Building a new computer, need advice

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hken

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May 31, 2006
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First of all I want to say thanks in advance to everyone who advise and reply with suggestions. I appreciate all the help.

Ok, I will mainly use the pc for gaming and other general purposes like internet and watching movies.

I will build a new pc with budget around £1000 (approx. $1800 USD) (£1000 is the upper limit, best if £850-£900) include CPU, GPU, mobo, memory, harddisk, case and PSU. I am thinking of:

CPU - Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail (CP-128-IN) £252.57 ($459)

CPU cooling - Zalman (CNPS7700-ALCU ) 120mm Super Flower Cooler (Al/Cu) £25.90 ($47)

Motherboard - Intel DP965LT 965 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-011-IN) £88.07 ($160)

Graphics Card - HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-053-HT) £270.19 ($490)

OR

any other x1900xt / x1900xtx. I prefer ATI over NVIDIA but don't know which brand of x1900 is good

Memory - Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 TwinX (2x1GB) (MY-092-CS) £146.82 ($267)

I am quite unsure about which memory should I choose. I will probably go for 2GB, but don't know the differences between like DDR and DDR2 RAM, 667MHz DDR2 and 800MHz DDR2.

Harddisk - Western Digital Caviar Special Edition 250GB 2500JB ATA-100 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-006-WD)

OR

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB 2500KS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM (HD-046-WD)

Both of them are £55 ($100). The first one is IDE Hard Drives, the second one is SATA Hard Drives. Which one should I get?

Case - Thermaltake VC3000SWA Armour Jr SuperMidi Tower - Silver (CA-038-TT)
£76.32 ($140)

PSU - Enermax Liberty 500W Modular ATX2.2 PSU


The total cost of above components is around £960 ($1750). I hope this system can last for a year and I won't be able to update until mid 2007 when 2nd round of DX10 graphics card comes out and after arrival of Vista

Is there anything I need to add like cooler or..? Please comment on my setup, again, thanks in advance!

UPDATED: I have changed the choices of motherboard, memory, case, PSU and harddisk, the cost remain the same (£960 ($1750), but with a Thermaltake case and Enermax 500W CPU and added a CPU cooler, any comment?
 
500W would be enough for a single-card system like yours.

It looks good, but wow... you guys over in the U.K. really do pay a lot for computer parts...
:(
 
PWMK2 said:
500W would be enough for a single-card system like yours.

It looks good, but wow... you guys over in the U.K. really do pay a lot for computer parts...
:(
Click to expand...

that's true and the sad part, is there any way to buy cheaper components in uk, like buying from US sites? but i doubt they ship to UK..
 
hken said:
that's true and the sad part, is there any way to buy cheaper components in uk, like buying from US sites? but i doubt they ship to UK..
Click to expand...

No, but there are many ebay resellers in the U.S. who ship internationally. I would check there first to see if you could get some U.S. prices on some of your parts (namely the video card and RAM, as you can get both for about $100 less here in the U.S.)
 
I'd go with the CAS5 Corsair XMS DDR2-800. Conroe does gain a noticeable amount of performance from increased memory bandwidth. Also, here in the states at least, it's a bit cheaper the OCZ's XTC line.

Not a big fan of that case either, but obviously that's subjective. 500W is enough but I would be leary of the longetivity of a PSU that comes with a somewhat generic-branded case. You have a lot of expensive components there, they deserve a good quality PSU such as a Seasonic S12 or Enermax Liberty.
 
hken said:
any more suggestions?
Click to expand...

I'd steer clear of that case, unless you're A. satisfied with the quality and have seen it. and B. going to buy a seperate PSU.

If you wouldn't mind posting a few sites you buy from we can find you some reasonably priced cases/PSUs

Also, for your hard drive, see if the Western Digital SE16 series is reasonably priced. They're the general favorite in terms of speed.
 
quadnad said:
I'd steer clear of that case, unless you're A. satisfied with the quality and have seen it. and B. going to buy a seperate PSU.

If you wouldn't mind posting a few sites you buy from we can find you some reasonably priced cases/PSUs

Also, for your hard drive, see if the Western Digital SE16 series is reasonably priced. They're the general favorite in terms of speed.
Click to expand...

I searched there are 2 harddisk drive from Western Digital, which one should I get?

I usually buy the components from ebuyer and OcUK

Really need advices on case and PSU, there are a lot of them but i dont know which brand are good. Please comment on my chosen PSU and case (updated)

I'd go with the CAS5 Corsair XMS DDR2-800. Conroe does gain a noticeable amount of performance from increased memory bandwidth. Also, here in the states at least, it's a bit cheaper the OCZ's XTC line.

Not a big fan of that case either, but obviously that's subjective. 500W is enough but I would be leary of the longetivity of a PSU that comes with a somewhat generic-branded case. You have a lot of expensive components there, they deserve a good quality PSU such as a Seasonic S12 or Enermax Liberty.
Click to expand...

I have searched one of Corsair DDR2-800 5-5-5-12. Is this any good? There are a series of Cosair DDR2 RAM at overclockers, like DDR2-667 4-4-4-12 (£131.54, $240), DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 (£199.69, $363), which is worth to get?
 
First off, the new PSU is fine. If you need recommendations for other (and potentially cheaper) alternatives for what you've selected, have a look here.

Personally I really don't like the armor series from Thermaltake, but in recommending you a case I understand it is entirely subjective in terms of looks. All that matters is quality.

So, in that regard I come to you with the P180. This is an all around excellent case in terms of quality, noise, and cooling. It'll save you a bit of cash, and more importantly is of better quality. Other far cheaper but admitedly less exciting choices would be the NSK4000 and the SLK. What I believe is the best bang for your buck case would be the Centurion 5. If you're interested in that case, they do versions with different color trim (no blue), and also one with a side window.

Cases from manufacturers like Lian-Li are generally very good quality, though you tend to have to pay a price premium.

As for your hard drive quastion, you'll want to look for the WD SE drives with a 16 meg cache, like this one.
 
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