New $3000 Desktop Questions

[audiomasta]

Hi, I'm relatively new to the whole build your own computer thing, but it's cheaper and gives me some hands on experience with computers.

However I'm quite concerned that some of my parts are incompatible or don't make much sense because of value or price market compared to other parts in my system (for example, cpu bottlenecking)

I'm hoping to use my computer for gaming and multimedia use, but hope to be able to control sound and power efficiency. I'm looking to power a 5.1 speaker system through a reciever and hooked it up to the computer using a HDMI.

Here's my list of parts so far.


Chassis: Lian Li - Pc a70fb (I like the minimalistic design and the constraint on using too many LEDS)

Motherboard: Msi - P55 Trinergy (I like the ease of use of overclocking and the new sound standards, even if it hasn't already come out ((pricey))

Cpu: Intel - Core i7 860 (It fits a 1156 socket and isn't too pricey)

Graphics: Ati - Radeon 5850 (Sounds like a good price point for a DX11 card)

Memory: Ocz - Obsidian 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 (Apparently meant to be quite good value)

SSD: Samsung - 256GB SSD (It's a large investment but hopefully it pays off through os speed/program speed)

Hardrive: Samsung - F3 500GB (A cheap and fast way to store the rest of my data)

Psu: Seasonic - x650 Gold (Again, a very reliable and efficient psu)

I am looking to overclock but don't want to push my fans too hard as I hate fan noise.

If you find something that might not work or doesnt make much sense, please point it out for me or send me in the right direction.


Any help is gladly appreciated.



P.S I've heard that post-manufactured graphics cards do not have power saving abilities, is this true?

 

[Silmarunya]

There is a common but enormous mistake in this build. High end CPU, great case, fancy motherboard and all that, but a weak graphics card. You are skimping on the part that yields the greatest performance gain?
A cheaper intel i5-750 (also works with the 1156 socket) is equally well suited for gaming and multimedia. Spend whatever dollar you save on a better GPU.

Samsung SSD's are slow, just so you know it. Intel's offerings (the 80GB one) or the indillinx based ones (amongst others used by Corsair, Patriot and I believe Crucial as well) are a lot faster. For OS, one or two games and frequently used apps, 80GB is more than enough. Get a 1TB Samsung HDD if you want to make up for the data room loss.

If anything is still left over, spend even more on the GPU. Try to get a DirectX11 card (5770 yields great performance, a 5850 is truly a destroyer).

Whatever you heard about post-manufactured graphics card is not true. A 4850 (and any other ATI card btw) is identical between all manufacturers. The only difference are special cards made by vendors with fancy cooling or a little overclock, and even these don't lack any feature of the reference design whatsoever.

Rest looks good.

 

[scubba85]

I think that me meant to put the 5850 for the graphics card, seeing as how he stated that it was a dx11 card.

Regardless, with that budget go 5870/5970

 

[MadAdmiral]

I have a lot of recommendations. First, a general question...why are dithering around in the LGA 1156 socket if you have 3 GRAND!!! That kind of money will buy the best stuff on the market (exculding the hugely overpriced i7 extreme edition). That socket will be extinct in less than a year.

I wouldn't recommend putting in a SSD, especially such a large one. You aren't going to get any speed bonus from regualr use, so IMO the cost isn't justifiable. If you're deadset on an SSD, I'd recommend putting in a really small one (32 GB) just for the OS.

I wouldn't go with that RAM. For $10, you can get this [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276&cm_re=g.skill_ripjaws_1333-_-20-231-276-_-Product]G.Skill Ripjaws[/url] that will be just as fast.

Agree on the GPU. With your budget, you should be looking at least at the 5870 or even the 5970.

Bump up the F3 to 1 TB (extra $30). Or get 2x1 TB in RAID 0 for speed.

Trade that PSU for a Corsair 750W.

Either commit to spending that budget, or lower it. You're build wouldn't be touching the $3000 if it weren't for the SSD.

 

[audiomasta]

Thanks for the help. It’s very useful info and I'll take it into account.

I've been thinking about most of my choices and I agree 256 Gbs is simply too much for an os plus some programs, I'll try to get an 80GB intel one while I'm at it.

With cpu, I'll probably stick with the one i've chosen even if the socket will become extinct quite soon (by the time it does become extinct I’ll probably already want to upgrade some parts)

For my gpu yeah, I did mean the 5850 as opposed to the 4850

I'll get a 1TB f3 spinpoint and then look for a 750w psu

I have a three grand budget but I live in australia so everything’s mildly more expensive.