Hey guys, do you know what the difference is between the Antec Sonata Plus 550 and New Solution NSK6580 except for the more powerful PSU and the slightly different design? Is the build quality different or what justifies the 60 € difference - the PSU only?

Also, do you think the NSK6580 is worth its money? Would getting a Lian-Li case + Corsair 450 W PSU a much better choice? That combo would cost me 150 € over the NSK6580 which is around 100 €.

Last but not least, what's the big difference between the Gigabyte P35-DS3 models? I see there's DS3, DS3L, DS3R and DS3P. P seems to have 2 PEG slots, but one of them has only four lanes. It also has FW which I don't really need. But what about R, L and the DS3? Also, what's the deal with Rev 1, 1.1 and 2? Any ideas?

From what I can tell, the Sonata has more features that would justify the price. The Sonata has layered side panels which are supposed to help with fan noise. It also has a removable fan filter that can be washed, along with the higher wattage power supply.

If you are putting together a new Intel build (P35 motherboard) I would suggest going with the Sonata with its higher wattage PSU. This will give you more overhead and allow you to upgrade in the future. I'm not sure which one would be more quiet as the Sonata has two fans: 120mm exhaust & 90mm intake. The NSK6580 only has a 120mm exhaust fan, so if the components you are choosing don't produce a lot of heat the fan noise might be lessened. I recently built a P35 based Intel system and I used the Antec P182. This is a very quiet computer case and the Sonata seems to have similar layered side panels so I would go for the Sonata if I were you.

As far as the Gigabyte motherboards go, I would warn you to stay away from the P35-DS3R. I had to RMA two of them before switching to a DFI board. I had so many issues with the first build, which could be understood if it was an isolated incident, but the second one had similar issues. If you google for the P35-DS3R you can see plenty of cases involving various problems with the motherboard including what happened to me the dreaded infinite boot bug. I can't say much about the other models, but this was enough for me to stay away from them in the foreseeable future.

Good luck with your new build, hopefully you don't run into any of the same issues that you had with your previous computer.

I ordered the Sonata Plus 550 for 150 € including shipping. The Lian-Li case that I was about to order is 2 cm too high and does not fit inside my desk.

I've done a lot of builds for myself and for other people and one of the most important things is planning. You can't control everything (i.e. reliability of components) but you should plan for everything in advance, which includes making sure everything is going to fit. I do hope things go well for you.