hi fellas - finally time for me to reinvest in another rig - since this old faithful 7600gt is finally about to clock out, makin my screen all grainy and recently ive noticed a.. well, noticeable drop in fps.

so ye. im gna put up the rig im getting so that mebbe u can help me - and also the places im gettin them from. Im trying to get it around 600 pounds, but it guna end up being closer to 700 i think. as it is i took a preliminary price check and it came out at 661.61 pounds. since then prices on everything have risen a bit. so ye. if u kno i can get it cheaper somewhere else, or know that i can replace a part for something cheaper with no significant change in performance, feel free to tell me :) rly excited about this lool.
Here it is.

CPU:
www.aria.co.uk/Product...ctId=37674

MOBO:
www.ebuyer.com/product/174499

RAM:
www.overclockers.co.uk...=MY-224-CS

GFX:
www.aria.co.uk/Product...ctId=37461

PSU:
www.aria.co.uk/Product...ctId=34271

CPU COOLER:
www.ebuyer.com/product/190542

CASE:
www.overclockers.co.uk...=CA-110-AN

My uncle has already advised me to go ati instead of nVidia on account of price, but im still not sure because of thier reputation with updates and with games in general.

THANKS IN ADVANCE! IM LOOKING FORWARD TO READING YOUR THOUGHTS!!

Dave/Nitro

Hey mate, you don´t need 700 w power supplie for the gtx 260 and maybe corsair, be quiet or cougar is a better choice for power supplie. Look for energie efficience grade ( 80+silver ).
Gigabyte mainboard is always a good choice, but i think this board needs more cooling options like this one:
www.alternate.de/html/...ockel+1156
( just look at the coolers around the cpu socket ). If you take the ones with the "A" behind the P55 you have SATA3 and USB 3.0 on them ( good for the future!!!)
The CPU is a good choice, no Hyperthreading but ok.
Corsair RAM is always a good choice, but think about that the timings are more important than the clock speed.And with 4 GB you should use a 64Bit windows ( maybe windows 7 )
www.alternate.de/html/...=DDR3-1333
The leading cooler is
www1.hardwareversand.d...7&agid=669
with
www.alternate.de/html/...3=Standard
ore the bigger 140mm version, very quiet!! Maybe it is worth to wait till this sices are available with PWM ( 4 pin connection )
The case is a question of your taste,but remember, the more money you spend in cases they are stuffed with things like dust-filters, big vents removable mainboard tray and something like this, the more you invest in a good future ready case like:
www1.hardwareversand.d...631&apop=1
www.caseking.de/shop/c...13721.html
This case has a very, very good airflow ( and a superb optik )

For the graphics maybe it is worth it to wait a few days till Nvidias new Fermi is coming out, i think the prices will go down and you can get a better one for the same price. Since the HD5xxx series is out it is not any longer a question of ATI or NVidia, just your wallet and what qualitty or screensize you want/have. ATI is not any longer that power hungry like the old series and even quiter and cooler than Nvidia ( specialy if you choose own built cards and not the reference one of them.
In any way the GTX260 with the 2 vents is a good one. If you don´t wanna wait than take it.

Hope i could help you a little. But i think my thoughts are over your money limit.

PS: If you take Windows 7 you can take the full advantage of Hyperthreading and maybe take a core I7-860 :-)

hey baksmasher, you got a lot of stuff here! thanks! Originally i was going to stick with xp, hence using an i5 because xp doesnt support hyperthreading, but then i realised my ram wouldnt all work, so i opted for windows 7 instead. but i cant upgrade to an i7 - too expensive lol. apart from that, looking at what uve linked me to is interesting, like the motherboard and the ram you have there, and ill also look into the psu - how many watts should i get for cpu if not 700"???

thanks again

i should have done this instead of making you click links lol - sorry.
CPU:
Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) Processor - Retail
Quad Core Technology, 2.66GHz clock speed, 8MB L3 Cache, Dual Channel DDR3 Controller, 3 Year Warranty

MOBO:
Gigabyte GA-P55-US3L P55 Socket 1156 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard

RAM:
Corsair 4GB (2X2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit

GFX:
Arianet GeForce GTX 260 "Sonic Edition" 896MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card
625MHz Core, 1348MHz Shader, 896MB 2200MHz GDDR3 Memory, 216 Stream Processors, 1x Analogue, 2x DVI, 1yr Warranty

PSU:
OCZ StealthXStream 700W Silent SLI/Crossfire Ready ATX2.2 Power Supply

CPU COOLER:
Titan TTC-NK85TZ Fenrir CPU Cooler

CASE:
Antec 902 Nine Hundred Two Ultimate Gaming Case - Black

550 Watts ( ore corsair 520Watts ) is enough, more important is the energy efficience grade ( 80+ Silver or Gold ) and the Amperes of the supplie.

This one is enough to fire an HD5870!!!
geizhals.at/deutschlan...71399.html

I´ll check a magazine and tell you later what kind of CPU-cooler is better than your one for less money that I told you before.

In this magazine is a big Test of them.

that will be a great help - thanks! im gna try and put this post around other forums too - see if they can see any obvious mistakes ive made ;) thanks again

still not sure whether to go ati or nvidia - anyone seen a noticeable drop in price for ati since the new nvidia came out???

Hi, it seems that the Fermi is not that good and the prices will not go down for ATI as long as the HD58xx Series is not better available.

need help more than ever now!!
i got everything except my gfx card - and i was putting it all in my antec 902 - problem is that the cpu cooler i bought - Titan Fenrir V2 isnt fitting properly.. its sitting on top of my ram, and i cant attach the fan because of this - can i move the ram from slots 1,3 to 2,4? or am i allowed to rotate the cooler? im not sure how it would affect the airflow so im stuck

it sounds like you bought hte wrong cooler for the motherboard Dave.

The RAM slots are usually colour coded for the slots to 'prioritise', as the order is important. how many modules do you have to fit? Your manual of your motherboard will show you the configurations .. and I would stick to that as this effects the speed of the BUS. I'm not sure you will have a front side bus now as I think thats now on the CPU not the MoBo.. but again, the manual will tell you that.

The brackets may allow you to turn the fan 180 degrees ... but this may give you the same problem on the other side .. does it switch over to the GPU side then and make fitting that an issue? ( ie North to South or West to East)

I would n't worry about the airflow as much as the RAM being in the correct slots. You may have the option to have an internal 'surround' which links the CPU fan airflow directly to the back case fan (is it 120mm) but if you have top fans you sort of negate their use.

Is there chance you could put a good photo of the rig here?

i think putting up a photo would be best - ill do now

EDIT: The pictures - sorry about the glare on some of them - couldnt work out how to turn off the flash! - click to enlarge :)

Well you have the RAM in the white slots ... which may not be the optimum... but they are the correct matched slots ... so boot it up and see what timings you get on CPUZ

www.cpuid.com/

www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

you can't damage the RAM or Mobo by trying.

The only issues I'd have are:-

1 - is it optimal settings ... check manual to find if blue slots are preferred

2 - is the one module being displaced by the fan and therefore not seated properly

3 - is the heat from the fins of the fan going to effect the performance of the RAM ( I doubt it... but obviously the cooler it can operate the better).

I'd finish the build and give it a whirl... you can always get a new fan and sell that one. We sometimes learn by our mistakes.

believe me Dave, you wont be the first to make a mistake like that building a system... its that you are trying, and seemingly doing a pretty good job that is important ;-)

The frustrations you feel now are out-wieghed by the feeling of achievement when its completed ... so keep at it m8ty. More power to your arm

yh i guess - need to return the psu already cos its not powerful enough - but the only thing the manual says is to use slots 1,3.. nah that wasnt even my biggest sweat - the biggest one was working out how to use to heat sink paste they sent me. phew i had to take a shower after that believe me.

so ye - thanks for the help, you've settled my stomach a bit :P but i cant turn the thing on until i get a psu bought. and maybe the gfx card too even tho its not really essential.. i think im gna get a corsair 650/750/850 jus hoping it will actually fit in the case.

Normally Ram is required in Slot 1 to boot ;) and since its DDR you would need the other bank in slot 3 (Blue and white slots are for reference of matched pairs)

Regards Martin

ok - so has to go in slots 1 and 3 ... whats the best direction for this fan to be going in - do i have to re-do it?