Building a new system soon, need help + opinions !

[jchan]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: When Windows 7 OEM comes out
BUDGET RANGE: $1000-$1100

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: General browsing, word documents, music, gaming, movies

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, monitor, speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg, amazon, buy.com, anything that has cheapest prices + shipping

PARTS PREFERENCES: Anything for best bang for the buck

OVERCLOCKING: Yes, but not extreme high overclocks
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe, i prefer single GPU

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1280 x 1024

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I know windows 7 oem is a while away, but this is what i have so far. And waiting for windows 7 can be a good thing because the 5800 series and i9 series should be coming out around that time. So that should drive the price of the items i want to buy down. The build I have right now is a couple hundred over my budget, but as i said before, prices should drop hopefully.... Technically, my parents are giving me $1000 to spend, but if it's like $200 more for a better future-proof system, i can pay the extra with my own money.

What i have so far:

Case + PSU: Cooler Master Scout and Cooler Master 700w modular 80+ -> ~$200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.208781

CPU + GPU: Intel Core i7 920 and EVGA gtx 260 core 216 overclocked edition -> ~$420
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.211230

Motherboard + Memory: Asus P6T SE and OCZ Gold 3x2 DDR3 1600 -> ~$263
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.209928

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master V8 Rifle -> ~$70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103055

CD/DVD Drive: Samsung Black blah blah blah -> ~$26
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151175

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 32mb cache -> ~$96
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B001C271MA/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

Mouse: Logitech MX 518 -> ~$40
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007Z1M50/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance

ECT: Arctic Silver 5 Compound and 2 Cooler Master Red LED 120mm fans -> ~$27
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103063

Allotting $150 for Windows 7 OEM ( Hopefully it won't be that much )

Total: $1355 (Includes MIR, shipping, tax)

Final Questions

1. Am I missing any computer parts?

2. Are all these parts compatible?

3. Is there any way to bring down the total price? (Better deal, better part for a lower price)

4. Is a 4890 overkill for a 1280 x 1024 resolution?
I plan to get a ATI 4890 when the 5800 series comes out. The gtx 260 isn't bad but by then, i think the 4890 price will be lower. I just have the gtx 260 in my build just to set aside that money for a gfx card around the same price. And i find DX11 quite ridiculous when most games don't even support DX10 yet ... so i think a 4890 is fine.

5. Are the parts i listed reliable and high quality?

6. Will i7 prices drop when i9 comes out? lol

7. Are there any other recommendations or adjustments you guys have?

8. Will this rig run most games? My friends and I really want to play L4D together.

I will probably have more questions later

Thanks in advance

 

[AKM880]

Firstly I wouldn't get the CM 700W PSU, you could get something like this that would perform better and is more reliable. Go with the 650w's if you are planning to do SLI/Crossfire and if your not a 550W Corsair or Antec EA would be fine.

Corsair 650TX 650W PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&Tpk=Corsair%20650w

Antec EarthWatts 650W PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

Also you could probably save some money if you went with either the Scythe Mugen 2 CPU cooler or the Xigmatek Dark Knight cooler, both perform pretty close and will be pratically the same (if not better) than the CM v8.

Scythe Mugen 2 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185093&Tpk=scythe%20mugen%202

Xigmatek Dark Knight - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029&Tpk=Xigmatek%20dark%20knight

One more thing......the HD 4890 is probably overkill for your 1280 x 1024 resolution, you could probably go with the 4830/4850 or 9800GTX+ unless you get a LCD upgrade or something lol.

MSI Radeon HD 4830 1GB GPU ( This one is OC'd to 585Mhz Core) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127402 (And after MiR its only $5 more than the 512MB ver)

BFGTech 9800GTX+ 512MB (Comes with free COD and WOW games) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143162

Good Luck!

 

[Outlander_04]

you are planning a build now for october which is utterly pointless .

hardware stocks and models change very rapidly .

A gtx 260 is overkill for your monitor , let alone a 4890

and since you basically want to surf and use word you are spending a lot of money pretty wastefully .
You are buying a Ferrari , and you live in a 30 mph speed zone

 

[jchan]

yeah i can see where you are going ... but i don't use word and surf mainly over gaming. I should have edited that. I would say i surf, word doc, game, listen to music, watch movies equally, if not, play games the most.

I understand that technology evolves very quickly these days but as i said before... i can't get the most up to date products when i buy my system in october... my budget is tight and i will have to get "older" stuff, ( ex: 4870 , 4890. Core i7 )

 

[Helloworld_98]

the core i7 920 will be discontinued then, if you're planning for October and you want an i7 build (although it would be LGA1156) then it would be about $750 for the CPU, mobo, ram and a 5870. then add $110 for a 750w PSU, $80 for a CM-690 case, $70 for a HDD, and $25 for a DVD-RW. then $120 for Win7 Home Premium

so ~$1165, then with the spare cash buy a 1920x1200 monitor.

 

[jchan]

is it? This article says the 920 isn't being discontinued ...

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/06/03/intel-answers-the-future-of-core-i7-920/1

or is bit-tech an unreliable source?

And i don't think your calculations are correct ...

Core i7 860 2.66 GHz $280
Mobo for 860 $180 ?
4gb DDR3 dual channeled =[ $70
5870 $350 ? The 4870 was $350 when released
thats $880
750w psu is $110
The CM-690 is $80 but it has shipping so thats $100
$70 hdd
$25 dvd-rw
$120 win 7 ? Where you get that price?

So that comes out ~$1300

Thats ALMOST the same as my curent build and it is worser in some cases:
no triple channel mem.
less hdd space
a case i dont really like >.> ( no offense )
An unknown socket that idk how long the life span is ... At least the i9 is socket 1366

Intel is releasing so many freaking sockets. Honestly, idk what to do and which website to believe .... I appreciate your post though. LGA 1155, 1156, 1157 ?? Wtf?

 

[tastelikecrab]

hmmm... Is the potentiometer on that V8 rifle cooler for manually calibrating the fan speed or something? ....

helloworld_98, so if a whole new set of i7s/sockets are coming out in a few months would you say it's really worthwhile to buy an i7 920 now over a Q9550 given a roughly £100 ($165) price difference? ... clearly the "future-proof" thing flies out the window as newer processors would be manufactured on a 32nm process and the socket change would make them incompatible.... the i7 920 does seem to offer much better performance in terms of raw processing power... but if the system is for gaming mainly - i admit, thats the only thing i use a 'powerful' PC for - then is it worthwhile shelling +£100 on a i7 920 system rather than say, saving it, or going for SLI?

to put things into perspective, you can get a GTX 275 for £150 these days and a GTX 260 for only £110.

 

[jchan]

AKM880- sorry i didn't see your post before for some reason. Is there something wrong with CM power supplies? All their PSUs on newegg have 4 eggs or more. I really prefer single rail and modular.... so the antec doesn't really seem attractive to me even though it does seem to have a lot of amps. I will consider the corsair power supplies though. i'll look around

Thanks for the post. I also thought a 4890 is overkill. I'll probably shave off some money by gettin a 4850 or something. I'll also look at other CPU coolers.

 

[tastelikecrab]

the antec earthwatts and corsair tx are good PSUs. i'd go with that.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703019 this is a bit pricier but if u want the extra power and the single rail it should suit

 

[dirtmountain]

All your choices were good for the future build, but at the top end of their bracket. By starting your research this early for the build you've allowed yourself plenty of time to check and compare components and to look forward to not yet released tech (i5/P55/HD5850/SATA6/USB3 etc.) much of the anticipated new tech is shooting for release at about the same time Windows7 is released. Don't get locked into any particular components now, but wait till just before you order and see what benchmarks say about price/performance and order the best system you can at that time.

 

[jchan]

dirtmountain- well said. I'm gonna stop researching now cause its wastin a lot of my time lol. I'll just keep this build for now, just as a future reference.

Thanks for everyone's help