Another homebuilt, for use on a 55" LCD TV, ~$2200

[chasekwe]

Hi folks, thank you for your help,


I've decided to build myself a new PC and I may start ordering parts as early as tomorrow once I have everything planned out. I'd ideally like this PC to be strong enough to continue running high end games for the next 3yrs minimum. My current $1250 PC will be 4 this Christmas and it has been lacking for a while now. When I scored below minimum recommended specs on the FFXIV game benchmark I decided it was time to upgrade.

This computer will be in my living room hooked up to a new 55" LCD TV I'll buy in conjunction with it. I also have a nice surround sound set-up and while I didn't intend to buy a separate sound card if it is important I can. With this in mind, I'd like to run 2560x1600 as my standard resolution... assuming LCD TVs can do this of course, I have little experience with running a comp on a tv.


Anyways, here is the build. Will it do what I want? And just as importantly, what are my bottlenecks? Is there anything that is just much to much for the system? Or anything that is terrible and needs to be brought on par with the other hardware. I've been researching this heavily for the past couple of days, but I am no expert. All suggestions appreciated, of course!


Courtesy, Newegg.com

Case
Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Model #:CC800DW
Item #:N82E16811139001
$299.99 -$30.00 Instant $269.99

Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Model #:GA-X58A-UD3R
Item #:N82E16813128423
$209.99 $209.99

Video Card
TWO - GIGABYTE Super Overclock Series GV-N470SO-13I GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready ...
Model #:GV-N470SO-13I
Item #:N82E16814125338
$379.99 $759.98

Power Supply
COOLER MASTER Silent Pro RSA00-AMBAJ3-US 1000W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.92 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active ...
Model #:RSA00-AMBAJ3-US
Item #:N82E16817171049
$208.98 -$45.00 Instant $163.98

CPU
Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950
Model #:BX80601950
Item #:N82E16819115211
$299.99 $299.99

Memory
TWO - G.SKILL Trident 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Desktop Memory Model F3-16000CL9D-4GBTD
Model #:F3-16000CL9D-4GBTD
Item #:N82E16820231282
$124.99 $249.98

Storage
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Model #:WD6401AALS
Item #:N82E16822136319
$74.99 $74.99

Optical
LG Black Blu-ray Disc Combo SATA Model CH10LS20 R LightScribe Support
Model #:CH10LS20 R
Item #:N82E16827136189
$94.99 $94.99

Add. Case Fans
THREE - Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm Case Fan
Model #:S-FLEX SFF21E
Item #:N82E16835185005
$19.99 -$7.00 Instant $38.97

CPU Cooler
Scythe SCMG-2100 Sleeve CPU Cooler
Model #:SCMG-2100
Item #:N82E16835185142
$39.99 $39.99

Subtotal: $2,202.85


Thank you so much for any help, Regards,

Nick

 

[sp12]

LCD TVs are currently limited to 1920*1080. You can get an 1TB samsung F3 for that price that will outperform it

Corsair 800D is a watercooling case with mediocre airflow, look into a HAF series.

PSU is bad. You only need ~700 watts for 470 SLI. An XFX black edition 850 would be cheaper and nicer.

 

[chasekwe]

Thank you sp12, I'll starting looking into those suggestions.

So as to my other question regarding if one aspect is drastically under/over-powered by comparison to the rest of the build... do you see no problems there?

 

[chasekwe]

Just a, before I get off for the night, bump.

Please folks, would love some further input. Lot of money, don't want to mess it up.

 

[chasekwe]

Getting low again, just another bump. If it falls again I'll try another thread that'll be more catchy or whatever.

 

[sp12]

Well, you've not posted any updates on what you've changed, so there's not a lot to add from what I mentioned.

 

[gamerguy22]

Well, you need to buy a set of tri-channel ram instead. A 6gb (3x2gb) should be fine. Also I would go with a 1TB Samsung HDD instead or a 1TB Caviar Black.

 

[chasekwe]

Well, you've not posted any updates on what you've changed, so there's not a lot to add from what I mentioned.

Ok sure, no problem.


Been working on it all day, made a few changes based on what you said along with further research.

CASE - SILVERSTONE Fortress Series FT02B - This was suggested as a high quality air cooler, very quiet and it has the more professional look I'd like.

PSU - XFX Black Edition XPS-850W-BES 850W - Seems very well rated.

STORAGE - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 RPM - Rated much higher than the Cavier Blacks for the most part.


Dropped the additional case fans since this is a different case. Thanks a lot sp12 your recommendations really seemed to pan out for me. Got anything else or does this system look gtg? Btw, any clue how many ram slots the scythe mugen will block on my mobo?

 

[chasekwe]

Well, you need to buy a set of tri-channel ram instead. A 6gb (3x2gb) should be fine. Also I would go with a 1TB Samsung HDD instead or a 1TB Caviar Black.

THanks gamerguy, just did a quick read on that tri-channel thing. Good call there!

I don't want 6gb, figured I'd go with 12 instead.

Do you think 2 of these kits would fit with my CPU cooler or do I need to look for other options in ram or coolers?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231254

 

[gamerguy22]

I'm pretty sure it won't block any slots as long as you have the fan on the heatsink facing towards the top of the case, so obviously any ram will fit. Yeah I figured you would go with twelve gig. I did the same . Also just wanna note that technically i7's only support 1066Mhz ram, so most of the time it requires some tweaking to achieve the maximum supported speed.

 

[chasekwe]

Oh I see, thank you.

Should I just go with slower ram then? Certainly would be cheaper, like 1333 or 1600?

 

[gamerguy22]

I really can't say on that. You pretty much just tick XMP Profile in the BIOS to get the correct timing and adjust a few other little things.
I haven't looked into it too much on my current computer because I haven't had time. In my BIOS it shows 1600Mhz, but multiple programs only show it running at 533Mhz, so I'm kind of confused. I'm sorry, but I'm not a lot of help on this subject.
And in case you hadn't looked at it here's the link to the memory compatibility list for your motherboard.

http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Memory/mb_memory_ga-x58a-ud3r_v2.0.pdf