So first of all. I'm Mike, Portuguese, 19 years old and currently studing. Long time reader, first time poster I've had my share of builds and mods, though never something too demanding or worth mentioning ^^ my current pc is a neat little watercooled amd, three or four years old. unfortunatly my motherboard is starting to fail so that brings me to this post Im changing the guard, and going for an intel build so far this is what I've got (prices are in eur) Im going with this PC mostly for gaming, media playback and then some rendering and image editing. That said: The graphics and PSU might come to work in two years time as I upgrade this into an i* I need alot of hard drive space. In addition to the 1T HD, Im adding two smaller 320gb HD's I have laying around. The antec three hundred might come to be my very first mod project ^^ complete with project log (frostwolf warrior) though I'll only get to it in about a months time So... critique and while your at it I'd love advices especialy on the motherboard and a neat exterior optical drive and an interior one option
You don't need an 850w PSU, and in two years time it's very likely you'll need less wattage than you do currently, look for something efficient and quiet. I'm using a super silent Zalman 750 for an i7 + 285OC + 7 Samsung 1TB spinpoints and it's fine.
Unless you're planning on using SLI, an Intel chipset motherboard will suit you better than an nVidia one. Have a look at the DFI DK P45-T2RS, or the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R. In general, the Intel chipsets are more stable and overclock better. The PSU is indeed overkill. It'll last through i7 and multiple graphics cards though, so if you're futureproofing it's a good choice. A Corsair HX620 though will power everything you have on there (and a fair bit more) for a significant amount less.
You could cut that build down by changing a couple of parts. Drop the Antec Sig 850 for a Corsair TX750, and get a 4870 instead, they are generally cheaper and are just as fast. A P45 board would be a better choice, while the 750i boards aren't bad, the nVidia boards are better and cheaper. An Asus P5Q Pro or standard P5Q are good boards.
The PSU is indeed a futureproff. When I decide to upgrade to an I7 and SLI, will 850 still be an overkill? This mb though is more like a patch, all it needs to do is hold for an SLI setup DDR2 memory wise, what would you recomend? 4 gigs seems like a good number, any particular 2x2g kit I should look into?
Which ever brand you prefer best? Generally just go for what fits with the budget, and you think is reliable. Corsair, ocz, g-skill, the list can go on and on
Corsair would be my favorite, I never had any issues with them, but OCZ and G-skill feature some nice kits too. Although in the end it all comes down to whichever kit features the tightest timings and decet overhead for overclocking (if I do oc my ram its def gonna be my first try, so I still need to read up on that)
okay so I jsut wanted to let you know that this build is currently on hold just cause Im fearfull of all the news comming and going. hopefully in about a months time I can make a more informed decision