Hi Guys - hope this isn't too noobish but I have spent ages trying to find out as much info as I can!

Firstly I currently have a:-

Antec P180
Pentium D 805 (cooled by Zalman (CNPS9500-LE) Cross Platform Cooling Fan)
Asus P5WD2-E Premium 975
OCZ ModStream 520W Modular PSU
4* Hitachi Deskstar 250GB
1* Western Digital Raptor Sata 150GB
PowerColor X1900XTX (stock cooler replaced with: Zalman VF900-CU Active VGA Cooler)
4 * 1GB, Ballistix 240-pin DIMM
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Music

Its quite a good pc for me, not really capable of playing the latest games but can still play cod 4 and bf2 so it keeps me happy - but it is very noisy! too noisy really to have in the lounge, so I'm thinking of stripping it down and turning it into a windows home server, then buying enough new components to have a quiet but better pc than I currently have.

So this is how I'm planning on splitting it up:-

Home Server
Pentium D 805 (cooled by Zalman (CNPS9500-LE) Cross Platform Cooling Fan)
Asus P5WD2-E Premium 975
4* Hitachi Deskstar 250GB
4 * 1GB, Ballistix 240-pin DIMM

New bits:
OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W: £52
A passively cooled video card I have (not going to really user it has the machine will be hidden away - just using it because I have it)
Antec Three Hundred: £45

Total: £97

New PC
Antec P180
OCZ ModStream 520W Modular PSU
1* Western Digital Raptor Sata 150GB
PowerColor X1900XTX (stock cooler replaced with: Zalman VF900-CU Active VGA Cooler)
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Music

New Bits:

Core 2 option:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 £125
Biostar Tpower I45: £107
Titan Fenrir: £33
Total: £265

Core I7 option:
Intel Core I7-920: £208
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R: £139
Akasa Nero: £24
Total £371

AMD option:
AMD Phenom x4 9950: £114
MSI DKA790GX: £81
Some cooler?
I have heard that the phenom 2 is a lot better so perhaps I should forget this option.

I'm also going to buy 2*2gb of ram but this time I'm just going to go for something cheap (around £55)

Sorry its a long post - its been so long since I have looked at getting a new pc and things have changed a lot!!

Going forward I will look at replacing the graphics card on the new pc and buying a 1.5tb hd for the home server, but I'm sure I can manage that:)

Thanks

Ross

Welcome to the forums.

You'll need triple channel DDR3 for the i7 build (about £90 for 6GB 1600MHz stuff).

Have a quick look at the BBBB listed on these forums. Clicky It's a good start for a cheap gaming computer.
You also might need to upgrade your psu for a quad core (especially if you might upgrade your gfx soon)
Also for the home server I'd consider getting a cpu with a lower tdp (heat output) as it'll be cheaper to run (an athlox x2 would be fine).

Hi - thanks for the reply!

I'm trying to keep costs to a minimum so that why I was thinking of keeping the same cpu - I might under clock (gasp I know) to try and lower the heat output. Its will be placed in my loft so I'm not too bothered about its noise.

Cheers for the heads up about the cpu - tbh I need to find the cpu that runs the coolest so I can keep it quiet in my lounge - I'm guessing thats probably the core 2!

Thanks

Ross

After reading the fab BBBB pc I have modified the core 2 option:

New bits:-

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 £125
Zotac 9800GT ECO Edition 512MB GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out PhysX and Cuda ready PCI-E Graphics Card £74.98
MSI P45D3 Neo-F Socket 775 8 channel audio ATX Motherboard £65.99 - core 2
Crucial 4GB (2X2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Ballistix Memory CL4 2.0V £36.99
Arctic Cooling AC-FRZ-7P Freezer 7 Pro £14.93

and I will reuse:
Antec P180
OCZ ModStream 520W Modular PSU
1* Western Digital Raptor Sata 150GB
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Music

For my home server the cost will be £95

So in all: £413 is this going to be enough of a performance increase over the pentium D 805 to justify the cost or should I still look at the i7?

Excuse the language but

It'll piss on you're current setup from a great height.
That's a fine PC that'll do 4GHz easy.