Basically guys as im sure atleast some of you have read I plan on dumping a truck load of money into a new gaming rig pretty soon. Im no expert and figure you guys will know whats best so basically I come to you for advice on the specs. I am limited to this site as they have excellent customer service for the most part and I need to take advantage of the BNPL loan they offer.

Case: http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=25541

PSU:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=24645

MOBO:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=25430

CPU:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=25353

RAM2 lots for 4gb)
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=25517

GPU:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=25667

Hard Disk: (2 in RAID0)
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=23817

Optical:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=24688

Floppy+Card Reader:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=15855

Heatsink:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=23396

W/LAN:
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Perip...roductId=22105



Well thats what I have so far? Can Any of you guys or girls see any compatability issues that I may have overlooked? Also any suggestions to improve what I have here would be greatly appreciated, but I am limited to this site for the reasons stated above. I look forward to reading your responses.

It seems like you want to dump a buttload of cash into your new system and that is fine and dandy, but there are a few things that you can do to cut the price down a tad.

A.) The QX6700 really isnt a gaming CPU, it pulls about the same FPS when paired with a 8800GTX as a E6700. Yes, more games in the future will be multi threaded, however I doubt that even multi threaded games will utalize the full potential of a E6700 within the next 2 years. However if you are into graphic design and such using programs that utalize more than 2 cores then this puppy is for you.

B.) The Striker Extreme is a great mobo, not questions asked, however most of the features will not be used by the average enthusiast. I can see that you do not want to get into overclocking too terribly much due to the fact that you want to air cool, not water cool. This board is meant for extreme overclocking and such. It offers no benefit however on average OC's of around 500mhz and at stock, depending on wich site you read the reviw at, the board benchs about the same all around as motherboards $200 less.

Conclusion: Everything else you have listed will due you just fine. You just need to take into concideration what you are going to use this comp for. As you stated its for gaming so configure it for gaming, not workstation software.

With that said, I'd probably go with a E6700 for half the price and get the same performance in games.

The motherboard is up to you, but I really cant justify paying 2x as much for a mobo that benchmarks the same as most others for $200 less...

Personally with scaling back from the QX6700 and the Striker extreme to more "usable hardware" I'd take the extra cash and add another 8800GTX and have a serious 3Dmark06 killing machine. After all gaming prefomance is what you want right ?

If you get a E6700 and overclock it to 3.0ghz (a simple 340mhz OC) and have 2 8800GTX's there will not be many people that can touch you in gaming performance. Can we say 20,000 in 3Dmark06 ?

You can't just dump a bunch of money into a computer and except it to be awesome - a buttload of money helps, but sometimes a well-spent $500 can go just as far as a poorly spent $1000, and thats true for any price range.

For instance, single core cpus do just as good if not better than multicores of the same operating range, at least when it comes to single-instance gaming, and they're usually significantly cheaper. You can save 200 bucks on a video card by putting an extra 50 bucks into the motherboard, or 100 bucks into RAM, and your system will probably perform better overall.

Also, I can never stress this enough to people, a clean operating environment does more for a computer than any hardware ever will. Benchmarks don't mean anything if you got so much crap hidden away in the background (google desktop, media player, that god forsaken weather toolbar) that you're only running 50% of your cpu for the program that you WANT to run.

I agree with JimShady - some expensive parts are really only geared towards the enthusiast that wants to do crazy overclocking. Most of the high end cases and motherboards are build just for that reason, and if you're not one of those enthusiasts, why spend the money?

However I disagree with the tidbit on the cases. You can never run your componants cool enough. With 120mm fans being the norm for case cooling now a days long gone are the days of the 5 80mm fans that sounded like aircraft taking off.

Well guys thanks for the advice, basically I was told originally not to bother getting a 2nd 8800 GTX as unless I was getting a 30inch screen there was no point. I understand about the CPU now so thanks for that Jimshady I will seriously look into getting an E6700 instead, although just out of pure interest would a X6800 give me justifiably better results worthy of the price?

Also considering the mobo my plan was to eventually get into Overclocking and adding watercooling at a later date, am just limited to what Aria have to offer in that department at the moment and as stated am only using them in this build as I need to take advantage of there BNPL loan untill what im owed comes in. when it does i'll take advice as to what watercooling is best etc etc

I've never had a problem with cooling, in any case, with any processer, on any build. If i'm short on cash i'll go down to the local hardware repository and pick up an old case for 5 bucks and put a system in that. On dual cores you might need a little extra cooling, but thats a might, and usually only if its the higher end.

What i've found out is that the more fans you have the more air circulation you have, and the more air circulation you have the more dust builds up. When dust builds up, temperatures rise, and things crash. Its more efficient to just make sure the air entering your case is as cool as possible, and that exit air isn't allowed to recirculate and make your room warmer or at the very least the air space around your computer. For example - don't stick your tower under your desk next to your baseboard heating :P I know it sounds stupid but i've seen people do it and complain that their nine fans arn't keeping their C2Ds cool enough.

In my opinion exccessive cooling doesn't do anything that proper PC care can't do in the first place, such as regular dusting and overheating precautions.

When i buy higher-end cases I buy them for looks and ease of use, not cooling.