First Time Build(er), Mainstream/Enthusiast System, £1000 (UK)

[Jewels]

Well I do plan eventually to overclock, but I don't plan to go over 3.0/3.2 GHz. With a BLCK of 150/160 and a memory multiplier of 8.0x, the frequency would be 1200/1280MHz.

 

[Hefemeister]

but if you had the 1600 you could run a mem multi of 10 or 12.

 

[Jewels]

True, but I am looking to minimise costs as much as possible. 6GB over 3GB is most definitely worth the extra investment, but I'm not sure the same can be said for 1600MHz over 1333MHz, or P6T Deluxe over P6T.

 

[Hefemeister]

correct you will be fine. but I would like to see around a 200 bclk with 1600 ram overclocked to 2000 with a 10x mem multi.

 

[Jewels]

I've increased my budget and put together a draft build with components from Scan, Ebuyer and Novatech (you're blessed with Newegg!), so it doesn't include shipping. I'm hoping someone can suggest better and cheaper alternatives.

Processor: Intel Core i7 920 (D0 Stepping) - £249.75

Cooling: Thermalright Ultra-120-1366RT eXtreme - £52.31

Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 - £233.65

Memory: OCZ Gold XTC 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 CL8 (8-8-8-24) - £82.26

Graphics Card: Gainward GTX 260 Golden Sample, Core 216 55nm - £151.88

Hard Drive (x2): 750 GB Samsung HD753LJ Spinpoint F1 SATA 3Gb/s 7200RPM 32MB Cache 8.9ms NCQ - £123.94

Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±RW Dual Layer SATA Black - £16.73

Power Supply: Corsair 750W TX PSU - £100.60

Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 - £99.92

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit OEM - £82.23

Total: £1193.27 (~$1,732.51 USD)

 

[Hefemeister]

Looks really good. I am not familiar with Gainward as a gpu producer. My favorite brands in order are xfx, evga and bfg.

Glad to see the changes you made. you will benefit in the long run with them. Your prices are still better than what I have to pay in Sweden. You lucky guy.

 

[baron5]

yeah great build. Gainward is good, you don't have to stress about buying their products.

 

[Jewels]

Well there is this XFX GTX 260 XT from Scan that Yamikotai referenced, and it's been reduced to £148.65. It comes with Far Cry 2 and benefits from a higher default shader clock (1350 vs 1296), and I guess it's also 55nm. I'm only choosing the Gainward card due to its dual fan cooler, which I'm only assuming has better thermal control, though I wouldn't hesitate to switch to XFX.

 

[Hefemeister]

Sounds good to me.

I can tell you at stock my 260 has no heat issues at all. I have yet to overclock it because it would be pointless until my i7 rig arrives.