BleepingComputer.com: My First System =D

Hey guys,
I'm hoping to build my first system ( =O ) at some point soon-ish, and I'd like to know if:
1) they are compatible with each other and fit in the case
2) how much power they'll need - I can't find it anywhere myself =S
-Also, the case has a 120mm fan and the GPU has cooling - will I need any more?
These are the parts I've chosen thus far (with links):

Case:
Coolermaster RC-330 Elite Blk/Silv Midi Tower Case w/o PSU - Link

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, S775, 45nm Wolfdale, 3 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB Cache, 9x Ratio, 65W, Retail - Link

GPU:
896MB XFX GTX 260 XT 55nm, 2000MHz GDDR3, GPU 621 MHz, Shader 1350 MHz, 216 Cores - Link

Memory:
4GB (2x2GB) CorsairTwinX XMS3, DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333MHz), 240 Pin, Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, DHX - Link

Mobo:
Asus P5QC, iP45, S 775, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2/DDR3 1066/1333/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX - Link

Hard Drive:
500GB Western Digital WD5000AACS Caviar Green, SATA 3Gb/s, IntelliPower, 16MB Cache, NCQ - Link

Optical Drive:
Sony DRU-870s 24x DVD±R, 12xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RWx6 ,12xRAM SATA, Black, Retail - Link

These all come to £503.78 (US$827.41).
Please bear in mind that I'm from the UK (so nothing from newegg, which i've seen is popular) and I have a decent but limited knowledge of computers.

Looks good, no real criticisms. Good overclocks on that CPU.

I don't know your budget, or future upgrade plans.
Memory- try to find the best/highest performance at the lowest voltage. In the future the memory voltage will likely be limited as it is for i7 users (1.65V max). With the current P45 chipset you can overvolt the DDR3 to as high as the memory manufacturer specs. Future Intels (P55) have the memory controller on the CPU and may face the voltage limitations of the i7. If by some chance you want to carry over parts to a new build, it is just something to keep in mind.

Check the Asus site to see if there is "memory compatability" chart.

The only real fit concerns are if the length of the videocard will cause problems. That I don't know.

If you intend to overclock that CPU, better cooling is almost mandatory. Someting like a Xigmatek S1283 or something similar is an economical choice. If you aren't overclocking, then stock cooling will suffice.

PSU- a 500-550 watt is more than sufficient. Try to stay with quality stuff Antec/Corsair/Seasonic etc.

It looks good, but I'm not sure if buying DDR3 RAM for that motherboard would be cost effective or increase performance that much. You may be better off using DDR2 RAM with that motherboard. Also, an AMD system may be less expensive, depending on the country and the retailer.

Thanks for your suggestions guys =]
I just looked on the nvidia site to find the graphics card's dimensions, and it said that its minimum power requirement was 500W. So if I want to power anything else, I might need a more powerful PSU... it was also 7 cm too big for my case without the mobo... so I think I'll get a less powerful GPU and a bigger case...

I have chosen the 1.5GB XFX 9600 GSO, with 800MHz GDDR2, GPU 580 MHz, 1450 MHz shader and 96 Cores (Link1; Link2)
My new case will be the Cosmos (Link), though it is a lot more expensive, it is big enough for a decent GPU. Plus, according to this review, it looks like an amazing case.

I've checked that it all fits now, but there's still the question of power consumption...
I've found: GPU 500W; CPU 65W.
But I can't find the power consumption of anything else after a while of hard searching. I'm gonna go for a 720W PSU (Link), judging by the components I do know and how much more there is to power - if anyone thinks I'll need more, please say so.
The price now comes to £595.51 (US$972.58)

And can anyone suggest a network antenna for a range of at least ~20m?

=P I've been stupid: I was looking at the length of the video card thinking that it would stick out from the mobo, but it actually attaches onto it via the side =P
So I'll stick with my original case as I prefer how it looks and it is a LOT cheaper.
Meaning that my current list is now:

Case: Coolermaster RC-330 Elite Blk/Silv Midi Tower Case w/o PSU;
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, S775, 45nm Wolfdale, 3 GHz, 1333MHz FSB, 6MB Cache, 9x Ratio, Retail;
GPU: 1.5GB XFX 9600 GSO, 800MHz GDDR2, GPU 580 MHz, 1450 MHz shader, 96 Cores;
RAM: 4GB (2x2GB) CorsairTwinX XMS3, DDR3 PC3-10666 (1333MHz), 240 Pin, Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, DHX;
Mobo: Asus P5QC, iP45, S 775, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), DDR2/DDR3 1066/1333/667/800, SATA II, SATA RAID, ATX;
HD: 500GB Western Digital WD5000AACS Caviar Green, SATA 3Gb/s, IntelliPower, 16MB Cache, NCQ;
CDD: Sony DRU-870s 24x DVD±R, 12xDVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RWx6 ,12xRAM SATA, Black, Retail;
PSU: 750W Powercool 80+ Dual 12v Rail V2.2 High Efficiency Black;
Plus:
Wireless card: WL-GI-600-11N - Dynamode 11n (300MBps) Wireless PCI Adapter.

And all at the delightful sum of £504.88 =O
So all that's left is - will I need any more cooling than the case's & GPU's?

Good system. Though, if you are gaming, I would go for a higher end GPU. If you want ATI, the HD 4770 or higher gives better results, if you want NVidia, anything higher than a GTS 250 or a 9800 GTX will work well. If you want to save some more cash, an AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 3.1 GHz. on a Biostar TA790GX A3+ motherboard (It gets good reviews) using 4GB (2x2GB) CorsairTwinX XMS3, DDR3 PC3-10666 will give similar performance for less money.

Actually I was hoping to stick to Intel, but I thought that with the system being so cheap so far, I could get a mobo with 2 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots, and here's what I found: Intel BOXDP45SG, iP45 Express, S 775.
Also, I have decided to get my original gpu instead of this less powerful one.
And thankyou for your suggestion of equally-good-but-cheaper memory, DJBPace07. I will get that instead of the other memory I had listed.
Finally, I've picked this sound card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 OEM PCI Sound card.
Changing the current price to: £600.87!

If anyone thinks anything wrong of this setup, please say so else I will have this as my final set of components and order & build =D

Why do you stick to Intel? Do you work for them? Do you get a kickback from them? I'm not saying the the E8400 you are looking at isn't a good processor, but it's no better than the one Pace spec'ed you which is 40 less (don't know how to type that currency lol, sorry).

If you are using Vista, especially Vista 64, ditch the sound card. It doesn't work in Vista. You'll get sound from it, but many if not MOST of the features will not work.

"Why do you stick to Intel?"

Because they are better then the cheap brand ???

Go to ANY forum & compare the number of "I'm having trouble with my [any model] AMD " compared to how many "I'm having trouble with my [any model] Intel" threads there are.

CPU's are like everything else, you get what you pay for.

I personally prefer to pay a little more for a better product instead of buying lesser quality because it's "cheaper" [that word says it all]

OK, I'll bite lol. I'm here. This is a forum. I don't see the glaring numbers you are referring to. I went through 4 pages and found 2 "my cpu doesn't work" related threads. In neither thread could one determine that the CPU was bum. In the first one the PSU was probably the culprit and in the second either the MoBo or the temp sensing software.

I have an intel q9450. It has (and came with) a bad temperature sensor in one of the cores. My MoBo is an nVidia 790i ultra. It came out of the box screwed up and I had to RMA it. Does that mean that all intel stuff sucks? Naw, I don't think so, just bad luck.

LOL talk about bad luck, my Thermaltake 1200 flamed out at 2 months and one, if not both, of my 9800GX2's is bum. The one I know for sure is bad is currently being RMA'd, when it gets back I'll pop it back in enable SLI and see if the other one is bad. My BluRay burner had the plastic nipple on the SATA power connector break off. So far, only my 2 HDD's, case, and RAM have worked as they were supposed to.

Anyways, I just haven't seen that AMD is inferior, quality wise, to Intel. The big difference had been in technology. Intel was ahead of AMD, but they allowed AMD to catch up. You'll hear the same "argument" about ATI vs nVidia. WHich is ""better?" It depends on what day you are asking lol.

I've never seen anything substantial surrounding the quality of AMD processors, unless you count their TLB bug. All processors have defects, even Intel ones. Quality control at both AMD and Intel are very good so there are few bad CPU's that find their way to market. A PC is a system and, as Deathstalker just pointed out, problems that many users think could be CPU related may be caused by other components. The choice between AMD and Intel boils down to this: AMD has better value vs. performance, Intel has better technology. This is especially true with the i7's, which there are no AMD equivalents. However, there is stiff competition between Core 2's and Phenom II's as the differences between the processors is mostly related to cost. There are fans on either side, but typically they are buying the PR from one side or the other.

DeathStalker,

You do realize the recurring nvidia in your failures ???

I'm not too sure about the bad sensor in your CPU.
Could be the motherboard .

Yeah, the bad sensor in my Intel chip is the MoBo. That's it. I KNEW I shouldn't have spent that there money on them there electrical testy thingy gadgets. And then to top it off, I downloaded that there Intel CPU testy software. Them high falutin' gadgets were just plumb full of dookey.

Just damn.............

I guess my system's alright, then... and I was thinking of waiting for Windows 7 to be released for real, though I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to wait that long... if not, then thanks for the advice about the sound card, DeathStalker =] - it's just whether or not I should get it anyway =S
And on that note, I'm not sure what OS i want... should I wait for Win7? Or get it running Vista? Whatever OS I use, it'll be 32-bit.

PS It's shift-3 on my keyboard(s) £££... and 'that currency' is the Great British Pound Sterling.

Man, if you can wait just a little while for the Win7 to release, I would do that. I don't know if you can still download the RC and how they handle licensing it after the official version releases, or I'd suggest going that route. I'll bet Pace or Fair know. I just think (notice I say THINK lol) that Vista is going to be orphaned quickly and receive minimal support until it is. I believe it was nothing more than a "hurry up let's get something out there" OS that really is little more than a Beta of Win7 that we PAID for lol. Although I downloaded the RC of Win7, I was just too lazy to install it. However EVERYONE that I have talked to or read online talks about how good it is and what an improvement over Vista. They all basically say it's Vista with a few minor changes and all the bugs worked out.

My shift3 key is the #, (which in Americaneese is a symbol for pound). There is a cheat sheet out there for extra script keys in Vista, but I keep printing it up and then losing it. Also, "That currency" is shorter to type than " the Great British Sterling Pound" and I am way past lazy so I go the short route lol.

Also, I haven't checked if Creative works in Win7. I saw they have drivers for the Audigy you were looking at, but that doesn't mean it works any better than in Vista. I doubt it since it is the same driver file for Vista and Win7. However, the features that DON'T work may not be features you use. Unfortunately, they ARE features I use, such as 5.1 surround, CMSS, Dolby, ect........ The sad thing is that they WOULD and CAN work, Creative just deliberately crippled them with their drivers.