New system price reasonable?

andrew124

Distinguished
Apr 6, 2011
3
0
18,510
Please tell me if this system price is "reasonable" i.e. not more than say $300 over the price I would have payed by trying to find deals on individual components and then assembling them.

Used the build template off of www.ncix.com
http://pc.ncix.com/ncixpc/ncixpc.cfm?uuid=30D5A259-CF3C-465C-8333DCA97D0DD936-3408059

I am not interested in buying individual parts as I have limited time/desire. It's been a while since I looked at hardware prices so I know very little about current pricing.


$1900 Canadian.

1 x Intel Core i7 960 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.2GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S Retail Box
1 x Please Use The Heatsink Included with My CPU -NOT Available with OEM Processors
1 x ASUS P6X58D-E X58 ATX LGA1366 3PCI-E16 PCI-E1 2PCI CrossFire SLI USB3.0 SATA 6GB/S Motherboard
1 x Corsair Vengeance 12GB 3X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 XMP Triple Channel Core i7 Memory
1 x AMD Radeon HD 6970 880MHZ 2GB 5.5GHZ GDDR5 PCI-E 2 X DVI HDMI 2 X Mini Display Port
1 x Cooler Master Haf 932 Full Tower EATX Case 6X5.25 1X3.5 5X3.5INT No PSU USB eSATA 1394 Audio - Black
1 x Corsair TX750 V2 750W ATX 12V Single Rail 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 80PLUS Bronze
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM
Please note that Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit only supports up to 16GB of RAM.
1 x Intel 510 Series 120GB Solid State Drive SSD 2.5IN SATA 6GB/S Elm Crest
1 x LG GH22NS50 Black 22X SATA DVD Writer OEM
1 x Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtreme Audio 24BIT Sound Card 7.1 PCI OEM
1 x Please Use The Onboard Network Ethernet Card Integrated On My Motherboard
1 x PC Assembly and Testing With 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty (PRE-CONFIG WIN. OS If Purchased)


Few specific questions:
The processor was available as 3.0 or 3.2 GHz (3.2 was $30 more, is that worth it?)
What is X-FI extreme Creative Sound Blaster? Is that worth $50? (I simply want something better than onboard sound)
Can I get away with using ONLY SSD (and no HD)?
How good is onboard ethernet these days?
Is a 750W Power Supply sufficient/

Thank you very much for feedback
 
Is this a gaming box ? I am assuming so since the link you gave listed it in the "Gaming" catgegory. If so, you would get better performance and save money using the 1155 platform. 1366 excels in big spreadsheets databases, 3D design CAD, movie editing and other specialized apps.

The processor was available as 3.0 or 3.2 GHz (3.2 was $30 more, is that worth it?)

If you are not comfortable OC'ing the 3.0 to 3.2 (or 4.0 for that matter), I guess its worth it.

What is X-FI extreme Creative Sound Blaster? Is that worth $50? (I simply want something better than onboard sound)

Unless you have a $1000 speaker syste, you won't hear the difference from on board sound.

Can I get away with using ONLY SSD (and no HD)?

If you don't use programs, make data that you gotta keep or play a lotta games.

How good is onboard ethernet these days?

Fantastic

Is a 750W Power Supply sufficient/

Ya need 500 watts for that GFX card.

Your system is very unbalanced if it's a gaming system

Case - HAF 932 is old news , hasn't been updated in long time, no front USB 3 port for example. case is designed for High Air Flow (hence HAF) ... you don't need HAF with that itty bitty GFX card and no overclocking.

Memory - What's all the memory for ? Huge spreadsheets / databases .... movie editing, Adobe stuff ? Again if gaming, mucho overkill

SSD - Intel 510 is topped by similarly priced Vertex 3

I'd suggest that you go to a local computer shop w/ a build list and pay him / her $150 to assemble it for you.

This will cost ya $1639 (or the shop) .... leaving $261 for assembly at your original budget...add a 2nd GFX card come XMas

Case - $120 - Antec 902 V3 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129097
PSU - $110 - XFX 750 WBlack Edition PSU http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207003
MoBo - $175 - ASUS P8P67 Pro http://www.newegg.ca/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.622007
CPU - $220 - Intel Core i5-2500K http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
Cooler - $38 - Scythe SCMG 2100 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185142
TIM - $6 - Shin Etsu http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150080
RAM - $95 - (2 x 4GB) Corsair CAS 9 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145324
GFX - $265 - Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti 900 Mhz http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425
GFX - Later - Same
HD - $75 - Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 rpm http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
SSD - $300 - OCZ Vertex 3 2.5" 120GB http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706
DVD Writer - $125 - Asus Blue Ray Burner http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135234
OS - $110 - Win 7-64 Home Pre http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754