Need some help with my build, please =]

[You Failed]

Hi, this is the first time I've tried to make my own computer. My budget is about £950 for the computer and for the most part I've got everything picked out and just need a bit of advice on some things and just a general check to see if everything will work together.

What I've got so far:
Antec 300 Case (£41.99)
OCZ GameXtreme 850w (£84.99) OR Corsair Memory 750w TX series ATX (£97.95)
Samsung 1TB Spinpoint F3 7400rpm 32MB (£58.82)
Samsung SH-S223 22X DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA - OEM Black (£14.99)
ASUS P7P55D-E P55 Socket 1156 (£121.36)
Intel Core i5-750 Quad Core 2.66GHz 8MB (£162.45)
XFX ATI Radeon 5850 HD 1GB PCI-Express 2.1 x16 HDMI DX11 (£250.43)
Windows 7 Home Premium (£82.98)

As for the RAM, initially I was looking at 3x2Gb of 1333Mhz Ballistix RAM but was told this was a bad idea considering the motherboard is dual channel, so I started looking at 2x2Gb of 1600Mhz and came up with either:
Corsair 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 XMS3 i5 Memory Kit CL9(9-9-9-24) 1.65V - Ebuyer
G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Ripjaw Memory Kit CL7(7-8-7-24) 1.65V - Ebuyer or
4GB kit (2GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800 upgrades for ASUS P7P55D-E Motherboard, CT1147964 from Crucial.com
They're all around the same price (~£100), I'm pretty sure the G-Skill set is the better of the three but looks absolutely disgusting, followed by the Ballistix and then the corsair set, so barring the horrible looks I'd be inclined to go with the G-skill set (Maybe I'm wrong though?). However confirmation of compatibility with the motherboard would be nice (I've noticed the motherboard has a 1.5v RAM slot compared to the majority of performance RAM being 1.65v??)

With regards to the PSU, there's two contenders at the moment, the corsair 750w and the cheaper OCZ 850w, the corsair is more expensive but is it worth spending the extra for it, or is the OCZ comparable in quality?

The other thing I was wondering about was the difference between the various brands of GPU's, at the moment I've gone with the XFX 5850, as it was one of the cheaper options, there was also the option of the stock Sapphire 5850 which was £10 dearer and their various overclocked versions which can cost upto £300 and the Asus 5850 which was also ~£10 dearer. Is there a brand preference? Is it worth spending the extra £10 for the stock Sapphire or Asus compared to the cheaper XFX?

So what do you guys think? Can you see anything drastically wrong or possibly spot some parts that won't really work together properly? Also, if could recommend any better parts for similar prices that I should take a look at, that would be nice!

Thanks =]

 

[Muffin Man]

yea the g.skill would be the best set out of those. i think the g.skill set looks cool actually lol, but if it really bothers you, you can get this set with the same speed and similar timings for a few quid more.
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Platinum i5 Memory Kit 1.65V CL7(7-7-7-24) - Ebuyer

out of those psus, i would pick the corsair. but you could save some money on the psu here though with this one
XFX 650W XXX Edition Single Rail Modular PSU - 13.5cm Fan 6x SATA 4x PCI-E - Ebuyer
which will power your rig, even if you decide to add a second 5850.

all the gfx card brands you mentioned would be good, but the xfx is a good choice.

recommendations for better parts? everything else looks good, but maybe you want to spend some more on this mobo
ASUS P7P55D PRO iP55 Socket LGA 1156 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard - Ebuyer
incase you do decide to add a second gfx card, it would be better suited for it.

 

[You Failed]

yea the g.skill would be the best set out of those. i think the g.skill set looks cool actually lol, but if it really bothers you, you can get this set with the same speed and similar timings for a few quid more.
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Platinum i5 Memory Kit 1.65V CL7(7-7-7-24) - Ebuyer

out of those psus, i would pick the corsair. but you could save some money on the psu here though with this one
XFX 650W XXX Edition Single Rail Modular PSU - 13.5cm Fan 6x SATA 4x PCI-E - Ebuyer
which will power your rig, even if you decide to add a second 5850.

all the gfx card brands you mentioned would be good, but the xfx is a good choice.

recommendations for better parts? everything else looks good, but maybe you want to spend some more on this mobo
ASUS P7P55D PRO iP55 Socket LGA 1156 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard - Ebuyer
incase you do decide to add a second gfx card, it would be better suited for it.

Thanks, I went with the OCZ RAM in the end, £1 extra for something that looks so much better, I'll take that!

I'm not very clued in when it comes to PSU's though, is 650w really enough to power 2 5850's along with the other stuff? Surely if it is enough, it's not really leaving much head room? I would say I could afford to go with the Corsair so do you think it's worth just doing that and getting the extra 100w or is it completely unnecesasary and a waste of money for the extra 100w?

 

[Muffin Man]

take a look here,
AMD?s Radeon HD 5850: The Other Shoe Drops - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News
in their moderately OCed i7 system with two 5850's, their load power draw was 550w, and that was while pushing the system to unusually high stress levels, harder than normal usage like actually playing a game.

if you continue to scroll down you'll see that their load power draw while playing WoW is only 372w though.

amd themselves recommend a 600w psu for systems with dual 5850's, and their recommendations are overrated to some extent.
ATI Radeon? HD 5850 System Requirements

plus the xfx isn't a crap psu. im pretty certain it would run a rig like that just fine, but it is you who is spending the money after all, and if you just want some greater peace of mind, this is also another great option and only costs a bit more than the xfx.
Antec EarthWatts 750W Modular PSU - 80plus Certified 9x SATA 4x PCI-E - Ebuyer