My current primary machine will be three years old next month, so between that anniversary, some annoying motherboard issues, and Windows 7 coming out soon I figured it was time for a new build. Thought I'd try overclocking to get the best possible performance for my money as well. I didn't keep up with enthusiast hardware developments for most of those three years, so I've been reading tech sites heavily for the past couple of months and have come up with the following parts list:
Intel Core i7 920 - Upgradability is a major concern, and I expect that upgrades will be available for LGA 1366 longer than they will be available for LGA 775. Doesn't hurt that the Core i7 series is great for overclocking by all accounts.
EVGA X58 3X SLI - Newegg reviews are generally positive, not too expensive ($250 AR). I'm very much open to suggestions here.
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 1GB (plain vanilla version) - Again, good Newegg reviews, reasonable price. I'm not looking for bleeding edge gaming performance, but I'd like to play current games at 1920x1200 with decent graphical settings.
12 GB OCZ Gold DDR3 1600 RAM (2 6GB kits) - Yeah, 12 GB could end up being overkill, but RAM is cheap and I might need it for heavy duty computing applications later on.
OCZ OCZ700MXSP 700W power supply - Available as part of a combo deal with the memory. Decent reviews on Newegg.
Intel X25-M 80GB SSD - I've read a lot about SSDs and this seems to be the best way to go despite the price premium.
Vigor Monsoon III CPU Cooler - Seems to be the gold standard for overclocking with air cooling. Only sticking point is whether it'll fit in the Antec P180 which I plan to use for the case.
For the optical drive I plan to use an old no-name IDE DVD burner I have lying around, and I'll just move the 750GB data drive in this PC over to the new one. If I've forgotten anything please let me know
.
Here are my answers to the stickied questions:
1. What YOUR PC will be used for.
Moderate gaming, software development, heavy multitasking, virtualization
2. What YOUR budget is.
The parts I listed above come in under $1500 before rebates and combo discounts. I can spend more if I'm persuaded that it would be worthwhile.
3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
I'm in the US, and I'll be buying from Newegg.
4. IF YOU have a brand preference.
None whatsoever.
5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Case, optical drive, and hard drive. See above.
6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
I've tried to do my homework on this and have read many articles and forum threads.
7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Overclocking for the first time. 4GHz seems like a realistic goal for the i7 920 on air cooling. I'm also interested in memory overclocking. If anyone can point me to a comprehensive guide on the subject I'd be very appreciative.
8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
As soon as I'm confident I've picked out the right components. I'm ready to pull the trigger by the end of this week.
My final major consideration is the noise level. My current PC runs fairly loud, especially when the video card is under strain. Complete silence is probably too much to ask with the components I've selected, but there are two tests I'd like it to pass:
1. The fan noise should not be audible through headphones with sound playing at a reasonable volume. I can only block out the noise of my current machine by increasing the headphone volume to an uncomfortable level, which is not really an option as I'd like to keep my hearing.
2. I sleep in the room where my PC is set up. Right now I can't leave it on overnight because it runs so loud (also because of the LEDs shining through the case window, but that won't be a problem this time around). I would like this new build to run quietly enough that it can be left on overnight. I'm actually a fairly heavy sleeper, so this is not as big a problem as it might seem.
Can a system with the components I've chosen run quietly enough to meet those requirements? If not, please feel free to suggest alternate components or accessories that would reduce the noise level.
If you've read this far, I thank you and welcome any further suggestions you might have.
Intel Core i7 920 - Upgradability is a major concern, and I expect that upgrades will be available for LGA 1366 longer than they will be available for LGA 775. Doesn't hurt that the Core i7 series is great for overclocking by all accounts.
EVGA X58 3X SLI - Newegg reviews are generally positive, not too expensive ($250 AR). I'm very much open to suggestions here.
Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 1GB (plain vanilla version) - Again, good Newegg reviews, reasonable price. I'm not looking for bleeding edge gaming performance, but I'd like to play current games at 1920x1200 with decent graphical settings.
12 GB OCZ Gold DDR3 1600 RAM (2 6GB kits) - Yeah, 12 GB could end up being overkill, but RAM is cheap and I might need it for heavy duty computing applications later on.
OCZ OCZ700MXSP 700W power supply - Available as part of a combo deal with the memory. Decent reviews on Newegg.
Intel X25-M 80GB SSD - I've read a lot about SSDs and this seems to be the best way to go despite the price premium.
Vigor Monsoon III CPU Cooler - Seems to be the gold standard for overclocking with air cooling. Only sticking point is whether it'll fit in the Antec P180 which I plan to use for the case.
For the optical drive I plan to use an old no-name IDE DVD burner I have lying around, and I'll just move the 750GB data drive in this PC over to the new one. If I've forgotten anything please let me know
.Here are my answers to the stickied questions:
1. What YOUR PC will be used for.
Moderate gaming, software development, heavy multitasking, virtualization
2. What YOUR budget is.
The parts I listed above come in under $1500 before rebates and combo discounts. I can spend more if I'm persuaded that it would be worthwhile.
3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
I'm in the US, and I'll be buying from Newegg.
4. IF YOU have a brand preference.
None whatsoever.
5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Case, optical drive, and hard drive. See above.
6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
I've tried to do my homework on this and have read many articles and forum threads.
7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Overclocking for the first time. 4GHz seems like a realistic goal for the i7 920 on air cooling. I'm also interested in memory overclocking. If anyone can point me to a comprehensive guide on the subject I'd be very appreciative.
8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
As soon as I'm confident I've picked out the right components. I'm ready to pull the trigger by the end of this week.
My final major consideration is the noise level. My current PC runs fairly loud, especially when the video card is under strain. Complete silence is probably too much to ask with the components I've selected, but there are two tests I'd like it to pass:
1. The fan noise should not be audible through headphones with sound playing at a reasonable volume. I can only block out the noise of my current machine by increasing the headphone volume to an uncomfortable level, which is not really an option as I'd like to keep my hearing.
2. I sleep in the room where my PC is set up. Right now I can't leave it on overnight because it runs so loud (also because of the LEDs shining through the case window, but that won't be a problem this time around). I would like this new build to run quietly enough that it can be left on overnight. I'm actually a fairly heavy sleeper, so this is not as big a problem as it might seem.
Can a system with the components I've chosen run quietly enough to meet those requirements? If not, please feel free to suggest alternate components or accessories that would reduce the noise level.
If you've read this far, I thank you and welcome any further suggestions you might have.
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