ATTN ALL EXPERTS

[emk279]

I am looking to build this system:

Motherboard: Asus P5E Deluxe X38 (socket/LGA 775)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz
Gfx: Sapphire Radeon HD 4870
RAM: 4GB Corsair TWIN2X4096-6400C5 XMS
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA-2 7200RPM/32MB Cache
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower 750W
DVD/RW: LG GH20LS 20x DVD-RW
Cpu Air Cooling: OCZ Vendetta 2 (?Any suggestions for a cooler less than £30?)
Case: ? Was thinking of the Xclion A380?

Problem is i need the case to around £50 and was hoping some of you knew/have good cases you could recommend for my set up. I will be installing a second 4870 soon so need it be big enough for two 4870s and all other parts! Thanks alot people!

[coiler]

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/Cooler+Master+Centurion+590+Black+?productId=32597

or

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/MIDI+Tower/Antec+Three+Hundred+Cool+and+Quiet++Gaming+Case+?p roductId=31087




The coolermaster has a better finish and a multitude of fan mounts where you wouldn't expect them. A better choice IMHO


Also change the board for

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/Socket+775+%28Intel%29/Asus+P5Q-E+iP45+Socket+775+Motherboard+?productId=32296

best bang for buck, performance, crossfire, overclocking, board on the market

[emk279]

I really want a board that can handle 2 4870s in crossfire x16 mode otherwise crossfire would be wasted. ie I need the board to have 2 PCI-E 2.0 x16. I checked that boards spec on a few other sites and it seems to have them but still unsure.

Thanks for recommendations mate!

EDIT - How roomy is that Coolermaster case? I need to fit two 4870s in there along with 1 3.5" HD, DVD/RW, mobo, cpu, RAM, PSU

[coiler]

The coolermaster is a huge case would easily fit all that


Mul may be able to advice on a P5Q board which has crossfire

[emk279]

Thanks alot mate. Will go for that Coolermaster then. Do you use it yourself? Is it actually a cool case?(temp wise) Thanks once again bud.

[coiler]

I've got one although yet to start the build due to funds! ;)

http://forums.aria.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5863

[emk279]

If I were to not buy a CPU cooler and just use Intel's stock heat sink fan would I be ok? I am not going to overclock at all and wiill buy a CPU cooler later on.

Thanks

[coiler]

the intel cpu coolers are fine for stock speeds, even slight OC's. Its what they base the 3 year warranty on so that speaks for itself ;)

[Audigex]

As long as you have decent airflow through the case, it should be fine. The price of a decent cheap cooler being about £15, though, you may aswell get one.

[Lynx]

PCI-E 2.0 is like 16x2 as it were, so two lots of 8x PCI-E 2.0 is basically as fast as PCI-E 16 1.0 for both if that makes sense.

[Audigex]

You don't get a 100% speed increase anyway... you're only getting about 140-160% the performance of a 4870... without the fact that your 4870's won't even use the full bandwidth of PCI-E 2.0 anyway!!!

Think of it this way, you have (for the sake of example) 8gb of bandwidth per x16 slot. So 4gb per 8x slot. (In each direction)

Now, if each 4870 is using less than 4GB/s, you still have room to spare. Make sense?