Opinions....

TerrorFirmer

Had another thread not so long ago but now that I've sold my P4 I will be ordering this in the next day or two. Budget, about 1,150-1,200, this is what I plan getting:

NorthQ 4775-500BULK, ATX 500W, 120mm
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz
Microsoft Windows XP Home SP2b
Corsair TWIN2X 5400 DDR2, 2048MB PC5400
Samsung DVD±RW burner, SH-S182M, 18x, Dual, LightScribe, DVDRAM
Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 320GB SATA2
MSI P965 NEO-F, P965, Socket-775, ATX
HIS Radeon X1950PRO 256MB GDDR3, IcQ3

Comes to 1,186. Not used NorthQ before, how good are they? There is an MSI P4M890M-L board for 50 euro less then the neo-f, and the added bonus is that it has onboard vga and sound should I ever need them. This is handy as I don't care much for sound and was only going to put in a basic SB live card for sound anyway, so 50 euro less plus onboard audio would be a bonus...opinions on said board?

8T8

NorthQ don't have the best of reps when it comes to PSU's or at least that's the general opinion I seen displayed but I do not know if that still applies to the more expensive models in their range like the one you picked. NorthQ knock off other peoples designs and produce imitations of varying quality they regularly rip Zalman's product line in fact Zalman have been trying to stop them through legal means but it looks like they have failed (NorthQ is in China) actually I'm kinda surprised Komplett stocks NorthQ parts (though taking a guess NorthQ = cheap is probably why).

Personally I'd get this for what roughly an extra €25 you get modular cables, very quiet in use & a reliable brand.

Everything else looks fine.

TerrorFirmer

Thanks 8t8, would hate to stain my new machine with a dodgey psu of all things.

TerrorFirmer

I went for an ocz xstream 600w psu on a few other recommendations - good choice?

L31mr0d

imho... DO NOT BUY NORTHQ EVER

sorry if any chinese people here work for them but I bought a 400w PSU off them before, plugged it in and it blew my 6800Ultra, thankfully I could RMA it. Put the NorthQ into a rig that would run on a 200w PSU, sold it a while back and was glad to be rid of it.

The OCZ xstream is a very good PSU, but (why is there always a "but" ) they are noisy compared to other brands i've used like enermax. It should run that system you've got there with no problems, although if you start overclocking or upgrading down the line you might need to move to a higer wattage and ATX revision. I've had my 700w PSU for ages even though it was overkill for my previous machine. But i'm slowly getting up to its limit. I hate having to buy a new PSU just because I want to buy another component for my system, so for me I'll always get a PSU a lot higher than what I currently need just so it gives me room to expand my system without worrying if the PSU will be able to handle it.

P.S: DONT just look at the wattage of your PSU, its a common misconception that the higher the wattage the better the PSU. Look at the revision (i.e. ATX, ATX2.0, ATX2.1... etc) the higher the revision the better, also look at what kind of amps you are getting on the 12v rails, you should be looking for 18amps+ on each rail. Also, read reviews and get recommendations before buying anything for your system. (i.e. i'd do a google for every item in your new build and look for common problems or needed updates if there are any and have these ready when you begin your install)

TerrorFirmer

Thanks for the info, appreciated. Don't plan upgrading for a good while, but I will be hoping to put a dx10 card in there maybe during the summer, certainly not for awhile anyway, I had assumed the xstream 600w would still be ok for that seeing as the current 8800 doesn't take any more power then high end dx9 cards like the 7950

awhir

yes it will do fine but hese just saying that if you plan on upgrading bit and bobs of ur pc it would be a good bet getting a large psu but as u are not theres no need.