Questions on i7 build

[bllius69SK]

New i7 build.

Many questions and need answers/suggestions/comments.

Building for gaming, some video work, some rendering, and some proprietary applications.
Not looking to spend more than $2K (US).

Overclocking not so important, but if can get extra juice with air cooled, will go for it.
Quiet is important as there will be 2 other desktop cases in the same area plus
an air conditioning unit. It's beginning to sound like JFK.

1. What I have now.

24" Dell Monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, TBs of external and NAS storage.

Just ordered and on the way:

1A. Case.
Antec P182.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129025
1B. CPU
Intel i7 920
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202
1C. OS Drive
Dual 74 Gb Western Digital Raptors
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136033
1D. Storage Drive
Western Digital Caviar Black 1Tb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

2. Need more info before purchasing.

2A. Motherboard.

Yikes, MBs are expensive. What's the real different between the $350
range and the $200 range?
Thinking of the Asus P6T V2 Deluxe.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131365

2B. Memory.

6 Gb. How big a deal is this if not going for extreme O'Cing? If not,
then why get a more expensive mobo?
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145220

2C. Power.

From what I've read, which is not much, only 700 or 750 w should be
sufficient, depending on SLI/Crossfire (see below).
COOLER MASTER Real Power Pro RS-750-ACAA-A1 750W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171024
OR
SILVERSTONE ST70F 700W ATX12V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256045

2D. GPU.

Big decision here and I'm completely stumped. Seems like not going SLI/Crossfire
would be foolish with a 24" monitor. But if getting two cards, what to get? Three cards
seems ridiculous. I was always happy with Nvidia, but ATI seems to
be making some nice cards these days.

2D1. Double cheap.

Two lower rate cards now that are cheaper, but will not last long. If upgrading
in the future, then what to do with these two cards?
ex:
dual GTX 260
dual HD 4850
HD4850X2

2D2. Single expensive.

A single newer, more expensive card now, and then another
at a later date. Problem: need more power now for future considerations,
and only using a single card now and not taking advantage of SLI/Crossfire.
ex:
GTX 285, 280, 295
HD4870X2

2D3. Double expensive.

Problem: Breaking the bank. Need more power now.
2X GTX 295
2X HD4870X2

Other graphical considerations.

The Dell monitor has HDCP, so that would be nice to utilize.

2E. Cooling. Case and CPU fans. Any recommendations. There seem
to be few LGA1366 coolers out there. Use one of those or
get some sort of converter/clip/bracket support.

2F. Blue-Ray player/DVD/Burner. A Blu-Ray player would be great since I currently do not have one.

2G. Another consideration. I have a Soundblaster Audigy2 in the current desktop.
I have not yet decided if I should leave it in there or whether onboard
sounds in new systems is good enough (some sound recordings are made via
the SBA2 breakout box, and it is hooked up to Logitech surround sound speakers).

2H. Anything I missed.

2I. Interdimensional portal (just kidding).

 

[trance4850]

Gpu x2 is better that sli/cf

 

[belial2k]

Your motherboard is a great one, I would stick with it. If you decide to do some serious overclocking at a later date you'll be good to go.

Try this for a power supply, it is the best in current $100 - $125 range. Only drawback is its not modular
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

You didn't state what resolution you'll be running, but if its 1920 x 1200 or below you should go with a 4850x2 for now, and if you ever need more gpu power you can get another and quad crossfire them. It is by far the price/performance leader right now since it is basically an underclocked 4870x2. ...of course, if money is no object the gtx295 is the best card on the market, but the performance increase over the 4850x2 is only about 20%, and it cost almost twice as much.

 

[belial2k]

i forgot to mention, right now you can get 1600 ram with tighter timings for just $10 more. It won't make a huge difference running stock, but gives you more options for the future, plus gives your memory controller a little more to work with. IMO worth the $10
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

 

[wimcle]

Yikes, MBs are expensive. What's the real different between the $350
range and the $200 range?

the difference is in the # of pcie2 lanes for running sli
that board is 16/8/8... not the choice if you want that in the future

In the cost effective range also concider a gigabyte x58-ud4/5 that will get you 16/16/8

or the expensive $350 boards get you 16/16/16

 

[bllius69SK]

>Your motherboard is a great one, I would stick with it. If you decide to do some serious overclocking at a later date you'll be good to go.

except that won't do 2 X 4850X2 in the future as wimcle states?

>You didn't state what resolution you'll be running, but if its 1920 x 1200 or below you should go with a 4850x2 for now

I'm considering one 4850X2 for now and another later on. The question is how future proof is that (the double cheap option)? Crysis at 1900X1200 with enthusiast settings and a single 4850X2 is only 30 FPS.

Another question I forgot to ask.

Vista 64 bit
or WinXP 64 bit.

I have vista on a laptop and I absolutely hate it.

 

[belial2k]

you can still quad crossfire on the MB...wimcle was only half right. You can run two x16 slots if you run the third as x1, so unless you ever plan on tri-sli or tri crossfire you have no worries adding another 4850x2 at full x16. I cut this from the specs "3 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (at x16/x16/x1 or x16/x8/x8 mode) ".

...Crysis is a system killer, but 30fps is playable...not even a 295 will get you to 60fps on the highest settings. Its not a realistic benchmark for how it will perform in most games you are likely to play. Most will be over 60fps on high settings at your resolution. With quad crossfire in a year or two (by that time you should be able to get a second card really cheap) you are looking at a good 3 - 5 year window before you might start to feel like your graphics might need a boost....look at it this way, just a few months ago, before the 4870x2 was released, this card would have blown away anything on the market, and now you can get that performance for about $270....for a slight increase in performance you have to spend at least $120 more for a 4870x2, which just doesn't make sense unless you are going for a "money no object build"...and even then if you quad crossfire now you'll have way better performance than spending the same amount for a single 295....but you really won't notice it on too many games at 1920x1200, so I would advise waiting until the price drops a couple more times in a year or two.

Go vista...I'm guessing the laptop is ram challenged. Vista really needs a minimum 3gb to breathe unless you want to restart all the time, especially with a slower processor. With 6gb, or 12gb in the future the advances of vista will show, at least until you upgrade to windows 7.

 

[Crashman]

Yikes, MBs are expensive. What's the real different between the $350
range and the $200 range?

the difference is in the # of pcie2 lanes for running sli
that board is 16/8/8... not the choice if you want that in the future

In the cost effective range also concider a gigabyte x58-ud4/5 that will get you 16/16/8

or the expensive $350 boards get you 16/16/16

Wrong.

>Your motherboard is a great one, I would stick with it. If you decide to do some serious overclocking at a later date you'll be good to go.

except that won't do 2 X 4850X2 in the future as wimcle states?

>You didn't state what resolution you'll be running, but if its 1920 x 1200 or below you should go with a 4850x2 for now

I'm considering one 4850X2 for now and another later on. The question is how future proof is that (the double cheap option)? Crysis at 1900X1200 with enthusiast settings and a single 4850X2 is only 30 FPS.

Another question I forgot to ask.

Vista 64 bit
or WinXP 64 bit.

I have vista on a laptop and I absolutely hate it.

Except that you're both wrong, -1 on both replies. The board is x16/x16 OR x16/x8/x8. It has autodetection for the third slot and electronic switches, just like the Gigabyte board that's also x16/x16 or x16/x8/x8.