New Intel Build - <$1000 work/play

[dysfixal]

Hey everyone, I'd appreciate any advice you have. I'm specifically wondering about my motherboard selection and whether or not the PSU is big enough.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Sometime during 4th Qtr 2009
BUDGET RANGE: <$1,000
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Work, gaming, movies, internet
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: I'm flexible, but newegg seems to price well
PARTS PREFERENCES: Leaning towards an Intel box, a build attempt is posted below
OVERCLOCKING: Not likely unless convinced it's going to be very stable
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: The quieter the better

Case ($165): Antec Nine Hundred + EA650 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 650W Power Supply - Retail
Mobo ($190): GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
CPU ($280): Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
GPU ($145): XFX HD-487A-ZHFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
RAM ($125): G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8TU-6GBPI - Retail
HDD ($65): Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
CD/DVD ($27): SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223B - OEM
OS ($110): Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders w/ Tech Guarantee - OEM
Total: $1,118

This is a bit more than I want to spend but my horizon is still a handful of months away so hopefully prices will come down.

Cheers.

 

[Outlander_04]

i7 mb's use triple channel ram . Look for 3 x2 gig Using 2 x2 is an option but if you do that then you lose the huge memory bandwidth advantage of the i7 .

You might as well wait a few weeks and buy an i5 which is an i7 that only does dual channel , is $80 cheaper and has cheaper motherboards

The 4870 is a good card , but its mid range compared to the cpu

 

[dysfixal]

Fixed original post to swap in triple channel ram (rookie mistake, thanks for pointing that out Outlander).

I've been looking at reviews of the i5 and I'm not that impressed with the low-end chip. Yes it's supposed to be $200, but it doesn't support hyperthreading, has lower initial clock speeds, etc. Thoughts?

What card would you recommend? If I step up to 4890 that's another $50. Perhaps prices for those will come down when the 5xxx come out?