New system...

[stotheto]

Im looking at buying a new system and after a bit of advice this is what i have selected:

Items I am querying

580W Hiper PSU (click)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping
Zotac GeForce 8800GT 512MB (click)
MSI P35 Neo-F (click) or MSI P6NGM-FIH (click)
Geil 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-6400C5 800 MHz (click)

Items I am happy with

Windows Vista 32 bit Home Premium
160GB Western Digital Caviar
Antec Nine Hundred
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer

Just a couple of queries...

1. Will the PSU provide sufficient power?
2. Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600?
3. Is the graphics card any good or would you recommend a different one?
4. Which Motherboard?
5. Is the RAM any good?
6. I am debating wether to get a raptor hard drive or not, would anyone reccommend one?

If you would strongly reccommend any upgrades please do so..

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for any input.

 

[worshipme]

1. The PSU will provide sufficient power, yes. Hiper is a quality brand and there PSUs are very reliable. Type-R especially although the Type Ms are still very good.
2. The E6600 has been replaced long ago. The current equivalent would be the E8400 which is one of the new 45nm Wolfdales. This means lower temps/power consumption and better OC'ing capabilities (4.3GHz on air!). Here is an article: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/intel-wolfdale.html If you are a gamer then I would recommend a Core 2 Duo E8400 as gamesvery few games can take advantage of quad cores, here is some proof:
HL2: Episode 2:
E8500 @ 4.3GHz- 240FPS
Q6600 @ 3.6GHz- 206FPS
E8500 @ stock- 185FPS
Q6600 @ stock- 144FPS

Crysis:
E8500 @ 4.3GHz- 83FPS
Q6600 @ 3.6GHz- 78FPS
E8500 @ stock- 72FPS
Q6600 @ stock- 55FPS

UT3:
E8500 @ 4.3GHz-186FPS
Q6600 @ 3.6GHz-189FPS
E8500 @ stock- 157FPS
Q6600 @ stock-153FPS
(The Unreal 3 engine is multi-threaded (is supposed to take full advantage of quads)) As you can see a dual is better suited to gaming than a quad core.
If you are a video editor and you are often encoding large files etc then you will see gains from going with the Q6600 over a C2D.
3. The 8800GT is a great card although if you can I would recommend a Gainward as they fit their 8800GTs with improved coolers as the Nvida reference cooler isn't the best. This one for exemple: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=728462
4. If you are looking for a P35 board (something I recommend) then the MSI P35 Neo2 is a board I like a lot: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=636580
5. Geil are a good brand although I prefer Corsair XMS2 RAM, it can reach 1100MHz: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory/display/ddr2-800_2.html#sect0
Here is the page on a Geil kit: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory/display/ddr2-800_4.html#sect0
I recommend 4x1GB (2 kits of 2x1GB) of Corsair XMS2 800MHz CAS 4 memory.
6. Raptors are tricky. The advantages are obviously speed, the disadvantages are numerous. Fistly, they come no bigger then 150GB and you'll be paying a lot for one that size. Secondly, they are noisy and thirdy, it's very debatable whether the money could be better spent elsewhere.
I hope I have helped.

 

[stotheto]

Without a doubt you have helped, cheers.

I think I will give the raptor HDD a miss then and put that cash towards the newer CPU and the more expensive motherboard.

 

[worshipme]

No probs. Anything else you'd like to know?

 

[stotheto]

Not at this moment will post again if i do.

Cheers i feel much more confident in buying the system now, knowing its more up-to-date.

 

[stotheto]

Just priced everything up over 3 different sites ebuyer, Overclockers and Scan and it all comes in at £702.30 for

Gainward BLISS GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) Retail (£146.86)
Intel Core 2 Duo, E8400, Wolfdale Core, S775, 3.0 GHz, 1333MHz, 6MB Cache, Retail (£139.81)
MSI P35 NEO2-FR, iP35, S 775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 1066/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX (£67.99)
580W HiperPower HPU-4M580 Black SLi Ready 20+24Pins P8 Ready ATX2.2/BTX (£42.17)
160 GB Western Digital WD1600AAJS Caviar SE, SATA II, 7200 rpm, 8MB Cache, 9 ms (£30.93)
2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 4-4-4-12 (times 2 4GB total) (£70.66)
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer Soundcard - Retail Boxed (£46.35)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 32-bit - English (£56.10)
Antec Nine Hundred - Gaming Case with 200mm Top Fan - No PSU (£68.94)
Samsung SH-S203 SATA Dual Layer DVD Writer (£17.10)

 

[worshipme]

Great! I suppose the case is a personal preference but I'm not too keen on the Antec 900. For a start, if I pay that much for a case, I expect it to be made from aluminium (keeps the components cooler) not SSEC. And secondly, i expect it to be full size, not a midi tower like the 900. I like these cases:
http://www.lambda-tek.com/computing/pcdesigner.htm (built for silence)
http://www.digitalpromo.co.uk/antec...pply-silverblack-usbfirewireaudio-p-1789.html
or the Thermaltake Armor or Shark. But that's just me, I'm not a fan of the 900. Lots of people seem to like it though so it's your choice.
EDIT: How much did you find the E8400 for BTW?
Double EDIT: I just found this excellent buy on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....942609&tGUID=36fc156a1170a043aac3f523fffc26f8 The Thermaltake Toughpower series are excellent PSUs. I have the modular version of this PSU and it's brilliant. Only used for a couple of days and the guy has very good feedback.

 

[stotheto]

Found the E8400 for £139.81 from Scan.

I will have a look at them cases but I just like the style of the Antec 900.

Cheers for the help.

Anything Ive missed?? or anything anyone could reccommend? whats the liquid silver or whatever it is thats available? and is it easy to use?

 

[worshipme]

whats the liquid silver or whatever it is thats available? and is it easy to use?

I assume you're talking about thermal paste? And yes, it is necessary. You will have the put a little bit on top of the CPU's heatspreader and then put the HSF (heatsink & fan) on. Here is some good quality paste that most people use: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=403502. Arctic Silver MX-2 is also quite good and a little cheaper. Here are some official instructions on how to apply it to dual core CPUs: http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appinstruct/as5/ins_as5_intel_dual_wcap.pdf It's a PDF file so you'll need something like Foxit reader to open it.

 

[stotheto]

What do people reckon to the Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset?

Need one tomorrow..