New build, advice welcome.

[unde4d]

Hey,

I know your probably sick of seeing people posting like this, so I'll be short & sweet. I'm building a new system, any words of wisdom would be welcome. Here's what I've chosen:

CPU: £214.95
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN)

Mobo: £94.95
<edit>Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI)</edit>
<original choice: Abit AB9 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-106-AB)/>

RAM: £124.95
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) (MY-092-CS)

HD: £99.95
Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-087-WD)

Monitor: £359.95
Dell Ultrasharp 2007FP 20.1" Performance LCD Monitor - Midnight Grey (MO-010-DE)

PSU: £61.95
<edit>Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-008-TG)</edit>
<original choice: Enermax Liberty 500W ELT500AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-025-EN)/>
<note>Any1 know how "silent" this tagan is? I dont need a whisper quiet system, I just dont want to be conned by a Marketing Dept that thinks it's fine to tag the word silent on the packaging.</note>

Graphics: £140.00-£180.00
<edit>Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)</edit>
<original choice: undecided between a GeForce 7900GT or an X1800XT)/>

Case: £40.00-£60.00
Cooler Master Centurion 5 Black/Silver

<note> 320GB Harddrive, & DVD Drives from my current PC will be used in this system </note>

I'm open to all suggestions, nothing will be ordered until the end of the month.

 

[unde4d]

thanks for the speedy replies.

I dont have the cash for the 150GB Raptor, even the 74GB Raptor is a luxury. I should have mentioned, I'll be taking parts from my current PC into this new build. Apart from a DVD Burner I'll be re-using, I have a *Refurbished 320GB Sata 3.0 7200RPM Maxtor DiamondMax 10. I bought a "Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB SATA2" earlier this year, and it went bang. I sent the drive back to Maxtor, and they gave me this mysterious 320GB DiamondMax (i cant find details about a 320GB DiamondMax anywhere, I believe it's a Seagate wearing a Maxtor badge) anyway, it's been rock solid so far, and you can't complain about a 20GB bump

Thanks for advising against Abit. The Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 looks pretty tasty, i'll add this to the mix

Can anyone narrow down the choice of GFX? I wont be going for a multi GPU solution, so u can rule that out. I'll happily plump for a X1800, but can any1 recommend a brand?

The case I'm thinking of is a Cooler Master Centurion 5 Black/Silver (Without PSU). I'd like something sleek/stylish, with plenty of room, & I think the CM Centurion 5 is coming in at a nice price too (£45ish).

Cheers guys.

 

[unde4d]

It didn't actually go bang. It was more of a <fizz> *sniff sniff* "wtf is that smell, arghhh!" <Rip the plug out of the mains, open the case & cry>. Fortunately everything else was fine, and amazingly the drive was still functional. I was able to retrieve my data & format the drive, before I sent it back to Maxtor. I'll post an image of it tomorrow for your viewing pleasure. I couldnt resist scanning it, although I did received some strange looks from the guys that saw me with a HD on the CLJ5000 @ work.

 

[unde4d]

Here's the faulty maxtor:

Anyway, I've been looking around, and I think I'll go for an X1800XT. Would the 512MB version be worth another £30?

 

[unde4d]

Realisticly, I probably wont be gaming @ 1600x1200, but I've chosen that 20.1" TFT so that I have the option. I'll be holding on to the same monitor for a longtime to come, although it's safe to assume I'll be upgrading the PC when it makes sense to do so (just minor improvements/upgrades, like more RAM or a new GFX card in 18-24months).
The reason I'm going for that Dell Monitor, is because I'll be getting it through the company I work for using my employee discount. I've quoted OverClocker's prices cause I dont want to ruffle any feathers. I've seen that the widescreens are a good bit cheaper than the non-widescreen 20.1" TFTs, but my employee discount isn't applicable on the widescreens, so the price difference isn't much.
I think i'll go for a 512MB x1800xt, it might give my system some extra mileage in 2years time

 

[unde4d]

Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB)
Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740ADFD 10,000RPM SATA 16MB Cache
Samsung SH-W163 16x16 DVD±RW Serial ATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black)
Tagan TG530-U15 530W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU
Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB
CoolerMaster Centurion 5 Black/Silver Case
Dell Ultrasharp 2007FP 20.1"

Ordered.

 

[unde4d]

You guys really hate the Raptors, dont you.

I've got 2x large capacity HDs in my current PC, and they will be used in this new build. I'll have half a terabyte worth of storage space, before I even install the raptor. The raptor will be used for OS/important programs only.