Building a 1500-2000 rig the right way

[boostcraver]

So I've been toying with buying a i7 920 for 6 months now and I can't take it anymore. I don't want to hold off anymore, even if i9 is around the corner. I work in IT, and don't want to skimp on parts for something that I *use* to make money with.

Requirements:
OC the 920 to around 3.5+ ghz or higher with air cooling
Office/Productivity, video & audio encoding, VMware, work stuff
Gaming
Having a sweet system after waiting 3 years
Dumb attempt at a future proofed system
Dual boot between Win7/Linux, and vSphere. Probably using multiple hard drives to make life simpler.

Questions:

1. Any good RAM/MOBO combos that support USB3 / SATA3? Should I even go there? Or was the only point of waiting a year for a i7 was to get a baked in great motherboard.

2. DDR3 - 2000 - Dumb choice?

3. Fan choices for Prolimatech?

4. Sound card recommendations?

Flame away!

---=== Hard Choices ===---

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 - $209 - The crazier future-proof choice with USB/SATA 3.0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128423
Internal comment - the onboard future gen chipsets will probably suck and be pointless to have, so is there any point?

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 - $250 - The easier, solid choice
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128362

G.SKILL Trident 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Desktop Memory Model F3-16000CL9D-4GBTD - $150 x 2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231282
Comment - Got this choice from the compatibility list on the Gigabyt UD3R for DDR2000. Is this too crazy? $300 for 8 GB, and how does 2 or 4 sticks of ram even make sense in a DDR3 world? Why 2000 mhz? Why NOT!

Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B CPU Cooler - $65.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835242001
Comments: Need a FAN to add onto this... ideas?


---=== Easier Choices ===---

LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 - $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112239
Comments: It's Lian Li, mid-tower may be better space economy

Or COOLER MASTER COSMOS 1000 RC-1000 - $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119138
Comments: Sound-proofed, full tower

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V - $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006
Comments: Do I need a 24V system?

Core i7 920 - $288
Comments: Hopefully a D0. Or nowadays are they all D0?

LG Black SATA Blu-ray Burner Model WH08LS20 - Retail - $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136176

Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 Media Center Kit Dual TV Tuner 1213 PCI-Express x1 - $129
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116036
Comments: Dual hybrid tuner with clearQAM support

Intel Server class Gigabit NIC - $87
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833106010
Comments: VMware usually hates onboard NICs, so will need this when dual-booting into vSphere.

BFG Tech BFGEGTX2851024OCPE GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 - $369
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143170
Comments: No good reason for this particular video card. No need for SLI, and good experience with BFG and Nvidia in the past.


OCZ Freeze Extreme Thermal Conductivity Compound - $6

What's missing?

Sound card. X-FI recommendations that aren't $200+?

This build is already almost $2000 without the sound card.

---=== Already Have ===---

2 x Samsung 21.5" monitors
Keyboard and mouse
Intel X25-M 80GB SSD, maybe get a second one for RAID0
2 x WD 1TB Black 7200 drives for storage in RAID1 / Dynamic disks

 

[RaistlinZ]

The Radeon 5850 outperforms the GTX 285 and costs $289. If you're die-hard BFG/Nvidia try to find the GTX 275 and just overclock it mildly to 285 speeds. But I still think you're better off with a 5850 since even the GTX 275 is around $320.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Micro Center has the i7 920 D0 for 199$

 

[boostcraver]

Yeah, no MC around here. Frys has em for $288 so I guess if I didn't get the D0 I could return it for another.

I like the Radeon idea to drop the price...

- boostcraver

 

[gramboh]

I'd go 5850/5870 depending on your price tolerance unless you really don't want ATI (the only thing that would hold me back is drivers, I don't like how ATI doesn't have user set profiles which makes things like forcing AA hard in some games, especially if you use Steam).

 

[Richard.Cross]

Admittingly my knowledge is very limited and I mostly go by reviews but people here helped me when I needed so I like to return the favor to someone, my only point is this if I was you I would forget adding new hd's as your current hd's (1 SSD and 2 WD Blacks) seem good already, I would also drop the i7 920 and go for the i7 860 which seems to outperform the 920 and go for the 5970 (the fastest card out there and will most likely not fall behind anytime soon).

Also check out this MB and see if it is something you could live with:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128409

Only stating this stuff as at $1500 to $2000 you seem to want a computer that will still be in the top performers a year from now, not a computer that is already being beat by cheaper and better preforming parts. Also if graphics is not to important to you then you could go 5870 and bump up the cpu to i7 870.

Just my 2 cents if you don't agree then just ignore my post.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I would not drop the 1366 socket. If this is a gaming rig, 1366 is your choice.