New General Purpose PC Build

I ordered these parts about 6 weeks ago so it's possible something better is available now. It took me a month to get the PC running because I had to RMA two motherboards. However, I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and it beats my old 2.4GHz P4 all to hell. I do a lot of video DVD ripping and processing. A 90-minute movie that took over 2 hours to rip can be done in less than 25 minutes by the new PC. It currently has my old XP 32-bit OS on it, but I plan to go to Win7 64-bit with the OS on a 2-drive RAID0. I had to order a minimum system that would run and add to it later. I bought parts based on a lot of research and recommendations from a lot of sites including this one. I was trying to just get the most for my money even if I don't use all the capability right now because a PC becomes old real fast these days. This is my first home built PC and I'm proud of it. Here's the part list, all from NewEgg.

Intel Core i7-920 (D0 step) Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 processor - $280
ASRock X58 Extreme motherboard - $170
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 1GB Graphics Card - $155
Crucial 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1333 SDRAM - $98
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V Power Supply - $110
COOLER MASTER Storm Scout ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $90
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb Hard Drive- $75
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - $7
COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - $45
Lite-On DVD Do-Everything IDE Optical Drive - Taken from old computer
Microsoft Keyboard & Mouse - Taken from old computer
Old 19" CRT Monitor - Taken from old computer
WD Caviar Black 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb Hard Drive - Taken from old computer

Minimum Build Total - $1,030

Plan to add more storage including another WD Black 640GB drive to use with the RAID0 OS partition. I just ordered a flat panel monitor and should get it Friday:

ASUS VW246H Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor - $220

I haven't really stressed the CPU, but my temperatures run about 40C and climb to 43C when ripping a DVD. Highest temp I've seen was 45C. I might experiment with overclocking in the future, but right now I'm just enjoying the new speed.

Mike

Unfortunately, the price of the memory now lists for $126 on NewEgg. Like I said, it's been about 6 weeks.

Mike

does the stock 920 really suck?

i7 920 is more powerful at stock speeds than the i5 750... Also, the OP purchased the i7 920 before the i5/i7 was released. The i7 920 even at stock speeds is better than any AM3 build and at that time was the best option for powerful PC... IMO.

Stock speeds don't suck!! The OP just isn't utilizing the full power of the CPU by not overclocking it!

Thanks for defense. You are right that at the time I bought the CPU it was the best choice. I might overclock in the future, but right now I've got other things to do. And as I said, compared to my old 2.4GHz P4.......................

The graphic cards have changed, also. Right now the ATI 5770 might be a better choice than the 4870.

Mike

And the OP has an aftermarked cooler...