New build - advice wanted

[badkitty109]

My power supply recently decided to fry itself and take the rest of my system with it. I had a Pentium 4 system so you can tell how long it's been since my last build. I used to build frequently (every 6-8 months) but I've been out of the game for a while.

Here is what I am considering for the new build, this will be ordered in the next day or two and built next weekend so quick responses are appreciated.

Asus P6X58D Premium
Intel i7-920
WD Velociraptor 150GB (WD1500HLFS) (I like the raptors, I had 2 in a RAID 0 array in my last build)
WD Caviar Black 1GB for storage (WD10000LSRTL)
Seasonic X750 Gold PSU
G-Skill 3x2GB DDR3-1600 Triple channel kit (F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ)
Liteon 24X DVD-RW (iHAS424-98)
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
and an ASUS 9500GT graphics card (EN9500GT/DI/1GD2/V2/A)

I know the graphics card doesn't really match the rest, I am getting a cheap card to use until the new Nvidia DX11 (code name FERMI I believe) cards come out. I also considered a Radeon 5750 or 5770 as a permanent card but I wasn't too thrilled with the Catalyst drivers with my last ATI card.

Any opinions (I know I am asking for a flame war here) on Nvidia vs ATI for an Intel i7/Win7 64 build would also be welcome - which do you think would be better (I know the Nvidia cards aren't out yet but I think we can extrapolate their performance and compatibility).

TIA,
David

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

Looks like a nice build, would it be mostly used for gaming or what?

Fermi... the gtx480 appears to be a bit faster then a 5870 in benches released by nvidia, this doesnt count for anything till they launch, they prob rigged it anyway. I would say wait for fermi, see how they perform, and look at a 5870... the gtx480 rumoured to launch at the price of a 5970... no brainer which is better there, but as i said wait and see on graphics card front.
Oh actually, look at the i7 930, same price, higher clock speed, just got released few days ago, and also maybe a spinpoint f3 instead of the caviar, other then that looks like a nice build
oh actually, perhaps look at slower clocked ram that has lower timings, might be more beneficial then higher clocked, looser timed ram

 

[badkitty109]

Not necessarily for gaming but I like to overbuild so I am ready for anything. I do like to game now and then.

As for the i7-930, I added it to my cart. Thanks, I didn't know it had come out.

Regarding the memory, I was wondering about that, I am now searching for some memory that has a latency of 7 instead of 9. I am checking against the Asus compatibility chart to make sure that it supports 3, 4, and 6 modules of whatever memory I choose (just in case, I know I am only using 3 modules at the moment).

Thanks for the advice!

 

[christop]

I would get a 300gb raptor. But I would fill a 150 up in a sec

 

[unknown_13]

From the HDD i would take the Samsung Spinpoint F3
And yeah you might as well get HD5870. The difference between it and the GTX480 is not big, but if you want a Fermi card when they come out, probably the best price performance would be GTX470

Here is the HDD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&cm_re=spinpoint_f3-_-22-152-185-_-Product

Everything else is very good

 

[badkitty109]

@Christop - I went with 150 for the price point and it will only be used as a boot drive and for frequently used programs, storage will be on the 1TB drive (and another 1TB external).

@unknown_13 - I put the Samsung in my cart based on all the good reviews. They said it's quiet, I have always had good luck with WD but they are NOT quiet. Thanks for the advice.

 

[badkitty109]

NEW INFO - I added an MSI HD5770 video card (R5770-PM2D1G-OC) for $159.99.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127484

I decided not to wait for the new Nvidias and the HD5870 was WAY out of my price range.

What do you think?

 

[unknown_13]

NEW INFO - I added an MSI HD5770 video card (R5770-PM2D1G-OC) for $159.99.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127484

I decided not to wait for the new Nvidias and the HD5870 was WAY out of my price range.

What do you think?

The HD 5770 is a very good performer on par with GTS250 and HD4870. It's also somewhat less power hungry.

Anyway great choice for mid-high end card ( more to high end )

As for the drivers i think the last cat. 10.2 improved vastly and 10.3 and future drivers will only make things better for HD 5000 series

edit- oh of course WD are one of the best. For me the best HDD's come from WD and Seagate, and there is just one exception from other manifacturer: the spinpoint f3
BTW i owned twice WD HDD's ( and i own one now )and i'm very happy with them

 

[badkitty109]

Thanks for the help everyone, I placed my order at newegg.
Here's how I ended up (Bold indicates a change I made based on suggestions here):

Asus P6X58D Premium
Intel i7-930
WD Velociraptor 150GB (WD1500HLFS) (I like the raptors, I had 2 in a RAID 0 array in my last build)
Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB HDD
Seasonic X750 Gold PSU
G-Skill 3x2GB DDR3-1333 Triple channel kit (F3-10666CL7T-6GBPK) Cas Latency of 7
Liteon 24X DVD-RW (iHAS424-98)
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
MSI R5770-PM2D1G-OC Radeon HD 5770 graphics card

 

[unknown_13]

Thanks for the help everyone, I placed my order at newegg.
Here's how I ended up (Bold indicates a change I made based on suggestions here):

Asus P6X58D Premium
Intel i7-930
WD Velociraptor 150GB (WD1500HLFS) (I like the raptors, I had 2 in a RAID 0 array in my last build)
Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB HDD
Seasonic X750 Gold PSU
G-Skill 3x2GB DDR3-1333 Triple channel kit (F3-10666CL7T-6GBPK) Cas Latency of 7
Liteon 24X DVD-RW (iHAS424-98)
Windows 7 Pro 64-bit
MSI R5770-PM2D1G-OC Radeon HD 5770 graphics card

Very solid build, and if you somehow run into any gpu bottleneck in the next years, you will have a big room for upgrade (that i7 will rock another 3-4 years)

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

Huh? You were looking at the fermi cards, but not wanting to spend 380 ish for a 5870, where the gtx480 going to be at least 450? lol, perhaps look at the 5830/5850 if you can squeeze that into your budget

 

[badkitty109]

Yeah I know it doesn't seem to make sense but I had a limited budget this time ($1500) and I figured if I went for a $50 card now then I would be able to save up for the new Nvidia when the time came. I decided that the 5770 was plenty for now, maybe in a year or so I will think about an upgrade to multiple cards, by then the Fermi based cards might have dropped in price. BTW, I came in at $1519.

 

[p1n3apqlexpr3ss]

Oh yea that makes a fair bit of sense, you can always go crossfire later on if 5770 starts to suffer anyway