Hi guys, I'm new to the forums here.
I'm going to be shopping for a brand new box soon, and I think it would be best to ask for advice from more experienced system builders.
Okay, here are my issues with the decision. I do want to game on this computer, and get quite a decent fps output for new games on moderate/high settings for a single 1900x1200 monitor, but more importantly, I need both the CPU and card to run well with CS5. Also, anything that reduces compile time would be great.
Additionally, eyenfinity looks like an attractive option, because I might be getting another monitor later, and possibly a third down the road. Having native hardware that would support that would be nice (but not entirely necessary).
Finally, I am delving into some GPU accelerated programming this summer, and having a card that would support testing at home would be great (I could always use the labs, but not everyone wants to stay there all the time). This means that I have to chose between OpenCL and CUDA. I've heard some people say that ATI drivers are hard to deal with, and OpenCL is clumsy and an immature technology, so I want to confirm with you guys here .
Some additional considerations: I would prefer a system that runs on the cool/quiet side, so I'm kind of wary about the recent GTX470/80 reviews which compared them to thermonuclear devices . I'm willing to purchase some aftermarket cooling, but I'm hoping for something that doesn't tick off my noise sensitive roommate at night. I also will probably be leaving the computer on most of the time, so I'm hoping for a low idle power consumption.
Right now I'm considering building around a Core i5-750 and Radeon 5850, but I'm still trying to decide between Nvidia and ATI. Also, I'm pretty much clueless about picking out a case, so I'm going to have to defer for that.
(100$)ASRock P55DE3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157178
(200$)Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215
(110$)G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
(320$)ASUS EAH5850 DIRECTCU/2DIS/1GD5 Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121375
(75$)Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015
(110$)Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533
Comes to around 915, leaving perhaps around 200$ for the case+cooling+optical drive and/or whatever else I have forgotten?
I know this is a lot to ask, but I hope that someone here can help me. Thanks in advance!
(Edited to include potential build)
I'm going to be shopping for a brand new box soon, and I think it would be best to ask for advice from more experienced system builders.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Some time between now and June
BUDGET RANGE: ~1200+? Might want a new monitor to go along with it though, so I might some extra cash to it. My budget is pretty flexible, but I'd like to save what I can.
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Photoshop, Gaming, Compiling shittons of code, Minor Virtualization,
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: N/A
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
PARTS PREFERENCES: I'm not a big hardware follower, which is why I'm hoping someone here can help
OVERCLOCKING: Minor yes, but I'd like to get a decent lifespan on the parts as well
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: I'd rather go with a single card solution because of future scalability and power consumption, but if it's the best option, I'm open for it
MONITOR RESOLUTION: I'm hoping to buy a 1900x1200 monitor to go along with the new rig
Okay, here are my issues with the decision. I do want to game on this computer, and get quite a decent fps output for new games on moderate/high settings for a single 1900x1200 monitor, but more importantly, I need both the CPU and card to run well with CS5. Also, anything that reduces compile time would be great.
Additionally, eyenfinity looks like an attractive option, because I might be getting another monitor later, and possibly a third down the road. Having native hardware that would support that would be nice (but not entirely necessary).
Finally, I am delving into some GPU accelerated programming this summer, and having a card that would support testing at home would be great (I could always use the labs, but not everyone wants to stay there all the time). This means that I have to chose between OpenCL and CUDA. I've heard some people say that ATI drivers are hard to deal with, and OpenCL is clumsy and an immature technology, so I want to confirm with you guys here .
Some additional considerations: I would prefer a system that runs on the cool/quiet side, so I'm kind of wary about the recent GTX470/80 reviews which compared them to thermonuclear devices . I'm willing to purchase some aftermarket cooling, but I'm hoping for something that doesn't tick off my noise sensitive roommate at night. I also will probably be leaving the computer on most of the time, so I'm hoping for a low idle power consumption.
Right now I'm considering building around a Core i5-750 and Radeon 5850, but I'm still trying to decide between Nvidia and ATI. Also, I'm pretty much clueless about picking out a case, so I'm going to have to defer for that.
(100$)ASRock P55DE3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157178
(200$)Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215
(110$)G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
(320$)ASUS EAH5850 DIRECTCU/2DIS/1GD5 Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121375
(75$)Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015
(110$)Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533
Comes to around 915, leaving perhaps around 200$ for the case+cooling+optical drive and/or whatever else I have forgotten?
I know this is a lot to ask, but I hope that someone here can help me. Thanks in advance!
(Edited to include potential build)