best rig 2G can buy?

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Bacardi demon

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My current pc is a mess so I have made a decision to build a new one. I set a budget of $2000

This new pc will be used primarily for school work/video editing/ps/gaming. I do game but I am going to go with the 8800gt until the fall when I will get my hands on one of the latest batch of nvidia cards out by then. I also have no plans to make the jump to Vista until then...

-EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 ...$189

-COOLER MASTER Stacker 830 Evolution RC-830-KKR3-GP Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case Real Power Pro 1000W Power Supply. (I think this case is awesome with good airflow and I plan on keeping it for future rigs. Read on hardocp that cooler master is making nice psu's) ...$379

-Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core ...$349

- ZALMAN 9500A 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler- Will this do the trick to cool the cpu?

-Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive ...$169

-Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive ...$109

-Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels- decent sound card from what I've read. I have 500 watt cambridge soundworks 5.1 thx certified surround sound. I figured it would still support the speakers but I also want a card that will be supported by vista when I switch over. ...$90

My dilemma is a mobo. I was looking for something that supports ddr3 and came across the xfx 790i ultra board but it seems to have its share of problems as well as the evga board. (I've been lurking over on the evga boards and reading reviews on newegg). Does anyone have any suggestions? Or should I still go with the 790i and hope the bios gets updated?

I'm also looking for ddr3 ram and had my eyes on:

2x-CORSAIR 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual ...$248.

or should I scrap that idea and look for 8gb of ddr2 ram?

I don't plan on building a new rig for at least another 3 years (sans a couple hardware upgrades) so my goal is something that can stick around for awhile.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

 
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shadowthor

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Nice choice of selection for the video card, cpu, hard drive and ram. Since you have a high budget, you can aim to get the Rampage Formula (Don't remember what the ddr3 version is called) X48 Chipset. I would get the True as a cooler. I would get the antec 900 or 1200 or p182 as a case, but for the antec 900 or p182 you would need to get a psu.
 
WR2

WR2

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Nov 18, 2005
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Does your $2K budget include a new monitor? If so what size are you looking at?

Any of the CM Pro PSU's made by Enhance would be a very good choice (and the 1000W model is one of those).
Also a great case choice and a pretty good combo price to boot. HardOCP review

Hopefully the end of this week we'll have a better idea of how the next series of GPUs (ATI 4850/4870/4870X2 and GT260/280) will perform. Keep your motherboard options (X48 / 790I) open till then.

Almost any decent aftermarkt HSF will keep a Q9450 cool. You have any overclocking notions in mind? You can get a better bang for your cooling buck by using one from the top 10 list @ FrostyTech

 
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Noya

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Planning for a rig to last 3 years is one of the worst things you can do. For instance the DDR3 and requisite motherboard will easily cost 3x what a comparable DDR2 setup will cost, with tiny gains only noticeable in benchmarked tests.

Even though you're going to upgrade the GPU in 2-3+ months, the 8800gts is only $20 more dollars (w/rebate) and will fetch more when you resell it.

You may want to dump the Raptor and go for 3 x 640gb WD's. I don't know how much photo/video editing you do, but having a dedicated "scratch" drive separate from the OS drive and separate from the storage drive you'll be writing the files to will speed things up immensely and allow you to multi-task much better. Just google "video editing hard drive setup" and look for entry-level recommendations.

The 12mb cache quad is a great choice.
 
gators1223

gators1223

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if you are planning to make the jump to vista do yourself a favor and get 4gigs of ddr2 instead, vista = resource hog like no other 64-bit generally uses at least .75 to 1 gig while idle
 
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Bacardi demon

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Hey guys, thanks for your help.

I do not plan on buying a new monitor, I currently have a 19 viewsonic crt (hey it was nice when it first came out). I'll probably buy a new monitor sometime in the future but its not really a focus right now.

Nice, I didnt know there was new info coming on the next series of cards. I'll wait a bit until I order... I'll also check out that x48 board.
 
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Bacardi demon

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I was actually planning 4 gigs of ddr3
 
PsyKhiqZero

PsyKhiqZero

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I'd go for more ram. more ram is better then faster ram. WD has there new Velociraptors available now. they're about as fast as 2 of the older ones in a raid 0 and come in a 300GB size. if youc an squeeze another 150 i'd pick it up.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136260&Tpk=velociraptor

Personally can't wait to pick two of these up myself for my rig.

Do you video edit on a professional level or just for fun? if your a professional "i.e. you do it for money or school" you may wanna try a workstation build with dual xeons. 8 cores in a professional lvl video editing software solution would rock.
 
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Bacardi demon

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I just started going to school for film production and I did a little bit of film in high school (but with a mac).

Thanks for the help
 
PsyKhiqZero

PsyKhiqZero

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Bacardi demon

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-COOLER MASTER Stacker 830 Evolution RC-830-KKR3-GP Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case Real Power Pro 1000W Power Supply

-Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 Yorkfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9450

-G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK

-Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card

-Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive = x3

-EVGA 512-P3-N841-AR GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

-ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA LGA 775 Intel X48 ATX Intel Motherboard

-ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

I have decided on this setup, only problem is that I'm unsure I can fit the zalman on the x48 with those heat sinks in the way... I was thinking about
the XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 even though I'm not sure if it will fit in the case..
 
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Bacardi demon

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hmm, well I'm looking for a small/efficient cpu cooler that will fit in the rage but that will also allow me to close the fan door in the coolermaster stacker... unless the stock intel cooler is good enough...
 
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