to 3.6ghz, as long as your cooling is up to it.
 
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