Advice for my new gaming rig

[imported_Uzi69]

I currently have:

Intel Q9450
8GB 1333 RAM
2x GeForce GTX 280
300GB VelociRaptor Drive
1TB Data Drive
1000w PSU Unit
PCI Express X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series
Full Tower CoolerMaster Case
(I don't remember what kind of MB ATM )

For my new rig, I would want an Intel CPU, SSD for my boot drive, and A large storage drive. I'd also like liquid cooling and very OCable CPU and memory.

I can spend up to $5000 but would love to spend less and get extreme speed and OC ability.

I play mostly World of Warcraft, so I don't believe I really need SLI anymore.

Please give me your suggestions.

Thanks

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Right now the Crucial C300 is a great SSD drive: the 256g is faster + it's SATA III If you don't want to spend that much on a SSD drive, the Vertex LE is a nice option.
C300
Vertex 100g LE
Vertex 50g LE (RAID-0)
Samsung F3 1Tb
F3 1Tb

You'd get more turbo frequency with an i7 860 (1156 socket) I'm not sure if 1156 is EOL but I have been seeing a 1155 socket coming soon.
i7 860

Look for a USB 3.0 and SATA III mobo 1156 socket.

Any of these kits are great. 1.35v!!!
1.35v DDR3 kits

If you're average power draw from the wall is between 230-300's a 650w Seasonic Gold would suit you best by keeping you in the highest/best part of the efficiency curve at 92% If you average a little higher, Seasonic also has a 750w Gold model.
Go for the gold!

 

[Zap]

I play mostly World of Warcraft

See this thread.

For WoW you basically want two threads to run very fast and have a very fast drive to run it from.

If you have up to $5k just for a WoW rig... nevermind. I shouldn't comment because I just dumped some bucks on a WoW rig for my wife. :\

I'd say go for a high end socket 1156 setup. The reason is that it should be easy to watercool it because the Northbridge is built in to the CPU. The X58 Northbridge for socket 1366 gets REALLY hot. Also, I don't think WoW would care too much about the third RAM channel. You can probably disable HyperThreading to hit higher clocks.

For graphics, just get whatever high end single GPU you want.

For your disk drives, I'd say do a couple of SSDs in RAID0 with a small stripe size. Maybe a pair of the new/upcoming drives using the Sandforce controller?

For liquid cooling, finalize your other hardware choices (specifically the CPU/mobo/GPU/case) and then maybe create a post in Cases & Cooling for suggestions.

 

[MisterDonut]

...wait what? Am I the only one here who thinks your rig still kicks ass? Even if you spent money upgrading, you probably wouldn't really be able to tell. $5000 is huge for a computer. Save the money and put it towards something else. Your rig will do everything you want right now. If anything, buy an SSD. Ironically, it is literally the only upgrade you will probably feel. Wait for Sandybridge before you do anything...AT ALL.

 

[fffblackmage]

...wait what? Am I the only one here who thinks your rig still kicks ass? Even if you spent money upgrading, you probably wouldn't really be able to tell. $5000 is huge for a computer. Save the money and put it towards something else. Your rig will do everything you want right now. If anything, buy an SSD. Ironically, it is literally the only upgrade you will probably feel. Wait for Sandybridge before you do anything...AT ALL.

This.

If there's anything to upgrade, it's just getting yourself an SSD. Then with the rest of the money, go do something else.

 

[ThorofThunder]

...wait what? Am I the only one here who thinks your rig still kicks ass? Even if you spent money upgrading, you probably wouldn't really be able to tell. $5000 is huge for a computer. Save the money and put it towards something else. Your rig will do everything you want right now. If anything, buy an SSD. Ironically, it is literally the only upgrade you will probably feel. Wait for Sandybridge before you do anything...AT ALL.

Agreed.

 

[aaron.adley]

I think you'll find there's a lot more to it than just CPU an VC's! if you go for the i7 you will need a motherboard...even the best ones with 3-4 PCIe slots only run 16x/16x/8x that is 2 slots at 16x one at 8x if there is a forth.it runs at 4x. the 200 seres video cards need 300-400W to run one, say 500W for 2, so i can assume you will need a new PSU over 750W at least. the hi-end mother boards use DDR3 memory now so that too has to be added into the mix. just thought you should consider it before you committ to anything.