New machine in June, system critique wanted.

[Agrippa]

After putting it off as long as possible, I really have to get a new machine now. Not because the old one doesn't do the job, but it's getting to impossible to upgrade it. Anyway, seeing as it's been a while since I kept up with developments and such, I'd be grateful for some feedback on the stuff I'm so far planning to buy when June rolls around.

ASUS P5B Dlx WiFi
Intel E6600, E6700 or Q660 (depending on price at the time)
4 x 1GB Corsair Twin2X DDR800
4-5 x Samsung 500GB (for a RAID5 array. Samsung tend to be cheapest and I have good experiences with them already)
1 x WD 500GB (fastest 500GB SATA atm I believe)
1 x Seagate Cheetah 73GB 10k rpm SCSI (OS drive)
1 x 8800GTX (probably XFX)
1 x ThermalTake ToughPower 850W
1 x Scythe Infinity / Thermalright Ultra 90/120

Everything else I already have.

The machine is for general use and I'm not after an uber o/c or the best gaming rig on the planet. What I primarily want is a set of components which are known to be stable, work well together and which will give me both a problem-free building experience and a couple of years of hassle-free use afterwards. I do intend to overclock it somewhat, but only up to 3GHz. As I understand it, that ought to be easily achieved with the E chips and probably also the Q6600. Is that so?

So - anyone see anything above which might cause any problems?

Thanks in advance for suggestions and assistance!

PS - forgot to ask: is the built-in SATA controller on the m/b capable of running all 6 drives in RAID, or is there limit below that? The manual doesn't say, which makes me think it can, but it'd be nice to know for sure.....

 

[athfbum]

Pretty good.

That Q6600 will overclock to 3ghz easily.

Seagate hard drives are the best 7200 RPM you can buy. Get the 7200.10 hard drives if you do get Seagate.

Remember for that SCSI drive you'll need an SCSI controller card.

I am getting a new system this summer as well, but I am hoping for AMD K10 to come out in July or August so I can get one

 

[Cooler]

Dont pick a video card just yet with R600 coming out soon prices may drop.

 

[Agrippa]

Originally posted by: athfbum
Pretty good.

That Q6600 will overclock to 3ghz easily.

Seagate hard drives are the best 7200 RPM you can buy. Get the 7200.10 hard drives if you do get Seagate.

Remember for that SCSI drive you'll need an SCSI controller card.

I am getting a new system this summer as well, but I am hoping for AMD K10 to come out in July or August so I can get one

Yeah, I already run SCSI so the controller will migrate to the new system. As for the single SATA drive, it'll be a toss-up between WD and Seagate I guess. Frankly they're all equally good imo, so it'll depend on the price at the time. The Samsungs are slightly slower, but they're extremely quiet which is nice when there's a lot of them about and individual performance makes little difference in a RAID5 array in any case.

 

[Agrippa]

Originally posted by: Cooler
Dont pick a video card just yet with R600 coming out soon prices may drop.

I know and I'm certainly expecting the GTX prices to drop. Saving money is alway nice. The GTX will be more than good enough for my use though, so I'll not be climbing any higher than that.

 

[athfbum]

What size monitor do you use?

 

[Agrippa]

Samsung SyncMaster 225BW, 1680x1050 res.