Feedback on $800 build

[cfuller]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 1-5 days BUDGET RANGE: ~$800

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Graphics processing programing, gaming, internet and general music, and video use

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg

PARTS PREFERENCES: I need an Nvidia Graphics card but otherwise pretty flexible

OVERCLOCKING: Yes SLI OR CROSSFIRE: maybe at a later date

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: My main goal is performance for the price (I'm willing to go up in price if it increases performance proportionally)

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SAMSUNG DVD Burner SH-S223L
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151188

Seagate Barracuda 1 TB 7200.12 ST31000528AS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433

EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

CORSAIR 650 W CMPSU-650TX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

G.SKILL 2x2 GB F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128358

Rosewill Wind Knight
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147135

Intel Wolfdale 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115206


I was hoping for some feedback on compatibility or suggestions. Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[smithereen]

Should be compatable, but I'd recommend switching to a Phenom II 720, and either the Gigabyte 790X or possibly an nVidia chipset if you're looking for SLi in the future. The Core Contact-Freezer is a good heatsink for AM3 cpus.

 

[Why_Me]

You have a board that is set up for Crossfire(dual ATI cards)...not to mention that board a better match for a cpu with a native FSB of 1333. Try this set up with that case of yours.


http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009795 $74.99 ($49.99 after MIR) Free Shipping
OCZ OCZ550FTY 550W Active Power Supply Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 $79.99
GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Product of preference with 2 Oz Copper PCB & DualBIOS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115206 $119.99 Free Shipping*
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122 $46.99 Free Shipping*
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150361 $179.99 Free Shipping*
XFX GX260XADJF GeForce GTX 260 Core Edition Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Free Call of Duty: World at War w/ purchase, limited offer

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284 $99.99 Free Shipping*
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151187 $23.99 Free Shipping*
SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner - OEM

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dd353205.aspx?ITPID=mscomsc <--- Save yourself some money on an o/s until March 2010 and dl the 64 bit version of Windows RC 7

 

[cfuller]

Should be compatable, but I'd recommend switching to a Phenom II 720, and either the Gigabyte 790X or possibly an nVidia chipset if you're looking for SLi in the future. The Core Contact-Freezer is a good heatsink for AM3 cpus.

Thanks for the advice. Is there any particular reason for the Phenom II?

 

[cfuller]

You have a board that is set up for Crossfire(dual ATI cards)...not to mention that board a better match for a cpu with a native FSB of 1333. Try this set up with that case of yours.


http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009795 $74.99 ($49.99 after MIR) Free Shipping
OCZ OCZ550FTY 550W Active Power Supply Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 $79.99
GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Product of preference with 2 Oz Copper PCB & DualBIOS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115206 $119.99 Free Shipping*
Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231122 $46.99 Free Shipping*
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150361 $179.99 Free Shipping*
XFX GX260XADJF GeForce GTX 260 Core Edition Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Free Call of Duty: World at War w/ purchase, limited offer

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284 $99.99 Free Shipping*
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151187 $23.99 Free Shipping*
SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner - OEM

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dd353205.aspx?ITPID=mscomsc <--- Save yourself some money on an o/s until March 2010 and dl the 64 bit version of Windows RC 7

Thanks for the advice. I understand the board recommendation but why the power supply and hard drive. Was the power supply excessive, even if I try to expand the system later? Is the hard drive just a brand preference?

 

[smithereen]

Why the Phenom II? Because it's faster, has an extra core, and leaves more future upgrade potential. The PSU you selected was a bit too much of your budget, I suppose, but I'd stick with it, especially if you don't like MIRs. Western Digital hard drives are considerably faster.

Here's a Phenom II build.

Ph2 720 and 980a - $275
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.198677

Low Voltage OCZ Platinum - $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227447

The rest like Why_Me said, but stick to the Corsair PSU.

 

[gkay09]

How about this build...

CPU + Mobo
X5 955 + ASUS M4A78T-E AM3 AMD 790GX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.203158

RAM -
GSkillz DDR3 1333MHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231189

HDD -
WD Black 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

CASE + PSU
Antec 300 + Antec EA 650W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.204132

Graphics card -
XFX HD 4870 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150394

Total - $834 not counting in Shipping and Mail-In-Rebates...
This setup should be more powerful than any of the above and is still ~$800 and would be best suitable for your Graphic processing tasks too...

 

[mlcloud]

And if you can spare $34 bucks before rebates, I declare gkay09 the winner! DDR3, 4870, AND a quad core to boot.

 

[techwizard08]

+1 to mlcloud-->gkay09

Huzzah @800$

 

[smithereen]

Ummm... he needs an nVidia graphics card, probably for CUDA. The Antec combo deal is very good, though.

 

[gkay09]

^ Well if you seen the news lately, even ATI has come up with ATI Stream...
EDIT: Had been out in December but now only they are catching up...

And maybe he can benefit from that too...And CUDA is still not widely used in all the apps to the full extent...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-stream-gpgpu,2335.html

But if he still wants to go with nvidia, then for $30 more, he can get he XFX GTX 260 with 2 Games free, Free Shipping and $15 Mail-In-Rebate...
And as the OP has said "I'm willing to go up in price if it increases performance proportionally"
This $60 over his $800 budget is totally worth it...

 

[cfuller]

I won't actually be doing the bulk of the processing work on this computer. I will just be writing some of the code and using it on a separate computer with three Tesla cards. For this reason I was told that Nvidia cards would be the simplist to use. I probably should have been more clear in the beginning.

 

[smithereen]

Well then by all means go with gkay's system. It's usually best to just post your specific needs and let us figure the rest out.