Another New PC Thread

[Astarael]

I'm at the point where I have the cash and I'm just reassuring myself there's nothing I'm missing before i buy, so the obvious place to get some professionals to go over the spec's quickly is here :D

Basically I wanna know if there's any obvious improvements that won't cost much, or if anything isn't going to perform at it's highest spec because of some other component. I plan on overclocking the processor to 3.33 or 3.66.

Opinions on the graphics cards are more than welcome. Gamewise, my PC only see's MMO's and RTS, maybe very occasionally an FPS. I do alot of work in photoshop and 3dsmax. Tomshardware seems to rate the nvidia card higher for all gaming applications wheras the ATI is better for the graphics stuff. Any opinions either way on this?

Lastly, i'm led to believe the driver issue for nvidia cards/vista and ffxi has been fixed, so i'm hoping there'll be no issues there.

Spec:
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Processor i7-920 (4 X 2.66GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache

Memory (RAM)
6GB CORSAIR XMS3 1600MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (3x2GB)

Motherboard
ASUS® P6T DELUXE V2: DDR3, 2-Way SLI & CrossFireX on Demand

Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium 64 bit Edition + SP1, CD & Licence (£78)

Memory - 1st Hard Disk
300GB WD VelociRaptor® SATA 16MB CACHE (10,000rpm)

already have 2 500gb 7200rpm disks to go in also, for storing all my media.

Graphics Card
2GB ATI RADEON™ HD 4870X2 PCI EXPRESS

or 1792MB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX295 PCI EXPRESS for about £40 more($65)

Network Facilities
WIRELESS N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)

Power Supply & Case Cooling
800W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£89) (Special Offer)

Processor Cooling
ASUS TRITON 81 PURE COPPER BASE ULTRA COOLER (£49)

[Olo401]

I see where you're going with the Velo drive here (a fast boot drive for the OS and your dual 500s for storage).. good call.

Either way on the video cards I think you're fine since you're not going specifically for FPS or folding@home type stuff.

As far as heavy graphic design type-stuff, there are actually specific graphics cards designed for that like the ATI Fire and NVidia Quadro. The difference between those and the Radeon/GeForce lines is.. how to say it.. they're designed more for accurate quality drawing rather than FPS.

[njitjk68]

I suggest you not buy Vista right off the bat.

Grab Windows 7 RC 64bit and use that until it comes out and buy Windows 7 (supposedly RTM is being released by end of this year).

So far Windows 7 RC is pretty reliable. You should try it out first and if you have a program you absolutely need that doesn't work (which I haven't heard of too many not working), then you should think about buying Vista.

[Minions]

I do not know which model of memory you are getting however, there is currently a deal on OCZ Platinum that you may be interested in. Ends on 5/25.
Newegg.com - OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

promo code: EMCLSMX33 for an extra $5 off. (memorial day sale). After MIR that makes the ram 70 for 6 gigs.
CAS 7
Timing 7 7 7 24
Pretty close to what all of the versions of the ram you listed offer other than the $134 one.
Newegg.com - 6GB CORSAIR XMS3
Which is 7 7 7 20 instead of 7 7 7 24 like the above ram. Just thought you might be interested in saving 70 bucks.

[Astarael]

It's all pieced together from what was available on a "you pick from the parts we offer and we'll build it and install everything" website, they only offer the one brand of RAM.

I live in the UK, extra shipping fees would probably negate any deals I'd get on the RAM from newegg anyway.

I'm thinking about going for the geforce card atm, purely because I've only had a few niggling problems with them, but mostly alot of success.

I think i'll go with the vista for now, purely because they'll install and set everything up for me. It's not that i'm incapable of it, I'm just happy to spend that little bit more to satisfy my laziness. I will look at Windows 7 when it comes out later this year, as i'm on a computing course in university they'll offer me a full version of it free, so no cost problem there.

Thanks for the input!