Parallel Programming PC Build - $1000

[lightwave]

Hello Tom’s Hardware Community. I am about to purchase the parts for my first ever build and wanted to see what the rest of the community thought of the final build list. I will be purchasing all the components from new egg except for the i7 CPU. This will be purchased at Micro Center where it is $70 cheaper.

Approximate Purchase Date: One week

Budget Range: $1000 (after rebates)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Multithreaded programming, software coding, using the internet, will NOT be used for gaming/watching movies

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Preferred websites for parts are newegg and Micro center. I have a micro center close by and could purchase all the equipment there however couldn’t find all the components listed below on their website.

Country of Origin: USA

Overclocking: No

Parts Preferences: My main preference for this setup is to use an intel i7 quad core CPU and nVidia graphics card. As mentioned I will mainly be doing programming and want to have multicore and hyper-threading technology support. Other than that I am flexible on the other components.

PROCESSOR: Intel Core i7 950 Processor (4x 3.06Ghz/8MB L3 Cache)
Intel Core i7-950 $230.00 @ Micro Center

MEMORY: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1600
Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 6GB - Model 998947 $130.00 @ newegg

MOBO/OS: ASRock X58 Extreme 3 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel and Win 7 64-Bit OS
Combo Deal – ASRock X58 Extreme 3 and win7 OS $280.00 @ newegg

GPU: GeForce GTX 460 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Sparkle GeForce GTX 460 768MB $170.00 @ newegg

HDD/PSU: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s and OCX Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W
Combo - Samsung F3 1 TB and OCZ Fatal1ty 550W $100.00 @ newegg

CASE/OPTICAL: Rosewill Blackbone Mid Tower Computer Case and LG DVD Burner
Combo – Rosewill Computer Case and LG DVD Burner $43.00 @ newegg

CPU COOLER: Cooler master Intel Core i7 compatible V8 RR-UV8-XBu1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
Cooler Master Intel Core i7 compatible V8 $50.00 @ newegg

TOTAL COST: $1003 (after rebates)

A question I have is it necessary to buy a CPU Cooler. After reading Tom’s forums it seems that they should mainly be used if one were to overclock their CPU. That being said, I don’t mind too much to spend an extra $50.00 to keep an expensive intel CPU at lower temps.

Also, I went to ASRock website to ensure this mobo supported i7 cpu, nvidia, and mushkin memory. The site claimed intel i7 and nvidia support however it did not explicitly state that it supported Mushkin products. The following PDF from their website does not have the Mushkin vendor as a supported company:

ASRock X58 Extreme3 QVL

However, newegg (link) claims this is compatible with an Intel X58 chipset (LGA 1366).

Finally, 1TB of storage is more than enough but I figured there is little price discrepancy between 250, 500, and 1000GB for a standard HDD.

Thanks to MadAdmiral and other members for helping me generate/modify my list of components. What do people think, any other suggestions or modifications? Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

 

[sp12]

Re: CPU cooler, I would be looking into a Hyper 212+ for cheap. Ram looks bad, G.skill PI series 1.5 volts is quite a bit better for only a bit more.

 

[Shadow703793]

1. Drop down to an i7 920/930 (If you don't want to OC, then go 950).

[strike]2. That case looks a bit too small imo, consider the HAF 912.[/strike] See my post below.

3. V8 is WAY over priced. Grab the Hyper 212+ at Microcenter for $23.

4. Don't worry about the RAM. It'll work fine.

5. IF you are NOT gaming, the GTX460 is a waste of money, unless you plan to experiment with CUDA/OpenCL. If not doing this, grab a cheap GPU like a 5550 (for DX11) OR a cheap 4850 (a little more $$, but more performance, no DX11).

6. Overclocking?

 

[lightwave]

1. Drop down to an i7 920/930 (If you don't want to OC, then go 950).

2. That case looks a bit too small imo, consider the HAF 912.

3. V8 is WAY over priced. Grab the Hyper 212+ at Microcenter for $23.

4. Don't worry about the RAM. It'll work fine.

5. IF you are NOT gaming, the GTX460 is a waste of money, unless you plan to experiment with CUDA/OpenCL. If not doing this, grab a cheap GPU like a 5550 (for DX11) OR a cheap 4850 (a little more $$, but more performance, no DX11).

6. Overclocking?

Thanks for the comments. I did change the V8 to the Hyper 212+, certainly much cheaper. I do not plan on overclocking the cpu and I did want to have an nvidia gpu to obtain CUDA support. I did not realize that the case could become an issue. Looks like i'll have to do some more investigation on the unit.

 

[Shadow703793]

Just looked at the more detailed specs on Newegg on that Rosewill case, it does say you can fit 11.5" graphics cards, so you should be fine. There is no image of the inside, so can't really comment much on that (mainly, can't tell if you need to remove a drive cage to support a big graphics card). Looks like a pretty damn good case for $35 imo.

 

[lightwave]

Best answer selected by lightwave.