$1500 i7 PC

[an0nim]

Hello,

Thank you in advance for your help.
Now let's get down to it

Approximate Purchase Date: sometime in December

Budget Range: ~$1500

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, 3ds Max, video rendering, etc

Parts Not Required: mouse, keyboard, monitor, case, OS, speakers, sound card

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: amazon.com, but if people have better suggestions, I am up for it.

Parts Preferences: None

Overclocking: most likely after some solid reading

SLI or Crossfire: if not now then definitely later

Monitor Resolution: 1680 by 1050

After 2 days of browsing forums this is the best I could come up with

mobo: ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe - LGA 1155 - Z68 - SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 - ATX Intel Z68 DDR3 2200 Motherboards $244.99

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K Processor 3.4GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1155 $307.08

CPU cooler: Noctua 6 Dual Heatpipe with 140mm/120mm Dual SSO Bearing Fans CPU Cooler NH-D14 - Retail $84.77

video: 2 x EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti Superclocked 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card - Lifetime Warranty 01G-P3-1563-AR $249.99 each

ram: Corsair Vengeance Blue 16 GB DDR3 SDRAM Dual Channel Memory Kit CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B $99.99

hdd: Western Digital Caviar Black 750 GB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Bulk/OEM Internal Desktop Hard Drive - WD7502AAEX $99.00

PSU: Corsair Enthusiast Series 750-Watt 80 Plus Bronze Certified Power Supply Compatible with Intel Core i3, i5, i7 and AMD platforms - CMPSU-750TXV2 $106.99

8 items : $1,442.80

I have read that the ram's kind of tall and I honestly have no clue if that CPU cooler will fit and I'm hoping the PSU is neither overkill nor underpowered

The 750 gb hdd is more than I'll ever need storage wise so I'm not looking for anything larger but if there are better ones out there I'm game(500-750 gb range)

Also if you think that there's a better way to spend $250 to improve performance than on 2nd video card that's cool, I'll get a 2nd one next spring/summer
I welcome any changes to the build as long as it still has an i7 processor and they get me better performance

 

[g-unit1111]

That rig looks really good as is. Most motherboards are a matter of personal preference anyways, I like Gigabyte over Asus but that's just me. Ease up on the RAM - you really only need 8GB instead of 16GB.

Your choice of PSU is really good - but you may want to bump that up to an 80+ Silver or Gold for better energy efficiency, especially if you want to SLI and OC your system. Check out PC Power & Cooling, Seasonic, and Cougar in that area.

Add an SSD if you can (try to squeeze a Crucial M4 in your budget) and use the WD Caviar drive as your secondary - it'll be an absolutely amazing system.

Alternately you could bump the CPU down to an i5-2500K and invest the extra $100 in getting a 128GB SSD to use as your primary and a 1TB hard drive to use as your secondary.

 

[LOBOBAST]

I believe they sell that kind of ram you are looking for in a low profile version. Meaning they don't have the taller heatsinks. Same price too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006654&isNodeId=1&Description=Corsair+Vengeance+Blue+16+GB+DDR3+SDRAM+Dual+Chann&x=22&y=17

Also take into consideration of the type of Case you have the bigger it is the more room you'll have for the taller ram.

EDIT: If you are planning on gaming at that resolution the extra $249 GTX 560i IMO won't be worth it. You won't see a tremendous difference. One 560i should be fine. Or go for a single GTX 580

If you are planning on getting a monitor down the road with a higher (2560x1440) resolution then yes go for it.

 

[an0nim]

the only reason why I opted for 16 gb ram is because they're $99

hmm so basically scrap one video card(for now & buy it later) and use the extra cash to get a better PSU and a SSD ?

I haven't looked into SSDs, are they really that much better than a regular HDD?

 

[g-unit1111]

the only reason why I opted for 16 gb ram is because they're $99

hmm so basically scrap one video card(for now & buy it later) and use the extra cash to get a better PSU and a SSD ?

I haven't looked into SSDs, are they really that much better than a regular HDD?

Absolutely - an SSD scraps the mechanical parts that make up a regular hard drive, and they're far faster as a result. The other thing about SSDs is that they use a much lower profile than regular HDs do and therefore use less power and generate less heat as a result.

And I agree with that setup - scrap the extra card, get one 570 as opposed to dual 560s, and definitely get a better PSU and SSD if you plan to overclock and run SLI in the future.

I also agree that with RAM being that cheap - why not max it out?

 

[an0nim]

OK so flowing your advice I did the following teaks

scraped 2 video cards (2x$249), the PSU($107) and that puts me at a total of 605 USD

The new stuff:

video: EVGA GeForce GTX 570 Superclocked 1280 MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 2DVI/Mini-HDMI SLI Ready Limited Lifetime Warranty Graphics Card, 012-P3-1572-AR $359.99
SSD: Crucial 256GB m4 SSD 2.5" SATA III CT256M4SSD2 $239.00
PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 750W High Performance 80PLUS Silver SLI CrossFire ready Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom $109.99

total: $708.98

Could I also scrap the HDD($99) and use my old one for now(320gb sata 7200 rpm) so not to blow my budget?