New i7 build second opinion

[arkaon]

Well, its that time again. The time of the year when I am almost done with my newest deployment. Upon returning home I will be building myself a new system.

Let me know what you think and if you see any error's that I have possibly missed, or ways that I could improve bang for buck. If you post an opinion, back it up with some info, that way I can see your view and it might help me to learn as well.


CPU : i7 920 - (going to OC to 3.5)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202


Mobo: EVGA 132 - (Im planning to OC and this one had great reviews and was decently priced. Also had the ability to SLI/CF)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188039

-Any advice on a better choice mobo would be much appreciated.


GPU: Sapphire 4850 X2 - (Went with this card for the 4 HDMI ports as I am wanting to tri screen and game. Though not at the same time. It also gives me the option to upgrade to CF later.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102809

-Though, a mild question. Can I run two 4870 X2's without CF and benefit from the 4 DVI ports? If so, that would change my card purchase.


RAM: 6gb TCK Corsair dominator 1866 - (Not to crazy about spending $400 on ram, but I read a lot of reviews saying this was the best ram for the buck at the moment. Though, I would be more then happy to be corrected, as I'm not thrilled at the cost.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145232


CASE: CoolerMaster HAF 932 - (Got for the cable management and the ability to top or bottom mount the PSU)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160


HEATSINK: Noctua - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145232
PSU: PCP&C 860W - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145232
OS HDD: WD Veloci 150gb - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136296
STORAGE HDD: 2x WD Caviar Green 1TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136317



Well, there you have it folks. I'm planning to game with the computer and would like to go a year or 2 without needing to upgrade. So, I figure this is a decent build.

Though, if you can see some way's to cut costs without significant reductions in performance, then please let me know. I am completely open to scrapping the whole thing and starting fresh as I wont be purchasing these parts until Mid March.

-Ark

*Edit - Got the links working.

 

[xthekidx]

I would get the ASUS P6t Deluxe and i7 in a combo from newegg, the ASUS and EVGA boards are very similar and the ASUS saves you $30 in a combo deal. Or you could get the Gigabyte UD5, about the same price and performance, also available in a combo. All three boards are excellent.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.155907

Get this ram instead, Corsair Dominator ram is always overpriced, no matter the speed spec, and the difference between 1866 and 1600 isn't that great in real world performance. You will only see the benefit of that faster ram in synthetic benchmarks. This ram will perform just as well and is half the price:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226030

If you think you want a Quad GPU setup, then 860w isn't going to cut it. Get 1000w or more, like this Corsair 1000HX:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139007&Tpk=1000hx

I'm pretty sure you can use two 4870x2's and use all 4 DVI ports, although I could be wrong here.

I would bump that 150 gb velociraptor to the 300, its only like $50 more and If you are already paying that much, you might as well get twice the HD space right?

All your other selections look solid.

 

[foolycooly]

kid, your memory selection brought up a question for me...would the mushkin RAM display any noticeable real-world performance advantage over the OCZ gold set due to their slightly faster timings? -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

OP - looks like a solid build...sorry for the minor hijack.

 

[xthekidx]

I'm not entirely sure, but the mushkins will be likely to overclock much better than the OCZ's, so if you pushed both to their max OC, the Mushkins would give you more I'm sure. How that would translate into real-world performance...its tough to say. One reason that you will not see a huge difference in real world performance between 1600 and 1866 (and even between 1333 and 1600 sometimes) is because at that speed, the amount of memory bandwidth you are given is more than your system or application can really implement. In a couple years, it may be a different story with the improvements in technology, and by that time, 1866mhz memory will be half the cost that it is now. It doesn't really make any sense to spend $400 on a kit of ram that will give you only very marginal improvements over something half the price.

 

[arkaon]

My only issue with wanting to get that RAM is that Im not planning to OC the RAM at all. Im actually planning on running everything stock except the PROC.

With that in mind, do you still think I would be better off with the other RAM?

 

[foolycooly]

yes....$400 for that RAM is overkill in any scenario IMO.

 

[xthekidx]

If you aren't going to OC the ram at all, then you cannot use anything over 1333mhz because that is as high as x58 mobo's go without OC'ing. The 1866 spec means that Corsair is guaranteeing that you can OC that ram to that level on approved motherboards. But to OC to 1600 or 1866, all that you need to do is change the memory multiplier to get to that level, or up the BCLK.

By the way, do you know how the ram speed is calculated on x58 mobo's? Its the ram multiplier x BCLK. The only way to OC an i7 920 is to change the BLCK, since the multiplier is locked at 20...in your case to 175 from 133 to get an OC of 3.5 (133x20=2.66, 175x20=3.5). So you are going to have a very tough time of OC'ing the CPU without OC'ing the ram, unless you turned down your memory multiplier...

To answer your question, yes you would still be better off with that other ram.

 

[xthekidx]

Or this ram, a better value still I think:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231245

 

[arkaon]

Ok, as this will be my first OC build. I just did alot of reading over these last few days and I see what you mean about having to OC the ram in order to OC the chip.

That being said. What would you suggest If I was going to try and run an i7 920 @ 3.5 as far as ram to compliment the build. Im trying to stay under $2000 for the whole box. (Everything in the case) So, please. Feel free to drop whatever you want.

 

[theAnimal]

GPU: Sapphire 4850 X2 - (Went with this card for the 4 HDMI ports as I am wanting to tri screen and game. Though not at the same time. It also gives me the option to upgrade to CF later.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102809

-Though, a mild question. Can I run two 4870 X2's without CF and benefit from the 4 DVI ports? If so, that would change my card purchase.

Crossfire/SLI mobos are capable of running multiple cards not in Crossfire/SLI mode, even different cards (although using only ATI or Nvidia is best). But since the 4850x2 has 4 DVI ports, why would you want 2 4870x2 instead? You could get a 4870x2 and a 4650 for the same number of ports. What size/resolution monitor are you gaming on?

PSU: PCP&C 860W

Go with a Corsair TX750 or 850 instead. This PSU is noisy and overpriced.

I am completely open to scrapping the whole thing and starting fresh as I wont be purchasing these parts until Mid March.

Things could change quite a bit by that time.