New Build about 1700k

[jkool55]

What do you think of this build?

DIAMOND 4870X2PE52G Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-Bit x 2) GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5

ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9550

Antec TPQ-850 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

as a case antec 1200 or antec p180(or182), cable management is a must so the antec 900 is kind of out

for my motherboard i was thinking p45. i probably wont ever need to crossfire 4870x2 so yeah... and is the 850 watts too much power? i plan on having maybe a wd caviar 640gb maybe run two of them in raid, maybe get a solid state drive

 

[col-p-todd]

Be sure to het the zalman 9700NT that on has pwm controle so you can adjust the speed in the bios and do not need to use the fanmate 2.

a p45 mobo will be good enough since you really don,t want to crossfire a 4870 X2 it really is a waste of money.

 

[jpdykes]

What usage?
What screen size?
What budget?

I'll check back when you post again.

Jeremy

 

[jpdykes]

Woops - budget = $1700. Sorry!!

 

[jkool55]

yeah budget about 1700, but i dont mind going to about 1900, also i plan on using a 22inch monitor, it will be for gaming

 

[jkool55]

didn't mean to leave the period out in 1700k on the title a true 1700k computer would be out of this world

 

[jpdykes]

Awesome right:

- CPU, RAM choice is good. Might be tempted to wait until i7 releases next month to see the effect on Intel CPU prices.

- 4870X2 is far too much power - you will see very little return at 22" for the extra $250 over a 4870.

- 600 to 700W will be ample for a 4870. Try Enermax, Corsair, PC Power and Cooling, Antec.

- P45 is a good choice. Try an Asus P5Q Pro.

- Two WD 640Gb drives would be a good choice, espcially in raid, even better with an SSD acting as a boot drive.
- You MUST buy a SLC flash drive if you go SSD. These are expensive! Recommend waiting until Intel release their SSD's they should up the competition nicely.

Jeremy

-

 

[aevm]

Awesome build. Good GPU, CPU, RAM, HDD.

+1 for P5Q Pro. It's not a great choice for HD 4870 (bottlenecks in Crossfire) but it's excellent for a single HD 4870 X2.

You can cut the costs with a RC-690 case. I'm not sure I'd put a 4870 X2 in a P182 anyway. The RC-690 is cheaper, roomier, and has great cooling.

You can save even more by dropping the Zalman. You can overclock a bit with the stock cooler if you want, but it's pointless anyway with a Q9550 in a gaming machine. Check out these charts to see what I mean.
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=775&p=2

Get a 24" monitor, then the 4870X2 will really shine. I saw some pretty good ones under $400 at newegg. jpdykes is right, the 4870X2 is overkill on a 22" monitor.

RAID, on a gaming machine? Why???

 

[jkool55]

ok here is my updated build still keeping the budget

NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

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

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (bare drive)

SAPPHIRE 100251SR Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

Antec TPQ-850 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5

ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80569Q9550

plus ill put vista 65bit, and a crap cd/dvd drive, anyone got any beef with the gigabyte board? i dunno its just got a combo with the cpu so i save like 30 bucks versus the asus boards. i also decided to take the money i saved and plan to buy a velociraptor hd but i will wait to see if prices dont drop on those drives i hear some competition might be stepping up. i will order first week in December so prices will drop a little.

to answer the question about whether i will use 100 of the graphic's card power, probably not, is it overkill, probably and will i see the same results with a single 4870 eh, maybe, but i think the prices will drop by december and the 4870x2 will last me for a long time.

 

[aevm]

Whoa, that's a very impressive build. Nothing wrong with it.

Vista 65-bit???

The Q9550 comes with a decent cooler already. Get an aftermarket cooler only if you want to overclock. The HDT-S1283 fits in that case, it's cheaper than the Zalman CNPS9700, and it does better in reviews.

 

[jkool55]

sorry, i meant 64 bit, yeah i was thinking about the cooler. i want to do some overclocking, maybe not immediately but i would like to get the q9550 to up at about 3.6 ghz which i think is reasonable. i have heard the stock cooling really isnt good, but ill look at the hdt-s1283.

any comments about the hard drives. since it is a gaming machine is the velociraptor and the 640gb a good combo? would running two 640 wd caviar in raid0 be better (150 bucks for raid0 versus 225 for the raptor plus caviar) ?

 

[aevm]

Yeah, you can even get that CPU to 3.8 GHz with a good cooler and a little luck.

Yes Velociraptor + WD 640GB is a good combo, if you have the cash and if you value speed more than capacity. Personally I'd just buy three of the 640GB disks for the same money and use them without RAID, but I value capacity more than speed. (My PC doubles as a TiVo.)

RAID 0 will almost double the read/write rate for large files. However, finding small files and reading them will still take the same time. It also means that if a disk dies you lose what's on the other disk too.

The Velociraptor is a bit faster than the 640GB for large files (but nowhere near double the speed), and it finds small files faster.

 

[jkool55]

hmm then maybe i should just go two 640 wd drives? i mean for the price of a raptor 150gb and the 640gb drive i can get 3 wd drives. maybe i should save the cash and only get one now? but i dunno i have heard good things about these raptor drives and especially at only about 150 bucks it seems like you get a lot of speed. also being twice as fast as the 640gb caviar would be really fast, but i dunno the read write speed is excellent on all raptor drives.

 

[aevm]

Totally your decision. They're luxury items, nice, expensive, not absolutely necessary. If you want to spend $150 to make your life better, and you have the money, why not. It's not like you're buying diamonds or a Ferrari or a trophy wife, it's just a disk...