First Gaming System *Mid Range* Sub £750

[fub4r69]

So, I'm looking for any advice, tips, pointers as to which components to choose. So far I have been researching, and put together this list. If you want to work out the prices in dollars, it is approximately doubled I think.

Case

Coolermaster All Black Elite 330 Mid Tower Case - No PSU
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146337
£29.99

A nice looking cheap case with good cooling. I think this is a good choice. Although what I am not sure about, is whether I will need to buy additional fans to fit in the case, or will the current fans be sufficient?

PSU

OCZ Stealth XStream 600W PSU - SLI Ready ATX2.2 12cm LED Fan
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861
£49.17

I am happy with this PSU. Unless you guys think it's crap!

Hard Drive

Maxtor 500GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm *32MB Cache* - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141471
£47.03

Ok, I'm unsure about the hard drive but this Maxtor one looked ok to me. My dad has always used Maxtor hard drives and he says he has had good experience with them. A nice price though.

Motherboard

Gigabyte GA-P35-S3G iP35 Socket 775 6 channel audio ATX Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/141600
£51.01

I wanted a decent motherboard without crossfire. It's socket 775 so it should take a core 2 duo proccesor I think. One question I have however, is whether some graphics cards take up 2 PCI x16 slots or not. Because this motherboard only has one PCI x16 slot. I might consider getting a HD 4850 or wait for the 4870 if it doesn't take up two slots.

CPU

Intel Core 2 Duo E8200 Socket 775 (2.66GHz) FSB1333 6MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139967
£111.97

Good enough for my gaming needs I think. I was considering spending £15 more for a Quad Core, but I am not sure if game performance is improved significently enough using a Quad Core.

Graphics Card

Sapphire HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145524
£124.95

Right, as far as graphics cards go I've heard ATI are the best for £100 - £150 ($200 - $300) range graphics cards. Am I right in thinking this? Also is the 4850 a good choice, or is a good idea to wait for the 4870. If I wait for the 4870 how much more will it cost?

RAM

Corsair 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-18) Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130429
£64.78

Cheap RAM PC2 - 6400. The motherboard I have chosen can take PC2 - 8500 but are the performance gains worth the extra $?

Monitor

Samsung Syncmaster SM2043NW 20" TFT Monitor 1680x1050 8000:1 5ms 16:9 VGA
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/142612
£139.99

I really don't know much about monitors. But I wanted a relatively cheap widescreen monitor that also has a good image quality. Is this a good enough monitor for gaming?

Total Price of
£717.59
(Around $1400)

Includes price of £98.70 for vista.
(Mouse, keyboard, speakers etc. I already own)

I really don't want to spend more than £750. The main question is whether the parts are:
1) Compatible together
2) Good enough (bearing my budget in mind, can I get substantially better components for small price increase)
3) What I need

Thanks for reading this if you have read this far, I really appreciate it and hope you can answer some of my questions.

 

[major53]

fub4r69 looks like a good biuld to me,the only thing is make sure the ram will work with the motherboard,if motherboard says it will work with 1.8 or 1.9 volt ram us that ram with motherboard,all mother board site give you a qvl (qualify venders list) mine was not on the list but the board supported 1.8 1.9 volts and I knew I could get it to work right.all the rest of the part look good.hope this helps you out.lol and no psu is a good one,had a friend to buy one and still has it I went went with ozc 700.two year so far.

as far as the case I went with case that has side window,I want to know if 1 of the fans has stopped and giving problem instead of takeing side off to see.just a thought

 

[100]

I am currently building a very similiar PC.

I am paying the extra £15 for quadcore (it only adds a couple of FPS in games but I often tab between games/IMs so it will be fairly useful).

As for the graphics card. I am waiting for someone to release a card with better cooling. Asus look like theyre bringing out a 4850 with a better active cooler. Im just a bit paranoid about the card running so hot (about 60-70C idle on reference models).

Im also thinking about getting the same screen (purely because I saw it was fairly cheap at ebuyer). I was looking for reviews when I stumbled upon this =p