Boxing day is coming up - Can you help me build a computer?

[chrisbek]

HI everyone at Tom's Hardware.

I'm looking some help here and hoping a few knowledgable people can set me in the right direction.

I'm planning to go to my local store Canada Computers tomarrow as they have some good deals on some computer parts for boxing day and I would like to build a new pc. I have been planning this for sometime but when I go to this store I don't want to goof.


I know I want to buy the following parts for certain as they are really good prices

1) i950 Intel CPU as its on special for $269.99
2) HAF Cooler Master HAF X Full Tower Gaming Case $129.99


Below are the motherboards I selected. I was going to get the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3 board but found out there are issues for setting it up with raid 0 for solid state drives. Second board I was considering was the P6X58D-E as I know that board has no issues for SSD. Other then this I would like to know if someone can give me some opinions on the rest of the boards I selected on if there is a better choice.

MOTHERBOARDS (NEED HELP):

1) Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Socket 1366 http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_342&item_id=028490 $219.99

2) Asus P6X58D-E Socket 1366 http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_342&item_id=030576 $199.99

3) Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 Socket 1366 http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_342&item_id=028506 $269.99

4) Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 Socket 1366 http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_342&item_id=028511 $359.99

5) Asus Rampage III GENE CrossFire / SLI Socket LGA1366 Intel X58 + ICH9R http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_342&item_id=032569 $204.99

6) Asus Rampage III Formula Socket 1366 Intel X58 + ICH10R Chipset CrossfireX / 3-Way SLI Triple-Channel DDR3 http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_342&item_id=0335532200 $309.99



Now the main problem I am having is

1) What motherboard to choose

I am hoping a few people could take a look at the website www.canadacomputers.com and help me make some selections and what is a good board.


Below I have a template listed on what I would like the system to do and what I am willing to spend for this system.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have no clue what is good and what is bad and really need help from the experts.





APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Boxing Day Dec 26, 2010

BUDGET RANGE: $1500 to $2000

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:

This is what I would like to do on this system

High End PC Gaming
RAID 0/1 would be nice
Games to be played on System:

Counterstrike 1.5
Counterstrike Source
Bad Company 2
Any high graphic game that comes out in the next year

DUAL BOOT SYSTEM (IF POSSIBLE. Would like WIN98/XP/WINDOWS 7/LINUX FEDORA - NOT NEEDED BUT WOULD BE NICE)
Internet Explorer Browsing
Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Access, Excel
Outlook Express Email
Regular Email (Example: google, yahoo, etc)
Downloading/Uploading Streaming Video
Music Player
Computer Programming (Visual Basic, C++, Java, Perl, HTML/XHTML)
Viewing youtube videos
Flash player capable
MSN/AOL Messenger
Ventrilo



PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, keyboard, mouse, speaker, Operating System (Win 98, XP, Fedora, Windows 7)


PARTS REQUIRED:

CPU
Motheboard
Graphics Card
Memory
Hard Drive
Power Supply
Computer Case & Fans
Heat Sink
DVD/CD Burner
Floppy Disk (If possible - Yes I know its not used anymore but would hope for it)


PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: www.canadacomputers.com

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada, Ontario

PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel i950 CPU

OVERCLOCKING: Yes

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Any Monitor resolution that will fit nicely across any LCD monitor for gaming, internet browsing, etc. (e.g.: 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1440x900, 1600x1200, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 1920x1200)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Really need help

 

[chrisbek]

edit double post sorry trying to edit my first post

 

[Formata]

Similar to my build... It's by no means over the top high end gaming, but will keep up with the best of em and stay on a budget.

Asus P6X58D-E Socket 1366 Intel X58
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_342&item_id=030576

Intel Core i7 950
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=4_65&item_id=023949

2 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=43_557_559&item_id=032936

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series DDR3 1600MHz (possibly check this out to ensure compatibility, I have different but hear this is better)
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_311_312_612&item_id=026165

Western Digital Caviar Black (Couldn't fing Samsung Spinpoint F3 on requested site)
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=15_210_212&item_id=029337

Corsair HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=33_443&item_id=023484

Cooler Master HAF X Full Tower Gaming Case (see below)
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=6_111&item_id=031796

Sony DDU1681S-0B Black SATA DVD ROM (or what ever cheap one you'd prefer)
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=3_61&item_id=034995

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus (no expert on OCing... Have a few friends that use/recommend this one.)
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=8_129&item_id=025125

One thing I would stress to anyone buying a HAF X.... go and check the thing out at a retail outlet if possible 1st. The thing is absolutely massive! A really nice quality build for sure, but having built on 1 recently.... It's just massive.

I like the HAF 922, but check it out, it might be missing a few of things you were wanting on the HAF X :
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=6_112&item_id=023780

The only other thing would be the 2 x gtx 460s. ATM it's a really well priced bang for buck solution... But there are newer cards out now ATI 6xxxx series and nVidia 5xx series. Going SLI from the start removes an upgrade path later on (depends if you care)

Good Luck!

 

[robert123456]

I thought the ASRock extreme 6 boards were pretty good, other than that the guy above has it all down for you.

 

[chrisbek]

Sounds like a good build Formata.

I was told 2x 460 cards are good for sli but the main problem i was told was with 460 you can't do tri sli. Other then that it beats alot of single graphics cards.

Anyone else have any suggestions for this type of build?

I'm always down to hear what others have to say especially before making a huge purchase tommarow.