New i7 build

[jacinclowe]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: sometime next month or december BUDGET RANGE: around 3000 or less

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: video editing, gaming, surfing the internet, watching movies

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: i am traveling to south florida so a brick and mortar with the parts would be nice but prices for the comparison come from newegg

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: bermuda but traveling to US

PARTS PREFERENCES: i7, ATI, Asus

OVERCLOCKING: Yes SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe in the future

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 x2 maybe getting 1more monitor in the future

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: i selected most of the parts but i just wanted to post it on here to see if there were any places i could do better and get a higher clock on the 920 ( hoping for that 4ghz) this build is with upgrades in mind with the i9 coming out next year and mabe another 5870 also maybe another velociraptor in raid 0 too so yea guys i wanna here some good feed back oh p.s. where in south florida could i get all these parts as i havent bin there in a while


Thermaltake ArmorPlus(Armor+) VH6000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail $199.88
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133056

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM $229.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136322

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (bare drive) - OEM $119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148337

CORSAIR CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible ... - Retail $239.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139007

Arctic Silver ACN-60ML (2-PC-SET) Thermal material Remover & Surface Purifier - OEM $5.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100010

Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound - Retail $9.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608008

OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK - Retail $129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $289.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131365

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail $279.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

CORSAIR CWCH50 Water Cooler - Retail $79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181009

LG Blu-ray Burner Model BH08LS20 - Retail $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136164

XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card ... - Retail $379.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150443


total $2375.76

 

[evongugg]

Here are some promotions on cases.

http://promotions.newegg.com/Cases/100709Gaming/index.html?nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL092409&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL092409-_-MECH-_-EB1A-_-Cases&cm_lm=

use the coupon code SPETFS to get free shipping on the cases featured there.

 

[jacinclowe]

well i guess nobody wants to answer this thread thanks evon but only the HAF n the ANTEC 1200 are there and they arent as good looking as the armor i considered them but it dont suit me

 

[omfgnoogies]

From what ive read the velociraptors are not really a great deal anymore and your better off getting a solid state drive or two and something like a spinpoint or a WD black. Just use the SSD to load the operating system and some heavier games then use the HD for everthing else. Should increase your performance.


found this one on sale at newegg with good reviews
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167016

They are more expensive but the performance is a big step up compared to regular platter drives. I think someone in these forums even said the performance difference between the newer HDs is somewhat comparable with the raptors.

 

[jpdykes]

I'm a little rusty but some thoughts:

- You should go SSD for the OS - as the previous poster suggested. It will decrease boot times significantly. Ensure that your swap file and data is stored on a different disk. WD Velociraptor's don't cut it any more.

- The power supply is excessive. The new ATi cards have not increase consumption significantly. Look at something around 850W maximum, try Corsair or Enermax. It must have four 8-pin power adaptors for graphics cards.

- Consider the review of latest graphics cards from Bit Tech:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2009/10/01/autumn-2009-graphics-card-buyers-guide/1

See what games you are likely to play and which card works best. There general thoughts are that the new ATi 5870 line is likely to be a strong contender.

- Maybe someone else can pitch in on the motherboard, it seems rather expensive from what I remember spec'ing previously. (Not sure - ask around)

- I've no idea about the watercooler - usually people opt for an Xigmatek cooler. See if there are reviews pitching air against contained water.
Edit: Looking at the temperatures people are posting for overclocked Q6600 processors cooled with that thing I achieve better temps with my Xigmatek - though I don't know what ambient they are starting from.

Thats a start,

 

[jacinclowe]

it seems i posted too high of a ceiling with the price more realisticly is around 2500 or lower

and what about ssd the price /performance/capacity is what i dont like about them also the life is not worked out yet and raid 0 vraptor seems to do better den 1 ssd

this build is gonna be upgraded to the i9 when the come out and i wanted to maybe go big water around that time

and what about the xigmatek size i dont want my mobo to be stressed that much

 

[jay2tall]

With such a large budget, alot of people are really not going to have much to say unless they REALLY object to something or something won't worth in the system. It's when people have a tighter budget and want to get the most for their money that you will really see people go at a thread.

 

[Guest]

ok so basically out of all those items here is what I can add for input. First off, I have some of the things you listed and can give you direct feedback on those items but as some will say I might be biased towards those items because well thats what I picked myself.

My system:
Intel i7 920 D0 Stepping @ 2.67 - no overclocking due to no need but I tested for 4.0Ghz and works!
OCZ Gold 6GB PC3 12800 DDR3 1600 - same ones you picked
Asus P6T Deluxe V2
ATI Radeon PCIe 2.0 16x 4870 HD
Thermaltake LCS Case - liquid cooling
WD Velociraptor 150GB x2 Raid 0
WD 200GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0/Gb/s - For games
WD 1TB 7200 RPM x 2 SATA 3.0/GB/s Raid 0 - For Media Center recordings
Soundblaster Live 24Bit X-FI Xtreme Gamer Pro
4 Dvd/CD burner drives - not in question so i am not going to list
Windows 7 RC - Pro already pre-ordered

OK so I think that is everything.....The processor, well that needs no input from me. Even this site has benchmark reviews about it which blow away anything else although i5's are cheaper and the ones that give it a close run are also the ones that cost alot more money.

The raptors - give me a 5.9 for a performance rating and I did see some numbers yesterday vs a SSD and they do run alot faster. SO if you can afford a SSD than go for it, I chose not to because I have had the drives for awhile..before SSD.

The memory works as advertised and has the same timings as the corsair dominator series. Very nice for the price/performance.

The Asus Board, I have not had any problems with and gives you plenty of overclocking options but I would advise doing your research as I did before making your purchase as the mobo is a VERY important piece for your options now and the future.

Water cooling was something I already had and has paid for itself over the years....constantly works and only lost 1 pump which is a 50 dollar item after 5 years. Put a new pump in and all is good. I can't even hear my computer running lol.

I think I answered all the ones you requested input on that I could provide input on from first hand experience. The rest I have no idea about so I can't comment.

 

[jpdykes]

Use the Tom's Hardware SSD and 3.5" HDD performance charts to compare.

(Vista startup - higher is better)
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2009-flash-ssd-charts/PCMark-Vantage,915.html

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/PCMark-Vantage,1021.html


Basically you are looking at 10x the throughput SSD vs WD Velociraptor. (Making the assumption they applied the test consistantly).

With a budget of $2500 you cannot avoid an SSD - it would just be foolish. And you will almost certainly want to replace it before lifetime becomes an issue.


The design of an SSD is not about capacity, you put the OS and intensive programs on it and everything else on a second standard drive.

By the time you've paid for two or four WD drives you may as well by an SSD.


Proper watercooling is going to cost around 600GBP - not sure on US prices, that's for CPU and GPU.

The Xigmatek's can make use of a mounting bracket to be absolutely certain the board won't flex (also better cooling) but I move my case around with no problems.

 

[jacinclowe]

ok so what is the best ssd for the same or around the same price point as the velociraptor im not worryed bout vista start up cause i tune vista and windows 7 to load up within a minute and thats with a 5200 rpm drive n 2.13 celeron single core

 

[jpdykes]

Intel X25-M 80Gb is in the same range. Ranks third in the THG Desktop benchmarks - obviously technology may have moved on a bit since they benched them and there may be some new offerings.

The disk is designed to hold only the OS, hence it's low capacity.

I don't know if anyone else is more on the ball with current offerings.
Alternatively research THG for recent articles, I'm sure I've seen some.