Narrowing Down On 1st Build

fredmeister · 18 Oct 2008 at 14:20

I'm starting to narrow down on my 1st build, but I need some advice on the missing components. My budget is about £700-800 inc vat. So far I have:

- Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.16GHz (1333FSB) - Retail // I hear that C2D is just as good for todays games.
- Gigabyte GA-EP45C-DS3R Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard
- G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PK PC2-8500C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK)
- Western Digital Scorpio Black 160GB 7200RPM SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (WD1600BEKT)

+ My overclocking needs are zero.
+ My HD drive might look small, but that is honestly all I need. I would rather have speed/quality than size
+ My gaming needs are pretty much run games like Armed Assault in full detail with no hassle at 1280*1024.
+ Cooling must be very very quiet. I do not like hearing a PC hum.
+ I can cannibalise a DVD drive, so i dont need a new one.

So here are my questions:

1. Everything in the above setup look ok to you? Like in terms of compatibility?
2. Which graphics card to you suggest?
3. Which cooling do you suggest?
4. Which other bits am I missing, like thermal paste.
5. Which case do you suggest?
6. I am clueless on PSU's. Please suggest.
7. Anything I missed?

celliott · 18 Oct 2008 at 14:23

Why use a 2.5" Laptop hard disk in a desktop system?

fobose · 18 Oct 2008 at 14:26

The hard drive....its a laptop drive.

beaten.

Flamers · 18 Oct 2008 at 14:38

I would go for just a ddr2 mobo, get about 600 watts, ocz, thermatake

Flamers

Oh go for 4870 or 4850

greywolf · 18 Oct 2008 at 14:40

This is what i would personally go with.

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 LGA775 'Wolfdale' 3.16GHz (1333FSB) - Retail
Asus P5Q-E Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
G.Skill 4GB DDR2 PK PC2-8500C5 (2x2GB) CAS5 Dual Channel Kit (F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK)
Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (ST3160815AS)
Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/LGA775)
Antec Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case

£729.57 + shipping,

You will also need to add an OS if you dont have one. Went for a different motherboard as that series of asus have proved to be good, not that the gigabyte is bad. The noctua cpu cooler is quite expensive at around £43 although is quite quiet. Also you will need to add case fans, the Sharkoon Silent Eagle 1000 fans are quiet as you stated that as a requirement.

celliott · 18 Oct 2008 at 14:45

For the sake of a few quid get a 250GB Samsung Drive. Double the cache + quieter than the seagate

Looks good otherwise

fredmeister · 19 Oct 2008 at 13:07

With your comments, i've amended the build to this...

Any comments?

ichigotowar · 19 Oct 2008 at 13:15

you already have an os?

fredmeister · 19 Oct 2008 at 13:39

Yes, I have an XP CD from my Dell Dimension.

ichigotowar · 19 Oct 2008 at 14:58

it might be a personal opinion, i would go with a q6600, just because its a quadcore and its cheaper

celliott · 19 Oct 2008 at 16:25

fredmeister said:
Yes, I have an XP CD from my Dell Dimension.

You'll need a new copy as that will be OEM and won't activate on your new PC.