6-Month-Old Build List Needs Updating

[thebluecasket]

Hello. Here's brief spiel: About 6 months ago, I assembled a full build list of parts I wanted thanks to help from guys here, but I didn't end up being able to build it then (and unrelatedly, you helped a friend and myself choose the parts for his recently completed build).

Basically, I've got a list of components from my old build and I'm looking for recommendations concerning which parts could be swapped for better components. A lot of the components I chose 6 months ago are no longer stocked at Newegg, so please bear with me!

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 1-2 Months

BUDGET RANGE: $1800-2000

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, 3ds max, Internet, Music

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, Operating System, Case, Optical Drive

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg.com

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel

OVERCLOCKING: Yes

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: A mobo with USB 3.0 would be nice. I've been hearing about SATA 3.0, as well. Not necessary, but nice for future-proofing.

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CPU: Intel Core i7 920 D0-stepping Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core

Heatsink: XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler

Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX
OR
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX

RAM: OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Graphics Card (1):EVGA 896-P3-1170-AR GeForce GTX 275 896MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 (2.0v) Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130475

Graphics Card (2):EVGA 896-P3-1170-AR GeForce GTX 275 896MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 (2.0v) Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130475

Hard Drive:
Old Pick: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284
New Pick: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

Case: Antec P182

Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC -Apparently this is no longer availble.
CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009&Tpk=CORSAIR%20CMPSU-850TX%20850W%20ATX12V%202.2%20%2f%20EPS12V%202.91

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Questions/Concerns:

1. I would like to stick with LGA 1366 for future-proofing reasons, unless I can be shown otherwise.

2. It seems as though that i7-920 Nehalem is pretty hard to find/phased-out, so what should I go with? Here's an alternate choice.

Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202&cm_re=core_i7-_-19-115-202-_-Product


3. The graphics cards. I'd like to future-proof my video cards. Should I be concerned that GPU's should have DirectX 11?

4. I'm willing to wait a bit in case better components come out

5. I'd like to have at least 6GBs of RAM, but I'd really prefer 8GBs (4x2GBs), so if you could recommend some good RAM which I can overclock a bit in the future, it would be great.

Thank you so much!

 

[obsidian86]

get a 5870 or 5970 the 5870 is almost as good as 2 xgtx 275 and a 5970 will piss on 2 gtx 275's

but wait till march when nvidia launch threir new cards and intel should have the i7 980 out by then as well

socket 1366 runs ram in tri channel meaning only 3,6,12,24,48 gb is the optimal sizes

 

[thebluecasket]

socket 1366 runs ram in tri channel meaning only 3,6,12,24,48 gb is the optimal sizes

So then basically 6GBs should be my max? Because if it's between buying 6 or 12 GBs, I'll go with 6. I'm not that rich.

 

[obsidian86]

6 gb is the standard for 1366

 

[thebluecasket]

6 gb is the standard for 1366

Hmmm... Should I consider going 1156 instead of 1366? Or is that not enough to justify going to 1156?

 

[obsidian86]

fro power users 1366 is the option but 1156 has its advantages but its more mid end market

 

[thebluecasket]

fro power users 1366 is the option but 1156 has its advantages but its more mid end market

Any recommendations on motherboards?

 

[obsidian86]

cross fire /sli board

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128409&cm_re=usb_3.0_gigabyte-_-13-128-409-_-Product

non sli /crossfire

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412&cm_re=usb_3.0_gigabyte-_-13-128-412-_-Product

 

[thebluecasket]

cross fire /sli board

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128409&cm_re=usb_3.0_gigabyte-_-13-128-409-_-Product

non sli /crossfire

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412&cm_re=usb_3.0_gigabyte-_-13-128-412-_-Product

Whoopsy, I meant recommendations on 1366 boards.

 

[obsidian86]

sorry but i'll hold on a while on that ,when are you planning to buy?

 

[tecmo34]

I would wait til the end of the month for the i7 930 release. It is the replacement for the i7 920 with higher clock speed (2.8GHz) at the same price level. It should swing the build favor back to the LGA 1366 at that price point over the i7 860 (LGA 1156).

The 5850 or 5870 is the better option at this point for your GPU, as previously stated. If you can wait til March, the Nvidia cards should be released. I would go with this ASUS motherboard... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614 It is a good motherboard, which will give you the option for USB 3.0 & SATA 6.0 GB/s down the road.

 

[thebluecasket]

sorry but i'll hold on a while on that ,when are you planning to buy?

1-2 months. 3 at max. I've been getting really antsy at the prospect of a new PC, so I'm super eager to build it.

 

[thebluecasket]

I would wait til the end of the month for the i7 930 release. It is the replacement for the i7 920 with higher clock speed (2.8GHz) at the same price level. It should swing the build favor back to the LGA 1366 at that price point over the i7 860 (LGA 1156).

The 5850 or 5870 is the better option at this point for your GPU, as previously stated. If you can wait til March, the Nvidia cards should be released. I would go with this ASUS motherboard... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614 It is a good motherboard, which will give you the option for USB 3.0 & SATA 6.0 GB/s down the road.

Nice. Very helpful post. I'll certainly be thinking about waiting for the 930, and I'll see about that motherboard and GPUs when the time comes.