APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: between now and Dec 15
BUDGET RANGE: ~$1500 US,
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: 60% Gaming, 25% MS Office, 15% video editing
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: online, doesn't matter
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: (USA)
OVERCLOCKING: Yes - mild cpu overclock to ~3.0GHz, memory at 1600. I don't want to overclock very much because this needs to last 5 years at a minimum (although game playing generally goes down quite a bit in year 4/5 if my current rig is an indication of future performance) so the gains aren't worth it to me with an aggressive approach.
CROSSFIRE: Yes - eventually I would get another 5870 if the need arises later
MONITOR RESOLUTION: (1920x1080)
Component List to Evaluate before Purchase:
Processor:
Intel Core i7-920
$289
Motherboard:
ASUS P6TD Deluxe
$290 (currently $260 on sale)
Memory:
OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
$174 ($164 after rebate)
Case:
COOLER MASTER HAF 932
$160 ($130 on sale)
Optical Drive:
Sony Optiarc Black 24X
$30
Hard Drive:
WD Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB
$75
Video Card:
SAPPHIRE 100281VXSR Radeon HD 5870
$410
Power Supply:
CORSAIR CMPSU-850HX
$200 ($170 after rebate)
CPU Fan:
Scythe MUGEN-2
$35
Thermal Paste:
Arctic Silver 5
$7
Total Cost (after sales/rebates/combo purchase): $1,545
Items I already have from previous computer:
Keyboard: Logitech G15
Mouse: Logitech G9
Speakers: Logitch Z-5500
Monitor: 23" LG W2353V-PF
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
COMMENTS:
I've tried to do the research to pick quality components that meet my needs, but there are so many choices and combinations as far as parts working together, I wanted a sanity check to see if people here agreed with the choices, or perhaps knew of other reviews/benchmarks/problems that could creap up with this config or had better/acknowledged components.
It was a tossup on the MB as Asus P6TD, P6T, EVGA E758, or GB EX58-UD5. Went withe p6td just because it's the newest release in the line and I've had good luck with ASUS in the past.
I'll look into a blu-ray burner to replace the dvd burner once media prices come down.
Questions:
1) I'm totally up in the air as far as HDD goes. If SSDs ever become reasonible in a year or two, I would pick one up as a boot drive. I don't know how people need 1/2TB drives so I only need either a 500/640/750 gig drive (and even 500 is more than I need probably). The typical spinpoint F3 pops up a lot, but I'm confused by the 500gig only have a 16MB cache, so I bumped it up to the 640 and the Black always gets good reviews. Because of the possibly getting a ssd, I don't want to raid, and I don't need a huge drive, so I'm really most interested in performance at a low price point since all the <1TB drives seem to be $50-80.
2) I tried to find people that had a P6TB mb with the Scythe Mugen-2 fan to make sure it fits nicely but couldn't. People with just the P6T and that cpufan reported no problems as far as I could tell, but the layout around the cpu is slightly different with the various heat sinks/speaders/whatever they are around it that could effect the fan placement.
3) Memory was a hard choice. I went to Asus' approved memory list and they list the memory I picked out. I don't plan on going over 1600 and these reviews on newegg looked good. I also looked at Corsair XMS3 line(wasn't officially listed on the support list) and of course the dominators (pricey).
4) I don't plan on building/needing the computer until December, but I hate playing the pricing game - whether to buy it now, or hold out and wait for Black Friday or any Christmas type deals/sales. Some of the prices are already $10/20/30 off newegg's list because of the sale or rebate so who's to say they won't go back up. Maybe I should buy the on sale components now (especially MB, memory, and power supply) since those are the pricey items and can reasonably expect (maybe) that the 920 will have some sale SOMEWHERE on it for cheaper than what it is now. Also, I can use newegg to combo deal the MB/Memory and save another $25 on top of the sale/rebate price currently.
Thanks for the help!
BUDGET RANGE: ~$1500 US,
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: 60% Gaming, 25% MS Office, 15% video editing
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: online, doesn't matter
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: (USA)
OVERCLOCKING: Yes - mild cpu overclock to ~3.0GHz, memory at 1600. I don't want to overclock very much because this needs to last 5 years at a minimum (although game playing generally goes down quite a bit in year 4/5 if my current rig is an indication of future performance) so the gains aren't worth it to me with an aggressive approach.
CROSSFIRE: Yes - eventually I would get another 5870 if the need arises later
MONITOR RESOLUTION: (1920x1080)
Component List to Evaluate before Purchase:
Processor:
Intel Core i7-920
$289
Motherboard:
ASUS P6TD Deluxe
$290 (currently $260 on sale)
Memory:
OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
$174 ($164 after rebate)
Case:
COOLER MASTER HAF 932
$160 ($130 on sale)
Optical Drive:
Sony Optiarc Black 24X
$30
Hard Drive:
WD Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB
$75
Video Card:
SAPPHIRE 100281VXSR Radeon HD 5870
$410
Power Supply:
CORSAIR CMPSU-850HX
$200 ($170 after rebate)
CPU Fan:
Scythe MUGEN-2
$35
Thermal Paste:
Arctic Silver 5
$7
Total Cost (after sales/rebates/combo purchase): $1,545
Items I already have from previous computer:
Keyboard: Logitech G15
Mouse: Logitech G9
Speakers: Logitch Z-5500
Monitor: 23" LG W2353V-PF
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
COMMENTS:
I've tried to do the research to pick quality components that meet my needs, but there are so many choices and combinations as far as parts working together, I wanted a sanity check to see if people here agreed with the choices, or perhaps knew of other reviews/benchmarks/problems that could creap up with this config or had better/acknowledged components.
It was a tossup on the MB as Asus P6TD, P6T, EVGA E758, or GB EX58-UD5. Went withe p6td just because it's the newest release in the line and I've had good luck with ASUS in the past.
I'll look into a blu-ray burner to replace the dvd burner once media prices come down.
Questions:
1) I'm totally up in the air as far as HDD goes. If SSDs ever become reasonible in a year or two, I would pick one up as a boot drive. I don't know how people need 1/2TB drives so I only need either a 500/640/750 gig drive (and even 500 is more than I need probably). The typical spinpoint F3 pops up a lot, but I'm confused by the 500gig only have a 16MB cache, so I bumped it up to the 640 and the Black always gets good reviews. Because of the possibly getting a ssd, I don't want to raid, and I don't need a huge drive, so I'm really most interested in performance at a low price point since all the <1TB drives seem to be $50-80.
2) I tried to find people that had a P6TB mb with the Scythe Mugen-2 fan to make sure it fits nicely but couldn't. People with just the P6T and that cpufan reported no problems as far as I could tell, but the layout around the cpu is slightly different with the various heat sinks/speaders/whatever they are around it that could effect the fan placement.
3) Memory was a hard choice. I went to Asus' approved memory list and they list the memory I picked out. I don't plan on going over 1600 and these reviews on newegg looked good. I also looked at Corsair XMS3 line(wasn't officially listed on the support list) and of course the dominators (pricey).
4) I don't plan on building/needing the computer until December, but I hate playing the pricing game - whether to buy it now, or hold out and wait for Black Friday or any Christmas type deals/sales. Some of the prices are already $10/20/30 off newegg's list because of the sale or rebate so who's to say they won't go back up. Maybe I should buy the on sale components now (especially MB, memory, and power supply) since those are the pricey items and can reasonably expect (maybe) that the 920 will have some sale SOMEWHERE on it for cheaper than what it is now. Also, I can use newegg to combo deal the MB/Memory and save another $25 on top of the sale/rebate price currently.
Thanks for the help!