$1200 Gaming and Video Editing Machine (Original, I know.)

[evan_s]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: July 1st, Likely Before, Not Up To Me When it's purchased.
BUDGET RANGE: $1,200 ~

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Video Editing, Photoshop, After Effects, Gaming

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: I need everything.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: tigerdirect.com

PARTS PREFERENCES: I think intel and Nvidia is the way I want to go. CUDA being the reason, I want to make the most out of the hardware. I also would like to have a LOT of storage. I assume that has more to do with the case? So I'd like to be able to easily add/remove/swap 1TB drives if possible. Or store a lot at a time. What's the most you can have in a single system? I'm hearing it's safer to go with 1TB drives for now.

I'd like to have wireless net and HDMI out so I can run a long cable to a an HDTV in another room.

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe


MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 or 1680 x 1050

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Not much to play with, information wise. Most I really know is that I think from research I should maybe go with the Corei7 930 and GTX260? Was going to make a build a few months ago but it never happened, hoping this time it does! Oh and I really want to be able to play the latest and greatest games on high with no worries. Anything released on Steam more or less.

Thanks for any help!

 

[evan_s]

Epic bumpage.

 

[haxfar]

Can't help with GPU with CUDA etc. but for storage AFAIK the samsung spinpoint F3 is the best atm with 1TB at almost velociraptor speed something.

Hotswap normally requires fulltower, but the 690 II Adv. have a SATA dock on top of it.

 

[Guest]

i5 750 - 200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215&cm_re=i5_750-_-19-115-215-_-Product

Gigabyte P55A UD3 USB3/Sata6GB/s - 130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412&cm_re=p55_motherboard-_-13-128-412-_-Product

HIS Radeon 5850 - 290 (unless you need Nvidia for CUDA or something)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161330&cm_re=5850-_-14-161-330-_-Product

G.Skill Ripjaws 1600 Cas 7/8 - 119
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303&cm_re=ddr3_4gb_ripjaws-_-20-231-303-_-Product

Samsung F3 1TB - 80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&cm_re=samsung_f3-_-22-152-185-_-Product

Corsair HX650W - 120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012&Tpk=hx650

Cooler Master 690II - 100 (includes an external drive dock so you can transfer info onto other harddrives without opening up the case)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119216&cm_re=cm690-_-11-119-216-_-Product

Samsung DVD Burner - 26
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151188

Total: 1065

 

[evan_s]

Hey Rokez, thanks for the suggestions. Wouldn't video editing mean I would get more out of the 920? As opposed to if I were gaming only?

haxfar - what about the WD Caviar Blacks? I have 1 and love it, any difference between the two?

 

[Guest]

Not exactly. The i5 750 gives you like 90% of the performance of the 920 at 50% of the cost.
Take a look at these reviews or any review of the i5 750 for the matter.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2832/12
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2832/11

WD Caviar Blacks are good but WD has only come out with one 1TB drive with 500GB platters. Their version does use Sata6GB/s but HDs don't really take advantage of this feature compared to SSDs. You will get similar performance with the one I suggested despite its lack of Sata6GB/s. Plus it doesn't hurt that its like $20 cheaper.

 

[evan_s]

Thanks, perhaps i5 it is. I was looking around for an Nvidia equal to the 5870 since I would like CUDA for Adobe Suite, and it looks like GTX 470, 480 is what to go with, Fermi. Any thoughts?

 

[evan_s]

Epic bumpage.

 

[Guest]

The 470 is roughly an equal match to the 5850 but it comes at a cost of $50 more. The thing about the 470 or any Fermi GPU is that they are power hungry so that 650W PSU I suggested will only be able to power one 470, a 750W+ (at least) is recommended for two 470s.

It's up to you if its worth it though. Sorry I can't help you decide if CUDA is really worth it since I've never used it and don't know how much of a difference it makes.

 

[pijh]

Evan are you going to use Premiere Pro CS5? If so you'll want an Nvidia card. The problem is with a budget of $1200 you're gonna run into trouble.

The ideal setup is i7-930 and a GTX 470.
You're probably going to have to do something like i5-750 and GTX 260.

 

[evan_s]

I actually ended up with a build, forgetting budget in this thread here. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=31&post=287634&page=1&p=2&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

I am thinking 470/480 and yes plan to use CS5, the problem is these cards do not officially work with mercury, and so I will have to haxx it.