Advice on new PC Build Spec

[mdtauk]

Ok, I will start off with listing my current spec...

AMD Athlon XP 1900+ - 1.4 GHz

MSI-6590 - Main Board

1536 MB Ram - 133.6 MHz

Sapphire RADEON X700 Graphics Card - 8xAGP - 256MB On-Board Ram

I am currently contemplating this spec...

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 - 2.4 GHz
ebuyer page

Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2 iG33 Socket 775 - Motherboard
ebuyer page

1x Corsair 512MB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-12) Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=98709

3x Corsair 1GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-12) Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=93557

Antec Nine Hundred - Gaming Case with 200mm Top Fan - No PSU
ebuyer page

Antec TruePower Trio 650W PSU - With 3x 12v Rails and 120mm Fan
ebuyer page

1x Seagate ST3250410AS 250GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 16MB Cache - OEM
ebuyer page

1x Seagate FreeAgent 500GB USB2.0 External Hard Drive 8MB Cache - Retail (for Backup Use)
ebuyer page

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium x32Bit OEM 1PK DVD
ebuyer page


TOTAL= £711.75

Firstly I want to know if its worth the price, I really can't afford to spend more than £700 on the components, and will be using my existing Optical Drives, Monitors, Keyboard, Mouse etc I also have 3 HDDs 2x 80GB and 1x 300GB which I may re-use or not...

Secondly, I am aware the motherboard and processor work in 64bit, but I use a lot of Adobe products, and have heard a lot of problems involving compatibility, so will this processor and main board work with my 32bit software, and importantly my Vista Home Premium 32x Edition, and maybe my current Windows XP Pro (which I may duel boot with for compatibility with software which didn't work when I was running the Public Beta of Vista)

Also, as this will be my 3rd ever building of a PC (my first burnt out during the 2004 hot UK summer, as I didn't have enough fans), if anyone can offer some specific advice regarding this group of components, or suggestions on good and cheaper suppliers, as well as what I may expect to see regarding performance boosts, and if it will be enough to satisfy the endlessly hungry beast that is Vista!

 

[mdtauk]

It was brought to my attention on other forums, that I had overlooked the fact my main board did not support AGP, meaning I need a new graphics card, and that I should perhaps go for an ATX sized one, as opposed to a microATX sized main board, AND taking away the 512MB Ram which seems superfluous.

Here is my current shopping list:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair)) Retail Boxed Processor
£146.01

Antec Nine Hundred - Gaming Case with 200mm Top Fan - No PSU
£59.98

Antec TruePower Trio 650W PSU - With 3x 12v Rails and 120mm Fan
£68.04

Seagate FreeAgent 500GB USB2.0 External Hard Drive 8MB Cache - Retail
£72.27

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium x32Bit OEM 1PK DVD
£52.34

3x Corsair 1GB DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory Non-ECC Unbuffered CL5(5-5-5-12) Heat Spreader Lifetime Warranty
£89.34

Sapphire X1550 512MB DDR2 VGA TV Out DVI-I PCI-E Graphics Card
£28.92

Asus P5N-E SLI 650i Socket 775 PCI-E Onboard Audio ATX
£59.74

Seagate ST3160211AS 160GB SATAII 2MB Cache 7200RPM - OEM
£27.14



£709.48

Are there any issues people can foresee with this setup?

 

[Doomulation]

I don't see why you'd want such a small hard drive, what with them being so cheap and all. You get almost best value for the money around 500GB. Btw, why don't you throw Vista into the trash bin? Don't need it, especially if you have XP.
A motherboard is a motherboard and a processor is a processor. Do you honestly believe a motherboard can't handle 32-bit? Nor do I. It's about the processor internals that matters with 64-bit.
As for pricing, well, pound is somewhat difficult to translate, so I have no idea if it's good value for the money or not.

 

[t0rek]

I would not recommend that ATI card, maybe a newer nVidia card, like a 7600 GS/GT or a 8500GT/8600GT depending on your budget. Get a bigger internal HDD, a 250 will be good IMO. You still have the external one...

 

[yegosimo]

why don't you throw Vista into the trash bin? Don't need it, especially if you have XP.

I was about to write the same..

 

[t0rek]

I pirate both Vista, and XP, for example, so no money problems. We can't discuss how to get them here, it's up to you, I'm not encouraging you to do it...

 

[Chibi Nick]

He did say that he had a 300gb HDD(and a couple others) he may reuse for this system... so I don't see why he would really need much more hdd space.

Are you a big gamer? The video card will be lacking for newer games and whatnot.

Vista works well for me. I don't see what other people have against it. Probably the same people that used to say they would never switch to XP and always stay on windows 98.

 

[Doomulation]

It's not that I'm saying Vista is bad, but is it worth the money? Probably not. XP works just perfectly fine.
Hence, the money spent on Vista could be saved and put to better use.

 

[revl8er]

Drop the internal HD and the External and just go for something like this.
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/124228/rb/0

Unless you are planning on moving the external around from pc to pc then you really wont need it anyways.

Also, instead of going for the x1550 you can drop that and get this one
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/132313

With the money you save if you drop the external and internal and get the internal I showed you, it should be in your price range.

I would also recommend dropping Vista for XP since XP seems to be more stable at the moment. Also if you are going for gaming, XP will run most games faster.