Better Version's of the Dec System Builders Guide

[banthracis]

So I don't know about the rest of you, but I think Tom's dropped the ball pretty badly with this month's system builders marathon. $600 worth of HD's with no SSD! So in the interest of public good here's my suggested build.

Feel free to post your own versions too!

Remember, only use Newegg and make the total as close to $2,500 as you can w/o combo deals. Try not to go more than a few bucks over the limit!

Also, feel free to justify your changes!


MOBO- Gigabyte P55A-UD4P $184.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128409
No idea why you guys didn't suggest the board a few bucks more that has USB 3.0 and SATA 6.0...

CPU- I7-860 $279.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115214
Think some people will push for a x58 platform instead, but I really don't think it's that big an issue, especially with only 1 GPU, so I decided to keep their suggestions.

PSU- Corsair 750TX $109.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139006
You guys said in your own review that a 5970 system can totally easily run on a 750W PSU!!

GPU- Diamond 5970 $669.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814103088
There are also ones for sale outside of newegg, but in the spirit of the build rules, just put on auto notify and you'll bag one w/in a week. Also, in P55 at 2560 x 1600, a single GPU performs slightly better than xfire.

RAM- 2x 4gb G Skill Ripjaw DDR3-1600 7-7-7-24 $249.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231279
Tighter timings, better performance, faster speed and better OCing. Could also save some money and got for the $20 cheaper 7-8-7-24 timing ones. Not sure where to put the extra $40 though, maybe a HAF 922-->932 upgrade.

Optical Drive- LG Black $169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827136176

Storage- Intel X25-M G2 160gb $539.00
2 Samsung Spinpoint F3 1tb $169.98
Can totally fit a 160 gb G2 into the budget. With 2 Samsung Spinpoint F3's which are about = Velociraptors in performance.
Total of 2.16 TB of storage. With a SSD.

HSF- CM Hyper 212 Plus $28.83
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835103065
Cheaper, easier to mount and better performance than the Xigmatec.

Case- HAF 922 $99.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119197
Case isn't a big deal, but at least this one has better airflow!

Total $2502.72

 

[masterasia]

I would agree with your build. 2 5870 is overkill right now if you're not running 30" monitors. The 5970 is good too, but 2 5850s is right there in performance. I would totally pick a P55A board and an SSD. The SSD would boost performance 10 fold over raid-0 drives.

 

[banthracis]

Yea totally agree about the 2 5850's, it's actually what I have atm

I just put in the 5970 since it fit into the budget and the whole idea of marathon being to build the best system as close to the budget as you can.