- Nov 13, 2010
- 10
- 0
- 18,510
Thanks very much for creating such a wonderful community. I've learned a ton since I started lurking here a few weeks ago; this has truly been an oasis for me as I've been researching what kind of rig to build.
I was hoping that the community would be willing to give their opinions on my setup. I'm building it to replace Dell XPS 710 H2C, whose motherboard I managed to burn out twice (probably from leaving it on 24/7...). I'll be more careful with this one...
I'm using this primarily for desktop applications (Adobe CS), but do fire up Crysis/Starcraft 2 from time to time and would like a computer that can handle reasonable gaming. I know that in terms of value for gaming I should invest more in video cards than other parts, but I'm more concerned with building a balanced system that will be good for other apps too.
I was thinking of buying a prebuilt system, but thought that as an aspiring enthusiast, there's no better way of learning than by jumping right in and building something from scratch!
Thanks for your input!
Approximate Purchase Date: this week
Budget Range: ~$2000 (pre-tax/shipping, flexible, I'm in Canada and often don't have access to the nice newegg combos)
System Usage from Most to Least Important: 1) Playable framerates SC2/Crysis (but don't need full AA/native resolution), 2) Adobe CS5 Premiere/After Effects/Photoshop
Parts Not Required: I've got 2 x 30" 2560x1600 monitors from a previous build, as well as keyboard/mouse/speakers.
Country of Origin: Canada
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Currently shopping at canadacomputers.com because I'm in Toronto and can buy local parts, but if it's available in Canada, newegg.ca/tigerdirect.ca or any other website is fine!
Parts Preferences:
My tentative build:
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH X58 ($214.99)
I was looking at the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R too, but this post pointed me away from them.
Processor: Intel Core i7 950 ($329.99)
I've found that other processors were somewhat limited in availability. Since this is my first home build, I'm thinking of OCing 20% to start...maybe more later on.
Graphics: 2 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked (763Mhz) 1024MB (3800Mhz) ($219.99 x 2 = $439.98)
Not sure what the differences are, but since I'm inexperienced, I thought factory OC would be best. I just am concerned that they might run hot. I wanted to go GTX 460 because they're reasonably priced and will help me with CS5 (CUDA compatible).
Case: Cooler Master HAF X Full Tower ($169.99)
It's big and has swappable drives. Plus, hopefully with the large fans it will run cool.
RAM: 2 x Corsair XMS3 Classic 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9 DIMM, Optimized for Core i7 Extreme Edition ($124.99 x 2 = $249.98)
I honestly don't know if 12GB will make a difference over 6GB. Also, not sure if 6x2GB is ok...
Cooling: Arctic Cooling Arctic MX-4 Thermal Compound ($9.99)
Don't know the difference between MX-3, MX-4, etc...but it probably doesn't matter.
Cooler Master Hyper 212 ($29.99)
I'm hoping that this will be good enough for a conservative (20%) OC. Should I consider liquid cooling? I do like it to run quiet, but am worried about a difficult installation. If I end up doing a heavy OC, I'd probably have to get better cooling.
PSU: Corsair HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX EPS12V Power Supply ($189.99)
I think that 850W should be enough, since I'm only using 2x460GTX, but wonder if spending more will improve reliability
ODD: Sony AD-7260S-0B DVDR ($22.99)
SDD: OCZ Agility 2 Extended SATA II 2.5" 60GB ($149.99)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 7200RPM 64MB Cache ($84.99)
Total: $1,892.87
Overclocking: Yes (don't have the knowledge to do it now, but am reading about it and will OC in the near future)
SLI or Crossfire: Yes
Monitor Resolution: Two monitors at 2560x1600.
Additional Comments:
I want to try building something from the ground up, but despite weeks of reading, still feel entirely lost. I really appreciate the members on this site (this forum has taught me *so* much), and was hoping for some feedback with respect to components. I'm afraid that my first build will end up being a lemon, with incompatible hardware, bottlenecks, and would love any advice that could optimize it.
Thanks!
I was hoping that the community would be willing to give their opinions on my setup. I'm building it to replace Dell XPS 710 H2C, whose motherboard I managed to burn out twice (probably from leaving it on 24/7...). I'll be more careful with this one...
I'm using this primarily for desktop applications (Adobe CS), but do fire up Crysis/Starcraft 2 from time to time and would like a computer that can handle reasonable gaming. I know that in terms of value for gaming I should invest more in video cards than other parts, but I'm more concerned with building a balanced system that will be good for other apps too.
I was thinking of buying a prebuilt system, but thought that as an aspiring enthusiast, there's no better way of learning than by jumping right in and building something from scratch!
Thanks for your input!
Approximate Purchase Date: this week
Budget Range: ~$2000 (pre-tax/shipping, flexible, I'm in Canada and often don't have access to the nice newegg combos)
System Usage from Most to Least Important: 1) Playable framerates SC2/Crysis (but don't need full AA/native resolution), 2) Adobe CS5 Premiere/After Effects/Photoshop
Parts Not Required: I've got 2 x 30" 2560x1600 monitors from a previous build, as well as keyboard/mouse/speakers.
Country of Origin: Canada
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Currently shopping at canadacomputers.com because I'm in Toronto and can buy local parts, but if it's available in Canada, newegg.ca/tigerdirect.ca or any other website is fine!
Parts Preferences:
My tentative build:
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH X58 ($214.99)
I was looking at the Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R too, but this post pointed me away from them.
Processor: Intel Core i7 950 ($329.99)
I've found that other processors were somewhat limited in availability. Since this is my first home build, I'm thinking of OCing 20% to start...maybe more later on.
Graphics: 2 x EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked (763Mhz) 1024MB (3800Mhz) ($219.99 x 2 = $439.98)
Not sure what the differences are, but since I'm inexperienced, I thought factory OC would be best. I just am concerned that they might run hot. I wanted to go GTX 460 because they're reasonably priced and will help me with CS5 (CUDA compatible).
Case: Cooler Master HAF X Full Tower ($169.99)
It's big and has swappable drives. Plus, hopefully with the large fans it will run cool.
RAM: 2 x Corsair XMS3 Classic 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz CL9 DIMM, Optimized for Core i7 Extreme Edition ($124.99 x 2 = $249.98)
I honestly don't know if 12GB will make a difference over 6GB. Also, not sure if 6x2GB is ok...
Cooling: Arctic Cooling Arctic MX-4 Thermal Compound ($9.99)
Don't know the difference between MX-3, MX-4, etc...but it probably doesn't matter.
Cooler Master Hyper 212 ($29.99)
I'm hoping that this will be good enough for a conservative (20%) OC. Should I consider liquid cooling? I do like it to run quiet, but am worried about a difficult installation. If I end up doing a heavy OC, I'd probably have to get better cooling.
PSU: Corsair HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX EPS12V Power Supply ($189.99)
I think that 850W should be enough, since I'm only using 2x460GTX, but wonder if spending more will improve reliability
ODD: Sony AD-7260S-0B DVDR ($22.99)
SDD: OCZ Agility 2 Extended SATA II 2.5" 60GB ($149.99)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 7200RPM 64MB Cache ($84.99)
Total: $1,892.87
Overclocking: Yes (don't have the knowledge to do it now, but am reading about it and will OC in the near future)
SLI or Crossfire: Yes
Monitor Resolution: Two monitors at 2560x1600.
Additional Comments:
I want to try building something from the ground up, but despite weeks of reading, still feel entirely lost. I really appreciate the members on this site (this forum has taught me *so* much), and was hoping for some feedback with respect to components. I'm afraid that my first build will end up being a lemon, with incompatible hardware, bottlenecks, and would love any advice that could optimize it.
Thanks!
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