Help choosing a Core 2 machine

[tevildo]

Payday has rolled round again, and I'm looking to buy a shiny new computer :) Here's what I'm thinking of so far:

Motherboard: Not really sure yet...

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 (Allendale core) - this may be adjusted due to overall costs (I'd like to go a little faster...)

Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro

Memory: 2x512Mb Corsair DDR2 800MHz 4-4-4-12 (possibly to be added to next month :)

Power: 580W HiperPower Type-R Modular Blue PSU

Graphics: Cheapest PCI-E I can get just to get the thing running till next month.

Could anyone help me with motherboard selection. Well, and the rest really. I'm not sure how good any of that will be for overclocking... My total budget is around £500 (hence the cheap graphics so I don't have to skimp elsewhere).

Thanks

Tev

[Favu]

Well, I want the P5W DH for my next build, so, that's what I will recommend. And I would also recommend a different PSU - I have heared a few horror stories about Hiper Power PSUs.

[tevildo]

the p5w-dh does look good. And perhaps the 500W FSP Sparkle Blue Storm AX500-A for power?

[tevildo]

ok, there's no longer any 'rush' on this. To save wasting money on cheap gfx and ram, I'm putting the money aside til next month so I can spend £800+ hopefully getting a full system shiny from the start.

However, I would still like any advice people can give on what parts would be ideal and what things i should be looking for in the hardware.

Thanks again

Tev

[aghastpumpkin]

Get the 500 Enermax Liberty. Will be a far better PSU than a Hiper Power and its modular too and rather pretty.
The E6400 will be fine. You can overclock an E6400 to X6800 speeds. So I think unless you have a desire for a few extra megahertz, I think an E6400 would make you very happy.
As for mobo. Unless you are going to Crossfire, a P5W is a waste of cash. Save the pennies and go for a P5B instead. The only major difference is lack of crossfire support. The chipsets are otherwise identical. So it will overclock just as well.

[Wolf2000me]

Originally Posted by tevildo

ok, there's no longer any 'rush' on this. To save wasting money on cheap gfx and ram, I'm putting the money aside til next month so I can spend £800+ hopefully getting a full system shiny from the start.

However, I would still like any advice people can give on what parts would be ideal and what things i should be looking for in the hardware.

Thanks again

Tev

That's a good idea. Maybe a bit longer than a month may yield the best results. I know this sounds cliche but there are a few arguments I'd like to point out.

• Nvidia 8900 cards
  They are meant to compete against ATI/AMD R600 cards. Their release will be very close to the R600.
  the 8800GTS 320Mb priced at +300$ is looking good now though.
• ATI/AMD R600 cards
  Its release is likely situated for March, April or May. New cards means lower price for "older" cards. Bargains are sure to be made.
• AMD 65nm chips
  These are very nearly hitting the market. They are meant to compete against the Core2 duo Intel chips. But they will probably be better priced and won't be bad performing. Prices by both companies deserve your attention.

If you want to skimp somewhere, you might want to do that on the motherboard. I'm not telling you to buy the cheapest thing, but if you have no intention on running SLI or Crossfire you shouldn't be looking at the most expensive boards.
One with a mainstream LGA775 intel chipset will do just fine, both in terms of performance, durability and CPU overclocking. You probably won't be doing the more extreme stuff with it though.

[tevildo]

i am pretty sure i'm gonna be using crossfire, but i haven't made a concrete decision there, so i'll bear that in mind. i'll go look at cheaper boards now...