PortableGamingBox for £650

[TheRocketSurgeon]

Hello,

I was hoping for some of the great advice i've seen handed out here at Tom's.
When i first found this site i had no idea how little i knew about computers, now i do!

One of the primary concerns for me picking a computer is the amount of travel i do; 3 days here, 4 there, etc, etc. Simple things like a handle really appeal to me. But if the noise from those wee fans pumping air through a tiny space is going to keep the neighbours awake i'll have to think again!

I know it's not the exact format for posting here but i think it covers everything and makes some sense.

Here goes....

Intended use:
Quiet/Portable/Single threaded Gaming/Budget Performance/Lifespan 1-2y/vista64/Linux/OC'ing

Rough Budget:
board £100
CPU £100
case £100
GPU £100
PSU £100
HD/dvd/memory/
cooling/etc £150

Total: £650

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/DFI-JR-P45-T2RS-iP45-Express-S-775-PCI-E-20-(x16)-DDR2-1066-667-800-SATA-II-SATA-RAID-uATX
DFI Mobo:£118

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Intel-Core2-Duo-E7400-Wolfdale-Core-S775-28GHz-FSB-1066MHz-3MB-Cache-105x-Multiplier-Retail
E7400:£100

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Silverstone-Sugo-SG04B-H-Black-uATX-aluminium-Case-w-o-PSU
S/Stone Case:£111

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB-Palit-HD4850-PCI-E-20(x16)-1986MHz-GDDR3-GPU-625MHz-800-Cores-2x-DL-DVI-I-HDTV-HDCP
HD4850:£107

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/620W-Corsair-HX-Series-Modular-SLi-PSU-ATX-EPS-12V-whisper-quiet-5-year-warranty-NEW-VERSION!
Corsair620w:£105

WD Black 650G, DVD/CD/RW, 4g 800mhz ram, Scythe CPU cooler
£150 (or there abouts)

Total: £691

A bit over budget, could just stretch to that, but not many nights out for a while.
I picked the board as it got ok reviews and can xfire, though i could save £50 here and get a single GPU board.

The CPU as it's quick and 2 cores is fine for the games i want to play now. If and when q9xxx prices come down i'll grab one.

The case cos its cheap(er than some), does what i need (small,has a handle) and Silverstone have had some decent reviews on other cases.

GPU seems fine for my needs. 1280x800 for now. I think i only want the 4870.
PSU, good reviews and its suggested that modular is easier for small cases.

The rest depends on final selections or are trusted reviews, mostly from here

Portability and quietness are a big issue for me. Really want to avoid a big case. But might have to for better cooling and noise insulation.
I have a laptop so this is just for games.

Upgrades will be CPU/GPU/Ram/PSU as needed then it'll become an emulator, kids comp, something like that.
First time build too!
I'd love to put an AM3 set-up together but i just don't think i could afford it.


Any thoughts, critiques, advice, funny stories or money saving tips would be most welcome,
especially about board, case and general budget allocation.

Cheers

TRS

 

[TheRocketSurgeon]

Oh i forget to say i'll be buying parts over next couple weeks

 

[xthekidx]

How about this? It will be better for gaming:
Mobo:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Gigabyte-GA-MA78GM-US2H-AMD-780G-AM2plus-PCI-E-20-(x16)-DDR2-800-1066-1200(OC)-SATA-3Gb-s-uATX

CPU:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AMD-Phenom-II-X3-720-Black-Edition-Sok-AM3-28GHz-75MB-Total-Cache-95W-Retail

Cooler so you can OC a bit:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Arctic-Cooling-Freezer-64-Pro-V2-(Socket-754-939-AM2)-plus-ALL-AMD-Opteron

You definitely don't need a 4870, a 4850 will be plenty for 12x8 resolution, most likely overkill. A 4830 or 9800GT would be probably enough.

 

[xthekidx]

The PSU you chose if overkill, try for the OCZ fatal1ty 550w or Corsair 520hx, it will be plenty.

 

[TheRocketSurgeon]

excellent!!

Thanks xthekidx. Saved me a bit of money there.
I wasn't sure about all the backward compatibility of Socket3 and 2+. The 720be sure is nice but is there more chips to come for AM2+ or is the 940 it?

I might stick with the 4850 just for playing at friends houses with big as TV's.

Any thoughts on cases?
I hope to order everything Mon night. First build. It's getting exciting!!!

 

[xthekidx]

AMD has said that all the AM3 chips that they release this year (including a 3.6ghz quad core I believe, like PII 995 or something like that) will be backwards compatible with the AM2+ socket.

 

[xthekidx]

You might check out the Cooler Master MicroATX offerings for cases, they are pretty reasonably priced. That silverstone is very nice, but awfully expensive too.

 

[TheRocketSurgeon]

Sweet.....and then could i make the switch at some point to drr3 with a just a mobo+ram upgrade? Now that would be fully sweet!

I'll do some price hunting for parts but my trigger fingers gettin real twitchy.

 

[TheRocketSurgeon]

Well a couple of interesting developments have appeared, i could get a 4870 for about £100 second hand, i'm thinking of deferring buying the case till i'm sure of one and getting a cheap/ghetto meantime case. £0 for an old grey box a friends mom is chucking out. And i've seen 4g of pc2-8500 at 2.1v 12 timings, i think, from a pawn shop i've used many times for £20 (2xGPU and 4xRAM for other ppl's comps).

All to go with the Gigaboard as suggested and pII 720be. Which frees up a bit of money. Where to put it? I'm thinking either get another WD Black and/or lots of cooling gear to keep it all cold in the wee shoebox i hope to find.