I7 build Finalization

[redwood36]

Hello
So this is the final result. id just like to run this by you guys to see if the parts and compatible and whatnot.
im a graphic designer/gamer

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8D - Retail &&&&&&ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Combo Price: $436.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ... - Retail &&&&&&COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
Combo Price: $259.98

EVGA 017-P3-1175-AR GeForce GTX 275 1792MB 448-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
299.99

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM
94.99

XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail&&&&&&&Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
Combo Price: 314.97

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608008
9.99

1ST PC CORP. 12" 8-pin EPS extension cable Model CB-8M-8F - Retail
8.99 (which btw is not in stock.. anyone know when it will be back in stock?

Logitech MX518 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical 1800 dpi Gaming-Grade Mouse - Retail
39.99

Logitech X-540 70 watts 5.1 Speakers - Retail
78.99

its about $1540 but i wont be getting the mouse and sound system until later though.
thanks a bunch!

 

[hunter315]

Paying wayyy too much for no performance improvement is not the way to do it, that evga card isnt even OC'ed so i dont know why it costs so much. Get the standard XFX or the EVGA superclocked edition, both are more that 60 cheaper
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150387
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130478

This ram is cheaper even after the combo with the motherboard and is better than the dominators, and can be combo'd with the i7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.231560

Swap the cooler out for the core contact freezer, its cheaper and performs better
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835207004
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835207005

What resolution are you going to be gaming on? If its less than 1920x1080 a GTX 260 would still do fine for you.

 

[wathman]

I definitely agree with hunters first 2 changes. What I think is happening with the overpricing on the OP's EVGA pick is that the card is currently out of stock. Either they have no intention of restocking it and haven't gotten around to deactivating the item, or when they do get it back in stock, they will adjust the price accordingly. Since prices change daily at the egg, probably one of those two things will happen with that card. Regardless, hunters suggestions are better at this time.

As for the Sunbeam cooler, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing since I've never used one of their coolers. I had a Sunbeam case a few years back, and it was ok for the price, too much plastic instead of metal though. Don't have any other experience yet with that company.

 

[redwood36]

Yes see i was looking at those video cards but they have lower GDR so i figrued they werent as good. they are both 896 ram as oppose to the larger amount of ram on the other card. i noticed everyone was suggesting the cards you suggested. I'd rather upgrade than downgrade, so if my card isnt an upgrade, whats the next level up?

as for OCZ, i was told corsair was better. can you explain why OCZ is better? I thought corsair was the brand that had everyones trust. also that version is the low voltage model. I was told not to use that by another Tom's hardware forum member.

as for the cooler, it seems it is quite large and thats the reason for most peoples complaints. are you sure it will fit as well as allow room for the ram? thanks a bunch!

 

[hunter315]

The GTX275 with 898MB is standard and performs extremely well. Take a look at the review of the GTX285 with 2GB vs 1GB, the high levels of ram are not extremely useful right now.

The OCZ platinum has CL7 whereas the dominators are CL8, it takes the dominators 1 extra clock cycle over the platinums to access each block of memory.

As for the cooler, it may overhang one of the ram slots which isnt a problem for most people, but see if you can find a review by someone who tried using it on that board, there are some boards where the high heatsinks interfere with CPU coolers. If your board can mount it it should perform quite well.

 

[redwood36]

I see about the OCZ, but what about the low voltage. im not experienced in overclocking so id rather not have to rely on it as a function in order to get equitable performance.

OK then i agree with the GTX275

as for the sunbeam, id rather not take my chances. Is there any other heatsink you can suggest with comparable performance that will be definetly fine? Initialy i went with the v8 but someone told me it would cover the ram slot. Now im quite wary, i didnt know they were making heatsinks that large nowadays.

 

[wathman]

Well if you really want to step up, go for a GTX 285. The actual amount of graphics memory isn't a huge factor unless you plan on driving large displays with very high resolutions. If you are more concerned about graphics from a designer aspect, you should look at the NVIDIA Quadro workstation graphics cards, though they are not cheap, and will probably require you to rebalance your budget. Don't go for Quadro if you expect to get sweet graphics on your games though, they won't do any better than the GeForces in that department. They're optimized for complex computations, and rendering needs for designers.

As for OCZ or Corsair, the timings are more agressive on that OCZ RAM, pushing it to be faster. Both brands make good quality stuff, but in the end, the actual memory chips themselves come from the same factories in general. When you get into overclocking for top performance, it comes down to the quality of the chips selected.

 

[redwood36]

I see, well than in that case i AM pushing a large display (25.5) at 1920 x 1280. and im eager for high performance since im already spending so much. is 25.5 x 1920x1280 a large display? I would imagine so, but what do i know about all the fancy footwork being done nowadays haha.

in this case on, which card on this list is the best for about 300-450. im assuming its not the sparkle one but i cant tell the difference between many of them. thanks!

if the Quadro is so expensive, im fine ill leave that along. IM running right now a 9800 pro radeon for the last bunch of years, so im sure i will be impressed no matter what. however when it comes to gaming thats where i want to be able to run stuff at top end atleast for a month haha.

on the OCZ issue, i see you point about the timings, however, im still in doubt about the low voltage. more than likely this is die to my own ignorance. but why would one guy warn against low voltage and another say it doesnt matter? what function does the low voltage have and how will it effect my performance?

 

[hunter315]

The 1.65 volts is required for the i7 memory controller, any higher and you risk burning out the controller. Lower voltage generally indicates higher quality chips than those that require high voltage to operate stably at the same timings so in general lower voltage is good, however it doesnt matter too much.

The EVGA Superclocked GTX275 is equivilent to a stock GTX285 and a hell of alot cheaper, if you really want great performance this card should do excellent
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143201

 

[shortstuff_mt]

The low voltage of the OCZ ram is a GOOD thing. RAM that requires high voltage to get its rated speed/timings is more than likely just factory overclocked. RAM that requires less voltage will run cooler, last longer, and have more overclocking headroom if needed. Corsair Dominator RAM is overpriced and no higher quality than the OCZ RAM.

 

[redwood36]

Fantastic Gentlemen! much obliged for all the questions answered. I just still have that one question about the heatsink. is there one that i can get that will offer optimal performance that will also fit nicely onto the mobo?

 

[shortstuff_mt]

The Xigmatek Dark Knight in your original post will work just fine. It only cools SLIGHTLY worse than the Sunbeam one. It's also compatible with more motherboards and a little easier to install.

 

[redwood36]

haha well then i suppose i will go on a search to find out if the sunbeam one will fit. of course i barely know how to do that (sifting through the multitude of articles on these products can be quite overwhelming. I will report back the results.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

The Xigmatek cooler is very nice. You certainly don't have to feel bad about using it. I prefer it over the Sunbeam cooler, actually.

 

[wathman]

if the Quadro is so expensive, im fine ill leave that along. IM running right now a 9800 pro radeon for the last bunch of years, so im sure i will be impressed no matter what. however when it comes to gaming thats where i want to be able to run stuff at top end atleast for a month haha.

I got curious about how much the workstation class cards are going these days so I took a look at what Newegg offered for workstation cards just now. I was actually surprised that they covered such a wide price range. Some of them are obviously slightly older models, but I don't do any high end graphical work to get a feel of their relative performances of those vs. current gen. cheaper workstation Gfx cards. The Quadro FX5800 monster with 4GB GDDR3 RAM prices in at just under $3,000, which seems ludicrous for even a workstation.

 

[redwood36]

yes well that is quite ludicrous. luckily i have the pleasure of not working with either 3d models or video. Im strickly a 2d man myself haha.

as a secondary note. I looked up the two products in parantheses, it seems that atleast 2 people did the build with no posts after. not 100% sure however. is there no way to determine from the dimensions?

 

[wathman]

I dug up the physical dimensions of that sunbeam cooler, all newegg listed was "590 grams" it's size is 125mm L x 104mm W x 155mm H. That's quite a bit taller than the Xigmatek, also much thicker. An antec 900 case is just over 200 mm wide, so accounting for the thickness of the board, CPU, socket, standoffs, and space between the board and the side, there's going to be very little clearance. as for how well it fits with the board layout, you'll have to eyeball it I guess.

 

[redwood36]

but im using the coolmaster haf 932?

 

[wathman]

I must have missed where you said what you were using for a case, I just picked an antec 900 as a "typical mid-tower case" since it's generally the most compact an ATX case can get and still fit most large components. the haf 932 being a full tower and even more spacious, you should be okay for size in theory, but until your components are physically in place, can't really say for sure.

 

[redwood36]

ah ok, im posting on the asus forum and going to hope that they know. (sorry if my last comment sounded jumpy- wasnt my intention to sound like i jumped your bones)

 

[wathman]

I wouldn't be too worried about it, but I'm also the type of guy who doesn't care what the inside of the case looks like as long as it's all functional and safe. The sunbeam is a larger cooler than the xigmatek, giving it more surface area and better cooling capacity. If I was doing a build with it and ran into a problem with the fins being too large, I'd use my dremel to remove the problem fins on the cooler.

When I'm very close to finishing a fun, new build and run into a problem, It's DIY unless it's DOA

 

[redwood36]

i see, well i since i wouldnt know what to remove i wont plan on chancing it. on another forum i discovered a poster saying he couldnt fit 120mm on it properly and had to break something on it. basically-- ill bet the xigmatek one should be alright.