Looking for Opinions/Suggestions

[Hungreh]

Here's what I have in mind.

CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115215

Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813128412

GPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102858

HDD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822136592

RAM - 2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820145260

Supply - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817139018

Case - not 100% about this one - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129058&cm_mmc=CM2010-_-7-_-N82E16811129058&nm_mc=CM2010

Display - 2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16824009266

Keys - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109191&cm_mmc=CM2010-_-63-_-N82E16823109191&nm_mc=CM2010

Mouse - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104321&cm_mmc=CM2010-_-65-_-N82E16826104321&nm_mc=CM2010

And some basic $20 DVD drive.

Anything stick out to you guys?

 

[Atotalnoob]

HDD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822136592

Spinpoint F3 1 TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&cm_re=spintpoint_F3-_-22-152-185-_-Product ~ 69.99

Display - 2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16824009266

any specific reason for 2 monitors? I'd stay with one, buy a better GPU and get this monitor instead... has HDMI, and lower response time... ASUS VH236H monitor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236059&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID= ~ 189.99

Case - not 100% about this one - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129058&cm_mmc=CM2010-_-7-_-N82E16811129058&nm_mc=CM2010

It is fine... but a bit expensive, an Antec 300 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066 ~ 69.99 would be better....

RAM - 2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820145260

don't need 8 gigs of RAM.... 4 is fine... this G.skill is better, g.skill 4 gigs http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231278&cm_re=G.skill-_-20-231-278-_-Product ~ 77.99




Edit:

Supply - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817139018

Not a good PSU... any of these would be better...
Antec Earthware 750 watt http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371026&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID= ~84.99

Antec TruePower 650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371021&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID= ~ 69.99
XFX 650 watt http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207002&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID= ~ 89.99
CORSAIR 650 watt http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3463938&SID= ~ 89.99

 

[Niklas_13]

I agree with atotalnoob for the most part, on the PSU IMO all you need is a good 550W less you plan to xfire @ 8X4X with that mobo < IMO not a good mobo for xfire.

Save the money on the ram for a better GPU ( you will need it @ 1080 rez )

I belive on the ram you want to stay under 1.6 V for the 1156s MOBO

 

[Atotalnoob]

Save the money on the ram for a better GPU ( you will need it @ 1080 rez )

+1....

on the PSU IMO all you need is a good 550W less you plan to xfire @ 8X4X with that mobo < IMO not a good mobo for xfire.

you can always use the PSU for a build, later on.... Ahh 8X4X? not the best... but acceptable, X1 is the only real bottleneck..... X4 is like 90% performance..

 

[Hungreh]

Dual monitors are a must for me. I suppose the graphics card could be updraded a bit, but I think everything is pretty well-balanced. I'm personally willing to pay a bit more for WD. 8 GB of RAM may be excessive but I'll end up upgrading it in a year or two anyway.

 

[geofelt]

What is the most demanding usage for this PC?

If it is for gaming, strengthen the graphics card.

 

[Niklas_13]

What is the most demanding usage for this PC?

If it is for gaming, strengthen the graphics card.

+1

 

[Hungreh]

This will be my all-purpose college desktop. I'll use it for a fair bit of Matlab and general homework/internet purposes. I have a 360, so it won't be used for all of my gaming purposes. For reference, I'm a ChE.

 

[Atotalnoob]

I'm personally willing to pay a bit more for WD.

WD drives are slower then Spinpoint.... WD uses 3 320 Gig platters, were the Spinpoint uses 2 500 gig platters, increasing performance....

This will be my all-purpose college desktop. I'll use it for a fair bit of Matlab and general homework/internet purposes. I have a 360, so it won't be used for all of my gaming purposes. For reference, I'm a ChE.

I dunno what a ChE is....=/
If all you are going to use it for is, Internet, gaming, and word processing what Geofelt said, still is valid =D

 

[Hungreh]

I dunno what a ChE is....=/
If all you are going to use it for is, Internet, gaming, and word processing what Geofelt said, still is valid =D

ChE = Chemical Engineer - I'm a student, of course.

 

[Atotalnoob]

ChE = Chemical Engineer - I'm a student, of course.

I knew you were a student, yuou said above...

Sounds cool...!

 

[geofelt]

This will be my all-purpose college desktop. I'll use it for a fair bit of Matlab and general homework/internet purposes. I have a 360, so it won't be used for all of my gaming purposes. For reference, I'm a ChE.

Some time ago, I helped a friend build a PC for matlab work. We used a Intel clarkdale 32nm duo, the i5-660 @3.3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115219 He seemed very pleased. I do not know if matlab is multicore enabled, I think not, unless it is in more current versions. If that is true, you want to go for the highest clocked dual core you can get. But, I don't think the 670 or 680 is worth the extra price premium, particularly if you will overclock. From a cpu point of view, any dual core clocked at 3.0 or higher can run any game decently.

Now, if you can wait, just a bit, sandy bridge is scheduled to be available January 9. It starts at higher clock rates, and turbos higher for single threaded tasks. And... it is 15% faster, clock for clock than the best current offerings.

As to the graphics card, the 5770 seems appropriate. But, I think matlab can make use of the cuda computational capabilities of Nvidia cards. If so, you might consider using a GTX450 or GTX460 which are equivalent cards but hace CUDA capabilities.

Regardless, You might want to consider a micro-atx, or even a mini itx motherboard and case. The motherboards are smaller and cheaper. They also fit onto a smaller case which is good for a college environment.

 

[Atotalnoob]

January 9

Thought it was the 5th? oh well, same thing...

As to the graphics card, the 5770 seems appropriate. But, I think matlab can make use of the cuda computational capabilities of Nvidia cards. If so, you might consider using a GTX450 or GTX460 which are equivalent cards but hace CUDA capabilities.

+1

 

[geofelt]

As I understand it announce/launch is Jan 5, availability at retail is Jan 9.

 

[Atotalnoob]

As I understand it announce/launch is Jan 5, availability at retail is Jan 9.

I was thinking it wouldb e a few days before it would be available.... I wonder if review companies will get it on the 5th or 9th?

 

[geofelt]

As I understand it announce/launch is Jan 5, availability at retail is Jan 9.

I was thinking it wouldb e a few days before it would be available.... I wonder if review companies will get it on the 5th or 9th?

As I recall, nehalem reviews showed up some time before availability.
In the mean time, here is the only really good review I know of with a engineering sample chip:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3871/the-sandy-bridge-preview-three-wins-in-a-row

 

[Guest]

I think matlab can make use of the cuda computational capabilities of Nvidia cards. If so, you might consider using a GTX450 or GTX460 which are equivalent cards but have CUDA capabilities.

Yes, there are several options for GPU computing in matlab. I use the Jacket software by AccelerEyes and get over 10X speedups on my code. I think Jacket's approach is much better than the MathWorks own approach. AccelerEyes posts some information about the comparison on their website, http://www.accelereyes.com/products/compare