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[cboath]

Main application is 3ds max with perhaps a tad bit of video editing. My budget would be in the vicinity of $1000.

There will be the occasional game as well, but it's main focus won't be gaming.

It's been a while since my last build so i've got a lot of room for improvement. FWIW, i already have a WD Caviar Black 1TB to put in this system. I'm toying with the idea of adding a velociraptor or SSD for a windows/app drive - but i don't know if it'd be worth the $300 bucks or so. So if anyone has any advice on that front, i'd like to hear it.

Aside from that, i'd like to be able to moderately OC it. I'm looking at an i7 920. Seeing as it's a 2.66 chip, i'd like to get it to 3.0-3.5 if possible. I've seen a couple sigs hitting 4.0, but i imagine that's the major league OC'ers - and that's not me

What i've got on the list at the moment:

Board: Asus P6T Deluse V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 (pushing $300, cheaper alternatives appreciated)
PSU: Corsair 620HX (will that handle two if these video cards if one day I opt for SLI?)
GPU: EVGA 260GTX 216 core, 896MB
DVD:Samsung 22x DVDR w/lightscribe (also toying with a BR drive)
Mem: OCZ Gold 3x2gb (6gb) DDR3 1600
Case: Antec 1200
CPU: i7 920
Cooler: need suggestions

As noted, i have my 1TB drive already. Also reusing the monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

I appreciate any input.

Thanks!

 

[cboath]

No thoughts at all?

 

[krnmastersgt]

Originally posted by: cboath
Main application is 3ds max with perhaps a tad bit of video editing. My budget would be in the vicinity of $1000.

There will be the occasional game as well, but it's main focus won't be gaming.

It's been a while since my last build so i've got a lot of room for improvement. FWIW, i already have a WD Caviar Black 1TB to put in this system. I'm toying with the idea of adding a velociraptor or SSD for a windows/app drive - but i don't know if it'd be worth the $300 bucks or so. So if anyone has any advice on that front, i'd like to hear it.

Aside from that, i'd like to be able to moderately OC it. I'm looking at an i7 920. Seeing as it's a 2.66 chip, i'd like to get it to 3.0-3.5 if possible. I've seen a couple sigs hitting 4.0, but i imagine that's the major league OC'ers - and that's not me

What i've got on the list at the moment:

Board: Asus P6T Deluse V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 (pushing $300, cheaper alternatives appreciated) Unless this board has certain features you need, plenty of cheaper boards. I'm going to assume you're in the States: Newegg->Motherboards->socket 1366->Sort by lowest price. From there you can pick based on company (for warranty purposes) features, etc.
PSU: Corsair 620HX (will that handle two if these video cards if one day I opt for SLI?) Do you really need the modular? And it should handle 2 cards of GTX260 consumption or less easily
GPU: EVGA 260GTX 216 core, 896MB
DVD:Samsung 22x DVDR w/lightscribe (also toying with a BR drive)
Mem: OCZ Gold 3x2gb (6gb) DDR3 1600 Don't need such "high speed" ram unless you do serious overclocking
Case: Antec 1200 Absolutely no purpose for this case in my opinion an Antec 900 or 600 would be just as good, along with quite a few other cases for much less than this.
CPU: i7 920
Cooler: need suggestions

As noted, i have my 1TB drive already. Also reusing the monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

I appreciate any input.

Thanks!

 

[cboath]

Seems your saying pretty much any x58 should suit my needs, which is good to know. I'll give it another look. I put the list together a while ago and undoubtedly there are more offerings now. After looking. I did a few sorts, and when search on number of reviews, and looking at 40 reviews or more, they're don't seem to be too many offering a decent price drop from the one i picked and some costing a lot more. But, i do plan to do a lot more research in this area.

On the PSU, does it need to be modular? I don't know. I needed a new PSU a couple years ago and picked this up when it was on a good sale and rebate and have really like it, and, honestly, I do like the modular aspect to be honest. Probably not a necessity, but a rather nice nicety, IMO.

I don't plan to do serious overclocking, just moderate. However, AR the ram i've got on the list is $79. The 10600 and 8500's are the same range. I may not need the speed, but it can't hurt to have it.

The case, in all honesty, is simply because I really really like it. Simple as that. I've done a lot of work on machines over the years and at the office the penchant for small form factors drives me nuts. I like having lost of extra space. And it's quite possible that's just me. But the 900 and the CM NV 690 also have looked good to me. I've seen the 1200 as low as 149 in the past and am hoping to stumble into a sale soon, though, when the money is actually available, sales seem to be few and far between

As for the cooler, i guess you think stock is fine for the range i'm hoping to achieve? I've always had bad luck at OCing. My next to last board simply sucked at it, and on my current one, i got a bit, but nothing that seemed great. Probably just a fact that the chip was high on the multiplier to beging with and there just wasn't much head room to work with.

But thanks for the feedback, it's given me some things to check out.

 

[krnmastersgt]

The cooler you choose for your processor is usually dependent on your case's airflow, the 690, 900, or 1200 all have great airflow if you load them with fans in the same direction, so I doubt anything above the stock Intel is really necessary, however there are a lot out there that perform really well, just not my area. If you want the 620 that's fine, the 650 is just a better PSU since it was made by Seasonic, in either case both are fine though, Corsair's name is a good enough standard imo for the quality of a psu. Other than those points, everything else seems fine, looks like a fun system

 

[cboath]

Yeah, i had been targetting my limited amount of research time towards the coolers and there are a lot of varying opinions it seems to me, and when coupled with the fact that i'm not trying to go for major oc'ing, i don't know that it's warranted.

FWIW, after your post I went back and looked through some reviews and was a bit stunned when reading up on the 900...4300 reviews and still has 5 stars. That's hard to do with that many review. Clearly that case is one of the best around today. The review totals and reviews themselves speak volumes. If i can't find a decent deal on the 1200, i may just go that way.

 

[krnmastersgt]

In terms of size of the inside/workspace etc. the 900 is for all purposes a full tower case after all, the 1200 is even bigger but most people won't be able to even push the 900 to its full dimensions. Unless you have some super elaborate or space eating cooling/components inside your case, the 900 is as big as you need to go. Ask about coolers in the CPU&Overclocking or Cooling sections of the forum for more thorough knowledge on the matter.

 

[wwswimming]

Originally posted by: cboath
Cooler: need suggestions

http://www.frostytech.com/
good heat sink website

Noctua NH-something-12 - basic tower cooler, nice flat bottom

 

[cboath]

Thanks for the link. Looks like a cool site

 

[elconejito]

I've used the Antec 300 in two separate builds, and they are quite roomy. The 900 and 1200 have removable drive cages, which is quite handy (it would be more useful if you didn't have to unplug the fan in front of it each time though...). The 300 is a little more... subtle... than the 900/1200 so it depends on what look you're going for. 300 is much cheaper and can also be had for $50-60. All of them have front 120mm fans, rear 120mm fans, and huge top fans. And i really like how they all have top-front mounted usb/power/reset. It's a mild annoyance of mine that so many nice tower cases (which usually end up on the floor) have bottom mounted usb.

I really like my 1200, but the 900 and 300 are solid choices too.