1. While this will be primarily a gaming machine, it's not unlikely that it will also be used for video encoding and rendering in the future
2. I have 1000 to 1100$ to spend, but I don't HAVE to fill that budget 🙂 (on the other end, the budget is a little soft, so a few bucks over that isn't going to kill me either)
EDIT: This was slightly unclear, I just need a Mobo/CPU/RAM upgrade with that budget at the moment, like the thread title says, not a full build.
3. I'll be buying parts in the USA.
4. I like Intel and nVidia... I don't HATE the others, but I've had good experiences with both Intel and nVidia, and bad experiences with AMD/ATI.
5. This is only a partial build, so I will be keeping:
Case: Coolermaster ATCS 840
PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer 910W
Soundcard: Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium (PCI-E 1x)
Video Cards: nVidia 9800 GTX+ x2 in SLI
Optical Drives: 2x PATA drives
Systems Drive: WD Raptor WD740
Data Drives: 4 random SATA drives between 300GB and 1.5 TB
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
6. I have been looking around for a few days, but most thread that I see either have much lower budgets, or don't look at Intel parts.
7. I can go either way with overclocking the system. If an aftermarket cooler fits inside the budget, I will certainly consider it, but I would be fine with a stock cooler and the slower potential speeds. I have very little experience overclocking, so I won't be pushing the system by any means, but I would almost certainly try it on an overclocker friendly system 🙂
8. I'm currently running at 1920x1200 on a 24" screen, but that may go up to a 30" at sometime in the future (probably with a graphics card upgrade as well 🙂). Basically, one of my hopes is for some upgrade room for the future, so any growth that can be factored in is not a bad thing (not that I think it will matter with just mobo/CPU/ram 😛 )
9. I just got my refund check, so this build is getting pushed through asap!
The only things I've really looked at so far are processors, I was considering an i7-950 or 960, but I'm not sure I'm justified getting it over an i7-920. Those are really the only CPUs I've looked at, so I don't know if there's other good options from Intel. I DO want to have a lot of overhead to play with now, because I probably won't be upgrading again for a few years at least (moving from a Core2Duo E6700 that I got about a month after its release now, so 4+ years of use wouldn't be surprising).
In terms of RAM, I've been very confused about what's going on there, so I don't know if I should be looking at tri-channel or just stick with dual-channel. I would be willing to shell out a few extra bucks for tri-channel if that's where things are going. If things are looking to stay dual-channel for the next few years, should I get 4 or 8GB (I'll be getting 6 in a tri-channel setup).
Last but not least, Mobos: I need gigabit ethernet, and I need a PCI-E x1 slot that's available even with two massive video cards in SLI (for my soundcard). I need at least one PATA port for my optical drives, however if the cost of the unit comes in low enough that I can get a BR/DVD-RW SATA drive, I would probably throw that in instead. More SATA ports are never a bad thing either, since I'm not maxed out on expansion slots in my case and I like having lots of storage 😛 Last, I don't know the state of USB 3 on current mobo's, but I would be extremely happy if I could get support for it for the future. I don't have any chipset bias', because I have no idea what the current crop of chipsets at all, so I'm pretty good with anything.
One last note: I will be upgrading my systems drive sometime soon (probably not to an SSD though 😛). If this build doesn't break my budget, I may do it now, but it's not something that needs to be figured into this current build since it's still performing fine (just a slight crimp on space).
Thanks a ton in advance for any advice on the build/parts, and thanks for your time reading my gigantic wall of text! 🙂
2. I have 1000 to 1100$ to spend, but I don't HAVE to fill that budget 🙂 (on the other end, the budget is a little soft, so a few bucks over that isn't going to kill me either)
EDIT: This was slightly unclear, I just need a Mobo/CPU/RAM upgrade with that budget at the moment, like the thread title says, not a full build.
3. I'll be buying parts in the USA.
4. I like Intel and nVidia... I don't HATE the others, but I've had good experiences with both Intel and nVidia, and bad experiences with AMD/ATI.
5. This is only a partial build, so I will be keeping:
Case: Coolermaster ATCS 840
PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer 910W
Soundcard: Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium (PCI-E 1x)
Video Cards: nVidia 9800 GTX+ x2 in SLI
Optical Drives: 2x PATA drives
Systems Drive: WD Raptor WD740
Data Drives: 4 random SATA drives between 300GB and 1.5 TB
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
6. I have been looking around for a few days, but most thread that I see either have much lower budgets, or don't look at Intel parts.
7. I can go either way with overclocking the system. If an aftermarket cooler fits inside the budget, I will certainly consider it, but I would be fine with a stock cooler and the slower potential speeds. I have very little experience overclocking, so I won't be pushing the system by any means, but I would almost certainly try it on an overclocker friendly system 🙂
8. I'm currently running at 1920x1200 on a 24" screen, but that may go up to a 30" at sometime in the future (probably with a graphics card upgrade as well 🙂). Basically, one of my hopes is for some upgrade room for the future, so any growth that can be factored in is not a bad thing (not that I think it will matter with just mobo/CPU/ram 😛 )
9. I just got my refund check, so this build is getting pushed through asap!
The only things I've really looked at so far are processors, I was considering an i7-950 or 960, but I'm not sure I'm justified getting it over an i7-920. Those are really the only CPUs I've looked at, so I don't know if there's other good options from Intel. I DO want to have a lot of overhead to play with now, because I probably won't be upgrading again for a few years at least (moving from a Core2Duo E6700 that I got about a month after its release now, so 4+ years of use wouldn't be surprising).
In terms of RAM, I've been very confused about what's going on there, so I don't know if I should be looking at tri-channel or just stick with dual-channel. I would be willing to shell out a few extra bucks for tri-channel if that's where things are going. If things are looking to stay dual-channel for the next few years, should I get 4 or 8GB (I'll be getting 6 in a tri-channel setup).
Last but not least, Mobos: I need gigabit ethernet, and I need a PCI-E x1 slot that's available even with two massive video cards in SLI (for my soundcard). I need at least one PATA port for my optical drives, however if the cost of the unit comes in low enough that I can get a BR/DVD-RW SATA drive, I would probably throw that in instead. More SATA ports are never a bad thing either, since I'm not maxed out on expansion slots in my case and I like having lots of storage 😛 Last, I don't know the state of USB 3 on current mobo's, but I would be extremely happy if I could get support for it for the future. I don't have any chipset bias', because I have no idea what the current crop of chipsets at all, so I'm pretty good with anything.
One last note: I will be upgrading my systems drive sometime soon (probably not to an SSD though 😛). If this build doesn't break my budget, I may do it now, but it's not something that needs to be figured into this current build since it's still performing fine (just a slight crimp on space).
Thanks a ton in advance for any advice on the build/parts, and thanks for your time reading my gigantic wall of text! 🙂
