New $1500 Build. Looking for Advice

[psychedelic00]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Trying for Feb 3-4th BUDGET RANGE: 1000-1500ish about

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:Gaming, Rendering, music, browsing, homework

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard/Mouse

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS:I prefer Newegg COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: US

PARTS PREFERENCES: out of AMD and INTEL i prefer intel. Out of ATI and Nvidia i prefer Nvidia

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe, I do not know too much about overclocking so I will be researching it. SLI OR CROSSFIRE: yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION:

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I would like it to run cool and last long

Well so far this is what I have picked out. I did some extensive research as well beforehand. I would mainly like a second opinion, and possibly some advice on a few parts that I have not yet chose. I am hoping to order this all tomarrow if i can get it built.

CPU Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor


MOBO ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard


PSU CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply


HDD Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive


CASE COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case


MEMORY OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK

GPU As for the graphics card goes... I am unable to decide between single or dual. The choices i picked out are:

single: EVGA 01G-P3-1180-AR GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

dual: EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

As far as anything else goes... sound card, cd/dvd rom, burner... all that... I am unsure. You all know much more than I do, thats why I am here asking for some honest advice before i buy anything.

Also... I could imagine that it would be a good idea for me to replace the heatsink/fav on the CPU.

Please offer any advice / opinions / compatibility issues / concerns / you get the point.. by tomarrow. I'd like to get this thing going! Thank you all in advance

**PsYcHeDeLiC**

 

[Wolygon]

The GTX 285 is more than twice the price of the 9800 GTX. If you are willing to pay the money that's fine. I saw that you said you prefer nVidia, but I really believe a GTX 285 is a bad choice. Seeing as the HD 5870 is way more powerful than it, for only $10 more, you can check out the benchmarks for it here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-5870,2422-15.html and as you can see the 5870 out performs the GTX 285 by a lot.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150443&cm_re=5870-_-14-150-443-_-Product $399

Here's a good cooler that's cheap. $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&Tpk=212%20plus

You don't need a sound card the onboard is good. You can really get any (cheapest) optical drive since they are much the same for people who are not using them much.

Your power supply has enough output for the graphics cards mentioned. Although seeing as your motherboard has 3 PCIe x16 slots I'm guessing you may want to run 3 cards. It won't beable to handle 3 high end cards although it should handle 2. The PSU also only has 4 6+2 Pin PCIe connectors and each graphics card takes 2. If you want to run 3 cards then I suggest getting a bigger PSU, you could also get a HX-750 since it is modular (can remove unneeded cables) and it costs $30 more. If you don't want to run 3 cards than you could save some money on the motherboard by getting one which dosen't support 3 cards.

Good Luck.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Some other suggestions besides the above (which are great ones):

HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 500 GB ($55) or 1 TB ($90). These will be faster, quieter and cooler. They're also cheaper/GB.

And an overall build suggestion:

The i5-750 is a better choice for gaming. It performs as well as the i7-920, and counting the board and RAM, it will be around $300 cheaper. That difference is huge for choosing a GPU. It's the difference between getting a great HD 5870 and getting the best card on the market (HD 5970). There is no disadvantage of the P55 chipset, as the only thing the X58 has going for it is that it will get the new 6 core CPUs. However, after shelling out $300 for a CPU, do you really want to pay another $600-1,000 more?

Here's what I would build:

CPU: i5-750 $200
Mobo: Asus P7P55D-E Pro $190
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2 GB 1600 mhz CAS Latency 7 $115
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB $90
Case: HAF 922 $90 (I personally hate the Scout, and I doubt it will fit the 5970)
PSU: Corsair 850W $120
GPU: HD 5970 $650
Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212 $30
Optical: Cheapest SATA DVD burner $25

Total: $1,510. Can save a bit on the PSU/mobo, as you should never need to Crossfire the 5970.

 

[mortonww]

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:Gaming, Rendering, music, browsing, homework

He might be able to make use of hyperthreading during rendering operations, so the i7 might be the way to go. Whether he gets the i7 on P55 (860) or the i7 on X58 just depends on how important he feels it is to have the full bandwidth of both his PCIe x16 lanes. Current cards (like the 5870) in crossfire DO show an improved performance on the X58 platform.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Fair enough. I stopped at gaming to be honest.

As far as the X58 lanes go, it's only 4%. I don't feel that a 4% gain (or loss) is worth the $300 cost increase...

To help with the rendering, switch the CPU for an i7-860 for $80 more. Step down the GPU to an HD 5870 for a grand total of $1,340.

 

[psychedelic00]

Thanks guys! MadAdmiral i'm taking your advice on that build. It looks badass! ...only thing is... HD 5970 is sold out everywhere!

 

[MadAdmiral]

Its been that way for a while. If you can wait to buy it, just watch it or set up some alerts. If you can't, get the HD 5870 and save the extra $250. That'll still play anything for the next few years.