I suppose the best thing to do if you are unsure OS wise is just get both XP and Vista and use whichever you need at the particular time.

It might sound a bit overboard but to me it's just common sense.

Another update...

Changed the Harddrive and Motherboard to recommend, as well as getting some different ram and changing the case to the cheaper version due to the Antec 1200 being over the top for this price range!

This is the final spec, except maybe the CPU fan, may drop to the Arctic Cooler to enable me to get the DVD-Drive. Doubt it though.

New Specs
OS: Vista Premium 64bit SP1 (OEM)
GPU: Nvidia 8800GTX 768MB
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Socket 775 (OEM)
PSU: Corsair HX 620W Modular PSU
Ram: (2GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400
Case: Antec Nine Hundred 900 - Gaming Case
Drive: Pioneer DVR-215BK 20X SATA DVD±RW (OEM) - Dropped to keep in Budget
Harddrive: Samsung HD753LJ 750GB Hard Drive
Soundcard: None
Motherboard: ABIT IP35 Pro
Extra: Tuniq Tower 120-LFB

Comes in at a nice £789.37, just under budget, slightly over if you included P&P. Anyway! Thanks for all the advice guys! Should have it set up in 2-3weeks if all goes well.

Lookin good!

Final recommendation from me.... Ditch the HX620 (£80) and buy the TX650 for £30 less (£53). Its a MUCH better power supply - honestly! I love mine, it can run 5 hard drives a 7900GTX and my cpu at 4ghz without even spinning its fan up from low speed.

Alternatively for overkill the TX750 is 50p cheaper than your HX620. It really is way overpriced!

I can understand you're going for modular, but the cables are easily hidden away in mine. they're all sleeved and you get an adjustable strap thing to tie together the ones you dont need. In the 900 case theres a 2" gap down the right side of the power supply to tuck all your un-used cables. You really don't need the modular thing mate, its eating your money and lowering your spec too. That power supply you have chosen will do for now but in the future with a 4/8/16 core cpu and a whopper gfx card plus hard drives itll be the first thing to need replacing.

Also that £30 means you can get your dvd drive for the same cost (bit left to go towards postage). Winner all round?

Oh. Didn't realise there was a gap, I got warned that the cabling from the PSU can be a nightmare, and Modular would make it easier. But if there is a gap, what the hell, I want that DVD drive

One thing m8 what's the verdict on the ram? Would 2x2GB PC-6400 overclock as well as the PC-5300 you recommended? I'd like to have 4GB since it will do a lot more than 2GB, even if it does mean less OC'ing...

Finally should I, in your honest opinion, get Vista 64bit? Would it damage my gaming that much? I'm only getting it due to it using the 4GB and when I upgrade the ram again, if I do, it will actually use it. Or should I just get 32bit and let it use 3.2GB of the ram....

Cheers for all the help PiLsY.

Its a tough one tbh.

My personal preference regards gaming and windows is to have a separate drive or partition with just an OS and my internet games on. I have found no problems at all with having 2gb of fast memory - I get no loading pauses in games and am usually the first if not one of the first in the server (meaning im not lacking in ram). At this point in time undoubtedly XP 32bit and 2GB of ram is the way to go. I don't see vista lasting long - I'm planning on skipping vista altogether personally. If TF2 is your main game you should tailor your rig to it - and its DX9.1 so vista would be the bottom of my list for TF2.

2 x 2gb sticks will not overclock as far as 2 x 1gb sticks (as long as they arent single sided), you will undoubtedly get better performance from 2gb. We are talking in terms of approx 5% though. At the current time you will not gain that 5% back from having more available memory as other things come in to play (64 bit overhead, extra OS overhead from vista etc etc), infact it will likely end up slower. In a couple of years though you will have a better configuration to improve upon.

There is nothing to separate the ballistix models really, the 4gb kits are all roughly equal in terms of overclocking at the same settings, as are the 2gb kits.

You could run 4 x 1gb sticks which you would think to be the ideal situation (and would be £60 for 4 x 1gb PC5300), but your overclocking suffers as you stress the motherboard a lot more and end up using all your slots (no future upgrade to 8gb).

In your situation and buying now I would get the 4gb kit. An 800mhz cas 4 kit is a good choice. You arent going to push things to their limits overclocking yet and you do future proof yourself somewhat. With the Tuniq you should be aiming for 4ghz cpu speed @ approx 1.3 - 1.4v. The E8400 I believe has a max 9x multiplier, so 9 x 450mhz with ram @ 900mhz cas 4 should be where you are aiming with motherboard and memory. Once you get all your kit ill help you get it all set up on here .

I wouldn't buy Vista yet though. Install XP first, see how you like it. If you feel you need the vista install then buy it after you have your pc working. Vista can cause so many problems you may end up doubting your pc instead of the OS if you have difficulties.

You won't be dissapointed either way unless you have a bad vista experience. Id take that out the equation when you buy or it could taint you to the whole experience. Don't try to learn too much at once .

Kk, in the end the 4GB ram if it does nothing more gives me boasting rights to my m8s Final question then. With the OS if I drop vista I still presume I should go for 64bit due to having 4GB of ram or do you think I should go with 32bit (e.g. keep with my current XP Pro SP2 32bit)?

Cheers m8, it's nice to know that someone who knows what they're doing is helping

Personally i would stick with 32 bit, mostly because its more supported, leading to a lot less stress down the line, you also have the disk so you might as well use it

Yeah id stick with XP 32bit, but if you are determined to go Vista, then get Vista 64bit. Thats its only advantage over XP really (ignoring DX10 as practically unuseable atm).

Vista for £60

Ultra 120 Extreme for £35

Fan for above for £4

Gainward 9800GTX for £190

Corsair D9 DHX for £75


You can cut out ordering from crucial (the D9 DHX is the crucial ballistix with better heatspreaders and is usually MUCH more) and overclockers and save yourself 2 lots of postage. Tekheads delivery is cheap - you should be able to squeeze in the 9800GTX and the better heatsink and fan combo for the same money by ordering from them and ebuyer (tekheads dont carry a good selection of power supplies so you will still need to order from ebuyer anyway).