First Build

Revan

After posting to this forum last week and doing a bit more research, I am giving serious consideration to building my own PC. I had a look at Komplett and came up with the following (excuse the formatting, it's late and I'm not going messing around with font size!):

Akasa 120mm Blue LED cooler, 4x Blue LED
Antec Three Hundred Black 140mm Fan (Without PSU)
Antistatic Wrist band including ground cord
AXP Powersupply ATX 630W Retail SLI, SATA, Dimension mm(163x150x85) 20+4 pin
Crucial DDR2 PC6400 2GB CL6 Unbuffered,1.8V,256Meg x 64, 240pin
Electronic Compact Tool-Kit (8-Piece)
Gigabyte GA-EG45M-UD2H, G45, Socket-775 m-ATX, GbLAN, DDR2, VGA, PCI-Ex(2.0)x16
Intel Core™ 2 Quad Q8200 2,33GHz, Socket 775, 4MB, 1333MHz, Boxed w/Fan
LG DVD±RW burner, GGC-H20L, Blu-Ray& HD-DVD Reader, Retail
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic SP1 English OEM DVD 32bit
Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA2 32MB 7200RPM
Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-Express 2.0, DVI, VGA, HDMI, HDCP, Lite-Retail
Xigmatek Red Scorpion S1283 CPU Cooler Socket 775/AM2/754/939/940, 20.6 dBA

The total comes out about 825, which is a little over budget but it includes the tools and an LED fan (for kicks).

Any opinions? Clearly this is my first build so am worried about compatibility and quality. If there is something better out there for less, please let me know.

Is there anything I'm missing?

dazftw

Yeah you really wont need the tools.. a simple philips head screwdriver is all you need.. Same with the fan unless unless that antec has a place for it?

z0oT

Solid Build however...
I would look at changing the PSU to a more recognised brand such as Corsair/Thermaltake/Coolermaster for the sake of the fact that you know their 12V rail is well able to power whatever it advertises.

And some food for thought:
You've opted for the LGA775 socket from intel, performance wise there's no reason not to, however it's common knowledge that the LGA775 socket is on the way out at the moment in favor of the new i7 and i5 sockets. For this reason maybe it might be a better idea to pick out a Phenom II along with a 790FX board to give a better upgrade path as AMD are going to stick to the AM3 socket throughout 2010 at least.
All that said, it's a solid machine none the less.

marco_polo

dazftw wrote: »

Yeah you really wont need the tools.. a simple philips head screwdriver is all you need.. Same with the fan unless unless that antec has a place for it?

No that case has two fans installed already so he should'd need the fan.

I know you are near budget max out OP but, I would throw another 2GB of ram in there myself.

requiem1

I don't know who is but someone is selling a TRUE on adverts with a noctua fan which would be great for cooling that system. Also I might suggest that if you can get your hands on a Q6600 to get that instead of the Q8200 or replace it with a dual core E8400. The reason i suggest this is that there is greater overclockability with the Q6600 and E8400 than the Q8200 for when your system begins to run its course.

If you are getting 4GB of RAM i suggest you get it as one set and not mix and match with other sets so you can get the best possible speeds from the 4GB. Also some boards have voltage issues with using all 4 slots on a mobo, even more so when using different kits.

The point above is also a valid one (about AMD) but i think for the cost of system its best to stick with Intel and I wouldn't worry about the introduction of new processor sockets cause there has been little take up in i7 (something as small as only 3% of the market).

Solitaire

requiem1 wrote:

I wouldn't worry about the introduction of new processor sockets cause there has been little take up in i7

Not true. i7 is a niche market somewhere between i5 and Xeon-Nehalem with a hefty price premium so its no surprise there's been few sales. However once i5 debuts Intel will start to remove the old i2 (LGA775) parts to force-upgrade everyone and with no CPUs *poof* goes your upgrade path :mad:

Revan: If you really want good old-fashioned i2 goodness stick to an E5200/6300/7400/8400 dualies or the old 65nm quads (Q6600/6700). The 45nm quads are a bit craptastic TBH. Otherwise go AM3 and get whatever your budget can handle; X3-720BE is the very definition of "mid-ranged" Your current build has a naff CPU and mediocre PSU and while the cooler is nice the CPU won't stay stable long enough under OC to actually need it!

Okay, let's play devil's advocate here:



Here's a cheapass AM3 setup. Not the cheapest though - that's a fast tri-core CPU with unlocked multiplier and a mobo that can take advantage of it. And one more outrageous suggestion: use the Win7 RC until it goes retail, then take the plunge and purchase the OS of your choice later. Not so much a cheapass suggestion as a solid defensive tactic; with Win7 on the horizon its always good to keep your options open!