1st build - new poker pc help

[wizot]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing. Primarily poker (multi-tabling, HEM and PT3 databases (postgres) and other poker applications), web browsing.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread. i play poker full time. i don't want to spend money unnecessarily, but willing to spend for the right parts. $1000-$1500 for tower seems reasonable.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from. USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
no
5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are. no

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads. yes, read a lot and i'm overwhelmed.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds. i intend to run at default unless convinced otherwise.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with. one 2560x1600 30" plus one or two 20" in portrait.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it? within the next 4-6 weeks.

intel i5 760

evga p55 sli

g.skill ripjaws 4gb (2x2gb) ddr3 1600

windows 7 home premium

EVGA 01G-P3-1452-TR GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) Superclocked 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video

**i could really use some help with video card(s). i am not gaming with this computer at all. if i eventually run three monitors, is it best to use two video cards? is the gts 450 overkill? i need dual dvi for the 30". will the evga motherboard work for my video card(s) needs?

80gb ssd

what's the difference between these drives?:

Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2MH080G2R5 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167023

Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH080G2K5 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167031

haf 922 or antec 300? is the 922 worth $100 when i can get the antec for $55?

what psu and how many watts?

finally, i don't intend to overclock. any additional cooling needed?

please let me know if i have any compatibility issues or if i'm missing anything. thanks for any help and recommendations! i greatly appreciate it!

 

[somethingsketchy]

Just some brief answers to your questions...

1. There is no difference between the two SSDs you've linked. One appears to be cheaper (with a $30 rebate), so choose whichever is cheapest/convenient for you.

2. To handle three monitors you would need at least two cards, unless you spring for one of the ATI cards that supports 5x DisplayPort (which would support 5x monitors), however that would require buying new monitors, which is not what you are looking for.

3. With that in mind, since you are only running 3x monitors with hardly any 3D graphics (i.e. gaming) to stress the video cards, you could get away with these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130378

These are Nvidia 9500GTs which is more than enough to handle the 30" monitor (for the first card) and the two portrait monitors (for the second card). If you prefer ATI, then these are a near equivalent (albeit with more video RAM):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150396

Either way these cards are $59.99 a piece, which should do quite nicely to meet your budget needs

 

[mfenn]

I agree with sketchy. For you, the GPU will simply serve as a conduit to the screen, so any old thing with dual-DVI will do.

The i5 760 is a good CPU for you, but I don't like EVGA for motherboards. EVGA is a video card relabeller (seriously, they just buy cards from Nvidia, put them in a box, and charge a big markup) who hasn't quite figured out the whole BIOS thing yet. Get a GA-P55-USB3 and stick a card in each PCIe x16 slot.

Your RAM is fine, but you don't really need DDR3 1600. DDR3 1333 is fine for your purposes and is a bit cheaper.

The Antec Three Hundred is a good case for a decent price, so I would go with that. You don't need much PSU power at all since neither of the cards sketchy suggested require a PCIe power connector. A 430CX will be plenty.

 

[wizot]

thanks for the feedback. i will make those changes to my mb and video card.

mfenn, the gigabyte mb you recommended has 1 pcie x 16 and 1 pcie 2.0 x 16. would i use those two slots for the video cards?

thanks for all of your help!

 

[mfenn]

thanks for the feedback. i will make those changes to my mb and video card.

mfenn, the gigabyte mb you recommended has 1 pcie x 16 and 1 pcie 2.0 x 16. would i use those two slots for the video cards?

thanks for all of your help!

Yes, you would use the two x16 slots. The second slot is actually only electrically a x4, but that doesn't matter since you won't be gaming.