Thoughts on my build?

[everluck]

Looking for suggestions. Building a gaming-centered media center PC. Will by hooking it up to TV via HDMI, hopefully running games at 1080p. Looking for the best performance I can get with about $2,000.


mobo option 1: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard ($290)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131365

mobo option 2: Gigabyte GA EP55-UD4P - $170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128400

Boot Drive: 80GB Intel X25-M 2nd Gen - $290
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167016

Drive 2: 1TB WD Caviar Black - $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

Drive 3: 1TB WD Caviar Black - $95

GPU: Sapphire HD 5870 - $380
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102856

Case, PSU - Antec 1200 + Antec 750w PSU - $250
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129063

CPU - i7 920 ($280)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

RAM: G.Skill 2x2GB DDR3 RAM - $79
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231190

disc drive: LG Electronics GGC-H20L ($80)
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=LG+Electronics+GGC-H20L&cid=13228453471086887210&sa=title#p

fan/heatsink: Prolimatech Mega Shadow - Deluxe Edition 775 / 1366 / 1156 ($80)
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9655/cpu-pro-05/Prolimatech_Mega_Shadow_Megahalem_Nickel_Plated_Black_Edition_Intel_CPU_Heatsink_LGA_775_1156_1366_AM2_AM2_AM3_Hot_Item.html

Might need a 2.5" to 3.5" enclosure for the SSD, but will try fitting it before I jump the gun and buy a $30 piece of plastic.

Which motherboard would you guys recommend? Any compatibility issues here? Thoughts on getting 8 GB of RAM to start with instead of 4? Thanks.

 

[gkay09]

Yes, there is an incompatibility issue...
The Gigabyte mobo is P55 and not X58 so it wont support 920.

And as you are planning for a Media centered PC with Gaming in mind, then you should take a look at the i7 860 rather than the 920 because of these reasons...

1. It is as powerful if not more as the 920 in gaming.
2. The platform cost is significantly less as you can get the P55 mobos cheaper.
3. Main thing is that the 860 is a 95W TDP compared to 130W TDP of the 920, hence less heat and uses less power.

As for the quantity of RAM, I doubt you would use more than 4GB of RAM.

And you get that SSD cheaper here...
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/648465-REG/Intel_SSDSA2MH080G2C1_80GB_X25_M_Mainstream_SATA.html

 

[everluck]

Thanks very much. Should have probably noted that I may use this rig in the future for video editing, so I'm hoping for a build that will perform encoding tasks well. I won't be buying the parts for maybe another two months, just checking right now to make sure I have a good list of components. Thanks again.

I'm leaning toward the 920 because it seems to me to be a more future proof choice. Looking for this thing to last a long time, as I don't see myself having this kind of money to throw into a PC for quite a while after this.

 

[gkay09]

^ The 920 is a very good choice...

If you are going with i7 920, then choose from X58 mobos and not P55...
And some other choices for the X58 mobo...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131359
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131371

And for the X58 mobos, using a Tri-Channel kit like this would be better...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145250

 

[everluck]

D'oh! I feel stupid for picking out a dual channel set instead of tri

Don't know why that slipped my mind. I appreciate the suggestions, but I'm not very familiar with mobo performance, so I couldn't pick out which one you linked would be the better value. For one thing, I'm not sure how PCI-E 2.0 speeds work out in terms of performance. I know GPUs fit into PCI-E 2.0 slots and I know crossfire will support multiple ATI GPUs, but I don't know what significance 16x, 8x, and the like possess. I'm assuming 16x represents a faster data transfer rate, but then what would be a good board for upgrading to multiple GPUs in the future (say, adding another 5870 when the price drops)? I'm also looking to be able to install at least 3 HDDs, but I don't know how much of a difference there is between PATA/SATA/SATA RAID. I haven't had to worry about desktop components for a long time-- nearly four years now-- since I've been using laptops, mainly, for school and such. Now that I have some money, I figure an upgrade was in order, but I'm a little lost (but doing my best to catch up!). I've found a lot of answers on this site along with a few others, just finalizing things now. Appreciate any and all help.

Oh, one more thing: I'd like to not have any Asus bloatware installed or have to install it via a driver disc, though I fear that may be unavoidable should I get one of their boards. I'm using an Asus G1s right now, and until I uninstalled all Asus utilities they gave me nothing but trouble. I imagine they haven't improved. Would you happen to know if the software on the included utility discs is easily removed?

Eh, guess there is another snag here, sorry: I'm looking to build a performance machine, so I'm hoping for low RAM latency. The Corsair set you recommended looks alright, but how about this set?

I'm not sure about how much of a correlation there is between bus speed and latency; for example, this set is DDR3 1600, but has a slightly higher latency. I'm assuming the higher price indicates better performance, just looking for the sweet spot between both. I'm a little hesitant to shell out $200+ for 6 GB of RAM, but I suppose this is an important investment. [on thinking about this, I realize speed is limited to CPU FSB, so my RAM would only be running at 1366 regardless of other factors... correct?]

Aha, I think I'll get this set. Looks like a great value for the money.

 

[everluck]

Ok, I think I'm done scrounging for parts. Here's my future rig:

mobo option 1: ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard ($290)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131365

Boot Drive: 80GB Intel X25-M 2nd Gen - $290
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167016

Drive 2: 1TB WD Caviar Black - $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

Drive 3: 1TB WD Caviar Black - $95

GPU: Sapphire HD 5870 - $380
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102856

Case: CM Haf 922 - $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-650TX - $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&Tpk=corsair%20650

CPU - i7 920 ($280)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

RAM: G Skill DDR3 1333 - $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231223

disc drive: LG Electronics GGC-H20L (blu ray/HD DVD player, CD/DVD burner, found for less than $100 on google products!)
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=LG+Electronics+GGC-H20L&cid=13228453471086887210&sa=title#p

fan/heatsink: noctua nh-u12p ($75)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608014

Any problems detected?

 

[everluck]

Yeah, it's high. I could shave off $50 by getting the regular and not the deluxe board, was considering that. Don't see much difference between them other than the sound card.