First i7 rig, flexible budget ($1-1500) Need advice.

[Lithnor]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: January 29th
BUDGET RANGE: 1000-1500

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, Monitor, Mouse, PSU, Case, Video card

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg or best deal
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: US

PARTS PREFERENCES: Thermaltake/Corsair/Intel/Nvidia/Trusted

OVERCLOCKING: Yes
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Probably going SLI ~ Febuary 4th

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Have quite a few parts picked out looking for input on the rig as a whole and ANY input that can help me make the right decisions.

ASUS Rampage II Extreme LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Picked as second best budget CPU on a toms review ~2 days ago
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler
CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMG6GX3M3A1600C7

As above, any input would be nice

 

[gkay09]

^ What plans do you have for overclocking ?

I feel ATI cards are a better bet...By cutting short on the premium components that you have selected, you can easily get a HD 5850 or above...

And Open box item ? No back plate, cables, CD, nothing...

 

[Lithnor]

Honestly I have most all the cables I could EVER need here at the house. Newegg has NEVER let me down on an open box to date, and it still has a return policy if I end up getting it and not being ok with it, or REALLY needing the CD (though, that should be an easy work around)


The only REAL thing i was worried about is the backplate honestly lol.

I already have the 260 gtx... just one of the ways to save money, heh, I'm really not THAT into overclocking the video card to much more than it already comes OC'd.

Really thinking more of OCing on the processor/(POSSIBLY)Ram

 

[gkay09]

^ You can take a look at the i7 860...it overclocks very well, at stock it performs better than the 920...
And if you want full badnwidth on the PCIe slots, then check this mobo...
ASUS P7P55 WS SuperComputer - Will overclock well and will provide x16x16...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131594R

 

[Lithnor]

yea, I was comparing the Rampage and the "super computer" a lot... but in the end the Rampage just has better ratings from overclocking forums and has a stable history.... Why change what isint broken?

Also, According to the Toms psu link the other day.... lemme see if i can find a link.... this out preforms the 860 :/

 

[Lithnor]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu,2520.html

there it is

 

[gkay09]

^ I do agree about the advantages of the 920, but that is the reason why I suggested that specific mobo - It offers full x16x16 bandwidth with the help of the NF200 unlike other P55 mobos...
But its your call though...

And also are you planning for an overclock of 4GHz+ ? then only get that RAM...upto 4GHz, any standard 1600MHz preferably with CAS 8 can achieve that overclock...
Some other RAM options, which as good as the Dominators -
Mushkin
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226050

 

[Lithnor]

Probably somewhere around there, if it will stable.... What exactly are the advantages of full bandwidth on pcie slots?


also on the ram, theres only a 40 dollar difference, I tend to try to stick to Corsair :/

 

[gkay09]

^ Only high powered cards like the HD 5870/ GTX 295 and above, the full bandwidth will be advantageous as they will be able to deliver the maximum potential of the graphics card...

And as for the RAM, Corsair is no doubt one of the best...this one is also in the same league as the Dominators and currently they are priced lower than those and also have very good timings...that is the reason why I suggested those...

 

[Lithnor]

i see....

But with current 260 theres no REAL reason for full band?

 

[gkay09]

^ I was referring to those cards when running 2 of those in SLI/ Crossfire...
And if you asking if it would matter much when running 2x GTX 260 in SLI at x8x8 rather than x16x16, then NO there wont be much performance hit when those cards run at that bandwidth...

 

[Lithnor]

half bandwidth only effects SLI, correct?

Wish i had the money to SLI 290s xD

 

[gkay09]

^ Yes kinda...and that too only high powered cards like the GTX 295 as a single GTX 295 has 2 chips...so 2 chips sharing x16 would be better than sharing x8...But when running a single GTX 295 on any board, the slot will operate at x16...So that time it wont have any issues...
And GTX 295s are on their way out now...hopefully Nvidia's Fermi lives upto its expectations or else Nvidia will drastically loose its discrete Desktop market share to ATI's HD 5xxx series...

 

[Lithnor]

Killing me having to wait until the 29th to order all of this -.-

Really ready to start tweaking a new system, and thers NO feeling in the world like opening new computer parts imo xD

 

[Lithnor]

anyone see anything that I'm missing that would be a major upgrade?

Any obvious overlooks?

 

[Lithnor]

I also need to find a nice case.....

Preferably something flashy, but it MUST be able to be water cool friendly and have good airflow.


Edit: Thinking maybe this for a case.... Has a decent amount of "could have fixed" reviews.... but I'm OK with modding it a bit and working out the kinks.... If anyone knows a case similar to this, let me in on it please

 

[gkay09]

^ That Raven case will really stand out from the crowd...but as you have read the customer's review completely you can be ready to deal with the issues that will rise during installation...
But if you want a tried and tested case with lots of room and virtually no issues, then the CM HAF 932
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010090007%2050001333%201054808289&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&CompareItemList=N82E16811119160%2CN82E16811119213%2CN82E16811119212

Or this Classy looking Lian-Li PC-A70F
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112243

 

[Lithnor]

Was looking that that HAF before I found the raven....

Dunno, something about it really hits me. Love the HAF aswell though, its beautiful with the window over the massive fan.

Not to big of a fan of the Lian li.... They had an Armor suit back in the day that I LOVED but I can no longer find it....

Really like the idea of the way that mobo seats in the Raven aswell, though I've seen very little data to back up better cooling.

 

[Lithnor]

Also, that Lian-Li appears to use traditional screw mounting....

I hate traditional mounting

 

[gkay09]

^ I dont think it completely uses traditional screw mounting...check the expansion slots and the drive cage...

But the CASE that I would love to use in my build is this one...
Corsair Obsidian Series 800D -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139001
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=211822083&listingid=61800639

But you can stick with the Raven for its radical design alone...It really stands out...

 

[Lithnor]

wow, thats beautiful. I dont even know what else to say about it, thats a REALLY nice case.

 

[Lithnor]

hmmm..... Now I need to make a decision. Currently running a
Phenom 9950 Black edition @2.6
Gtx 260 OCX Maxcore (linked in first post)
4 gigs of RAM
GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-DS4 AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX Ultra Durable II AMD -Horrible By the way -.-


Really need to upgrade honestly while I have the money.... However, I could also afford going Eyefinity with an HD5870(actually, I could probably go HD5970) and buying 2 more Monitors and then slowly buying the parts I listed here.

Only REAL problem with this scenario is that I'm pretty unhappy with the performance of both the CPU and the Mobo. Tons of errors and problems with both. But, Eyefinity is soooo beautiful, heh.

And I realize I could ALMOST do both if I didnt go with so many premium parts... But I honestly want this rig to last awhile and get the best performance out of the money as possible.

Any ideas?

 

[gkay09]

^ You can still go with a very good rig IMO...
CPU - i7 920
Mobo - Gigabyte X58A UD3R - A very good X58 board that will allow for a decent overclock and comes with USB 3.0 and SATA 6GB/s too...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423

RAM - Any of these are good...you can overclock the 920 say upto 4GHz wiht these ets without any major issues...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145236
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145286
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423

HDD - Samsung F3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&Tpk=samsung%20f3%201TB

 

[Lithnor]

Been out of the ATI loop for a LOOOOONG time.... who would you say the best company is to buy from these days? Heard a few say Sapphire, any ideas on this?

 

[anonymousdude]

Been out of the ATI loop for a LOOOOONG time.... who would you say the best company is to buy from these days? Heard a few say Sapphire, any ideas on this?

Recently XFX has started making ATI cards, so that would be my first choice because of the double lifetime warranty.