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[Solved] Suggestions on my Specs.

Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - [Solved] Suggestions on my Specs.

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Best answer from aford10.

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Thanks for taking the time to review my research and let me know what else I might want to look into for this build.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: With in 4 days

BUDGET RANGE: $1100 - $1400 Before / After Rebates Before

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Home DVD Video editing(lite), gaming, internet.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: DVD burner, Keyboard, mouse, speakers or printers.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: NewEgg COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: loyal with ASUS MB’s and NVIDIA graphics never had failure on either.

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1024x768, 1280x1024.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: My current home build is 7 years old and all I upgraded was the memory to 2 GIG and my video card 2 years ago. I will be keeping the old system for the kids.

I intend upon using the 2 – 1T drives mirrored for backup of my images and videos. I am thinking of using 2 - 80 GB IDE drives as a dynamic drive for the OS. I have not looked into it yet but am thinking of replacing my 21" Cornerstone CRT with 2 flat panel LCD's I was thinking that 2 19" LCD's might work.

$84.99 x 2 Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

$199.99 + $10 MIR EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI ... - Retail

$119.99 + $20 MIR Thermaltake Toughpower XT W0229RU 750W ATX12V V2.3 80PLUS BRONZE ATI CrossFireX Certified AMD GAME READY FanDelayCool Modular ... - Retail

$288.99 Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail

$219.98 Combo Deal

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

$404.98 + $30 MIR Combo Deal

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

OCZ Obsidian 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model OCZ3OB1600LV6GK - Retail[/url]

Total $1393.31 with a $10 promo code + $60 MIR.
Final Cost after Rebate $1333.31 with free shipping.

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My suggestion would depend on the video editing you do. The i7 920 has hyperthreading to support higher multitasking ability. The 920 is no slouch in games either. It's right there at the top in most benchmarks. You could OC the 920 and get even better performance.

If you don't want to OC, I would suggest the i7 860, which also has hyperthreading, and a faster bus. It's an 1156 socket though, as opposed to the 1366 of the i7 920.

If you aren't doing intense video rendering, I would suggest the i5 750.

If you're only going to run a single video card, I'd suggest this 550w OCZ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817341022

Since your getting windows 7, you may want to look at the 5770 to take advantage of dx11. If you're into heavy gaming, the 5850 is nice if you can find one.

For your usage, an intel i7-920 is overkill. An intel i5-750 with a P55 motherboard is a lot cheaper, a better gaming cpu and more than good enough for video editing.

Then, you should spend some of the money saved on a better graphics card. For a gaming system of this price, it's underwhelming. You should consider buying an ATI card, since unlike nVidia they already offer DirectX11 cards. Get a 5850 if you can, or a 5770 if it must be somewhat cheaper. These cards are better performers, consume less power, are quieter and support DirectX11.

Caviar green HDD's idle at 5400 rpm, which is good for power consumption, but not for performance. The Samsung spinpoint F3 1TB is cheaper, faster and still has a rather low power consumption. If it's purely for backup, the greens are great though.

Should you follow my advice and go for an intel i5/P55 combo, you cannot use 6GB of ram. However, 4 is still more than enough and if that proves to be insufficient, you can get 8.

The antec 900 is great, but it collects dust like an Arabian desert. The 902 has better dust filters. Or you could get a cheaper case, like the antec 300, which would also be good enough.

Message edited by Silmarunya on 11-05-2009 at 10:04:21 PM

Reply to Silmarunya

i7 920 is great for video editing. My videos convert in 5~8 minutes from AVI to DVD format. My 10min MPGs convert in less than 1 minute for YouTube videos. The x58 platform will get Core i9 as an upgrade later if you need more power for video editing.

I wouldn't use those Green Drives for my boot drive. They're more for storage. So you should get a separate drive for boot like this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152181 and put those greens in a raid for storage. They are selling like hot cakes. Zip Zoom Fly had'em for $48 shipped, but they're all sold out.
FYI: i7 920 from Microcenter is only $199.

Message edited by masterasia on 11-05-2009 at 10:18:44 PM

Reply to masterasia

You reccomend the same HDD I do. Sounds good! The 1TB model might be better suited to his needs though.

For light video editing, the difference between the i7 and the i5 is hardly noticeable, and for gaming the i5 is even better, at a lower price. The only thing against it, is that if you want to upgrade later on you'll have to replace the motherboard.

Reply to Silmarunya

Yeah go with i5 cheaper and currenly i dont think i7 is worth it

------------------------------ Saving up for new ipod touch cant wait
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Best answer

------------------------------ CM HAF 932 - 300GB Velociraptor
GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-DS3R
E8500 - Sapphire 1Gb 4850
4G DDR3 OCZ Reaper 1333
Reply to aford10

Well looks like I will be going with the 5770 card from the suggestions offered. I will stay with the i7 platform for potential later upgrades.

From what it seems I might try and OC it to the mid 3 GHz range looks like many others have had good success at doing so.

Now do I go with 1 single large (like 24" ) LCD monitor or dual LCD's (like 19" ) and what specs should I be looking at.

Thanks for all the input so far it is much appreciated.

Regards,
TheDave

Reply to thedave

I would get a single large monitor like this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824009167
It's got a low response time, 1920 x 1080 resolution, high contrast, and Acer is a quality name manufacturer.

------------------------------ CM HAF 932 - 300GB Velociraptor
GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-DS3R
E8500 - Sapphire 1Gb 4850
4G DDR3 OCZ Reaper 1333
Reply to aford10

Well I am now just waiting on the delivery of my system, here is what I ended up with. Cost approximatly $1490 after rebates and combo deals. All from Newegg.
CASE ANTEC|NINE HUNDRED TWO
MB ASUS P6T DELUXE V2 1366 X58
PSU ANTEC|TP-750 750W
CPU INTEL|CORE I7 920 2.66G 45N
GPU VGA XFX|HD-577A-ZNFC HD5770
MEM 2Gx3|OCZ OCZ3OB1600LV6GK
HDD 320G|WD 7K 8M SATA2 WD3200AAJS
HDD 1T|WD 32M WD10EADS x2
Monitor ASUS|LCD 23.6" 2MS VH242HL-P R 1
O/S WIN PRO 7 64-BT ENG 1PK DSP OEI DVD

Thanks for everyone's advice. It was much appreciated and helped me with my decision to purchase what I have.

Regards,
TheDave

Reply to thedave

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