First build help

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Ok so here's what i have so far, i'm off to france for 3 weeks too so hopefully when i get back prices will have dropped a tad!

Antec 300 Three Hundred Black Case - No PSU - Ebuyer
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 3.2 GHz Socket AM3 8MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor - Ebuyer
Gigabyte GA-MA790GP-UD4H AMD 790X Socket AM2/AM2+ Motherboard - Aria Technology
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 DHX Performace Memory CL4 2.1V - Ebuyer 2 of these for 8gb?
XFX HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer
Corsair 650W TX Series PSU - 120mm Fan, 80+% Efficiency, Single +12V Rail - Ebuyer
Western Digital 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 32MB Cache - OEM Green Power - Ebuyer
LiteOn 20x DVD±RW Dual Layer & Ram IDE Black Bare Drive - OEM - Ebuyer

this comes in at £661, add in Vista 64 for £75? brings me up to £735. Inside budget!

Then later on I can add another GPU for £100 and Tv card for about £40-50 if i need them, so that's still under £900

So that's what I'm up to so far. Like i said, i'm not gonna be building this for at least another month so it may drop in price a little bit. (And as it's my 21st in a months time my budget may see a sudden increase!)

So, thoughts so far?

Thanks Hikaricloud and muffin man for the help so far.
 
You don't need 8gb of RAM, just get the one kit.

Looks good though. If you have any other questions, just ask.
 
i was just thinking if i'm using 64bit windows and programs like 3dsmax and VRay render (which can be very memory intensive) the extra Ram could be good. But yeah, if i were to cut that down the whole build comes under £700 with the OS, which is very promising
 
If they are particularly memory intensive, and you'd be more comfortable getting 8gn, go for it if it's in your budget. :p Otherwise, I'd stick with 4gb.
 
out of interest, what do you think about additional cpu cooling? I've never overclocked before, but i figure it'd be best to keep everything as cool as possible anyway. I'm not sure what the phenom 955 comes with heatsink wise, anybody have any idea?

I think i'll start with 4gb, and just go for the basic set-up overall, then add to it when budget/needs allow for it. Starting with the tv card, then RAM then GPU. I figure this way I can get some decent longevity from the whole thing.
 
Make sure not to double post, you can use the edit button on the bottom right of the post.

The stock heatsink is okay, but if you want to overclock, look into getting an aftermarket HSF. The Core Contact 120mm is a good heatsink, one of the best for the cost.
 
Looks alright, Zalman makes some alright stuff. I couldn't find the core contact either, could have sworn I saw it on one of the UK tech sites...oh well. :p

No problem with the help mate, just ask if you have any other questions.
 
Ok cheers Hikaricloud, your advice has been really helpful, helped me make alot of improvements.

Like i said, i'm off to france tomorrow, going to the middle of nowhere for 3 weeks, so hopefully when i return phenoms and radeons will all have magically dropped in price.

When i get back i'll check over the specs one-more time, post it here and if it all looks good I'll be building away pretty soon. Should be fun!

Gonna have to investigate overclocking with this one later on too i think.

Thanks again

Lorcan

Updated- Hikaricloud, couple questions, first, what are your thoughts on sapphire GPU's? also i see that XFX has a 1gb 4890 card for £40 more, do you think this would be a good move? especially if i start playing games on this machine, the extra 512mb mem and upgraded model will make a difference. And also, down the line if I add a second card in crossfire, will the PSU be enoughfor all the various stuff.
 
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