First System Build

[Rangoon123]

This is the first time for me building a computer and I just wanted to get everyone's comments or suggestions on what I've configured. I expect to buy preferably from Newegg within the next week and hope the price is around the $1000 to $1200 range. The main reason I'm upgrading is for gaming and just to get a pc that is fast and works because I am upgrading from a 7 year old HP with a pentium 4, ddr memory, nvidia 5600 etc.

OS: Windows Vista 64bit with Windows 7 upgrade

Case: Antec 900

PSU: Antec EA750 750W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817371026

MOBO:EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813188049

Processor: i7 920 2.66ghz

GPU: XFX HD-489A-ZDEC Radeon HD 4890 Xtreme 1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16814150360

RAM: OCZ XMP 6GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820227388

Drive: Sony Optiarc Black
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16827118030

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822136319

Price Total: $1224.91 plus $60 off in mail in rebates.


Any comments about compatibility or any suggestions would be great.
Thanks

 

[kufan64]

Sure looks good to me... not really anything to complain about...

You can save a good chunk of money by grabbing the ASUS P6T SE. It doesn't have some of the nicer features for overclockers like the improved heatsinks and such, but I'm pretty sure it still has XFire support. It's worth investigating at least.

Consider getting another HDD and setting them up in RAID 0 for increased performance. I'd also consider an Nvidia card if for nothing but PhysX. Not really criticisms, just things you might want to look at.

If you're lucky enough to have a Microcenter in your area, compare prices with them. I got a most of my core components there and saved a few dollars over newegg.

Good luck with the build.

 

[Rangoon123]

Ok so with the asus I guess I would save about $30-40 bucks. I mean thats still good but if the EVGA is better I'd rather pay that little extra. On the other hand I noticed the open box asus would save about $100 which is much more encouraging.

so
A. Which is better, the ASUS or the EVGA? I might overclock awhile down the road but I'm hoping I won't even need to until after the warranties run out anyways.
B. Anybody bought open box from newegg before? Warranty, quality issues, etc?
C. How much performance increase do you get wiht a Raid setup?

thanks

 

[kufan64]

I bought an open box mobo from Microcenter, and had to return it the next day because some of the CPU socket pins were bent. Open box items are great assuming that you get what you want, but it IS a risk. ordering one through newegg also means that if there is a problem, you can't just drive to the store, you have to mail it back to them. I'm pretty sure that you don't get ANY warranty with newegg open box items other than like a 30-day warranty in case the thing doesn't work.

The EVGA is probably a better board, but there's really no reason to pay for features you won't use. If you are going to stick with ATI graphics, and aren't going to do any heavy overclocking, then why not save a few bucks?

RAID 0 is great for performance. You basically turn 2 HDD's into one so they work together to read/write everything. This obviously makes everything they do about twice as fast. The only real problem is that if one drive fails, you lose all data on both drives. I don't see it as a big deal though, because if you only had one drive and it failed, you'd lose all your data anyway.

 

[Rangoon123]

Ok, yea I'm thinking I might just go with a new one then, still deciding on the EVGA or ASUS but I may just go with the EVGA because it seems the reviews of ASUS recently have been scattered.

May or may not do raid, could I later transfer or switch over to raid if I bought another drive later?

Last question, do you guys think 700-750w is enough for the system I planned? Again, I'm hoping I won't really need to do crossfire or overclock anytime soon but If I'm at all pushing it, I could probably spring for an 800-850 if you guys think its needed.

Thanks for all the help.