[lucian]

I'm wanting to spend around £500 on a new computer, for gaming and everyday use. I'll be keeping all my peripherals and also my moniter for now until i can afford a new one. Having spent some time on Ebuyer, I have come up with this system which, with my reasonable knowledge of computers, seems to be ok. I'd be very grateful if anyone could check over the parts to make sure they are all compatable, and also make any suggestions as to more effective ways to spend my money.

Motherboard : Asus P5N-E SLI 650i <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!>

Processor : Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!> I am wanting to overclock this a fair amount, to around 3ghz or more if it is safe!

Graphics card : Point Of View 8800GT <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!> Again, this I hope to overclock, although maybe not until I buy some aftermarket cooling for it in the near future.

Memory : OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!> I really don't have a clue when it comes to RAM! Is this too cheap?

Power supply : Arctic Power 700W PSU <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!> Again, no idea when it comes to PSUs

Hard drive : Hitachi 160GB Hard Drive <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!>

Dvd drive : Optiarc AD-7200S 20X DVD±RW <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!>

Case : Aplus Twin Engine Case <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!> I want a flashy case, and although this is very exensive, I did rather fall in love with it

CPU cooling : Zalman CNPS7500-CU <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!> Tried to choose a shallow cooler, as I've heard that very tall ones wont fit against the side fan of the case.

Additional fan : Extra Value 120mm Blue LED Fan <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!> Not sure if this is really necessary, but there is space for one on the back of the case, and with the large amount of airflow in, it seems sensible for £3

OS : Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!> Vista for the DX10, no idea about 32 vs 64 bit though. Weighing up the problems with compatability for 64bit against the additional RAM limit for future upgrades


Pretty sure that's everything, any feedback at all would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Lucian

[lucian]

This comes to £518 by the way, slightly over budget

[thingie2]

ok, well I would say, if possible, upgrade the CPU, if you can get one from the E8000 series, they will over clock better, due to being 45nm CPU's they generate less heat and consume less power, thus allowing for a higher overclock, however that CPU is quite a cheap CPU, so you might not feel you can afford the better CPU's.

[lucian]

The 8400 pushes me a long way over the £500 mark (£66)
The 8200 only puts me £56 over, but this is still too far really. Is there anything else in the build that could be downgraded in order to save? Power supply maybe?

[thingie2]

Skimping on the PSU isn't a good idea, I'll have a look though, see if you can do with a lower power rating.

[thingie2]

Try using [url=http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine]This[url] calculator to work out how much power you need, but you shouldn't go bellow about 500-600W whatever it says because of the recomended power for the 8800GT

[Carbon]

Hmmph. UK prices. :|

Really, you have a suboptimal machine here (650 chipset, budget Core 2 Duo) but looking at the site you're on it seems the alternatives are much more expensive.

I would suggest looking for your parts at another site. It seems ridiculous for a lot of this stuff to cost as much as it does there.

[lucian]

Thanks
By dropping to a 600watt PSU I can save £10 or so. I'll aim to get the E8400, and just get a bit more money

[lucian]

Originally Posted by Carbon Hmmph. UK prices. :| Really, you have a suboptimal machine here (650 chipset, budget Core 2 Duo) but looking at the site you're on it seems the alternatives are much more expensive. I would suggest looking for your parts at another site. It seems ridiculous for a lot of this stuff to cost as much as it does there.

I did have a brief look at other places, they seemed more expensive if anything. I'll have another look tomorrow

[thingie2]

Try looking on the following other sites, i find them all fairly well priced:

• <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!>
• <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!>
• <Link hidden. Register for free to see this link!>

I look at my prices from those three websites and Ebuyer and for somethings some are cheaper, but for others, others are cheaper, to get the best deal, you will need to buy from serveral places would be my guess.

[Carbon]

Some PROCESSOR SECRETS:

- Note that the E7xxx are also 45nm and a lot cheaper. Similar to the E8xxx in benchmarks as well.
- Xeon 3110 = same processor as E8400, sometimes it can be cheaper, sometimes not

[thingie2]

but the problem with Xeon, is you then need a different motherboard, and server boards are usually more expensive.

[Carbon]

Uh, they're just renamed E8400s with lower fault tolerance. There's no physical difference.

[lucian]

Thanks for all the help with the processor, not quite decided what one to upgrade to yet due, that will depend on how much money I can raise.

Any feedback on the other components or am I good to go?

[serverguy]

I can't see anything particularly wrong...

Hitachi HDs are not one of my favorites.. Can be a bit noisy. I'd get a Western Digital or Seagate.

Looks good if you're happy.