What components for a new build?

[UnderOpenSky]

I'm putting together a new pc, the first for a long time. Budget is around £700 to include monitor. Hoped it would be higher, but current laptop is about to die and I need a new pc. I've speced this up, but would be intrested in any feedback or suggestions.


CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz 1333FSB Socket 775 4MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor £115.72

Motherboard - MSI P35 Neo-F Socket 775 FSB1333 onboard 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard £60

RAM - OCZ 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 CL 4-4-4-15 PLATINUM XTC £39.99

Graphics - Sapphire HD 3850 256MB GDDR3 Dual DVI TVO PCI-E Graphics Card £105

Case + PSU - Antec Sonata III Piano Black Quiet Mid Tower Case - With 500W EarthWatts PSU £70

Hard Disk - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM £62.99

DVD - LG GSA-H66NBAL 18X SATA DVD?RW/DL/RAM - Black Bare Drive OEM £18

Wireless - Linksys WMP54G 54mbps Wireless PCI Adapter Card £15

Mouse - Microsoft Optical Wheel Mouse £12.33

Keyboard Microsoft Black Wired PS/2 Keyboard 500 £7.04

I assume that as my DVD and Hard Disk are OEM then I need a couple of these?

Belkin Serial ATA 2.0 7-pin Cable - Blue 0.6m £5 each

Total inc vat + delivery £529.78


Leaving me with around £170 for a moniter. I'd like a 22 inch widescreen, but not sure which one to go for. I'm finding it quite hard to find comparitive reviews on the web. Thought about these as a few possible options...

LG L226WTQ-SF TFT Monitor 22" 2ms 3000:1 widescreen Black/Silver DVI-D, VGA £179.17

Iiyama PLE2202WS-B1 22"TFT Monitor 1000:1 5ms DVI £189.99

Viewsonic VX2240W LCD Monitor 22" 5ms Silver/Black £205

Samsung SM226BW 22" Widescreen TFT Monitor 1680x1050 3000:1 300cd/m2 2ms VGA/DVI Black £210.07

Samsung Pebble SM2232BW 22" TFT Monitor Widescreen 1680x1050 3000:1 300cd/m2 2ms VGA/DVI Gloss Black £213


I've read good reports about the Samsung SM226BW, but also quite a few about quality issues. Is the the Pebble the same panel, but in a different shaped case,? Price would make me lean towards the LG, the spec doesn't seem bad, but can't find any more info about it on the net.

Is there anything I've missed in the build? Do I need a thermal paste if I'm buying a retail chip and heatsink?

I'm going to stick with XP for the time being and maybe look at upgrading to 4gb and vista 64 next year when there is service pack out for it.

I'd also like the machine to be as silent as possible although I think the two noisest components will be the CPU fan and Graphics Card, which I'll have to live with until I have some more funds. Changing the CPU heatsink and fan should be simple enough, how hard is it change the fan on the graphics at a later date?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Good build. You don't need those cables though, the motherboard should ship with everything you need.

The CPU is overpowered for everything under the sun but everyone builds that way. The GPU is nice and at a decent price. I'd go with Samsung spinpoints for noise but WD have been getting very good writeups recently. Case and PSU are good quality ones. Might be worth getting a nicer keyboard, if you spend a lot of time using your computer then it's worth shelling out for a half decent one.

Monitor? They're all decent ones as far as i know but i'm well out of the loop on that side of life.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Thanks mate. I've just seen that ebuyer have got the Inno3D 8800GT back in stock...seriously tempted.

 

[Addy]

You will be pushed to beat Samsung monitors, but if you want a cheap good quality 22" then the Hanns-G HG216 is a good buy.
I bought one 15 minutes ago for £155 from the local pc fair.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Not at that money you shouldn't be. Performance is better but not £60 better.

 

[Jambooboo]

This looks a decent deal...

Clicky.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Not bad but the CPU is slower (you have to know what you're doing to get any advantage out of Quad core) and the GPU is little better than onboard. It'll probably be louder, but does come with Vista and won't take you a few hours to build.

 

[Addy]

Monitor

I'm impressed for the money....

and thats with the protective film still on.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I'd heard the 8800 GT was quite a stonking card, but found it hard to do direct comparisons as have seen no comprehensive benchmarks of the latest cards. If anyone knows any?

Worth saving 60 quid? I'd like to be able to run stuff at the native res of 1600x1050, but if the 3850 will do what I need then it might be worth buying that and saving the cash for the next upgrade.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151&p=6

3870 but there's the 3850 in there too.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

However a bit of digging shows that Overclockers are taking preorders for a 8800GT (256) for £130, +£25 means that it's worth thinking about.

 

[Sunray]

That 256Mb GT looks great as its the same as the 512Mb performance wise.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

They've been taking them for about 3 weeks now and I want to order tonight. That and I swore I would never use them again.

Thanks bob, looked like you kept me in budget.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

I'd call them to see when they're expecting delivery, but they never answer their phone. I'm deeply tempted by that card myself. If not then the 3850 is as fast as a 2900XT, cool running and not too loud. A very good card (and is the other one i'm thinking of buying).

 

[UnderOpenSky]

yeah thats one of the reasons i wont buy from them - that and taking 4 days to respond to an email

 

[Sunray]

That 3850 at just over 100 quid looks the biggest bargain, its about 85% of the speed of the 8800GT at nearly 50% of the price.