New build - your advice appreciated

As a personal project I intend to build myself a medium spec (can't afford top spec) gaming machine. Below I am listing the components that I am thinking of installing, and the price I can get the parts at. I would be interested in your responses regarding the suitability of these components and whether you think alternatives might be better. Obviously I am being cost concious so if there are any parts that might be considered OTT, or conversely, any that could be bettered (without spending a fortune) then please say.


Case

Antec Nine Hundred Two Ultimate Gamer Case

£99.00


PSU

Corsair TX Series, 650 Watt, ATX, PS/2, Power Supply,

£68.00


M/board
ASUS Crosshair III Formula - AMD 790FX - Socket AM3 - PCI-E 2.0(x16) - DDR3 1600(OC)/1333 - SATA II - RAID - ATX

£108.00


CPU

AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.40 Ghz 8MB Cache Quad-core Processor - Black Edition

£118.00


CPU cooler

Coolit ECO ALC


£52.00

Or alternative as I can't decide on whether to go with water cooling or air cooling (I don't intend to OC anything)

Zalman CNPS9900-NT CPU Cooler

£35.00



Memory

Corsair 4GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Memory Kit

£170.00

I was intending to fit two packs of the above making 8Gb total, however in order to save a bit of cash would I notice much difference in performance if I fitted just 4 Gb and used the 1333MHz memory below. This option would save me £120.00

CORSAIR 4GB 1333MHz CL9 DDR3 Memory Kit

£50.00



Graphics

Sapphire HD5770 Vapor X Graphics Card

£125.00 (Would 2 of these make a significant difference in gaming performance in the crosshair Mboard)


Optical drive
Samsung SH-S223C 22X SATA Dual layer DVD Writer DVD±RW Black

£16.00


Monitor

BenQ,G2420HD 24 inch Widescreen LCD Monitor (HDMI, DVI-D, 5ms,Glossy Black, 1000:1DCR, Vista Premium, Senseye +Photo)

£157.00


I have 3 x 250 Gb sata HDDs in my existing machine that I intend to transfer to the new machine. OS will be Win 7 professional 64 bit. Question: Will I be able to boot the new machine directly from these hard drives. One contains XP pro and the other Win 7 pro 64 bit.

Total cost
£913.00 however if I went for the alternative cooler and memory I could get the total cost down to £776.00

Your comments/advice would be appreciated.

looks ok to me..

the case is a beaut - got one meself - looks really cool in the dark..

- also, I'd stick with the 8GB RAM - 64-bit is the incoming thing..
you will get access to all of it and, believe me - you will notice the difference..

..go for the cheaper option on the RAM, if it means you can afford that second GFX card
- running them in crossfire is amazing - really fast..!!

- you'll love it..!!

pparks1 said:

Also...if you aren't planning to overclock there probably isn't a "need" for an aftermarket CPU cooler. Heck, I run my Intel Q9550 with the retail cooler even with a small overclock as my temperatures are no problem whatsoever. I run in the low 30's at idle and top out around 55 under full load. This is well within acceptable for my CPU.

I think the prior poster might have meant to go with the 4GB of RAM at 1333mhz and you will be really happy. I'm 99.9% positive that with just about any video game....you are not going to see any performance gain going with 8GB of RAM.

The reason I'm going for an aftermarket cooler is because I live in Spain and the summertime temp here can reach 45C and higher. The cooling fans on my current machine are working overtime in the summer and it gets as noisy as hell. The idea is that with plenty of cooling available the machine might run a little quieter, hopefully.

Also, don't AMD chips generally run hotter than Intel ?

linnemeyerhere said:

Quality fans are the trick here. I would invest in great 120mm fans as they will run wide open and very quietly. Oh and 8 gigs is the trick with W7 64bit and I would keep that if in budget other wise use 2 sticks now and upgrade later along with the second GPU.

That's why I'm spending so much on that case (I originally thought I was being extravagant). It has two 120mm intake fans on the front (with washable dust filters). A 120mm exhaust fan on the rear, and a big 200mm fan on the top. The front fans have speed controls on the front panel and the other fans are switchable from the rear of the case. The PSU is situated at the bottom of the case also which gives more air space around the CPU.

My aim when I've completed the build is to run Crysis again on full settings, just to appreciate the quality of the graphics. Do you think this rig will be capable of that ?

Oh, and if someone could answer my final question in my OP that would be appreciated:

I have 3 x 250 Gb sata HDDs in my existing machine that I intend to transfer to the new machine. OS will be Win 7 professional 64 bit. Question: Will I be able to boot the new machine directly into my OS's from these hard drives, or will I need to reinstall. One contains XP pro and the other Win 7 pro 64 bit.