Build Advice i5/i3 + Nvidia build in New year

Hi,

I've been looking at doing a new build recently and a friend recommended I ask you guys for some advice.

I've built two before, but despite research - I always seem to get left behind when it comes to picking the right stuff!

Budget:
I have a budget of £550 - this excludes hard-disks and a case. I have two SATA drives and an antec 1200.


Main uses of intended build:
Gaming, but the odd bit of photo manipulation, virtualisation and video editing.


Previous build information (list details of parts):
Hard-Drives to be carried over, PSU is near death and only 550w.
Everything else is far too old.



Monitor resolution:
1920x1200

Storage requirements:
N/A (using old drives)

Will you be overclocking: Maybe - if I don't have to mess with voltages and have a good coolder.

Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): USB3, Might use SLI.

Parts required:
CPU
I'm looking at getting an i5 or an i3. I did consider an AMD, but apparently their best chips are being beaten price/performance by the i3's and i5's (not to mention heat). But I wouldn't rule out getting AMD (all builds have been AMD so far).

I've actually postponed my build till sandybridge comes out. I am aware that if it does come out, I'll likely have to buy the top-end to over-clock (unlocked multipliers) for each generation.

i3's are due in Feb, i5's in January.

Whilst I don't really over-clock much, if I'm not messing with voltages, I probably wouldn't mind over-clocking a little.

Cooler
If the budget allows - I'd rather not use the stock cooler, but go for something a bit better Doesn't need to be extreme as I don't massively over-clock.

I'd rather the build wasn't TOO noisy.

Motherboard
USB3 is essential and SLI would be nice, but not essential.

RAM
I've had over-heating problems with RAM in my old case. Used to cause freezes, especially in the summer. No real constraints here (I held a 12mm fan in place to keep the RAM cool and that did the trick

Graphics Card
The graphics card MUST be Nvidia due to problems I've had on Linux (I dual boot and do a bit of gaming in both).

I was thinking of twin 460 GTX, but I hear they're holding back the 560's until sales drop a bit.

I was especially tempted by Gigabyte's 460GTX OC

Power Supply
PSU MUST come from a company with UK RMA centres.. I don't want to have to cough up a load of money to get it sent aborad for repairs.

I'll be dual booting Windows 7 and Linux (probably ubuntu).



I hope this isn't too much info!

 

If your budget will allow you to stretch to it a Noctua NH-D14 is a fantastic cooler, granted its a bit pricey but it really is brilliant as is the accessory package that comes with it, and it will JUST fit in your case, (i should know ) corsair ram is always a good choice when it comes to ram, fast reliable and well priced good warranty too.
Or again if you want something that bit more special, MUSHKIN, is bloody brilliant and there heat-spreaders work in perfect harmony with the Noctua, another point about the noctua is although its very good for over clocking, especially when you bump the cpu voltages up, if your not you can reduce the voltage with a couple of cables that come with it and the cooler is near silent, I heard the 1200's case fans over the cooler on full speed, let alone stepped down.
Thermaltake Frio is also a good choice for a cpu cooler. Hope that helps

 

Fully agree with you about using Nvidia and Linux! A question to everyone though: does SLI actually work in anything other than Windows?

 

thetrashcanman: Glad to hear the D14 will fit - that was a bit of a concern when I was looking into it.

Pete J: As far as I can tell.. yes, SLI does work on Linux. I've only used single GPU up until now, but Nvidia have improved a great deal on driver support these days.

 

yeah I have about a millimeter to spare, thats with the fan moved up to clear the ram I use, means you can't use the fan on the side window, but I never found that made much difference anyway, unless you have a stupidly hot gpu

 

The NH-D14 is a very good cooler, if a bit expensive. I run core i5 (not sandybridge) without any fans on the cooler, nice and quiet