Noob Build - Spec Check!

To answer your questions:

1 - That case has great cooling! No problems there.

2 - 64-bit Vista is the only way to go for a new build IMO. I use it and haven't had any compatibility issues at all.

3 - The difference is negligible. I would give the onboard a try first. You can always add a sound card later.

4 - ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 and Arctic Silver 5 are both great.

I don't see a motherboard in your list. I would get a X48 chipset from Gigabyte or Asus to allow the option for full speed crossfire in the future.

DDR3 is not worth the extra cost IMO. Just go with some quality DDR2 800 RAM with low 4-4-4-12 timings.

I would also check out the WD6400AAKS hard drive. Here in the US it's usually only $5 more than the 500GB models and is considerably faster.

Wow, that motherboard is expensive! I would just stick with a DDR2 X48 board from either Asus or Gigabyte.

Asus options:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -%20%24300

Gigabyte options:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -%20%24300

Excellent advice so far.

I'd pick the P5E Deluxe and some Mushkin 2x2GB DDR2-800.

64-bit Vista is absolutely essential if you're going to have 2GB of video RAM, let alone in Crossfire with two 2GB cards. Get Home Premium SP1 64-bit.

You may also want to look at the Velociraptor hard disks. That is, install the OS and games on one of those and keep the WD6400AAKS drive(s) for storage. I don't recommend Velociraptors often because of the price, but for a build with two HD 4870X2 cards they're perfectly appropriate IMO.

OK, this doesn't make sense. A typical 22" monitor works at 1680x1050, which is not exactly "top res". It's also a waste to get two HD 4870 X2 cards and play at this resolution. What you need is a 24" or 25.5" or 27" or 28" (all at 1920x1200) or even a 30" (2560x1600). The 30" monitors typically cost over $1000 in North America. The monitors with 1920x1200 can be around $400 to $900 in North America. UK prices will be higher, of course.

When you buy a monitor, go to a local store and look at the models. For example I was at a BestBuy recently looking for a 25.5 monitor. I saw an LG, a Samsung and a Viewsonic side by side. All looked good at first glance. However, when viewed from an angle, the Samsung looked very bad, almost dark. The others were still OK, especially the Viewsonic. Kind of weird, because normally Samsung is the most respected name in monitors. I guess it depends on model. Their more expensive models with S-PVA panels( like 275T or 305T) are great.

Also, when you buy a monitor, check for dead pixels. The easiest way is to load Paint, set the image attributes to 3000*3000 pixels, fill the image with various colors (white, black, red), view it in full screen.

Some very good advice from shortstuff and aevm. Saved me a bunch of writing.

For a high end rig and vga card, you should be looking at a 24" monitor at 1920x1600, pr perhaps a 30" at 2560x1600. I find that the key to a good monitor is the h/v viewing angle. A good angle will be 178/178, a poor one will bw 160/160. This is important. A poor viewing angle forces you to keep your head positioned directly in front of the monitor to keep the image from looking washed out. You will have to pay more for a good monitor, but it is one of the truly "future Proof" purchases you can make for a PC. You will be looking at it for a long time.

The core 2 cpu's use a FSB to manage ram. They are relatively insensitive to ram speeds. In real world application benchmarks, the performance difference between basic DDR2-800 ram and the fastest overclocked DDR3 ram is on the order of 1-2% or +1 FPS. Not worth it to me. The synthetic benchmarks for fast ram is primarily of interest to overclockers.

4gb in a 2x2gb configuration is best. It preserves your option to go to 8gb, and two ram sticks is easier for the mobo to handle if you ever want to overclock.

If you mostly do one thing at a time, like playing a game, then 4gb is fine. If, however you are actively running many tasks at the same time, then 8gb is good, and does not cost that much more.

For the ram you pick,
Go to the ram vendor's web site, and access their ram selection configurator.
The ram vendors will have more up to date specifics than the motherboard web site.


Kingston, Corsair, Patriot, OCZ, Crucial have them, as do others.
Enter your motherboard and get a list of compatible parts.

Also some thanks to geofelt here. I looked at bittech a few times for various components but never checked for RAM. Thankyou aevm & geofelt. I think between you, you have pretty much showed that 2x 2GB DDR2 gets the highest performance vs price. Thankyou very much.

I am afraid that i must post an updated spec tomorrow morning as i am finally going to watch Broncos Vs Patriots. I don't know the score, and won't post again for around 13 hours! Thanks for the help, i will post my new spec tomorrow with new price.

Really, thanks again. I am happy you didn't rip me apart totally, and thankful for being so forthcoming.

Cheers guys!

Jme