Revised Rig;

[Swi1ch]

So after taking onboard the tones of info i've got off this board in the last week or so, here is my revised Rig spec (Don't know how to get the image from the basket on here without screenshot/modify/host and paste):

Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 2.40GHz Guaranteed to run at 3.00GHZ (1333FSB)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5
Asus P5Q Pro Intel P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU
Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB)
Asus Silent Knight AL CPU Cooler
Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer ReWriter (Black)
Akasa 20/24-Pin 30cm PSU Extension Cable
Akasa 8-Pin 30cm PSU Extension Cable
Akasa "Y" Power Splitter - DAYGLO Blue x 2

The extensions and splitters are because people reported PSU cables not being long enough in the 1200, and because the fans are 4pin and it's not a wise idea to daisy chain them.

I was also wondering, if i'm shelling out about a grand anyway, is it worth forking over an extra £40 and either getting 4GB Corsair Dominator, or 8GB of the above Corsair RAM?

 

[GSDog]

I'd go for the normal Q6600 CPU personally, I don't think the "Guaranteed to run at" CPUs are worth it. I'm sure the Q6600 you buy will reach that clock speed anyway.

The Sapphire 1GB 4870 is pretty expensive and I think the Powercolor is cheaper. Is there a reason why you like the Sapphire card more?

The RAM in your spec is fine. I very much doubt you'll need more than 4GB RAM (depends on what you're using it for).

 

[Swi1ch]

I'd go for the normal Q6600 CPU personally, I don't think the "Guaranteed to run at" CPUs are worth it. I'm sure the Q6600 you buy will reach that clock speed anyway.

The Sapphire 1GB 4870 is pretty expensive and I think the Powercolor is cheaper. Is there a reason why you like the Sapphire card more?

The RAM in your spec is fine. I very much doubt you'll need more than 4GB RAM (depends on what you're using it for).

The comp i'm using now is a backup one. My previous one (Which just went nigh-nigh) had a Sapphire X1900XT. If you saw what that poor bugger has gone through and still maintained itself, you'd have intense respect for it (Think a case where the mobo and PSU only just fit, with no cable management and a single 60mm exhaust fan). Also, I'm not sure why but PowerColour feels like a 'cheap' make to me; Might have read it in a magazine or on the boards or something.

The gfx card is still up for revision though after the whole host of posts i've read about the Radeons being DOA or horribly unreliable. My X1800 was DOA and took like a month to get replaced (Although it was replaced with an X1900XT instead which was nice).

Edit. Might drop the extra £25 and get the Gainward one (Although it says 1024Mb RAM, the image says 512Mb), or if not might get the Powercolour one, it's got much better reviews.

 

[GSDog]

You could also get a GTX260-216 which is a great card for roughly the same price as the 4870. Unfortunetly OcUK doesn't have a great selection of GTX260's but you can get an XFX GTX260-216 Black edition which is very quick (close to GTX280 performance) and comes with Farcry 2 game for around £230.

 

[Swi1ch]

Considering a different mobo:

Gigabyte GA-EP45T-DS3R Intel P45 (Socket 775) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

Mainly because I'm hearing good stuff about Gigabyte, and hearing some bad stuff about the reliability of some Asus boards. (My primary concern is reliability; if a part comes dead or dodgy, I will probably flip)

Oh, and i'm giving some serious thought to the BFG GeForce GTX 260 OCX MAXCORE 896MB GDDR3 over the Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 at the moment. I think in the end it's gonna be a toss up between which one is cheaper on the day.

 

[GSDog]

Considering a different mobo:

Gigabyte GA-EP45T-DS3R Intel P45 (Socket 775) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...P45 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

Mainly because I'm hearing good stuff about Gigabyte, and hearing some bad stuff about the reliability of some Asus boards. (My primary concern is reliability; if a part comes dead or dodgy, I will probably flip)

Oh, and i'm giving some serious thought to the BFG GeForce GTX 260 OCX MAXCORE 896MB GDDR3 over the Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 at the moment. I think in the end it's gonna be a toss up between which one is cheaper on the day.

I personally think the BFG OCX MAXCORE card is overpriced. You can pick up an XFX GTX260-216 Black edition card, which has a higher overclock than the BFG, a double lifetime warranty and comes with Farcry 2 for around £230.

 

[Swi1ch]

If I can find one around I'll take a look, but i'd prefer to order all my stuff from Overclockers.

Plus, Overclocking ability isn't something i'm taking into account with anything other than the CPU. I've never Overclocked before, so relying on stock speeds with most things and gonna try and push the Q6600 to 3Ghz.

Edit. According to this review http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/gpu_displays/xfx_gtx260_896mb_black_edition/1 the 'Black Edition' is also referred to as the 216, so presumably the cards on OC website are basically 'Black Editions'

 

[Paul2506]

Go for the:

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail

You can overclock this too 3.5GHz+ and save £40

Also imo i'd go for the:

HIS ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

It's a beast of a card