Advice Needed on New Build...Please

[cclatson]

Approximate Purchase Date: 1 to 2 weeks or sooner

Budget Range: 1000-1500 Before mail-in rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Photoshop, Video Editing, Internet, some limited Gaming, etc

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, speakers, Monitor,

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: none

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Additional Comments:

Ok, so I really want to build a pc for using Photoshop, editing a little video, gaming a little, and surfing the web. I've been researching the internet and the threads the past few weeks and have come up with the following build

All comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated

Case/Motherboard/Processor Combo - $624.99
Cooler Master HAF X Black Steel/Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case (Model: RC-942-KKN1)
Asus Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard (Model: Sabertooth X58)
Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor (Model: BX80601950)

Power Supply - $149.99
Corsair 750W 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Power Supply (Model: CMPSU-750HX)

CPU Heatsink/Fan - $29.99
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (Model: RR-B10-212P-G1) - $29.99

Memory - $134.99
Corsair XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 Triple Channel Kit Memory (Model: TR3X6G1333C9)

Graphics (Video) Card - $149.99
Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD 5770 PCI Express 2.1 x16 Video Card (Model: 100283VX-2L)

Sound (Audio) Card
None. Use Motherboard Onboard Sound

Hard Drives - $58.99
System Drive
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive-Bare Drive (Model: HD103SJ)

Optical Drives - $21.99
Lite-On 24X SATA Black DVD Writer (Model: iHAS-324-98)

Mouse - $40.99
Logitech MX 518 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired Optical 1800 dpi Gaming Mouse (Model: MX 518)

Operating System - $139.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders-OEM

Other - $9.99
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound – OEM (Model: AS5-3.5G)


Thanks...


Cost approx $1362 total.



Advice please! Thanks

 

[dhongkool1]

im gonna have to say the motherboard isn't very good
improvement would be an ASUS Rampage II or III or Gigabyte UD-7 or UD-9
there's absolutely no need for a i7 950 most people now just get a 920 and overclock it
the cooler's ok but not great
now's not a great time to get a 5770 because a new line of ATI cards are coming along with a price drop in the 5000 series in the next 2 months
I would wait a few months for the new GPUs

 

[dndhatcher]

The sabretooth is a good value motherboard like the Gigabyte UD3/UD4 would be. ASUS Rampage and Gigabyte UD7/UD9 are high-end, and consequently overpriced.

Most people are recommending the i7 950 because its not much of a price jump from the i7 930, which replaced the older i7 920.

At $30 US the Hyper 212 plus is about the best price/performance you can get in a CPU cooler.

The ATI 6000s and Nvidia 430 are being announced in about 2 weeks. (Oct 18th and 19th). They will likely push prices down a little on all the mid-range graphics cards.

 

[cclatson]

The sabretooth is a good value motherboard like the Gigabyte UD3/UD4 would be. ASUS Rampage and Gigabyte UD7/UD9 are high-end, and consequently overpriced.

Most people are recommending the i7 950 because its not much of a price jump from the i7 930, which replaced the older i7 920.

At $30 US the Hyper 212 plus is about the best price/performance you can get in a CPU cooler.

The ATI 6000s and Nvidia 430 are being announced in about 2 weeks. (Oct 18th and 19th). They will likely push prices down a little on all the mid-range graphics cards.

After looking at the specs and taking the newegg reviews with a grain of salt, I was thinking that the Sabretooth had a nice value/performance ratio. I didn't think I needed a big-time board, especially because my intention is to do no overclocking at all. If I wanted to build this rig now, do you have any recommendations on a cheapo card I could use for a month, until the new cards come out and lower the price of the HD 5770 or similar cards.

Thanks,

 

[dndhatcher]

If you need to buy now, just go for it. If the 5770 drops from $140 to $130, its not that big of a difference. The GTX 460(1GB) might drop from $230 to $210. Its not worth waiting months for if you need a PC now.

 

[dhongkool1]

if you're not overclocking.... then sure

 

[cclatson]

If you need to buy now, just go for it. If the 5770 drops from $140 to $130, its not that big of a difference. The GTX 460(1GB) might drop from $230 to $210. Its not worth waiting months for if you need a PC now.

I am only a casual gamer, but I plan to use the Adobe CS5 suite, and have read that the Nvidia Cards like the GTX 460 have CUDA, which increases performance when using software like Photoshop. If you know anything about this, do you think it is a good investment to spend another $100.00 to get this card


Thanks,

 

[dndhatcher]

You should investigate Adobe CS5 and see what the people on their forums say about CUDA. If CUDA is desireable then you have the 450(1GB) $130, 460(768MB) $170 and 460(1GB) $230 as GPU options. The 460(768) is about the same performance as the 5770.

With these graphics cards you could easily drop to a good 550-650Watt PSU and save some money there.

 

[cclatson]

You should investigate Adobe CS5 and see what the people on their forums say about CUDA. If CUDA is desireable then you have the 450(1GB) $130, 460(768MB) $170 and 460(1GB) $230 as GPU options. The 460(768) is about the same performance as the 5770.

With these graphics cards you could easily drop to a good 550-650Watt PSU and save some money there.

I will look more into CUDA. For some reason I thought I needed a 750 Watt Power Supply, since that seems to be the size most people on the threads have in their build, but I guess most are gamers and running 2 graphic cards. I really appreciate your help!

Thanks,

 

[davcon]

I'm not going to knock the HX750 i have one it's great but the XFX 750 is of equal quality and cheaper(Seasonic built)
You might need an 8pin 12v extension lead.
My HX750 8pin power lead barely reached my mobo header on my 902 let alone a HAF X.
XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W -$129.99/114.99 after mir
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207003
Ram-Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 6GB-$139.99/129.99 after mir
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226030
I would consider the GTX 460 for more performance.

 

[dndhatcher]

For some reason I thought I needed a 750 Watt Power Supply, since that seems to be the size most people on the threads have in their build, but I guess most are gamers and running 2 graphic cards. I really appreciate your help!

Thanks,

Usually gamers buy a PSU big enough to run a second graphics card as an upgrade path.

 

[cclatson]

Best answer selected by cclatson.