[Solved] Hows this 930 build

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Soon BUDGET RANGE: under 1350.00 US

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Games, Photoshop/editing, movies

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard/Mouse/Monitor

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com, tigerdirect.com, microcenter, my vendors at work

PARTS PREFERENCES: name brand or something with good customer service/warranty

OVERCLOCKING: Yes SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes - in the future

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 he has 2 of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] %20monitor may add a third for Eyefinity later

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: building this machine for a friend. he thinks he may want to add another video card in the future if he starts to notice games not running well. he plays a lot of older games but also wants to get into the new ones and try the latest and greatest graphics, he really liked the eyefinity 3 monitor set ups, doesnt have the cash for a 3rd monitor now, but i think he has a good foundation with those 2.

CPU: i7 930 - Micro Center 199.99

Board: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - 200.00 Thru my vendor

GPU: http://www.sapphiretech.com/presen [...] 01&pid=320 - 300.00 Thru my vendor

CPU Cooler/Case: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applica [...] 8&csid=_22 - 329.99 - hes in love with my case

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820104187 - 109.99 - i dont think he needs 6gb, he can always add later. what do u think?

Optical: blu-ray player - 50 bucks a lot of places

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] _-17171037 - 80.00

Hard Drive(s): i have a few to give him, sata 2.0 - will run them in raid 0 for him, he has a big external for files and media

I think thats all

Total: 1269.98

Looks pretty good. One thing, It just doesn't make sense to me to get 3GB RAM with a 1366 i7 build - seems like if you're willing to spend the large price premium for the socket you should go for at least mid-range components. Also, if he's going to do 3 x 1920x1080 you should really get a a 5870. If you're looking to save, the most obvious place is on that terribly expensive case .

had to change the video card, that was the 2gb version, i changed it to 1gb.

i i showed him the haf, he hates them all. He thought the antec 1200 was okay, he said he would want me to do the window mod that everyone has been doing. I know the case costs a ton, but when u get that combo on tiger, it only comes out to 240 dollars. so its not that insane, i def see where u guys are coming from though.

6GB of memory is such overkill though... 4gb on the 1156 is so much better, if we took the 100 bucks from the case and put it towards ram it would be fine i guess.

as far as jbakerlent... 5870 is 100 bucks more for a very minimal performance increase, i cant justify that. i rather save that 100 for a case for him now and let him upgrade in the future to another in crossfire.

will he notice the difference with the resolution those monitors run?

Definitely. You can already notice a difference with a single 1900x monitor, so adding the second (and third) makes it much more noticeable.

HSF: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus (sold out at the moment, but you won't need it right away)
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 750W (combo with an excellent case)

If you can't sway him on the case, get whatever 750W unit is cheapest out of the Antec, Corsair, Silverstone and SeaSonic. I'd betting it's either the Corsair or Antec...

That PSU is only a decent quality unit. If you've got the cash (and you do), I'd highly recommend buying something that's high quality.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_ [...] id=0315397

The second fan doesn't make a great deal of difference on the 212+ because it's so thin. Push/Pull configurations work better on the thicker heatsinks. If you're willing to buy two Noctua fans to put on the 212+, then I would just buy the NH-D14. Paying that much for a HSF is not for everyone, but its the best non-WC solution currently for a 24/7 4.0GHz+ OC on the 930.

i think ill give that 212 a shot and see how it works, if its a fail ill go for the h50 or d14, those were my two first choices and i have the d14 in my own rig.

Coolermaster PSUs don't receive good professional reviews. The people who actually test them and push them find that they're often not worth the money. Not many people put much weight into user reviews because they're not from the most knowledgeable people.

Newegg is generally cheaper than pretty much everywhere else. That's even true in Canada in my experience. That's even before you take into account Newegg's combo deals, which are excellent. Also, it's not just better prices. If the component exists, Newegg sells it.

The only exception is Intel CPUs at Microcenter. They sell the CPUs a a drastic discount.