$3500 rig in early November

[PsychoPsonic]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Late October-Early November (waiting for ground-up Windows 7 install)

BUDGET RANGE: US$ 3000-3500

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Office/creative app productivity, gaming, internet, digital A/V workstation, Folding@Home

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Speakers, possibly warhorse 19" CRT; much prefer CRT image quality vs. any LCD I've seen; considering sourcing an old 24" Sony CRT

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Going with a system vendor, as I don't have time to putter with builds anymore, but otherwise, NewEgg. Vigor is leading candidate; did Cyberpower last time (socket 939)

PARTS PREFERENCES: Core I7, mid or full tower case, considering SSD boot disk and 1.5TB data drive (SSD ready for prime time?), quality PSU with headroom for up to 2x295 SLI eventually; start with 1x295, or 2x285? Have always had great luck with Asus mobos, but open to suggestions. Have had NV and ATI, not a die-hard fanboy either way--performance is king.

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe, though conservative (<4 on a 920)

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1600x1200 minimum, greater if new display; wouldn't go to 30" because of pixelation; ultra-low dot pitch, high refresh and true color is a must

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Prefer window and tasteful bling vs. nondescript box (other than my last box it's been beige boxes since the early 80s)

 

[Proximon]

It's just too early. Major changes are coming in the next few months and both performance and prices will change.

I certainly understand about CRT, but I managed to get used to LCD and I don't miss the gaming marathon headaches. Take the time to read up on LCDs, and you might change your mind:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=2049206&enterthread=y

I went from a 19" Viewsonic with shadow mask to my present 22" Acer, now old tech and ready for replacement.

 

[xaira]

wait

 

[waynec121]

yea it is very hard to predict and price out a build in november because technology changes way too fast. a $3500 computer now could only be worth $3000 in november. DX11, Windows 7, i5 are all coming out around fall so just gotta wait it out!! Best of luck

 

[PsychoPsonic]

It's just too early. Major changes are coming in the next few months and both performance and prices will change.

I certainly understand about CRT, but I managed to get used to LCD and I don't miss the gaming marathon headaches. Take the time to read up on LCDs, and you might change your mind:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=31&threadid=2049206&enterthread=y

I went from a 19" Viewsonic with shadow mask to my present 22" Acer, now old tech and ready for replacement.

Thanks, Proximon--pulled the trigger on a HP LP2475w. Hope it works out.

Waynec121, I'm waiting for Win7, but I5 and DX11 don't really factor in--I7 will still be the performance platform, and we won't see DX11 games in force until it's time to upgrade graphics cards anyway.

SSD performance advances seem to be coming pretty fast, though; perhaps by the fall we'll see a 256GB boot drive candidate that overcomes the write issues seen in current models at a price that though high is at least digestable.

 

[Proximon]

I think so. There is certainly enough competition and even Intel seems to want to lower prices. I wouldn't mind an SSD myself but the dollars spent have to equal performance gained.... and that means fairly low priced because I only need to boot my machine once a week or less.

 

[PsychoPsonic]

I think so. There is certainly enough competition and even Intel seems to want to lower prices. I wouldn't mind an SSD myself but the dollars spent have to equal performance gained.... and that means fairly low priced because I only need to boot my machine once a week or less.

Thanks for the response, Proximon.

Shouldn't an SSD yield way faster performance in day-to-day OS reads and writes, though?

I boot my machine at about the frequency you cited. If the only real-world advantage for an SSD boot drive is in time to desktop, then clearly that's a massive waste. I was expecting much shorter app launches and read/writes, browser performance, etc. Am I way off base?

Thanks again!

 

[Proximon]

I suppose it's going to depend on your usage. I have to admit my Open Office could have a faster load time. My browsers are all pretty much instant now.

If my G15 KB would wake up sooner, my time to wake would be about 4 seconds. Maybe 3.

Level loads in various games might be faster.

A 64-bit OS and 4GB RAM makes pagefile access minimal. Obviously large Photoshop projects would benefit from an SSD.

I know Anand feels that SSD is ready for the enthusiast, and he has more testing time in on these than anyone else. He's also recommending the more expensive Intel models though:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167005

You can RAID 0 a couple 640GB Caviar Blacks at that price, and buy a third for backups.

let's see... 80GB for $230 or 640GB for $150?

 

[PsychoPsonic]

I suppose it's going to depend on your usage. I have to admit my Open Office could have a faster load time. My browsers are all pretty much instant now.

If my G15 KB would wake up sooner, my time to wake would be about 4 seconds. Maybe 3.

Level loads in various games might be faster.

A 64-bit OS and 4GB RAM makes pagefile access minimal. Obviously large Photoshop projects would benefit from an SSD.

I know Anand feels that SSD is ready for the enthusiast, and he has more testing time in on these than anyone else. He's also recommending the more expensive Intel models though:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167005

You can RAID 0 a couple 640GB Caviar Blacks at that price, and buy a third for backups.

let's see... 80GB for $230 or 640GB for $150?

True story--Anand's family's house, where he lived in HS when he started his site, is about 10 minutes down the road from me. Never met him, though I've likely walked by him in the mall or something a few times. If I did meet him, I'd pass along thanks from the hardware-afflicted among us.

I'm waiting for Win7 for this build--will W7 be 64-bit only? I'll certainly go that route, with at least 6GB RAM. Recommendations on make/model?

The SSD market really seems to be moving. The latest Maximum PC mag reviews a Patriot Torqx 128GB SSD with write specs 3 times as fast as Intel X-25M's 64MB/s. Average random write response times were slightly slower than the Samsung MLC and the Intel drives--by a couple of milliseconds (yes, big whopping motherfrigging deal). $400 for 128GB, but that's plenty for a boot disk.

However, I'm thinking that by November, we'll be seeing even better specs in the SSD space. Should be interesting to watch.

I have a Raptor (previous generation) boot disk in my current rig, and it's been great. RAID 0'ing a couple of 128GB V-Raptors for a boot disk couldn't be shabby. Maybe not SSD speed, but respectable--although noisier and hotter.