My shopping list... what do you think?

[Brook]

I've decided to go for the following set-up... what do you guys think?

(Rig to be used mainly for photoshop work)

*ASUS P5B DLX/WIFI

*Corsair 1GB DDR2-6400 128Mx64 non-ECC 240 DIMM unbuffered 5-5-5-12

*Sapphire ATI Radeon X1650 Pro 256MB GDDR3 Dual DVI-I PCI-E

*Western Digital WD2500KS Caviar SE 250GB 7200RPM SATA2/300 16MB

*Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86ghz

*Shinobi Mid Tower Case - Silver Mesh Front Panel - With 500W PSU

Total cost is around: £503 including delivery.

I thought I could add more ram when needed and perhaps upgrade cpu next year or the year after (OC the 6300 for the time being tho).

I'm in no real rush tbh and am tempted to wait a bit as I find prices normally drop February ish time (?)

 

[1337z0r]

I would wait and get 2GB of ram to start off with. Will save you having to overclock youe E6300 and you will have matched sticks . X1650 is a under performer really from what i hear. I would get a 7600GT with a passive cooler meaning it has no fan on it . Make sure the PSU is up the the job. I would recomend the Enermax 400W PSU and it should be in your price rang as i think its £40. Everything else should be fine . You could go for the Gigabyte DS3 which i think is better and cheaper than the Asus. I have a DQ6 and im happy with it .

Hope this helped.

 

[Trigger]

Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU £66.99
(£78.71) £66.99
(£78.71) Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £93.99
(£110.44) £93.99
(£110.44) Leadtek GeForce 7600 GS SILENT 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £59.99
(£70.49) £59.99
(£70.49) Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £84.99
(£99.86) £84.99
(£99.86) Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB ST3320620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £56.99
(£66.96) £56.99
(£66.96) OcUK 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400 800MHz DDR2 Dual Channel Kit £124.99
(£146.86) £124.99
(£146.

Total : £585.02 (Inc VAT and Delivery)

EDIT: Just realised I've forgotten the cooler so add this on: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) for 16.99

Right, IMO for just under £100 more that is much better and should overclock well- the RAM might hold you back a little bit but you should get near E6600 levels. As said above, the 7600 will be better than the X1650 and the one I've specced is cooled passivley which means less noise. Segate hard drives are top notch at the minute and you get a nicer case and decent 450W Antec PSU

 

[Brook]

Thanks Both

I agree it would be a good idea to get 2 sticks at the same time... just didn't wan't to go with a 'cheap' brand... so thought one corsair would be better than 2 cheaper sticks untill I can get another gig.. What do you think? better to go with 2gig of a cheaper brand?

I'm not too sure about the DS3, it seems a lot of people have trouble with them, but yes, they are excellent value for the price.

The P5B seems to be the board of choice for xtreme overclockers, going by the various websites I have been checking out. Plus I have an asus at present and it has been totally solid *touch wood*. I am now even thinking about the Asus Commando, which is coming out in Jan, and it's meant to be even better than the P5B but will be around £160!!! Good thing is the P5B dlx is bound to drop in price when the commando comes out.

So at the mo.... still leaning towards the P5B for overal stability, compatibility and overclockability-ness

But... I have decided to spend a little more! So will try and go for 2 corsair sticks and the better case + Cooling (although I did like the look of the silver shinobi).

Does anyone know if the overcloackers e-shop price matches the other e-tailers? I would prefer to buy from a 'small' company if poss, but can't afford to if they are more expensive... (I could however help them get peoples rig info show in their sigs as seen on another oc forum.. great feature I think )