[Solved] [New System Build]~$1000 HTPC/Gaming

anyone else have suggestions?

thanks brother. I forgot to mention I can probably salvage my old DVD-R drive as well. And would it be wiser to use on board video for now and pick up video cards on special later?

OK so I have an update on where I'm at and would love to hear what you have to say. These are the parts I was looking at getting after shopping around. Linked as best I could.

CPU: i7 920
MOBO: ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Tracer 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory (with LEDs) Model BL3KIT25664TR1337 - Retail
GPU: will hold off and get 2x5850 when I can/when they come down dramatically in price.
HD: Intel 160GB SSD
Optical: salvage my old DVD-RW (will upgrade to BRay burner when its affordable)
Case: debating over using my antec sonata II I already own (although I don't know if it has clearance for the graphics cards) vs a Cooler Master RC690...also considering this
PSU: not gonna lie, don't know at all what to get here.
Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long life sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail


anyway, i either need to cough up $ for the 5850 or a mobo with on board video. also do all these parts work together? will i get great performance out of that SSD? any ideas for ways to make this better? Thanks!

Well, I put in an effort and gave you my best advice ...

... Someone else may wish to grapple with you ... I'm done.

= Best of Luck ! =

Best answer selected by motamedn.

I see. thanks for the advice johnnyboyC.

I do use my CPU for dvd decrypting sometimes and I often have excel several word docs and multiple browsers open at once and I guess the thing is that I also do not build new comps often (last one was ... 5 yrs ago probably) and I want to "future-proof" a bit. would that still be overkill? Thanks again-I am just trying to learn what's best. I appreciate it!

haha-thanks man. i appreciate the help. to let you know how long i go between builds, my last computer had AGP...anyway what are your thoughts on cases? I saw you included a power supply, but do you have case recommendations?

and what are your thoughts on crossfire. I'm going to do as you recommend and get 1 of the most i can afford, but just so i can learn a little bit, do you think crossfire is worth it? thanks!

Wow, your design does go way beyond a HTPC+light gaming machine -- not that there's anything wrong with that -- but such does explain some of the confusion coming from Alvin, et.al.

However, since you own a Kuro plasma I think its safe to assume that shelling out a few extra duckets for premium hardware is something to which you are not terribly objectionable (your stated budget notwithstanding).

An i7-920/6gb rig with 2x5850 xfired is a workhorse that will more than meet any HTPC/Light-Gaming needs you are likely to have for years to come. Throw in the SSD and overclock the system and you've gone into the realm of enthusiast pc gaming rigs. Its sort of like buying a Ferrari to travel back and forth to the local movie theater, a lot of wasted horsepower but plenty of style points.

If you do go this route -- instead of scaling down your parts to the lowest cost/performance necessary -- then you may want to consider a highly efficient (80+ gold or silver) PSU that will cost a premium up front, but will save a few bucks down the road. What with an oc'd 920 and xfired 58xx gpus + room for future extras, a 750w or better PSU would be all but required. I used a Corsair 850hx in my last build and am very happy with it thus far (80+silver rated). See also: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 0Certified for more premium energy-efficient PSU's.

Another premium part worthy of consideration is WD's 2TB Caviar Black HD. For a conventional hard drive its very fast, and unlike a SSD, it has lots of room for storage. However at ~$150(us) per TB, its pretty costly for a conventional drive. I'm using a Samsung Spinpoint F3 500gb for the system drive in my machine, which I chose because its a relatively good performer at a very affordable price. I had intended to replace it with a SSD when I found one at a cost/performance ratio I could live with. However, after using this drive for a few months, I see no need to upgrade to SSD anytime in the immediate future, its works very well.

As for cases, I agree with Alvin: the HAF922 would be an excellent mid-tower selection for an oc'd 920 rig with xfired gpu's. You may even consider upgrading to a full-tower case to increase air-flow/cooling potential and room for multiple storage drives. This will tend to make things a bit noisier with a bunch of fans spinning, but such is life when you pile up high performance parts that need to be kept reasonably cool. Check the HAF932/Antec1200/CMcosmos for popular examples, or if you want to go premium check out some of the Lian Li full tower cases.

As for replacing your living room receiver, you'll have to find some specialized parts to manage that trick. Im not aware of any mobo's that come equipped to pump out enough power to supply to free standing conventional speaker systems. I suppose some may be available with pre-outs to seperate speaker amps, but I really don't know. However, connecting your new HTPC/Gaming-Powerhouse computer into your receiver should work quite nicely - since you already have that piece of hardware.

holy crap-ok forget that part

Those headphones look like they are pretty good though.

rnalvine i think you hit the nail on the head. I guess when I reread what I wrote I wasn't as descriptive in how much I use the computer (A LOT). I appreciate the input and will look into getting a good efficient PSU. you weren't kidding about paying for it up front!