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I need help with a computer choice

V

vaticanslayer

Junior Member
I don?t do a lot of gaming but would like the option to, especially with that game Spore coming out. Anyways, it?s about time for me to upgrade to a new computer and I would be grateful if you could give me some suggestions. This is what I have picked out atm, and would appreciate it if you could tell me if it was overkill or just right for what I do. I would like the computer to be good for a solid year, and maybe with an upgrade at that point to put it back in the game.

Info: I have a 2x 19? LCD Monitor and would be gaming at the resolution of 1280x1024 (I guess, since that is its native resolution). Price isn't a huge concern, but I was thinking of around 1500 to 1700 bucks or so maximum. This is the system I?ve came up with that I think would suit me (most of my work is ripping video from mini-dv and photoshop on pictures I take):

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Video Card: 7900 GT or 7900 GTX
Ram: 2GB DDR-800
*Motherboard, waiting for the nforce5 intel boards*
PSU: 550 Watt Ultra X2
(In the future I would probably want to SLI another 7900 GT, or 7900 GTX)

Didn?t list the case and stuff as they really aren?t important for the main hardware decisions? I have a question about the hard drives though. I already have the hard drives necessary (1TB Raid 1, 4x500GB) for all my ripping of video and rendering and such, so the hard drive space is covered. But what should I do for my system drive? Should I get a 1x 150GB Raptor 10k drive, would it be better for gaming? Or should I get two drives (probably 250GB Sata2?s, 7200RPM) and run it in a Raid-0 configuration?

So basically my question again: Is the above listed hardware overkill or just right or too weak? Is the 7900 GT fine, or do I need a 7900 GTX board instead? And should I get a single Raptor 10k drive or two drives to run in Raid-0 for the system drive?

Thanks for everything!
 
If you don't game much, SLI 7900GTX might be considered slightly overkill.

What else do you do that uses 3D graphics or taxes the CPU?
 
I don't do too much at all that taxes the computer. I mainly capture a lot of clips/movies from DV tapes for clients, occasional digital rendering, a lot of photoshop work with large digital camera photos (though that's more ram than anything else). I don't game that much at all at this point and time but may start gaming again now that I have more free time. I won't SLI them to begin with, I would only SLI if things got sluggish so I could get a 25-30% performance increase with a sub-$200 upgrade a year from now. I was planning on getting a 7900GT as it seems powerful enough for me, then around a year later get another for SLI mode. Thanks for your response DaveSimmons!
 
For all you listed the 6600 and 7900GT sound like a good combination.

You pay a high premium to move up to the next level above that for both the CPU and video card, so those choices offer better value.
 
Thanks again DaveS! I did the research on it and it seemed in my position that's what I would have needed/wanted. I don't use extra big monitors because they hurt my eyes, and without those super large resolutions I didn't think I needed an 'ultra killer' system to just enjoy an occasional game with.
 
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