mostly new i7 build, any advise?

[kbeefy]

Just picked up COD MW2, and think it's probably time to replace my 939/agp system.
Haven't been geeked up for a while, theres alot of new stuff to learn.

ok, a day of reading and surfing and this is what I've come up with....

Intel Core i7 920
- figure in a year the faster cpu's will be alot cheaper and this one will be way faster than what I have now until then.

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 Mobo
- good reviews everywhere, supports sli x3 and crossfire, 6 ram slots and 6 SATA 3.0 ports.

EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB x2
- Gonna try out a sli setup. 2 of these benchmark better than most single cards for about $200 each.

Corsair TR3X6G1600C7D Dominator 6 GB (2gb x 3) 1600 MHz ddr3
- it's corsair.

Western Digital 500 GB Caviar Black SATA 7200 RPM 32 MB Cache
Also will reuse one or more Sata 1.5 drives for storage.

Enermax 850W Revolution 85+ Psu

Noctua NH-U12P cooler
- it's big.

Reusing 22" viewsonic for now, pioneer dvd dl r/w, Antec Case.
Computer is for websurfing, some gaming (fps), and light video editing.

in usa, found all the parts on newegg or amazon.

Would like to keep the budget around $1200, but I'm flexible.

Probably will OC a little, I'm easily distracted and doubt if I'll put much time into it.

Current monitor is 1680x1050, wouldn't mind upgrading to the haas 28" though.


Questions...
After reading the builders guide I'm considering changing a few things.

Graphics? Am I better off sticking with a single card? If I do I might be able to get by w/ my current Enermax 500w PSU.

Ram? Is that memory overkill? It's about $210 for 6gb.

OS? I have xp pro, whats Win 7 like? I need to do more reading on that.

 

[Boyo]

With the parts you have described, it is definitely for OCing, so I would take advantage of that. I would just stick with 1 GTX 260 for now, use that other money for SLI to put towards a new monitor. RAM is fine. Go with Win 7 64-bit.

 

[iLEktron]

Your spending too much on RAM, just get the XMS3 1333. People often think that bigger numbers means better performance, while that is mostly true. The difference between 1600 and 1333 is MINIMAL. You will probably not even notice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-220-_-Product

Save yourself the $50 and put into something more productice ATM like SSD

Another thing, your mobo...you don't need to spend $250 on it. Just buy yourself the Asrock X58 Extreme for $170 and save another $70-$80.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...0x58%20extreme


Now to my main point. you mentioned that you have the 1.5 storage, right? So..don't buy another 500GB and save the $60. AND invest it into 64Gb or 80Gb intel x-25 SSD.

So..all your savings add up to $200. Right now the G2 ssd 80gb Intel drive costs $300. Wait till black friday (4 more days) and buy it for around $200-$240.

You will see the performace increase in overall...


Hoped this helped.


PS..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167023


send me a PM if you need more advice or for anything. I will be glad to help.

 

[kbeefy]

Your spending too much on RAM, just get the XMS3 1333. People often think that bigger numbers means better performance, while that is mostly true. The difference between 1600 and 1333 is MINIMAL. You will probably not even notice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-220-_-Product

Save yourself the $50 and put into something more productice ATM like SSD

Another thing, your mobo...you don't need to spend $250 on it. Just buy yourself the Asrock X58 Extreme for $170 and save another $70-$80.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...0x58%20extreme


Now to my main point. you mentioned that you have the 1.5 storage, right? So..don't buy another 500GB and save the $60. AND invest it into 64Gb or 80Gb intel x-25 SSD.

So..all your savings add up to $200. Right now the G2 ssd 80gb Intel drive costs $300. Wait till black friday (4 more days) and buy it for around $200-$240.

You will see the performace increase in overall...


Hoped this helped.


PS..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167023


send me a PM if you need more advice or for anything. I will be glad to help.

Thats the info I wanted on ram, I'll check out the xms stuff.
The Mobo I was looking at was a $210 open box item, but $50 is $50, I'll check that out as well.

As for HD's, I meant my other drives were SATA, not SATA 3.0 so they're a little slower and only 200GB. I'm still up in the air on SSD's, especially for the money they get.

 

[shurato]

Your going to want to get Win 7 64bit with that machine. I don't think Win XP 32bit can recognize more than 4gb of memory. Win 7 64bit has been rock solid for me. And yes that little beast your building definitely screams for a 28" LCD Love my cheapo HANNS-G 28".

 

[somethingsketchy]

Ram? Is that memory overkill? It's about $210 for 6gb.

Sadly that's the price you pay for a large amount of RAM. Hopefully the DDR3 prices will drop soon enough. But for now, you're stuck paying a premium for RAM over 2GB (that's just for dual channel, let alone triple channel).

 

[kbeefy]

well, won a Intel 80g SSD on ebay, also just ordered the HannsG 28" from Costco.

 

[kbeefy]

OKAY. Aside from Win 7 (remembered I need this to take advantage of ram) I think I'm done spending. Heres the final list...

Intel Core i7 920
XFX Radeon HD 5850
AsRock x58 extreme mobo
6 GB Corsair XMS3 1333MHz
Noctua NH-U12P cpu cooler
Intel X25-M 80gb SSD
WD Green 1.5TB 32MB
Thermaltake Black Widow 850W PSU
HannsG 28" Wide Monitor

I miss anything? Case, periphials, and optical drive will all be reused from previous system. With Win 7 I'll be into this thing almost $2k, almost 2x my budget. Darn it!

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

OKAY. Aside from Win 7 (remembered I need this to take advantage of ram) I think I'm done spending. Heres the final list...

Intel Core i7 920
XFX Radeon HD 5850
AsRock x58 extreme mobo
6 GB Corsair XMS3 1333MHz
Noctua NH-U12P cpu cooler
Intel X25-M 80gb SSD
WD Green 1.5TB 32MB
Thermaltake Black Widow 850W PSU
HannsG 28" Wide Monitor

I miss anything? Case, periphials, and optical drive will all be reused from previous system. With Win 7 I'll be into this thing almost $2k, almost 2x my budget. Darn it!

I would not deviate from the Enermax Revo 850 unless you are sure the noise suppress and ripple are under 40mv.

Better yet, read http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Review_Cat&recatnum=13 the reviews here before you make any PSU choice.

Don't screw up on your PSU choice when everything else is lookn good.

 

[daw123]

Sadly that's the price you pay for a large amount of RAM. Hopefully the DDR3 prices will drop soon enough. But for now, you're stuck paying a premium for RAM over 2GB (that's just for dual channel, let alone triple channel).

Geez, I didn't pay much more than that 6 months ago for 12GB of XMS3 1600MHz RAM.

DDR3 prices have increased quite a bit.

 

[kbeefy]

well, first packages started showing up today. SSD, Mobo, PSU, and WD HDD are here.

Since I don't have the CPU yet I decided to play with the SSD a bit, put it into a laptop an installed XP on it.

HOLY Crap! I had no idea windows could load so fast!

 

[kbeefy]

everything is here except the CPU, darn amazon free shipping. Expected it today, still hopefull that it will arrive tommorow.