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Looking for help First-time Build!

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I am building my first workstation and would appreciate any comments. The system will be used mostly for radiology work. I will be using various PACS software products, voice and standard dictation software and database software most of the time. Other uses will include large format, high resolution flat-bed transparency scanning (Epson 10000XL), internet use and, maybe, some games. I will be using for monitors at 1600x1200 resolution (minimum). The system will, sometimes have to run for 10 plus hours without overheating. I will eventually want to learn about and try overclocking as my experience increases. I have included 2 SSDs since I need to run Windows 7 and Windows XP and want to keep them on separate drives for ease of maintenance and replacement/upgrade.

Case: Corsair Obsidian 650D
CPU: Intel i7-2600k
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe/Gen3 LGA 1155
GPU: EVGA Superclocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB (not using SLI since I am driving 4 monitors)
PSU: Corsair Professional series Gold AX1200 (1200 watt)
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 120 GB SATA II (used for my XP setup)
SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 90GB SATA III (used for my Windows 7 setup)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB SDRAM DDR3 1600 (CML16GX3M4X1600C8)
DVD: Lite-On Internal 24x DVD writer (model iHAS324-99)
Heatsink: Phanteks PH-TC14PE 140mm UFB CPU Cooler

I am most up in the air about the choice of SSDs. I do not think I will be storing a huge amount of data on these drives. I will NOT be loading my music collection on this system. I will probably not be doing any video on this system. I am a very happy Mac user for these functions. I need to use a PC for my work applications and cannot run this with a Mac and boot camp (insufficient video/GPU support in particular).
I appreciate any useful feedback. Thanks!

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sosofm said:
Its a great build.For the air cooling you don't need that monster cpu cooler. Buy one of these :
ZALMAN CNPS11X Extreme V-Shaped Dual Heatpipe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... 80$
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... 35$
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... 30$



Agreed. I just got the COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus for my new gaming rig. Couldn't be happier, I highly recommend it, as do many others (see reviews on newegg.)

I appreciate the comments about the CPU cooler.
Other thoughts, particularly, about the hard drives? Would it be worthwhile to use a large 500GB-2TB HDD if I end up needing significant storage capacity on this system?
Has anyone used the USB3.0 adapters to connect the case front USB3.0 ports to the motherboard (Silverstone Tek 19 Pin USB3.0 Adapter Cable - External to Internal (CP09))? I would rather not run cables through the case out the back to the rear I/O ports.

Thanks, once again.
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You could always add an additional drive later if you find it necessary.. and hopefully they will be cheaper. If you didn't want to do that you could always replace on the of the SSD's. I realize the SSD is faster, however, how many years have you used regular HDD's - you're still alive aren't you. :) 

Yup! Good point but just because it was fine in the past doesn't justify being satisfied. It may make more sense to just use one SSD for the Windows 7 setup and a larger HDD for the Windows XP setup and go from there...

mrivision said:
I am building my first workstation and would appreciate any comments. The system will be used mostly for radiology work. I will be using various PACS software products, voice and standard dictation software and database software most of the time. Other uses will include large format, high resolution flat-bed transparency scanning (Epson 10000XL), internet use and, maybe, some games. I will be using for monitors at 1600x1200 resolution (minimum). The system will, sometimes have to run for 10 plus hours without overheating. I will eventually want to learn about and try overclocking as my experience increases. I have included 2 SSDs since I need to run Windows 7 and Windows XP and want to keep them on separate drives for ease of maintenance and replacement/upgrade.

Case: Corsair Obsidian 650D
CPU: Intel i7-2600k
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe/Gen3 LGA 1155
GPU: EVGA Superclocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB (not using SLI since I am driving 4 monitors)
PSU: Corsair Professional series Gold AX1200 (1200 watt)
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 120 GB SATA II (used for my XP setup)
SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 90GB SATA III (used for my Windows 7 setup)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB SDRAM DDR3 1600 (CML16GX3M4X1600C8)
DVD: Lite-On Internal 24x DVD writer (model iHAS324-99)
Heatsink: Phanteks PH-TC14PE 140mm UFB CPU Cooler

I am most up in the air about the choice of SSDs. I do not think I will be storing a huge amount of data on these drives. I will NOT be loading my music collection on this system. I will probably not be doing any video on this system. I am a very happy Mac user for these functions. I need to use a PC for my work applications and cannot run this with a Mac and boot camp (insufficient video/GPU support in particular).
I appreciate any useful feedback. Thanks!


If you driving more than 2 monitors I would recommend an AMD card. They support more than 2 monitors out-of-box. (Some Nvidia cards supports more cards, but are very expensive)
For Nvidia you would need to SLI the card, I don't really recommend it since is too much wasted power, and SLI system at BEST don't sacrifice stability, we don't want to risk instability in a system like that don't?

For overall stability some people claims that Intel Motherboards are the better stable boards among the manufacters. Look for a Z68 Intel mobo. You just don't need any of the Asus mobo features.

Z68 Intel Motherboard - Newegg list

Take a look at the link.
Don't forget to check the expansion cards you gonna use in that system, maybe an interface PCI expansion card for a equipment?

I have been looking at other posts and info about motherboards and CPUs which brings me to question whether I need to consider different video cards, such as, Nvidia Quadro 2000 (x2) and a motherboard that supports triple- or quad-channel memory. I think it is premature to get into the new Sandy Bridge E CPUs with X79 motherboards largely because of cost. The X58 motherboards, although supporting triple-channel memory, are past their prime and only support 1333 MHz RAM.

I chose the superclocked 560 Ti cards since they seem to have higher CUDA and faster performance and I do not expect to do any high end 3D work, which might have swayed me more towards a Quadro card. My understanding is that SLI will not be applicable for me running 4 monitors (as per Nvidia) and I probably do not have the need for such an increase in frame rate that would be gained by SLI configuration.

My four monitors are all DVI, not DP. I understand I could use a DP video card but that would require DVI-DP adapters which carries a down-grade monitor resolution penalty.

If I were to wait much longer, I might be interested in the new Ivy-Bridge CPUs and motherboards however I do want to keep the cost under $2K if possible.
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