First build, low to mid budget

[railfrog]

Need a bit of help here guys.

This will be my first build from scratch and although i know in my mind what i want, finding it is a different matter as there is so much to choose out there.

Budget is £500 (GBP).

Need a rig that will play games ok on medium or high settings.
The best graphics card i can afford. Dosen't have to be SLI or Crossfire.
Looking for a case aswell. Thinking of getting a good(ish) case so i can upgrade components in a few years time. Been looking at Antec 900. Might be able to get one on ebay for a bit less money.
Erring more towards Intel rather than AMD.
Core 2 duo or better if budget allows.
2+ gig ram.
Want a good power supply. Again a good one that will be ok for upgrades. Been looking at OCZ PPC 610 watt silencer. Going for a good single rail rather than multiple. ( Modular or not? Thoughts? )
200+ Hard disk. ( Is raid worth it? )

Need a set of components that will work well together for a couple of years.

ANY suggestions will be most appreciated. Even ones from across the pond then i can see what price they are here.

[BipolarBill]

No RAID 0 please. You're better off with one Raptor hard drive if you want speed. Whatever you do get, back it up. A second hard drive should be used for backup - not RAID 0. RAID 1 is fine for recovery in case of a failed hard drive, but it's not backup.

I thought that you just upgraded your PC?

[railfrog]

Thanks Bill

Never got round to upgrading this one.....other things keep getting in the way.
Installed the OS and was going to change the vid card but it didn't work out that way.
In a position ( in about a months time ) to build a new one.

Edit: Raptors are expensive over here. £100 for a 74GB

[railfrog]

OK....Is this any good?

CASE Antec 300 Case
PSU Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2
MOBO P5Q PRO
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 LGA775 "wolfdale" 3.0GHz
GPU Asus ATI Radeon HD 4850 512 MB GDDR3
HDD Western Digital 640
MEM 4GB Corsair Dominator



Edit...Updated list. 10th november 2008

[BipolarBill]

As you Brits are so fond if saying, splendid!

You may want to stretch for the Western Digital 620GB drive. It's awesomely fast.

You have an original ME CD available? You will need it to install that XP upgrade.

Modular PSUs are nice, but it's "gilding the lily". The current thinking is that single rail is the way, but it doesn't matter if the PSU is a good one.

[railfrog]

Thanks again Bill..

XP installed on a clean hard drive....didn't need the ME disk


Is that the "caviar" type?

[BipolarBill]

Funny - that was an upgrade I sent. You must have been prompted for the old CD...

Actually, it's the 640GB Caviar SE16. It's gotten great reviews.

[KarmaKiller]

I agree. Go for the WD 640Gb drive. They are damn fast.
Also, the 4850 is faster then the 9600GT. But they are both good cards. If you got the money though, go for the 4850.
And if you go the 4850 route, get a different Mobo. The 680i is good for SLI, if your not gonna be running SLI, then a P35 is a better option. The chipset runs much cooler, able to OC higher in general also. I found this board on a quick search:
BT Shop - MSI S775 Intel P35 ATX Audio Lan (P35 NEO2-FR)
I can personally vouch for this. It is a solid Mobo. I have one running my E6320 rig, and it'll clock that to 3.6Ghz without breaking a sweat. That's almost the limit on the 680i boards though.
But if you do get that board, make sure you get 1066Mhz RAM. It really likes fast RAM.

[#43 fan]

4850 is a great card. Playing all on my games on uber settings (they're a few years old, but still). Only issues are heat and drivers aren't fully optimized, yet.
Power Supply should be ok.

[railfrog]

Originally Posted by BipolarBill

Funny - that was an upgrade I sent. You must have been prompted for the old CD...

The XP disc gave a few options. Upgrade or new install. Formatted c: then chose new install. Works fine.