Greetings Hot Hardware! It's been a while...

I've been out of touch with the hardware world for a while (focussing on my final year at uni), but since I'm all done now I'm treating myself to a new/upgraded computer at the end of summer. It's gonna be a couple of months before I can afford to build it, but I wanna do it right so I'm planning well in advance. I'm gonna build a rig predominantly for gaming/ multimedia, so it has to be powerful but as quiet as possible. I'll be using harddrives (a 120Gb and a SATA 300Gb) and monitor (20.1" widescreen + 17" secondary) from my current system. I have a few ideas for some of the components, but I'm really relying on the well-informed here at HH to help me make the right decisions. My budget is 500-600 GBP (I know it's a predominantly american forum, but there are a few UK folks on here I'm hoping will help out with the money/retailers stuff).

Without further ado:

Processor: Intel core 2 quad Q6600 ~130 GBP. I'm pretty sure I want this proc- really good 'bang/buck', great performance, fairly cheap.

MoBo: really not sure yet- looking to spend 50-100 GBP- looking at the Asus P5K Premium WiFi-AP, or Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4, but I'm not sure if these boards are PCI-E 2.0 compatible....

Graphics: I'm thinking maybe a 9800GTX (~200 GBP), but I've heard the 512mb 8800GTS performs almost as well at 1680*1050 and it's a fair bit cheaper (~160 GBP). Thoughts? The PCI-E 2.0 thing is niggling me a little, as I'm not seeing many mainboards with support but the GPUs I'm looking at are all PCI-E 2.0... what's the deal?

RAM: I'll probably go with 2gigs of Corsair Dominator XMS2 8500 to start with, then add another set down the road. ~60BGP

I'm not really into overclocking, so performance RAM isn't a must- but I might push it upto 3GHz or so on an aftermarket cooler. Will this RAM be okay for light overclocking? Better suggestions? It will really depend on funds- I might be tempted to put in 4 straight away (2*2Gb) then add a second set later on.

Case: Antec P180. I'm pretty set on this- I know it's old, but looks great, has fantastic cooling and build quality, and it's pretty cheap now. ~ 70GBP

PSU: Now I'm really not sure on this. I really want a modular PSU, and it has to be quiet, but I don't wanna part with loads of money- are there any mid-range modular PSUs capable of running the Q6600 with an 8800GTS for around 60-70GBP? should I splash out?

I think that's about it. Like I said, I'm really not up-to-date on the latest tech, so I'd be grateful for some feedback on what I've put down, and I'd appreciate some suggestions for MoBos and PSUs, as I'm totally at a loss!

 Thanks.

The only difference between the 9800GTX and 8800GTS 512MB is higher clock and memory speeds.  That's it.  Usually Nvidia cards also differ in SPU's, but nope not here, they have the same.  So yeah, go for the 8800GTS 512MB.  It's the same card, just slightly slower. 

Don't worry about PCI-e 2.0 cards.  They work fine in older PCI-e motherboards.  I have a 2.0 card in my old AMD 939 rig and it works fine.  Today's cards probably don't need any more bandwith than PCI-e version 1.  It's more of a future thing.  I guess you should buy a 2.0 board, but even in the future those cards that take advantage of the bandwith should still work in it (like AGP 8x cards still worked in 4x boards). 

looks good with the 8800GTS

 Here are some choices for modular PSU. Not exactly sure in UK money.Not sure if Newegg ships there but atleasy you ahve the names.

ABS 800W

 OCZ ModXStream 780W- 900W

 Id go with a Sesonic or a Tagan PSU, OCZ is nice as well. get somthing with grater than 85% eficienty rating

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I will go with the 8800GTS and have a look at those PSUs. Any ideas on motherboards?

BebeX:

MoBo: really not sure yet- looking to spend 50-100 GBP- looking at the Asus P5K Premium WiFi-AP, or Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4, but I'm not sure if these boards are PCI-E 2.0 compatible....

he Asus P5K Premium specs dont indicate PCI-2.0 You might try the Asus Maximus Formula It is and its a Good OCer.

The Gigabyte GA-X38-DS4 also is PCI- 2.0  good boards too.I just prefer Asus !

I would stay away from the X35 chip set but theats just me. Look into the 680i and lower 700 series from Nvidia. Or the 40's from intel.

Thanks everyone for your input- after a lot of umming and arring I came to a full mock-up at a 'slightly' elevated budget.. I ordered the parts yesterday and they're due to arrive on Tuesday, so hopefully I'll have a couple of pics to upload and you guys can help me out when the inevitable teething problems come

Here she is:

- 4GB (2*2GB) XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX Supplied with Airflow Fan
- Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler
- Asus P5Q Deluxe Intel P45
- Antec P182 case
- Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600
- Samsung SpinPoint F1 500GB SATA-II
- Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 650W ATX2.2
- Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM
- HIS ATI Radeon HD 4870
- Asus dual layer lightscribe Rewriter - OEM

 And some AS5 for good measure

A quick question- the OEM windows vista is an upgrade, right? I have a copy of XP to install before I put vista on if it is, but it didn't say anywhere on the product description whether it was a standalone OS or an upgrade...hmm 

The OEM is a stand alone OS. Not a upgrade. Its meant for companys that build computers. Thats why you have to order computer hardware with it. It should be cheaper than the upgrade aswell. Looks like a darn nice system. Congrats!

bob_on_the_cob:

The OEM is a stand alone OS. Not a upgrade. Its meant for companys that build computers. Thats why you have to order computer hardware with it. It should be cheaper than the upgrade aswell. Looks like a darn nice system. Congrats!

 Ahh that's great. I knew OEM stuff was for PC builders, but I figured since the OEM Vista OS was just a little cheaper than the retail upgrade it must just be the equivalent but without retail packaging/extras. Suffice it to say I'm glad I'm wrong 

Can't wait to sink my teeth into a new PC build- it's been a while and I'm itching to get tinkering again. I'm already planning a cooling upgrade in the form of a Zalman VF1000, as reviews say the 4870's stock cooler is loud and hot. Can anyone confirm compatibility?

 Well she's been up and running since Tuesday evening, with no issues so far (touch wood). I haven't had the time (or a camera) to get pics of the rig, though I'll look into uploading a few once I get my hands on a camera. I must say, the case is gorgeous (and I've already scratched it!), and I'm really happy with the way it all went together- thank God I went for a quality PSU! Games are running nicely, with Crysis running smooth (c. 30 fps) at 1680*1050 4*AA with all settings on high, and HL2: Lost Coast stress test running maximum settings at 130 fps average. Can anyone recommend any other games benchmarks I could test out? 3DMark06 ran nicely and scored around 11500- this seemed a little low in comparison to similar systems..any ideas? Is it just that ATi cards don't cope with it as well as nVidia? On the subject of video cards, the 4870 is running really hot- I'm talking 78*C idle... I underclocked it in Catalyst control centre cos I was  little worried, but it hasn't really changed the temp much. Is the Zalman VF1000 worth getting, or should I go with the Vortexx Neo? I've heard the VRMs get really hot and the VF1000 doesn't cool these without additional heatsinks..which is a bit annoying! 

I did a little overclocking today to 'test the water'- a FSB rise to 333MHz gave 3GHz with temps of 39*C idle rising to about 65*C under 100% load across all 4 cores with Prime95. I'm pretty happy with that since the VCore will be brought down when I have time to do it properly (I left it on 'auto' for this quick overclock, so it's overshot the 'sweet spot' and gone for 1.368 V..way too high!) giving lower temps than these. I'm not even sure if I'll keep it overclocked since it's only noticeable in benchmarks. Anyway, it's been running nice and stable all night with various stress tests so I'm not too worried about the voltage being that high as I'll be resetting it in a little while. See for yourself- comments welcome

[edit] the pic wouldn't show up at its proper dimensions, so I'll just post a link:

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/9391/overclockkq4.jpg

Congrats! Sounds sweet. The 4870s run really hot. If you download rivatuner you can turn the fan up but it should be ok even at high temps. Not sure about the vf1000 but I have read a few good reviews.

P.S. I can never get my HD above 5.7 what hd are you using.

 Thaks Bob. I tried to install Rivatuner but had some problems getting it to work- a Vista 64 problem?? I'll look for a newer/ 64 bit version and get that fan speed up a bit though.

With regards to the HDD score- I read some raving reviews about the Samsung spinpoint F1 series of drives, claiming they're almost as fast as Raptor X drives (see http://www.custompc.co.uk/labs/180183/samsung_spinpoint_f1_1tb.html ), and miles better value. I couldn't afford the 1Tb drive with my budget so i went for the 500Gb, and it scored scored 5.9! When I first ran the Vista hardware test it rated the RAM as 5.6- I realised it was set to DDR2-800MHz in the BIOS, so I keyed in all the manufacturer's rated timings, voltage, etc. and that sorted it- ran the test again for a 5.9

Can anyone recommend any more benchmarks worth running? I'm not all crazy about numbers and scores and overclocking, but when I buy new hardware I like to see how my hard-earned has translated into performance

Cheers

A new version of rivatuner is coming out in a week or so that supports your gpu. my bad.

This should help  ya set the fan speeds. Linkage

warlord:

This should help  ya set the fan speeds. Linkage

 Thanks Warlord that's a great link. Problem solved.

Update:

HI all, I've been doing a little OCing to see how far I can push this proc on air- so far I've hit 3.6GHz (400x9, with a ratio of 3:4 to give DDR2-1066) with idle/load temps of 33/77*C. I've still got the Vcore set to automatic so there's a possibility of lowering the temps somewhat, but for now I'm just messing around with some benchmarks to get an idea of performance increase. 3Dmark05 has jumped from ~15k to ~21k, and SuperPi 1M has dropped to about 13s from 19s stock. I'm a little disappointed with the 3Dmark05 score- was expecting to break 22k pretty easily with the 4870 and 3.6GHz  Q6600, as I've seen 8800GTXs break 22k with the same proc. So far I'm really pleased with the hardware- the mobo especially, as it's holding a 1.1GHz overclock no problem, and i feel like there's room for more- not bad for a rated 1333MHz FSB running 1600!

http://img156.imageshack.us/my.php?image=36ghzocsr6.jpg

Not a bad overclock at all. Makes me wanna get working on my Q9650. I moved it up to 3.4 and left it. I have mine watercooled and your spankin me.

well I'm still pretty new to this overclocking malarky- might just be beginners' luck! I think the received wisdom regarding my proc is that it's reached it's 'air-cooled limit', so I'm apprehensive about pushing it any further.. Anyway, I think running water over the Q9650 is reason enough to push the 4GHz milestone:D