Checking for compatibility on my first build

[poopmonger2]

Hey everyone, this is my first time building my own pc and I wanted to make sure everything will work together when I start the build. so far my cost of build is 1,342 dollars. I have a budget of 1500. If anything doesn't look right, or you think that anything could be upgraded/changed please feel free to offer any suggestions.

Here is my build so far:

Antec 900 case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Intel i7 920 2.66 GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

12 Gb Corsair ram http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145233

Windows 7 RC (and soon to be just windows 7)

Corsair 750 W Power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

ASUS P6T X 58 Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131365

XFX Radeon 4890 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150359

Seagate 500 Gb 7200 HDD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

Sony Optirac Black CD/DVD RW http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827131061

Scythe Fan Contoller http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811998055




Thanks to anyone that can help me, I plan on ordering all this ASAP.

 

[Helloworld_98]

swap the HDD for a western digital caviar black 640GB as they are faster.

do you need 12GB of ram?

get windows vista home premium now with the upgrade voucher, then pay the $50 when Win7 comes out, it will cost you a bit more overall but you will have better driver support until win7 can support the drivers.

 

[poopmonger2]

swap the HDD for a western digital caviar black 640GB as they are faster.

do you need 12GB of ram?

get windows vista home premium now with the upgrade voucher, then pay the $50 when Win7 comes out, it will cost you a bit more overall but you will have better driver support until win7 can support the drivers.

I was going to go with a WD Black Caviar, but every review has said that the seagates are faster, and I've also used seagates in the past with no problem.

The 12 GB of ram is both future proofing and because It's only a 100 more than 6 GB. I want to get the absolute most out of my i7 for years to come.

Do you really think there will be that much of a driver support difference between Vista and 7?

7 RC has been out for a while now, and everyone is getting ready for it, so I'd assume the drivers are just as up to date.


Have you heard of anyone having problems cross firing 4890's?

 

[Outlander_04]

12 gig of ram isnot future proofing .

The only programs that will be able to use it are 64 bit programs . So far that amounts to Adobe CS4 . It will be years before most software is 64 bit because the apps dont need that much RAM ever so its just not a priority .

If the day arrives when 12 gig is actually useful it will be after the useful life of your computer .. ..say 2-3 years from now
In the meantime you are more likely to slow down games than speed them up
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/memory-module-upgrade,2264.html


As for hard drives . Drives with higher density platters ie more data per disc read and write faster . 500 gig drives have 2 platters of 250 gb each
320 , 640 and 1 terabyte drives have 1 , 2 or 3 platters each with a capacity of about 340 gig so they access data faster
Seagate shipped faulty drives and screwed their customers just a few months back by refusing to acknowledge the problem . The lifetime warranty was a joke as many of us found out .
The WD black series is good , but if you want fast then Samsungs drives are faster than either seagate or WD and they are quieter .
Since you have just saved $100 by not wasting cash on RAM you will never use you could consider a SSD for OS and programs and buy a pair of say 320 gig drives for storage and back up


Vista drivers run in W7 , since its the same kernell . But 7 doesnt have vistas overheads and uses memory better so its faster every where

 

[geofelt]

If you will do a huge amount of heavy multitasking, then more ram is good. If you are just gaming, and perhaps downloading and a virus scan, then 6gb is plenty. You can always add more later, and it might be cheaper later.

If you hard drive space needs are modest, like 300gb, then get the 300gb WD velociraptor. Nothing, except a good SSD matches it. They are pricey, though, and you can get more space and almost as good performance by using just the first 300gb of a WD 1tb caviar black.

The antec 902 case is a better version of the 900. Check it out.

The Antec cases come with decent fans and a hi/med/low switch. Try them out first. I find that variable fan speeds are annoying. You can use Speedfan perhaps if you want to try programmed control. A fan controller can always be added later.

Pre-order the windows-7 upgrade in the next week or so. It will cost more later. Use the release candidate in the inerim.

 

[poopmonger2]

I am an architecture student and I use a lot of CS4 programs and many other rendering/modeling programs, so in that case, I think the 12 will be on my side, but even then, it won't be as much of a difference as I thought so I will most likely go with 6 gigs of Corsair.

I have heard really really good things about the velociraptor, but I know it's pretty pricey, and doesn't really carry too much room. In that case I think I will go with what outlander is saying and grab a WD black caviar.


I'm going to stick with windows 7, I've already preordered it at $50.

Thank's a lot!

 

[poopmonger2]

By SSD do you mean a Solid state? How many gigs do you think I would need to be good for my OS and several games?

 

[geofelt]

By SSD do you mean a Solid state? How many gigs do you think I would need to be good for my OS and several games?

The only good one out today is the intel X25-m 80gb which is sufficient. There is talk of intel launching new ones at a better price in two weeks. I understand that CS4 is one of the few programs that has been written to take advantage of >4gb. If that is the case, then 12gb could be a huge plus.

 

[poopmonger2]

Since I'm splitting this build between gaming and compatibility I am going to go for 6 gigs of ram, I can always add more later. As for the Hard drive, I'm just going to get a 1TB WD caviar black. I'm not sure now what I'll do with the extra money I have, maybe buy another 4890 for some crossfire.

Thanks for all the help!