Hello forum, not been here for a while! But here is where the helpful people live so here I have returned!

I want to build a new PC because this Athlon64 is so long in the tooth it's starting to look like a walrus. I'm not looking for cutting-edge, but second-rate low-cost components - last year's technology basically, with an eye for it being upgradable over the next few years.

I've spent a few hours wandering the Internet and I've chosen some stuff. Am I making any hideous mistakes?

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 275 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/...catid=56&subcat=1410
£156.99

Q8400 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/...1&catid=6&subcat=567
£125.99

Asus P5QPL-AM Intel G41 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/...&catid=5&subcat=1490
£39.99

2GB DDR2 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/...1&catid=8&subcat=813
£27.98 Corsair XMS2 2GB (1x2GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C5

320gb SATA-II http://www.scan.co.uk/Products...16MB-Cache-85-ms-NCQ
£31.40 Hitachi Deskstar P7K500 500GB SATA-II 16MB

DVD-RW SATA http://www.scan.co.uk/Products...W-x8-RWx6-SATA-Black
£15.74

Generic ATX case http://www.scan.co.uk/Products...TX-Case-Inc-450W-PSU
£21.17

Thanks for any replies!

The only thing that I would be concerned about is the PSU in the case. At that price it's most likely a genaric POS.

I'd recommend that you get the case w/o the PSU if possible, and get one of these:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products...-pin-5-year-Warranty

If you can't get it without the PSU, and you really like that case, then get it, but replace the PSU with the Corsair. Your system components will thank you for it.

The PSU is THE most important part of any system, and you want the best that you can get.

The only other thing that I see that might make a difference would be to go for this HDD:
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products...rpm-16MB-Cache-11-ms

However, that's not all that important. It's just that it's a 500GB one vs the 320GB that you listed, and only costs £4.57 more.

Well the CPU you have selected comes with a case. So you just want the other case, why not see if you can get the same processor or better for the same or less price?

Next, you'll need fans....A CPU fan and heatsink, and put as many fans in the case as it can hold to both drive air in and pull it out. My advice there is to have the exhaust fans be a little higher CFM then the intake. Yet whatever you do, do NOT rely upon the PSU fan to do the exhaust work for you. That was fine with 33Mhz CPU's, yet with that CPU, ram, GPU, HDD's and so on there will be a lot more heat in that very small case then you realize.

Lastly, don't forget minor things like a mouse, keyboard, and so on.

Congrats!

K2

thanks for the replies guys! Didn't realise the PSU was so critical, I'll take that on board. The only reason I selected that particular case was because it had a PSU already - I'll probably just Freecycle an ATX/mATX case then!

The case which comes with the CPU is a mini ITX case, ie a gimmick freebie the distributor ordered too many of. I thought it was still cheaper to get the CPU from overclockers, but I 've just found it for less on aria. Thanks!

For your setup I would recommend at psu of 500W minimum, the new vcards use a lot of power. I would also suggest a different case. I have an Antec 200 gaming case which cost around 40 pounds. It is very roomy which is important because vcards are getting bigger and it makes it easier to work on it. It also has lots of ventilation and it is very easy to add another cooling fan if necessary.

A mini ITX case is very small. Will it even fit a standard PSU and a card like the GTX series?
I would go for a different HD (2 of them), case, PSU (750W+)
Have a look around the UK Alternate site

Once you register you should have access to a PC Builder utility there that will check for compatibility issues.

Over here in the Netherlands they have very competitive pricing and a superb after-sales service. They are one of the biggest retailers in Europe with a huge assortment.

They should also have Upgrade kits (motherboard+Processor) for a low price.

There was already some very good advice re the PSU and HD type.

I don't want the mini-ITX case - it's just that a Q8400+mini-ITX from Overclockers costs the same (within 50p anyway) as a Q8400 from Aria or Scan. But it might be possible to have some fun with it. I've turned a few defunct household items into other things - old toaster into a flowerpot, handheld blender into a desk-lamp. might be fun to see what can be done with a pointless mini-ITX case. Else I could flog it on eBay for £2 and make a £1.50 profit!

Thanks for the recommendations, I've found a nice Antec case on the Alternate site which looks much cooler (aesthetically and thermodynamically!) than the one I'd randomly selected for the list above!

Well, you could put a Atom 330 ION mobo in there and use it as a HTPC/File server - they make very low-power low noise PCs with extraordinary performance. My ASRock ION 330 was intended to become a file server for my LAN, but I like it too much and use it as my main PC now. Being switched on 24/7 it will pay for itself within 1 to 2 years on power savings alone.

It's now a triple boot xp - seven - ubuntu 9.10. It even runs IL-2 with ok frame rates. No noise to speak of. ultra cool. ultra low-cost. Most of the time it consumes below 30 Watt. Maximum was 40 Watt when extremely stressed. And that took an amazing number of programs with extreme disk use. Core 0 is below 20 C all the time according to Speedfan. The CPU is seen as a quad core by all installed OS. (it's Dual core +Hyperthreading
).