[MrRSMan]

And about the RAM, I think i really need it as this is not a pure gaming computer- I need to be able to use the top-grade picture, video and audio editing software too.

[Carbon]

I'm going to go ahead and disagree with Cew about the cooler. C2Ds run very cool, and unless you're overclocking, you shouldn't have an issue.

Case heat may be an issue, but in that case you had might as well just plop in a fan for five pounds or so.

[Cew27]

i have no idea whats cool (temperature wise) and whats not but i just prefer to always have an upgraded cooler, peace of mind , piece of ocd

[alex]

Originally Posted by MrRSMan

What if I changed the

512MB GEFORCE 8600GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT graphics card to a

1024MB GEFORCE 8600GT PCI Express + DVI + TV-OUT card? This puts £& more on price (weird?), but I can't afford an upgrade to 8800gt/8600gt or any gts...

Is this a major problem?

Both card's are, frankly, pants. I realise you can't spec a 256mb version on Pc Specialist's site but that amount of ram on a card than simply can't make use of that amount of ram is ludicrous, a selling point, in short; a con.

The 8600GT is in no way, shape or form a gaming card at anything above 1024x768 and as the monitor you've spec'd displays a higher amount of pixels natively i'd suggest a stronger gaming card. Please, don't waste your money on this card, you'll be disappointed.

If at all possible see if you can spec an AMD X3850. About the best midrange gpu on the market and benches close to the 256mb 8800GT. It also should only cost around £40 more than the 8600GT. If you can't spec the AMD card have a look for the 8600GTS if you can't afford the 8800GT. Carbon and Cewy are quite correct in quoting it to be honest, it's an awesome buy for the money, but if you can't afford then you cant afford.

The psu is massive overkill, a 600w will more than suffice, even if you go for a higher end graphics card. The 8800GT will game upto 1920x1200 though. The 3850 can handle 1680x1050 but you lose AA with the stock 256mb version. Considering you've quoted the resolution as 1440x900 the 3850 will suffice nicely, or even the 8600GTS. The 8800GT is overkill.

I'd normally recommend a separate cooler for the hsf but as the third party one's quoted on the site are lousy AND as you're going for a very cool running C2D I don't see the point to be honest. Obviously you're limited to what pcspecialist stock.

You also quote a SLI board. This is a waste of money frankly because you're only going single card (unless you plan to go dual in the future) but if so, it's also a lousy chipset. Have a look for a motherboard with the p35 chipset; very fast chipset and the gamers choice when going single card.

If you need to buy the pc now then do so, but Carbon touched on the new 45nm Intel cpus, as in Wolfdale. These promise (if history is anything to go by) to be very cool running cpu's. And the prices don't look bad either. I'd be looking at the E8300 or E8400. Both are not far off the price of the cpu you quote.

I've mixed feelings with the 64 bit version of Vista, as it tends not to be very game friendly but you can make use (build dependent) of 4gb of ram with it.

On that, the 4gb is overkill. 2gb will more than suffice. Vista 64 will use around 900mb ddr2 800 at idle, leaving over a gb for other duties.

Other than that the build looks good; good choice of speakers, they punch above their weight, well spec'd.

Do you really need the 3 licence version of MS office? or was that a mistake?

I'm forever recommending pcspecialist's site to members on here. But don't limit yourself to them, there are other good builders out there. Basically: shop around and get the best bang for your buck.

But on that note, I spec'd your build (to get the price) and your's came to around £870.

I've just gone onto the site after typing the above to see if I could improve on the spec for you and I've taken the liberty of spec'ing the below and I feel it's the better gaming build as it's more balanced. £861.

As you can see i've still quoted the stock Intel cooler for the cpu as, again, the third party one's on there are crap and also our Admin, Dave, overclocked his E6750 to 3.6ghz on this cooler without a problem. Don't get me wrong, they aren't the ideal design because the hot air from the heatsink get's pushed directly onto the motherboard which isn't so great. But with decent airflow inside the case it's generally fine. PCspecialist won't let you down on a good airflow setup.

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™2 Duo E6750 (2 X 2.66GHz) 1333MHz FSB/4MB L2 Cache
Memory (RAM)
2GB CORSAIR XMS2 800MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)
Motherboard
ASUS® P5K SE: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 2 PCI, 3 x PCI-e x1
Operating System
WINDOWS® VISTA Home Premium (inc Genuine CD & License) (£59)
USB Options
8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
NONE
3rd Hard Disk
NONE
1st CD/DVD Drive
20x Dual Layer LightScribe DVD Writer ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd CD/DVD Drive
16x DVD-ROM WITH 48x CD-ROM
Graphics Card
256MB RADEON HD 3850 PCI Express + DVI
2nd Graphics Card
NONE
Sound Card
8 Channel Realtek ALC883 High Definition Audio (P5K-SE)
Modem
NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Floppy Disk Drive
NONE
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Case
Stylish Silver/Black Sigma case + 2 front USB
Power Supply & Case Cooling
600W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£59)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER
Firewire & Video Editing
3 PORT IEEE 1394a FIREWIRE PCI CARD (£9)
TV Card
NONE
Monitor
17 Inch Wide TFT Silver/Black 1440 x 900 8MS, D-Sub (£89)
2nd Monitor
NONE
DVI Cable
NONE
Keyboard & Mouse
Logitech® Internet Keyboard + Hotkeys (Black) (£6)
Mouse
Black Logitech® Premium Optical Mouse (£4)
Speakers
LOGITECH S120 2.0 BLACK SPEAKER SYSTEM (£5)
Printer
NONE
Surge Protection
NONE
Webcam & VoIP
NONE
Media Center Kit
NONE
Anti-Virus
NONE
Office Software
Microsoft® Office® 2007 Home & Student Edition (3 PC Licence) (£79)
Warranty
1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1 Year Free Collect & Return: £5
Delivery
Standard Insured Delivery to UK Mainland (Mon-Fri 8am-6pm)

Much better gaming cpu, much better gaming gpu. The rest of the spec is pretty much the same except for the os and the ram amount. If i've missed anything please let me know. But the cpu and gpu are the core components in a gaming build

[alex]

Originally Posted by MrRSMan

And about the RAM, I think i really need it as this is not a pure gaming computer- I need to be able to use the top-grade picture, video and audio editing software too.

Now, regarding this.

If you're wanting an allround media pc, that can also game, stick with my spec above (budget dependent) but have a look at the Q6600 quadcore.

Whilst games don't generally make use of 4 core's due to the way they're coded, it's still a good gaming cpu at the resolution of the monitor you quote and will also allow faster working with such software as Roxio and Nero 8 over the two cpu's you and I quote above.

[MrRSMan]

Alex, if you get this, you said the Vista 64 bit is not very game friendly?

Please expand? IS this a problem?

[alex]

Originally Posted by MrRSMan

Alex, if you get this, you said the Vista 64 bit is not very game friendly?

Please expand? IS this a problem?

It's all driver related. Vista 64 is Vista 32's poor cousin when it comes to support. Although things are improving. The majority of the issue's are with SLI/Crossfire setup's as Vista, whatever ever version, and them aren't the best of friends.

This is all simply marketing; MS put the resources to the os that sells the most, this being the 32bit version.