New PC i'm going to build.

[sturticles]

Hi everyone, thanks in advance for taking your time to look at this (whether you're going to help me or not).
So this will be my first time building a PC. I'm not very knowledgable as of yet, but I am keen to learn. I was hoping you guys could help me pick out some gear to work around what I am using it for.
I want a new PC because - I want a faster one to what I have now! (P4 3.4ghz, 2GB ram, Ati Radeon x1950 pro *not a bad card*) I am currently studying animation and graphics and so will be using this computer for Video, Graphics, Maya, Rendering etc.
I am also interested in gaming and want to be able to play at highest possible settings.
I am not the kind of person that will buy something new every couple of months to upgrade a previous item just a little bit and put it in my PC and sell the other one, *I want something that will be as future proof as possible, (even though we're talking about a PC, I guess i mean i want to have it powerful enough for current applications for as long as possible)*.
However, I do want the best 'bang for buck' and not spend 100's more dollars for only a small increase in performance. . .
I will most likely be using this PC on my 46" sony LCD 1080p TV.
I also have access to a 52" Sony 1080p LCD TV and would like to play around with multiple displays for once (I've never done that) which would be a dream of interest.
So what I have thought of so far about getting is as follows -

Core i7 920. (I thought getting this and overclocking it would prove to be very sufficient at say 3-3.6 ghz? Maybe more?)

Video Card/ GPU. (I am not 100% sure yet, but definitely want one of ATi's new 5800 series cards. Once the 5870x2 is released and among others, i will decide which one is the best 'bang for buck'.

Motherboard. (I have not decided yet, I may want the ability to have Crossfire in the future. . . I don't know much of overclocking, but I want to learn and get a good Mobo to support a good amount. . . Obviously needs to be an i7 compatible. I think in terms of memory, 6gb+ but maybe you guys can help me decide if i should have more.)

Sound card? (I haven't thought too much about it, however i will add that i want to have my audio/video running through HDMI through my sony muteki htddw7000 7.2 surround sound system and then to my TV. Maybe the mobo will be sufficient enough to support good audio for this? what do you guys think?)

Cooling. (I'm pretty sure i want water cooling to allow for overclocking of the CPU and maybe the GPU? What would you guys think?)

RAM/Memory (As said above, probably 6gb. Maybe more. Probably 1333mhz or maybe 1600. For what i am using it for, what do you guys think?)

Hard Drive (Haven't really thought about it. Probably 1TB would be sufficient. Would i need a fast drive?)

Disk Drive (I don't know much about them, probably just the standard! I don't think i would utilise a BD drive or BD burner any time soon)

Power supply (Also not very knowledgable. . . It's looking like a lot of power to me, i did read the guide for building a PC and saw the PSU should have more than enough *A good amount more in case i go Xfire or something like that*. Based on what you see, what would you recommend?)

What else do you need for a computer? Oh, the case of course. Still something i don't know much about; considering my configuration, something big-huge would look like what i need.

I am from Australia, do newegg or other american stores ship to Australia? Any Aussies here that can give me some info on good local stores/sites for best prices?

I know It's not much to work on - I apologise.
Hope you guys can give me some feedback anyway.

Thanks!

 

[gkay09]

Some aus sites - msy.com, umart,
And this would be very handy...
http://www.pricespy.com.au/

And fill this and paste it here...It would just take few minutes...
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

 

[sturticles]

Apologies! I did not see that, i only just joined the site and tried to make my post as neat as possible.
I will get to it eventually when i get some more info.
Thanks.

 

[gkay09]

^ Oh your post was very clear...but with that info, it would be easier for others to know what you want...

 

[sturticles]

I'm willing to spend 2000 AU. Probably a bit more. Purchase I want in the next 1-2 months, on going build i suppose. I want to wait for other ATi's GPUS to release first.

CPU Usage is for Adobe CS4 Master Suite software. Maya 2010/2009. HD Video rendering. Extreme Gaming. And all around other software. Internet, itunes, msn et cetera.

Parts i don't need are a screen, keyboard and mouse, speakers and I will have windows 7.

I live in Australia and want best prices possible, obviously. I'm not very knowledgable for online sites because i only just started looking, but using search engines like Pricespy and Shopbot to find the best deals anywhere around AUS.

I don't have parts preferences, i was hoping people could help me decide on which are better brand to buy from. I want to overclock and maybe have Crossfire in case i need to add another gpu in the future.

Monitor resolution is 1080p. However i may want to add another TV to that which is also 1080p.
I've not used multiple displays before, but i want to try.

I hope these helps..

 

[obsidian86]

a good water cooling system which will out perform a good air cooler will cut bout $500 off that budget

 

[sturticles]

Hmm. Well i don't know much of water cooling but my friend suggested it.
However, i may overclock the cpu to around 3.4ghz or more. I read the i7 920 was considerably underclocked at factory settings. . . Would i even need a water cooling to clock it at those levels? Or are there air coolers sufficient, and untill we get more info on the latest ATi gpus, i guess that will help decide whether or not they run very hot. . .

 

[shortstuff_mt]

A good air cooler will easily handle a 3.4GHz - 3.8GHz overclock on an i7. I would avoid water cooling.