Vista - RAM Dilemma

haha well.... for his budget that is about the best he can pull.... if you can save just a little more though get a Phenom II 955 its only about 70 quid more , that won't hold it back

Nonsense...

I would 1st re-assess your budget...
Once done with that completely revise your new build.
Best thing to do is settle on a MBoard/CPU setup you feel will fit your needs.
Then start adding components 1 at a time keeping an eye on the budget...
For example if you plan on running 4G of RAM you don't need it for the build...scale back to 2G and spend the savings on a better vid card.
1HDD
1 optical drive
etc.

Components can be added later but the guts of your build i.e. the MBoard/CPU; vid card; and case need to be things you are satisfied with otherwise you will be chasing your tail forever.

And i'd forget about OC'ing for now and concentrate on the main build...

Best of Luck.

the video cards he picked are about the best you can get... haha

ok, i have got a new build. have listened to what you have said, and this is what i have come up with.
Novatech : BX80605I5750 Intel Core i5 750 2.66Ghz (Lynnfield) (Socket LGA1156) - Retail Quad Core Technology, 2.66GHz clock speed, 8MB L3 Cache, Dual Channel DDR3 Controller, 4.8GTs QuickPath, 3yr Warranty. : novatech.co.uk
Novatech : P7P55D DELUXE Asus P7P55D Deluxe Intel P55 (Socket 1156) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard : novatech.co.uk
Novatech : STM3500418AS Maxtor DiamondMax 22 SATAII 500GB 16MB Cache Hard Drive <8.5ms 7200rpm - OEM 500GB Capacity, SATA-II Interface, 7200RPM Spin Speed, 8.5ms Average Seek Time, 16MB Cache, 3 Year Warranty. : novatech.co.uk
Novatech : AD-5240S-0B Optiarc AD-5240S 24X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer DVD-RAM SATA Black - OEM 24x DVD-R, 24x DVD+R, 12x DVD-R DL, 12x DVD+R DL, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+RW, 2MB Buffer. : novatech.co.uk
Novatech : OCZ500SXS-UK OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply Designed for the value-minded gamer seeking simple, quiet performance, the StealthXStream offers reliability and feature-sets with a low price point. : novatech.co.uk
2x Novatech : 471846200-9559 Gainward ATI Radeon HD 4850 "Golden Sample" 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/ (PCI-Express) - Retail 700MHz Core, 512MB 2200MHz GDDR3 Memory, 800 Stream Processors, PCI-E 2.0, CrossfireX Ready, Avivo HD, 7.1 Audio, 2yr Warranty w
Novatech : VS2GB1333D3 G Corsair Value Select 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit 1333MHz RAM Speed, CAS 9-9-9-24 Timings, 1.8-1.9v VDIMM, Lifetime Warranty with Corsair. : novatech.co.uk
Novatech : IRIS BLACK Novatech Iris Tower Case - Black -NO PSU NO PSU OR FANS INCLUDED : novatech.co.uk

i know the gpu doesn't support dx11.


Dom


EDIT: i'll swap the two 4850's for one 5770.

wait, i am working on build with amd as well.


EDIT: i have just noticed intel tells each spec of processor : fsb, clock, multiplier, ram speeds and power usage. i found it easier to find parts that worked with each other.

ah ha!
amd might have won this round - -
Novatech : OCZ500SXS-UK OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply Designed for the value-minded gamer seeking simple, quiet performance, the StealthXStream offers reliability and feature-sets with a low price point. : novatech.co.uk
Novatech : AD-5240S-0B Optiarc AD-5240S 24X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer DVD-RAM SATA Black - OEM 24x DVD-R, 24x DVD+R, 12x DVD-R DL, 12x DVD+R DL, 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+RW, 2MB Buffer. : novatech.co.uk
Novatech : IRIS BLACK Novatech Iris Tower Case - Black -NO PSU NO PSU OR FANS INCLUDED : novatech.co.uk
2x Novatech : VS2GB1333D3 G Corsair Value Select 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit 1333MHz RAM Speed, CAS 9-9-9-24 Timings, 1.8-1.9v VDIMM, Lifetime Warranty with Corsair. : novatech.co.uk
Novatech : M4A79-T DELUXE Asus M4A79-T Deluxe AMD 790FX (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard AMD AM3 CPU, AMD 790FX Chipset, DDR3, Onboard 7.1 HD Audio, Gigabit LAN, 6x SATA, USB2.0, CrossfireX Ready. : novatech.co.uk
Novatech : 21163-00-20R Sapphire ATI Radeon 5770 1024MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI PCI-Express Graphics Card 850MHz Core, 1024MB 4800MHz GDDR5 Memory, 800 Stream Processors, PCI-E 2.0, CrossfireX Ready, Avivo HD, 7.1 Audio, 3 Years Warranty. : novate
Novatech : ADUHDZ965FBGIBOX AMD Quad Core Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3 - Retail True Quad-Core Technology, 3.40GHz clock speed, 2MB L2 Cache, 8MB L3 cache, AMD CoolCore Technology, AMD Cool & Quiet v3.0, 3yr Warranty. : novatech.c
Novatech : STM3500418AS Maxtor DiamondMax 22 SATAII 500GB 16MB Cache Hard Drive <8.5ms 7200rpm - OEM 500GB Capacity, SATA-II Interface, 7200RPM Spin Speed, 8.5ms Average Seek Time, 16MB Cache, 3 Year Warranty. : novatech.co.uk



yay! 3.4 ghz phenom, 4gb ram. please tell me what you think.

Dom

EDIT: some cooling as well... 2 of these

Phenom is faster the the I5........ go for it and all you intel fans.... no i'm not daft i looked up the benches.... and the I5 750 is slower than the Phenom II 965, plus you can overclock that Phenom really high with that mobo and it has quad cf if you ever use it

i'm not sure i will get as many fps as i wanted. all i originally wanted to do was play decent racing games that played well. (games like need for speed shift, forza 3, dirt 2.)
will this system be better than my other one even with no crossfire?

much much better... let me put it this way..... this system will eat pretty much any racing game you throw at it and then some
and if you wanted later you could add a second 5770...

Were the i5's overclocked in those benches?


psst - Forza 3 is a Xbox 360 exclusive