New Build looking for video and advice

russ02w

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Feb 20, 2010
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Hi all,

I am getting ready to replace my wife's Dell within a few days, I would like to order the parts tomorrow. She uses mostly email/surfing/pogo games and Ultima Online, more often recently to include streaming netflix and gaming (she likes Dragon Age (on my laptop) and if Diablo 3 doesn't release soon I think she is going to explode. She likes her keyboard/mouse and LCD monitor so we will keep those. So far I have picked all the parts from newegg, but it is not required, that is just where I started piecing it together. No plans to overclock but Crossfire will most likely be needed. Here is what we found:

Intel Core i7-920 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) (x6 for 12gb)
Seagate Barracuda 750Gb ST3750528AS
Sony Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B - OEM
Sony Optiarc DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model AD-7241S-0B - OEM
Hauppauge WinTV HVR-1250 Hybrid TV Tuner/Video Recorder 1196 PCI-Express x1
Seventeam ST-750PAF 750W ATX 12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE
Certified Active PFC Power Supply
HEC 6BRBBB Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - OEM
Windows 7 Home Premium x64

We would like to stay mid tower so it will fit where here PC is now, So far we are at $1252.92 and still need video card, we have been looking at the following 2:

DIAMOND 5850PE51G Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail ($299.99)

VisionTek 900285 Radeon HD 4890 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail ($199.99)

I was looking at the BFG Tech BFGEGTX2951792E GeForce GTX 295 1792MB 896 (448 x 2)-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support but they are $519 and we plan on using dual cards.

So this is where I need a little help on the video, there are so many cards out there and so many reviews with differing opinions its overwhelming. This should be a good enough PC to last at least 4-5 years, eventually I would like to upgrade to a solid state drive but that is a large cost right now also.

Any advise would be helpful, it has been about 10 years since I have pieced together one and I am way out of the loop.

Thank you very much for your input, and have a good night.
 
CPU - You're good but 930 should pop in within a week

HS - Zalman had it's day. Today you want a better cooler to get the most outta ya CPU. I recommend the Proilimatech Megahalems w/ IC Diamond 7 karat Thermal Compound ..... how can ya go wrong .... chicks dig it when you give em diamonds :)

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8807/cpu-pro-01/Prolimatech_Megahalems_Rev_B_Intel_CPU_Heatsink_LGA_775_1156_1366_AM2_AM2_AM3_Hot_Item.html
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7038/thr-41/Innovation_Cooling_Diamond_7_Carat_Thermal_Compound_-_15_Grams.html?id=BZWnrfIC
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10026/fan-639/Scythe_Slip_Stream_120mm_x_25mm_PWM_Fan_-_SY1225SL12LM-P.html?tl=g36c365s936
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8418/cab-150/FrozenCPU_PMW_Y_Splitter_Cable.html

If ya not gonna heavily OC, ya can get away with one fan and skip the splitter.

MoBo - Great choice , very overcloackable board but the P6X58D gives ya USB 3 and SATA III
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614

Memory - ya need a 3 x 2GB set for a 1366 MoBo ...I'd go with 6GB unless you working for Pixar. DDR3-1600 at lowest CAS ya can afford:

CAS 6 Choices:

Mushkin Enhanced Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600Model 998692 w/ Ascent Liquid Cooling ($269)
Don't use if ya gonna still go w/ 12 GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226052

Mushkin Enhanced Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600Model 998692 ($249) same as above but w/o coolers
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226050

CAS 7
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 Model 998782 ($178)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226104

CAS 8
OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK ($140)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

Hard Drive - Suggest the 1 TB model

DVD - Suggest a Blue Ray reader / DVD Writer combo for when you hog the TV, wifie can watch "Fried Green Tomatoes" or "Secrets of the ya ya Sisterhood" (and then you don't have to) ... I like the Plextor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151199
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249055

We would like to stay mid tower so it will fit where here PC is now

What's height of space ?

Your case is 16.14" high....very short for the typical mid tower but it has abysmal cooling capability w/ just one 120mm fan....certainly not enough for two GFX cards.

The Antec 900 is a well respected, well cooled midtower but it comes at a cost of 19.4" in height
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129064
The HAF 922 is 0.3' taller

Personally, I wouldn't put twin GFX cards in anything less than a full tower but the Antec 1200 has a height of 22.9"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371024
The HAF 932 shaves an inch off this

The Seventeam 550 watt PSU garners an 8.0 on jonnyguru.com....the 1000 watter gets a 9.0

With 1 GFX card, I usually recommend a 500 - 650 watter and a minimum 8.5 like performance rating.
With 2 GFX card, I usually recommend a 750 - 850 watter and a minimum 9.5 like performance rating.
Add 0.5 to those ratings if you gonna overclock.

With twin GFX, I'd go with a Antec CP-850....Antec SG-850....Corsair HX850....Seasonic M12D 850W
 
The 295 is getting real hard to find and is an expensive investment when the new fermis's are right around the corner.

Hard to recommend a family car when ya don't know whether the family consists of 2 or 8....same thing with a GFX card .... what resolution ?

The 5870 should be considered the entry point for DX11 gaming at 1920 resolution ..... the 5830 will get ya by the next 6 months but to get by 18, I think ya need the 5870. But what will fermi bring to the table ? What will ATI's response be ? One option might be to just buy a cheap card to hold you over and see what happens in the next 3 or 6 months.

This will serve that purpose ($99) and once ya decide, ya can always use it as a dedicated PhysX card (tho a GT 220 would suffice for that) or sell it off.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130539&cm_re=GTS_250-_-14-130-539-_-Product

If ya gotta go now, I'd get a 5870 from a respected company and then add an matching one when price drops. If ya MoBo can do 3 cards, the PhysX option remains for about $65 additional.......is wifie into Batman ?

\http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/batman_arkham_asylum_physx_performance/page2.asp

Some peeps think the effects are great...... "Holy flying particles Batman" ... others don't see any value. There's an active ATI forum where you can learn how to have both ATI and nVidia drivers installed side by side

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-ATI-physx-patch-gpu,8786.html
http://www.ngohq.com/graphic-cards/16223-nvidia-disables-physx-when-ati-card-is-present-28.html#post82812
 

lothdk

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Jan 20, 2010
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Nothing much to add that haven't already been said, but you made a new post requesting more feedback, so here goes.

CPU, what are your reasons for choosing an i7 920, from what you have listed as intended usage, an i5 750 would more than suffice, and depending on the game might even be better than the i7 920.

HSF, you are missing this Support Kit to make it LGA1366 compatible, this pushes the price close to the best LGA1366 HSFs making it an altogether bad buy.
Are you intending to overclock, if so by how much?

You have neglected to inform us of the resolution at which you will be gaming, without this we can not recommend a video card.
Assuming you will be running 1920x1080, the 5850 should suffice considering the games you have listed, though should you decide to go for the i5 instead of the i7, spending the difference to upgrade the GPU to a 5870 would give a nice boost in performance, and more befitting the resolution.
 

russ02w

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we prefer running at 1920x1200 depending on the game we may have to drop it a bit so its not so small.

I think we are going to switch to the Proilimatech Megahalems cooler.

Why do you suggest the i5? the way I see it go I7 now and not worry about the processor for a few years. We will not be overclocking now, as it gets older and closer to build a new pc time I start to overclock a little to help extend the usage a while.

Thanks for the input!
 

lothdk

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The Prolimatech Megahalems is a great but expensive cooler, far be it for me to try and talk you out of getting one, I am using it myself, but if you have no intention of overclocking, you do not need an aftermarket cooler.

None of the tasks you have listed will perform any better on an i7 920 compared to an i5 750, so the price difference on the CPUs could be used to upgrade the GPU for better gaming performance.
Also, some games perform worse on the i7 920. When I was playing The Last Remnant the game suffered from slowdowns during action sequences every now and then, I found out that disabling hyperthreading cured this, which essentially left me with an i5 750 with the only real difference being the on-die memory controller and triple channel memory.