Nothin yet, it's just sitting in my study..... I'm like you, I keep looking at the prices but haven't taken the plunge yet.

Have taken the plunge with the basics of the build.

Bought the memory and PSU yesterday (OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W and G.Skill DDR3-1866 from Aria) and ordered the Case and CPU today (NZXT Beta Evo and i5 750 from Scan).

Accidently got the latter portion sent back home rather than here at uni although i logged a query and will phone them tomorrow to get it sorted out.

Not sure about a graphics card atm but i've got about £150 left in the budget, am probably going to use my 7900GS for now until Nvidia's GT300 is released to compare or i see a nice bargain on one of the current gen cards.

I was going to upgrade in November, but my current machine is having a "crisis", so I decided now would be an opportune moment to buy a new one.

The new machine:

Core i7 860
Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4 motherboard
4GB G-Skill Ripjaw DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz RAM
MSI GTX275 Twin Frozr OC GPU
Seagate 1TB HD
Sony AD-5420 DL-DVDRW
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer soundcard
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 cooler
Corsair 750W modular PSU
Antec 900-2 case

Currently running XP Pro (very smoothly) but eventually it'll have Windows 7 on it as well.

Well, everything's just arrived. The memory and PSU arrived yesterday and i just received the Case and CPU a while ago.

Shall get building at some point later in the day =].

Managed to build the thing yesterday.

Were a few issues with the PSU and cable lengths though.

The Beta Evo case, like the Antec 900 has the PSU mounted on the bottom and i found the cables to be to be too short either way. The 8pin Mobo connector won't reach from the bottom or the top either way the PSU is mounted (fan up or fan down). And the main 24 pin PSU connection is a very tight fit if it's mounted fan up (preferable since even though there's a vent at the bottom for the PSU, it's being placed on carpet).

Was rather surprised that the cables weren't long enough since the PSU is a newer model (OCZ ModXStream Pro) and bottom PSU mounted cases have been out for a while.

Should have got a Corsair

useful

You can get extenders for PSU and front panel cabling but I tend to get the soldering iron out and extend them myself. You can put as much length in as you need to keep the case nice and tidy.

Lol, i would have got the Corsair had they not been an extra £10 or so for the non-modular versions.

I actually saw a 650W BeQuiet one for the same price after i received the order so was rather gutted although it was non-modular which made me feel better lol.

The front panel cabling isn't so bad since it's designed for the case, it's mainly the the PSU cables which are slightly off. I'd say it seems designed for top mounted PSU's, but even then the 8pin connector would be way too long.

Also i've just ordered a GTS250 from Novatech to replace the 7900GS, i was going to wait but after seeing the specs for Borderlands (which is what the comp. was mainly built for) i don't think the 7900GS will cope very well. And i thought that if i bought a GT300 later, the GTS250 would make a nice PhysX card.

When I built my last 775 using a Biostar MB and the Antec 300 the front panel cables had to go across the Mboard to reach their plugs so I extended them. I must admit I haven't looked at the MSI board to see were the front panel connectors are?

The Power Switch etc. cabling is in (what i'd class as) the "usual" place at the bottom right hand side of the board.

There are some annoyances with the HD Audio and USB ports on the bottom left, but the NZXT Beta Evo i've got has convenient cut outs next to the PSU so i loop it behind the motherboard panel and out underneath the mobo so it looks tidier.

+ Potentially cancelling my GTS250 since i've seen a person selling a 512mb 4870 for the same price =].

It's probably the Antec 300 just not giving you enough spare cable, mind you thinking about it I could have run them behind the MB tray if I'd cut a hole between the MB and PSU allowing me to poke them back through. I could do that when I get around to the P55 build (need money.....)

I looked at the Antec 300 and then saw the NZXT Beta and thought it looked just as good, with a black interior as well, the only thing i didn't like was the top mounted PSU position. So when i saw the newer "Evo" version out which had a bottom mounted PSU and mounts at the top for 2x140mm fan i had to buy it, especially since it was still cheaper than the now £40-50 Antec 300.

Also have confirmed on the HD4870 =], managed to cancel the order with Novatech and get the deal sorted with the guy over at Hexus in the space of an hour or so.

Hopefully will receive it on Wednesday (sending out tomorrow by RMSD ).

You won’t be disappointed with the 4870, I've got the 1gb version and it pretty much runs all my gaming on a 22" monitor with no problems at all.