First Build - Audio Recording & Gaming

[AlkalinePuppy]

Hey, so I'm looking for a build that can confidently handle audio recording, editing and mixing as well as mid-range gaming. Going with Intel. My budget is £600, but I don't mind going over it by about £50/£60.

• Case - Cooler Master CM 690 - £50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119137

• PSU - Corsair 520 HX - £60 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139001
  (Using 24 pin ATX power connector in motherboard)

• Motherboard - Intel X48 ATX - £80 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16813121338R
  (Case has ATX motherboard compatibility) (Has Firewire slot for Firewire Audio Interface, as well as sufficient amount of USB ports)

• CPU - Intel Pentium E5200 - £40 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116072
  (LGA 775 Socket in motherboard)

• Hard Drive - Western Digital Caviar SE16 - £40 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136218
  (Using 1st of 5 Internal 3.5" Drive Bays in case)

• Memory - mushkin 3GB (3 x 1GB) - £70 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226031
  (Using 3 of 4 dual channel ddr3 memory slots in motherboard)

• CD/DVD-ROM Drive - LG Black 22X - £15 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136152
  (Using 1 of 5 External 5.25" Drive Bays and Sata connectors: 3.0 GB/s in case and motherboard)

• Sound Card - Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 - £20 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102012
  (Using 1st of 2 PCI slots in motherboard)

• Video Card - XFX GeForce 9800 GT 512mb - £75 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150316
  (Using 1st of 2 Mobo's PCI Express 2.0 x16 in motherboard)

• Ethernet Card - Intel GT Desktop Adapter - £20 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833106123
  (Using 2nd of 2 PCI slots in motherboard)

• OS - Windows XP Home - £50 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116511

I already have Monitor, speakers, mouse and keyboard.
Rough Prices from Dollars to pounds (I live in Scotland). Newegg totals at $910.69. Which is about £610 after rebates. Will these parts be compatible and work fine? Any cheap upgrades or money-saving downgrades that don't lose too much in terms of performance? Thanks.

Edit: Also, would it be worth shelling out a little extra for a 64 bit version of Vista, to be able to get more memory down the line?

[shadowpr]

I would go with a P45 motherboard that uses ddr2. Get an asus p5q.

For ram, get 2x2gb ddr2-800.

No need for an ethernet card, the motherboard has onboard ethernet.

As for vista 64, I like it. Just make sure if you use special programs that they are compatible. Also check to see if your peripherals have vista 64 drivers available.

[tomtoon]

Dude, newegg don't ship to us in the UK.

[AlkalinePuppy]

Damn, ok then. Forget Newegg.

Ok, so after finding online UK retailers I've decided to go with the asus p5q and ddr2 ram (thanks shadowpr), with are cheaper. I'm looking at Graphics cards and was wondering, does the Graphics memory have to be the same type of memory that the mobo uses? Most of the cards I'm looking at have ddr3, but I'm using ddr2.

[shadowpr]

The memory on the video card is completely seperate from the ram you install. They don't have to be the same at all. They have nothing to do with each other in that sense.

[tomtoon]

Dude I think you might want to take a list of mine that I made from eBuyer.
Really cheap too, add a graphics card aswell as mine one is out of stock at the moment

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (3.0GHz) 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/139971 £143.98

Asus P5Q P45 Socket 775 8 Channel Audio ATX Motherboard
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/145750 £88.39 (cheapest in UK)

OCZ Stealth XStream 600W PSU - SLI Ready ATX2.2 12cm Fan
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861 £55.69

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium - Licence and media - 1 PC - OEM - DVD - 64-bit - English
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/123067 £88.03

LiteOn 20X SATA DVD±RW/RAM Black, Beige & Silver Bezels Inc Nero - Retail
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/149314 £16.59

Casecom Black/Silver Mid Tower Case - No PSU - Front Blue LED 120mm Fan - With Side Window http://www.ebuyer.com/product/115480 £18.99 (I like this case but you can choose, there is loads, but none under gaming cases as there under Mid-Tower)

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800Mhz/PC2-6400 GOLD XTC Memory Kit CL5(5-5-5-18)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146049 £38.45

Seagate ST3500320AS 500GB Hard Drive SATA II 7200rpm *32MB Cache* - OEM
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130826 £47.99

Total comes to £498.11

[shadowpr]

Nice list tom. I would just stay away from Seagate hard drives for now. Switch that to a Western Digital Black, it looks good.

Add a 9800gt and it should work.

[tomtoon]

Ye I know forgot about that, as Seagate's should be fine in a few months(hopefully)

Funny you mention the 9800GT, I was going to get a Inno3D 9800GT, but it is out of stock at the moment.

heres the Caviar Black shadow is on about:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150246 £60.48

The list now comes to £510.59 without a graphics card (the seagate has gone down 2p so thats why its 2p less than it would have been)