r0aringdrag0n said:
Hey, welcome to Tom's! First, I would like to clarify Crossfire/SLI. Chances are, you won't need them, since you're not gaming. Crossfire and SLI means you use 2 of the same gfx cards, put a cable between them, and have them work together to simulate a more powerful graphics card. Here is my build suggestion:
Intel core i5 2500k $225
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Graphics: SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 $145
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
MoBo: GIGABYTE GA-Z68M-D2H $105
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Case: Antec Three Hundred $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
HDD: SAMSUNG EcoGreen F2 HD103SI 1TB $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB $77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Heatsink+Fan: STOCK $0
DVD-ROM: LG DVD Burner 24X $19
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Total: $831
Explanation: The i5 2500k is one of the best CPUs on the market, it doesn't, however, have the ability to hyper thread, so if you are going to be doing a lot of CPU intensive work, I recommend you add another $100 and get the i7 2600k. If you aren't going to be doing CPU intensive work, then the i5 is perfect. The 6850 has DirectX11, and is one of the better gfx cards, if you want to save some money, you can get another card that is lower, such as the 6790 or the 6770, both will work, since you aren't doing graphically intense stuff, such as gaming. Gigabyte board, nothing much to say about it. The 500W PSU is sufficient for your needs, and it's from a reliable company. The hard drive is 1TB, green, which means it spins slower at only 5200RPM. 16GB of DDR3 1333Mhz RAM...more than enough for anything.
Thank you much for your help.
I'm also glad to be at toms hardware. I had used the site before, but the first time for the forum. I'm extremely amazed but the willingness of people to help here. Not only because your answer, but because I seen other threads. A very nice community.
As far as the CrossFire/SLI, now that you mention it, I know what you are talking about. That will allow some of the operations to bypass the cpu (when copying data.)
I was looking at some motherboards with the ability to have two video cards while I will still push 1.
While my work is not gaming, the graphics can be intensive. Of course, I could always upgrade to a better video card.
I was looking at the two articles about the z68 here in tom's hardware.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z68a-gd80-p8z68-del...
and
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z68xp-ud3-dz68db,29...
By the way, I sow the Gigabyte. G1.Assassin
http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/568-xl-atx-g1-... and it is a monster. but a overkill for what I need.
really, I would only need 2 graphics cards to play with some OpenCL and some testing. but one is enough to start while having the extra card.
Now, I did see that some boards (are more expensive) have PCI-x 3.0 .. I wonder if this is worth having.
Your specs are very helpful and I think I'm going to go with either Intel I5 and the rest of specs you recommended. The only doubt that I will have to do more research is with the motherboard, to see if it could take 2 video cards in the future.
thanks,
Francisco