New pc on the way, please give your suggestions :)

[[KIA]Moonymaster]

This will be the first computer I am gonna construct myself, therefore be gentle with me :----------)

I hope the list I am about to post will all fit together lol. RAM confused the ****ing life out of me tbh, but I took a stab in the dark and went for this :-----)

Anyway here goes, gimme your suggestions please guys :) If there are any major bottlenecks then lemme know ffs, and an alternative idea would be sexual.

Any extra cooling needed? Or extra cables? Lemme know :E

OH, and the case/sound/dvd-cd stuff is already sorted :)

GOGOG :-------------D

[[KIA]Moonymaster]

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 200GB SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-016-SE)
Seagate Barracuda products offer excellent performance, exceptionally quiet operation, and outstanding reliability. Only Seagate offers a native SATA interface solution on desktop drives, a revolutionary technology that will replace the aging parallel ATA interface and open up new applications for 7200-RPM personal storage drives. The SATA Barracuda includes Seagate's exclusive 3D Defense System and a five-year limited warranty.

- Capacity: 200 GB
- Speed: 7200 rpm
- Seek time: 8.5ms
- Interface: Serial ATA
- Cache: 8MB
- 5 year manufacturer's warranty

Price: £69.95 (£82.19 Including VAT at 17.5%)

WILL BUY THIS LATER

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Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-007-WD)
Designed for servers and NAS/SAN systems, the drive of choice for high- performance workstation and gaming systems, the WD Raptor hard drive is a new class of drive that matches SCSI performance and reliability while providing simplified connectivity. Killer Speed - World’s fastest Serial ATA drive: 10,000 RPM, 4.5 ms seek. Backed by a full 5-year manufacturer's warranty.

- Rotational Speed: 10,000 RPM
- Capacity: 36.7GB
- Average Read Seek Time: 4.5 ms
- Buffer: 8MB
- Interface: Serial ATA
- 5 year manufacturer's warranty

Price: £59.95 (£70.44 Including VAT at 17.5%)

x2

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Abit AX8 (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-063-AB)
ABIT AX8 powered by VIA K8T890/VT8237 chipsets based on AMD Athlon 64/64FX Socket 939 CPU. The AX8 features SATA RAIDm Dual DDR400, PCI Express, IEEE1394 and Gigabit LAN including ABIT engineered µGuru for optimum overall system. This board is the performer if the year. Using the groundbreaking Hyper Transport Technology and gushing with extra capacity and peripherals support as well as first class onboard 5.1-channel audio, this board can be easily be your foundation for a superb system.

- µGuru
- Thermal Guard™
- SoftMenu™ Technology
- PCI Express Support
- Hyper Transport Technology
- Dual DDR 400
- Serial ATA 150 RAID
- IEEE 1394
- Gigabit LAN
- USB 2.0 Supports 480 Mb/s data transfer rate
- 6-Channel Audio
- S/PDIF In/Out
- Supports only PCI-E VGA Cards (AGP not supported)
- ATX v2.0 compliant PSU Required for PCI-E Graphics/Motherboard

Price: £67.00 (£78.72 Including VAT at 17.5%)

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Enermax Noisetaker 600W EG701AX-VE(W) SFMA ATX2.0 PSU (CA-013-EN)
Supports latest P4 Prescott/LGA775 and Athlon 64/64 FX processors based systems: P4 main boardsthat use 875 (Canterwood) and 865 (Springdale) chipsets, and also fully support power requirements for platforms using chipsets like Intel 925 (Alderwood) or 915(Grantsdale) and next generation CPU.

- Intel approved ATX 2.0 (20/24 pin connectors)
- Intel/AMD ATX 1.3 approved
- Smart Fan: After PC shuts down, cooling fan keeps running
- Separate 12V rails: Independent 12V rails supply to MB/CPU
- Meet UL 240VA safety requirements offer a safer perating circumstance to users.
- S-ATA connectors
- Manual and automatic fan speed control : Automatic controlled by thermostat plus rheostat
- Extra Power connector
- Dual Fan: The best cooling method for PC system, and is strongly suggested by AMD.
- Active PFC function: PF value 0.99 under condition of 230VAC/50Hz at full load.
- Silence: Acoustic noise is successfully reduced with two fans
- FM & FC functions: RPM signal of 8cm exhaust fan is provided

Price: £84.95 (£99.82 Including VAT at 17.5%)

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OcUK ATI Radeon X800 XT 256MB DDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - OEM (R43-TVD3B) (GX-009-OK)
The RADEON™ X800 graphics technology is the world’s fastest and most powerful VPU*, setting a new standard in graphics performance and visual realism. With up to 16 pipelines, higher clock speeds and breakthrough image enhancement technology, RADEON™ X800 Graphics Technology ushers in a whole new gaming category called High-Definition Gaming.

- 500MHz GPU Clock Speed
- 256MB 1000MHz GDDR3 memory accelerates the latest cutting edge 3D applications
- 256-bit quad-channel GDDR3 memory interface
- Sixteen pixel pipelines
- Supports the x16 PCI-Express
- Six programmable vertex shader pipelines
- Full support for DirectX® 9.0 and the latest OpenGL® functionality
- New SMARTSHADER™ HD technology
- SMOOTHVISION™ HD technology
- 3Dc™ High quality 4:1 Normal Map Compression delivers beautiful scenes without the performance hit.
- Unique VIDEOSHADER™ HD engine
- HYPER Z™ HD
- ATX v2.0 compliant PSU Required for PCI-E Graphics/Motherboard.

Previously sold for £269.95 +VAT.

Price: £239.95 (£281.94 Including VAT at 17.5%)

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AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Winchester 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (CP-097-AM) (CP-097-AM)
AMD's Athlon 64 is the latest evolution in the desktop computer industry. With its revolutionary 64bit architecture this CPU is fully compatible with future 64 bit operating systems and offers blistering performance in current 32 bit applications. With AMD's new HyperTransport technology and a massive 512KB L2 cache. Designed with a new 90nm architecture for improved performance and cooler running.

This retail boxed product is supplied with an AMD heatsink and fan and has a 3 year warranty

Price: £134.95 (£158.57 Including VAT at 17.5%)

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GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS2.5 (GE1GB3200BHDC) (MY-005-GL)
GeIL Value offers outstanding performance levels at a very low price point, is compatible with all systems and backed up by a lifetime warranty. GeIL Value also has good overclocking ability.

- 184pin, Non-ECC, Un-buffered, high performance DDR memory modules
- GeIL 5ns 32x8 Density DDR Chip
- 6 Layers Ultra Low Noises Shielded PCB
- Optimized SPD for Dual Channel DDR motherboards
- Blue Aluminum Heat Spreader
- CAS 2.5 6-3-3 @ DDR400 PC3200
- 2.55V-2.95V
- Lifetime return to manufacturer warranty

Available This Week Only for just £79.95 +VAT.

Price: £84.95 (£99.82 Including VAT at 17.5%)

[Dillinger-]

Sounds groovy what does it do :p

[Kryten]

Very nice but you need bigger hard drives, i've got a 250GB drive and 30GB free, amazing where it all goes :(

[Badger]

I wouldnt bother with the raptor and get another 200gb instead, doubt you'll notice too much difference using it anyway.

Also, no point buying a system that high spec and only getting a 3200+, spend the extra and get a 3500+ :D

I'd also save a bit of money and get a Tagen 480w PSU as that 600w enermax one is just overkill.

[mid_gen]

Go for the Raptor m8, it makes a hell of a difference, expecially if you put them in Raid0. If there's one thing that will most affect the day-to-day performance of your system in general, it's the system drive. I'd never go back to 7200rpm :) 75gb is plenty for your main drive if you stripe them. Just remember it doubles your chances of a catastrophic failure, not that I'd be particularly worried, I've not heard a single instance of a raptor failing.

the 600w Enermax PSU was on sale on ocuk when I ordered mine last week, bargain at the price tbh. It even leaves the fan running after you turn the PC off until it's cooled down properly :) I was susprised to see that there is now a seperate power connector for both CPU and graphics now, it's insane :>

Can't believe how cheap that mem is, I paid £250 for 1gb of crucial ballistix 667 last week :/

I got the OcUK X800XT too, wayyy cheaper than any other makes on offer. It's just a plain-vanilla reference board packed in a jiffy bag, rather not pay an extra 80quid for a fancy box thanks :)

[[KIA]Moonymaster]

ok guys, very encouraging to hear that it all fits together nicely lol :-----)

a few extra things i should have posted earlier though :>

1. with regards to hard-drives, i already have a spare 200gig sitting about and yes, as mid_gen says i will be putting the 2 x raptors in RAID - should be speedy as fook i hope :D

2. with regards to the cpu.....ill see if i can get some extra cash for it heh

3. is the ram ACTUALLY any good? :> the word "value" always scares me but the numbers seem to look ok lol

4. i kinda degrudge spending more money on the psu that the motherboard lol, but i understand how important it is :S having said that however, is there ANY way to cut the cost a little? :> suggest an alterative psu for me please mates

+++

thx very much for your help so far ++

[Badger]

I'd recommend this PSU (I think they sell it on OCuk, i avoid them like the plague though!)
http://www.tekheads.co.uk/s/product?product=602960
Tagen 480w. Ive got the 420w which is as silent as a psu with fans can be imo. My friend has the 480w and its the same. He's running a 6800GT with loads of other crap, so power isnt a problem. Will save you around £30.

The ram shouldl be fine, unless you plan on overclocking (whats the point with a 3500+? ;)) I doubt you'd notice any difference with ram £100 more expensive.

I didnt notice you wanted 2 of the raptors. With them raided you should get quite good performance, hehe. Just keep backups of important stuff on those drives.

[[KIA]Moonymaster]

sweet :-----)

and im a no-overclocking monkey at the moment :)

thx badge, that psu looks groovy

so i'll be plumping for that and a slightly better chip

TYVM ALL xD

[[KIA]Moonymaster]

OOPS :S

FINAL QUESTION

Will stock cooling be ok on all the shizzle above? :-o

[Badger]

I'd buy a better cooler for the CPU, but stock cooling on everything else should be fine.

The CPU will run on stock cooling, but it probably wont be the quietest in the world.

[Kryten]

I'd buy a better cooler for the CPU, but stock cooling on everything else should be fine.

The CPU will run on stock cooling, but it probably wont be the quietest in the world.

Ignore above

My 3500+ is standard AMD fan and its quieter and cooler than the XP2400 it replaced

Still waiting for OCuk to send me my Tagan 480W PSU back :(

[c0rr0d3dm0nk33]

Yeah, that Tagan 480w is teh win tbh :D

Specially now its ATX2.01 compatible :D

[Revkickass]

i have that very same ram, tis top stuff tbh

good for clocking too

i bought a truepower 430 psu (antec), tis the bollix

maybe try a different mobo with nforce ?
dont rate via

that OCuk gfx is nice, but i prefer NVIDIA the asus 9999 is mint

but defo stick with that ram, tis cheap and good qaulity too
i have that 200GB seagate, use it for storage and use the same seagate but 40GB as master
but yea, go for the raid setup, lots faster

next on my list is the asus gfx and raptor raid setup

the tagan psu is nice but i would opt for antec, think my truepower 430 is a bit cheaper than tagan too

[mid_gen]

Stick with the OcUK X800XT m8 :) It's a bargain at the price. Asus graphics cards are wayyyy overpriced imo, in the past they've always been plagued with compatibility problems on non-asus mobos from my experience too. You'd pay £150 more to get the same card as the OcUK one in a box with asus written on it.

[c0rr0d3dm0nk33]

And the Asus cards are a bunch of hybrid pos.

The GT with 128mb RAM, is a GT on a non GT board with non GT ram (~£230 but severly crippled by shite RAM)
The GE is the non GT, with GT RAM and board (£260? wtf?)
The GT with 256mb RAM is actually a real GT...(but would you trust it? lol)

[[ITV]bom]

did u get that then mooony??? if so.. hows it going?

[[KIA]Moonymaster]

well i ordered the case

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/images/CNET/I250560.jpg

and chip (amd 64 3500+) two days ago

i got payed today so will be ordering the rest at some point this evening :D

think im gonna opt for a different mobo and ram though

cas2 ram as opposed to cas2.5

and gonna try to steer clear of via chipset methinks

will post back later when i've made my final decision