The build looks pretty good, just a few tweaks to save some money and answer your questions:
850w PSU is overkill unless you're running lots of HDDs and two BIG GPUs. Don't think that's the case here. 750w is nice for options if you think you'll ever go two GPUS, but for a single GPU rig, a 550w-600w is enough.
I go to frostytech.com for my cooling reviews. Do a little homework, find one that you like the look of that's reasonably priced and post your choice.
4 gigs of ram is enough for what you have listed there. Only users that need more are into production grade editing. If you find you do need more, thats an easy add later.
As for the GPU, you're up at your budget already. You'll either need to extend your budget or cut some cost out. Plan to spend at least $125 on a 4870 1gb. That's the lowest I'd go for a 1920x1080 monitor. The new 58x0 cards will be a little pricey to start. I think I read $200 for a 5850 and $300 for the 5870. If you do any waiting, it may be so the current cards prices adjust to make room for the new cards. The 4890 should come down in price and if nVidia counters, the GTX 275 should too. Both are good choices for your monitor.
Hope that helps, fire away with more questions when you have them.
850w PSU is overkill unless you're running lots of HDDs and two BIG GPUs. Don't think that's the case here. 750w is nice for options if you think you'll ever go two GPUS, but for a single GPU rig, a 550w-600w is enough.
Yea, I thought 850w was to much, I am going to go with 750w for future use.
As for the GPU, you're up at your budget already. You'll either need to extend your budget or cut some cost out. Plan to spend at least $125 on a 4870 1gb. That's the lowest I'd go for a 1920x1080 monitor. The new 58x0 cards will be a little pricey to start. I think I read $200 for a 5850 and $300 for the 5870. If you do any waiting, it may be so the current cards prices adjust to make room for the new cards. The 4890 should come down in price and if nVidia counters, the GTX 275 should too. Both are good choices for your monitor.
I should have changed my post to read $1100.00 build, I forgot to add in the graphics card. So with that budget I might get the 5850, I will probably wait and see how that card looks.
Good to know 4GB should be enough, I will also look into the coolers and post my choice.
you said you might do sli or crossfire in future. with i5 build, you cannot get 2 16 lanes..you will have x8 and x8..which limits your video card bandwidth.
------------------------------You can select me as Best Answer e6400 oc'd 3.2ghz,CCF cooler
3870x2, p5k/epu
750watts psu, antec 900
Reply to overshocks
As far as CPU coolers. $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835103065 Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus is one of the quietest and cheapest of the good ones reviewed at frostytech and fits everything without buying extra brackets.
I like the Coolermaster, looks like a good solution for a good price. The ASUS motherboard has a 4 pin CPU fan connector, if I got a second fan for this unit, where do you connect it?
I like the Coolermaster, looks like a good solution for a good price. The ASUS motherboard has a 4 pin CPU fan connector, if I got a second fan for this unit, where do you connect it?
power supply. depending on what kind of fan connection it is.
Message edited by overshocks on 09-20-2009 at 10:55:24 PM
------------------------------You can select me as Best Answer e6400 oc'd 3.2ghz,CCF cooler
3870x2, p5k/epu
750watts psu, antec 900
Reply to overshocks
power supply. depending on what kind of fan connection it is.
Do you mean connect it to one of the PSU connectors or to the PWR_FAN connector on the motherboard?
The fan on your PSU heat sink must plug into the main motherboard fan connector.
For additional fans it depends on what kind of fan you get. Many have a manual speed control so using a molex connector and manually controlling the speed is good. With some motherboards using a secondary motherboard connector and controlling the fan speed that way makes more sense.
The fan on your PSU heat sink must plug into the main motherboard fan connector.
For additional fans it depends on what kind of fan you get. Many have a manual speed control so using a molex connector and manually controlling the speed is good. With some motherboards using a secondary motherboard connector and controlling the fan speed that way makes more sense.
^+1 funny how we registered the same month, you have more posts than me, this what you do on spare time?
------------------------------You can select me as Best Answer e6400 oc'd 3.2ghz,CCF cooler
3870x2, p5k/epu
750watts psu, antec 900
Reply to overshocks
The fan on your PSU heat sink must plug into the main motherboard fan connector.
For additional fans it depends on what kind of fan you get. Many have a manual speed control so using a molex connector and manually controlling the speed is good. With some motherboards using a secondary motherboard connector and controlling the fan speed that way makes more sense.
Thank you for the information, it will help me when I start putting everything together. I will have to get some adapters for my case fans.
^+1 funny how we registered the same month, you have more posts than me, this what you do on spare time?
For some reason I have dropped about 10 hours a week on my MMORPG schedule and instead been doing hardware research and posting. The new intel CPUs and ATI GPUs coming out so close together kinda sucked me in.
------------------------------You can select me as Best Answer e6400 oc'd 3.2ghz,CCF cooler
3870x2, p5k/epu
750watts psu, antec 900
Reply to overshocks
If you have to buy adapters, getting a fan controller might be a better solution especially if you have a few to plug in. They'll have the 3pin connection on the back and add some style to the front:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] r%20Panels