Before I take the plunge...

First of all, amazing site! So thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Just wanted to check to make sure I'm not making any glaring mistakes. I've researched all these parts and from what I've seen it looks like they should all work. I'm new to all this though so worried I might be going wrong somewhere.

I'm going to mainly be using the machine for Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), Lightroom, Final Cut (a lot more next year) and probably some light gaming. Realise it might be slightly over-spec'd for what I need but I want to future-proof as much as possible. Probably not going to be OC-ing though.

Will be installing Lion w/ UniBeast.

Here are the parts (Amazon UK links):

Fractal Design Define Mini Series Micro ATX Case
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004ZH18VE/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Gigabyte SKT-1155 Z68MX-UD2H-B3 Motherboard
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0050GNQAK/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Intel i7-2600K Unlocked (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache, Socket 1155)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004FA8NOQ/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Corsair 8GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Two Module Kit
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004CRSM4I/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Gigabyte ATI HD 6850 1GB PCI-E Graphics Card
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004FTIO9Q/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB 7200 RPM Internal Hard Disk Drive
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0036Q7MV0/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 High Performance 650W Power Supply
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004O0P9TO/?tag=tonymacx86-21

Possibly a Sony Optiarc optical drive, a Broadcom WiFi card from eBay and maybe an SSD further down the line.

Already own a Dell U2212HM 21.5" monitor, Apple wired keyboard and a mouse

Any advice would be much appreciated!

If you wont be overclocking, a 2600 will do.

RAM is cheap, less than $100 for 16GB.

Final Cut (a lot more next year)

Click to expand...

Gigabyte firewire doesn't work after sleeping. Get also a Firewire card.

Apple wired keyboard and a mouse

Click to expand...

There seems to be an issue with USB wired keyboard not working after sleep. A wireless keyboard fixes this problem.

.... or just don't set your computer to go to sleep.

From the way you phrased it, did you mean a 2500 will do? Was wondering whether the extra £50 for the 2600 was worth it.

Agree -- probably should go with 16GB of RAM considering the price. Would probably be more a noticeable boost having multiple CS programs open.

Cheers for the heads up on the sleep issues!

Well... personally, I would go with the K... it's only $19 difference between 2600 and 2600K.

2500 will be $100 cheaper though. But you lose hyperthreading. ... you say you want to do videos right? I'd save for the 2600K, just my opinion.

Thanks, I think I'll go with the 2600K.

For some reason the 2600 is £5 more than the 2600K on Amazon UK anyway!

Also, think I'll go with the Gigabyte Z68MA-D2H-B3 mobo. As someone else pointed out, probably won't utilise the extra features of the Z68MX over this. This will allow me to get 16GB of Corsair 1600MHz DDR3 Vengeance RAM