New Build: Advice Please

[a_coppard]

As you may have guessed, I am about to drop some of my cash, on a new build, to replace my rapidly dying desktop. Cost is an important feature to me, and have around £800, £900 on a strech to spend on this, which I am trying to make last as long as possible.
So, the list of components, along with what I've been thinking about:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 OEM / Retail (undecided on which version. What about a Q8300, just if the L2 Cache is a big problem, and overclockability)
Scythe Ninja II with 120mm Fan for cooling.
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3 Motherboard.
4GB (2x 2GB) Corsair DDR2 800MHz Memory
512MB Sapphire HD4850 Graphics
520W Coolermaster Modular PSU
2x 500GB Western Digital Caviar Green 16MB drives, or 2x 500GB Seagate Barracuda drives, depending on which is cheaper at Scan.co.uk on ordering (running in RAID 0 or RAID 1 not decided)
19" monitor to go dual with my current 19".
Vista Home Premium SP1 (having Vista over XP, definitley).
Wireless PCI Card, Optical Drive and cooling fans are also in the basket and using current case, takes price to £825. I'm not to sure on motherboard, as the one I wanted just got discontinues (the DS3R). I do like the look of the iP45 based Asus boards, but, the power placement isn't really placed very well. So ideas? Oh, and it must come from Scan.co.uk (parent's only like the one place ordering idea)

Thanks for any advice etc,

Adam

 

[e6600]

i think thats a fine 775 build, but did you want to try AMD?
im pretty sure you can get much performance with your budget with a 940be/am2+ system

 

[a_coppard]

A Phenom based system has crossed my mind. I'll have a go at building it, but I do prefer Intel, and all but 1 PC I've ever owned has been Intel based, as I feel they are the better processor. I am open to suggestions though, as this PC need's to last a long time and OC well!

 

[LilBuddy]

Q9550
Gigabyte UD3R or UD3P
4gb PC8500
640gb WD HD
ATI 4850

 

[a_coppard]

That's a nice build, but pushed the price to the real top of my budget. I could probably cut back on the motherboard, but I don't think it's viable really with my budget. With that, the basket is £886.55, but, I guess is probably a little more future proofed.

 

[a_coppard]

How about a nVidia 9800 card in place of the HD4850? Prices are similar, and they perform similarly.

I'm also going to stick with the Q6600, everyone seems to love it, it's a rock stable CPU and has more L2 Cache, higher multiplier etc. than a 45nm Quad.

 

[ou_phidelt]

To cut back I would first look at the ram. It way to fast for this application. The speeds it can run at are just not likely to be hit in tis build The Q9550 is a very venerable chip. If you want to save money with chip take a look at the Q9450 and Q9400. Both very nice chips. Laslty if you ended up with a Q6600 you still have a good chip capable of high clocks.

I would keep the 4850 over the 9800GT.

 

[LilBuddy]

If you aren't gaming a lot go with a 9800 or 9600GT. They are under $100 and have good rebates on them.

A Q6600 also can't clock as high as a 45nm quad.