Wanting some thoughts, this is my first build.

[Justhere]

Hey guys, just joined and wanted to get some opinions on my first build.
Should be noted I am building this because I am in school for Engineering and I wanted a system that could accomplish just about anything I need it to for that as well as movies, music, and games.
This is my build atm.
Case: COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD9
CPU: I7-920 (looking at buying the the 960)
VGA: XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870
RAM: 2x Crucial Ballistix Tracer 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
OS HD: OCZ IBIS 100GB 3.5" HSDL
Storage HD's: 2x Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm 750GB
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-D14
PSU: Antec TruePower Quattro TPQ-1000
OS: Windows 7 64 Premium (wanting to upgrade to Professional)
Still to get: DVD and or Blue Ray Drive, Currently robbed one out of an old Dell.
So my questions are where do you think I could have gone better? Realize I got most everything on Open Box sales from Newegg. So expense is an issue.

 

[rolli59]

Welcome!
Not knowing what you are paying for the LGA1366 parts it is hard to say that you should be looking at LGA1155 platform instead. LGA1366 is still superior in memory performance dealing with CAD work and 3d modelling.

 

[Justhere]

Most everything I have bought has been at or close to half retail price. The mobo was just over $300. The only thing I paid retail for was the VGA and the IBIS.

 

[rolli59]

$300 for a mobo is expensive! You can surely get away with a mobo in the $200 range even lower. Or change to the I7 2600K on LGA1155 platform http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/287?vs=47

 

[Justhere]

Yeah $300 for a normal mobo is expensive. But all things considered the UD9 sold for 700+ and was compared to the SR classified dual xenon. I mainly went with it for the PCI slots, the ibis takes one for the MLC, the VGA takes another, I also have a tv tuner card, and I wanted to have the option for a crossfire if needs be later on. With the UD9 I can have all of that and if I am not mistaken they all will be running on PCI x16. I couldn't find a 1155 platform with that type of PCI setup, though I didn't really look too hard since I had the CPU for the 1366 already.

 

[rolli59]

Dual X16 on LGA1155 gets expensive as well and since you have the CPU already makes sense to go with the LGA1366!

 

[Justhere]

Yeah and from what I have read the 920 OC's pretty well. I have it at 3.5Ghz atm temps seem to be around 50c at idle. Not really sure if thats good or bad lol, haven't tried to tweak it or the ram at all really.

 

[rolli59]

Little high on the idle temp but what matters is the load temp.

 

[Justhere]

yeah I need a good free benchmark test for a cpu to get a good load temp. No programs I have at the moment bring my cpu above 30% even CIV V at max settings doesnt really push the cpu to a good load.

 

[rolli59]

Prime95!

 

[jmills204]

So what is your reasoning in choosing the i7 920/960 and going with a deprecated chipset, socket, and processor?

 

[Justhere]

Had a 920 which is what I started the build with. Just thinking of upgrading to the 960, for a slightly faster cpu, though if I get the 920 up to 4Ghz while keeping my temps down I probably wont get the 960.

 

[Justhere]

There is also the 4 PCI x16 lanes on my mobo which I already have 3 used so gives me one for a possible crossfire vga later if I need it. I couldn't find a 1155 board with true 4 pci x16 slots. they may have 4 slots but only 2 could run PCI x16. The UD9 runs 4 at PCI x16 speeds and it fits with the 920 I already had.

 

[r3xx3r]

you made a very good build. the only thing you might want to do is get some water cooling in there. like the corsair h100
http://www.corsair.com/cooling/hydro-series/hydro-series-h100-extreme-performance-liquid-cpu-cooler.html

or a custom liquid cooling set uo if ur adventurous

 

[Justhere]

I had thought about water cooling it. Though if I did I would want to water cool everything since the board is set up for water cooling the bus. Its just too costly atm to water cool the VGA, CPU, and MOBO. The case has the holes already there for the tubes and the top would be perfect for the RAD since it has 2 200mm fans there now would only have to have fans on the top of the rad for a push pull effect.

 

[Justhere]

Best answer selected by Justhere.