New dream build, advice sought.

[Bolas]

Some great combos going right now on Newegg. I'm thinking that I'll probably go ahead and build my own system rather than buy one someone else has built. Only problem is that they are out of many of the things I want. I'm trying to set up this build to be able to use a ATI Radeon HD5970 graphics card, and I hope to snag one or two of the first ones for sale before they are sold out just like the 5870's. I'm not going to wait for Fermi, seems like they are having too many problems with it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118030
Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B - OEM
Item #: N82E16827118030
$31.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822152185
$84.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139007
CORSAIR CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible ... - Retail
Item #: N82E16817139007
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$239.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100007
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Item #: N82E16835100007
$6.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145269
CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMG6GX3M3A1600C7 - Retail
Item #: N82E16820145269
$567.98
($283.99 each)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835702007
Vigor Monsoon III LT Dual 120mm Fan CPU Cooler Socket 1366 Ready - Retail
Item #: N82E16835702007
$55.43

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.295533
Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M160G2R5 2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail
Item #: N82E16820167024

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.295533
LIAN LI PC-P80 Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811112159
-$275.00 Combo
$693.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.290391
Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition Bloomfield 3.33GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601975 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115212

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.290391
EVGA E760 CLASSIFIED "Overclocker's Pick" 3-Way SLI + PhysX 1366 Intel X58 EATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813188048
Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$30.00 Combo
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$1,389.98

Tom Clancy's HAWX – OEM PC Game, Gift with Intel Purchase - OEM
Item #: N82E16800992039
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$0.00

Intel Gift - OEM
Item #: N82E16800995078
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$0.00

Intel Gift - Screwdriver - OEM
Item #: N82E16800995079
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$0.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.291294
Pioneer Black Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD Writer SATA Model BDR-205BKS - OEM
Item #: N82E16827129051

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.291294
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
Item #: N82E16832116758
$339.98

Verbatim 25GB 4X BD-R Single Disc Model 96434 - Retail
Item #: N82E16817130042
$0.00

Subtotal: $3,411.32
Shipping: $37.40
Grand Total: $3,448.72

One concern that I have is that I don't think that my power supply will be big enough if I want to add a second ATI Radeon HD5970 or if I want to overclock everything. I'm sorely tempted to go with dual ATI Radeon HD5970's from the get-go, but presumably I would need a larger than 1kW power supply. 400W x2 for the graphics cards, 130W for the processor, and some additional for the drives and such... and pretty soon I'm bumping into the 1kW max of the psu. Then if I overclock the cards and processor, I'm way out of power. I want a large, modular power supply that is 80PLUS certified, but I'm having trouble finding out which would be best. Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W? Would that do it? Or is there a better pick?

I plan to do air cooling and stock speeds for now. Eventually, I'll do water cooling and overclocking of everything. I'll get the computer up and running, and then as time and money allows, start to trick it out a bit -- black anodize all the metal in the case, install a nice water cooling system, etc. So I want something that will work NOW... but which I can slowly customize over time until I get it the way I want it. I want to avoid buying things that are not more or less "future proof".

I plan to add a Dell 3007WFP-HC from Sam's Club for $999. I will use existing keyboard, mouse, and speaker setup, at least for a while. Long term, I'll increase to three of the 3007WFP-HC monitors.

I could go with the 4-way classified board to give me more flexibility down the road (for fermi or whatever), but that's probably a waste? That's one of the reasons I wanted this Lian Li case -- ten expansion slots, room enough for the 4-way. Should I reconsider the motherboard and go with the bigger one? More slots for more things = a good thing, I would think.

Taking the $3500 computer, adding in a $600 graphics card and a $1000 monitor puts the total at right around $5000, the low end of my $5k-$7k budget, still saving me some money to buy watercooling stuff or a couple more monitors.

Should I consider adding anything else to the system? A high end sound card or NIC or backlit keyboard or new speakers or headphones?

Are there any major mistakes I'm making with this setup?

Yes, I know, the core i7 920 can be overclocked, and that 90% of the people that look at this build will just say dude, drop the 975 and replace it with a 920. Looking at overclocked benchmarks still shows a nice advantage to the 975, however.

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/overclocked_cpus.html

A 10%-14% increase in expense for a 17% increase in performance is worth it to me (6800 to 8000 benchmark, for an increase of $700 on a $5k-$7k budget). That's my thinking, anyways.

I'm open to comments and suggestions.

 

[Net]

those are some nice parts.

you should check this out for cooling the cpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835181010

looks promising. Its a self contained water cooling heatsink/radiator/fan for the cpu. looks like the liquid is sealed in there and you don't have to worry about it just like a regular heatsink/fan

for the monitor: http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...?c=us&cs=22&l=en&lob=MON&MODEL_DESC=ALL&s=dfh

wow, dell outlet had some ultrasharps last night. looks like someone already snagged them. they'll be more...

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

975 is a complete waste of money but it seems as if money is no issue for you so sure, why not.

 

[jjmIII]

I prefer Samsung burners, and a bigger secondary drive.....1.5tb or 2tb.

 

[Bolas]

those are some nice parts.

you should check this out for cooling the cpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835181010

looks promising. Its a self contained water cooling heatsink/radiator/fan for the cpu. looks like the liquid is sealed in there and you don't have to worry about it just like a regular heatsink/fan

for the monitor: http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnline...?c=us&cs=22&l=en&lob=MON&MODEL_DESC=ALL&s=dfh

wow, dell outlet had some ultrasharps last night. looks like someone already snagged them. they'll be more...

I've checked out the corsair liquid cooling. But I also saw an article on tom's hardware stating that the small self contained liquid cooling systems did no better than air cooling with an equal sized radiator. So I skipped out on the Corsair 120mm radiator but would consider a 240 radiator like the Asetek LCLC.

I've watched the Dell refurbished monitor site often enough to know that they just do not seem to have anything in the 27" to 30" range that lasts more than a few minutes before someone buys it. So I'll stick with sam's club I think.

 

[Bolas]

I prefer Samsung burners, and a bigger secondary drive.....1.5tb or 2tb.

I liked the 12x speeds for the Panasonic Blu-Ray compared to the 8x speeds for the other brands. And the nice freebies and package deal they offered don't hurt, either.

I originally was going to go with a 1.5TB, maybe I should do that or a 2TB.

Newegg was out of the 2TB Caviar Black when I checked yesterday. It's not even showing up as an option today.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...20and%20higher

My thinking with the drive size is that I have a pair of 120 GB hard drives in my current computer (a refurbished HP dv9260nr notebook) and neither one is full, so going to a 160GB SSD for the boot drive and a 1TB or larger for the data drive would give me more than four times as much storage as I currently use.

Of course it couldn't hurt to have extra storage, I've heard that it fills up quickly once you get a large drive. The 1.5TB drives seem reasonable, not sure if I should consider $400 for a 2TB drive compared to $150 for a 1.5TB drive. I do like the larger cache size though.

 

[Bolas]

975 is a complete waste of money but it seems as if money is no issue for you so sure, why not.

I explained the reasoning behind that.

1. Improvement greater than the percentage increase in cost.
2. Dual 5970's would almost for sure be cpu limited on one or more titles. Why not minimize the chance of being cpu limited by using the top of the line cpu?

I could understand that going with two to four Nehalem-EP Xeon chips would be a bit of overkill, most likely. But if I had a $15k budget, I would seriously consider that. As it is, the 975 should be enough for everything I will do any time soon.

I have considered holding off on buying anything until Gulftown next year. A 32nm 6-core has a definite appeal to it. Then I could go with quad tesla boards and have my own supercomputer.

But I probably don't need that much power, and as long as I choose wisely on case, power supply, etc now, then I could buy the gulftown and the tesla stuff and ebay my current cpu and video cards when those came out. Someone would buy the parts that I was upgrading, I would think, and I could probably get 75% of my money back from the sale. So no real reason to wait, just need to make sure I make good choices on the system components.

Motherboard is a consideration. Asus A6T7 supercomputer, Asus A6T6 WS Revolution, EVGA Classified 4-way SLI, Asus Rampate II Extreme are all considerations. I heard the Rampage II has a sub-optimal layout, so I pretty much nixed that one.

Power supply I'm tempted to go overkill on this so that if I do go with a quad tesla setup in the future, I could power it.

 

[yh125d]

Wasting a ton of money on CPU, RAM, motherboard, etc.


Also bad PSU pick

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

1. Improvement greater than the percentage increase in cost.

so the i7 975 is 5 times faster than an i7 920?
that's news to me.

but whatever floats your boat. we need ppl like you to keep the economy flowing.

 

[jjmIII]

LOL, I pd almost this much for an old loaded Dell P3-500!

 

[Bolas]

so the i7 975 is 5 times faster than an i7 920?
that's news to me.

but whatever floats your boat. we need ppl like you to keep the economy flowing.

Read what I wrote above, please.

A $6000 overclocked core i7 975 system is 17% faster than a $5300 overclocked core i7 920 system, but THE SYSTEM is only 14% more expensive. I'm saying that 17% is greater than 14%. Where did you get the 5 times faster figure?

Sure, the CPU itself is over three times more expensive (not five times as you imply). But so what? If I could spend 10% more on the system by beefing up some other component in the system instead and get a 15% improvement in SYSTEM performance, I would do it. What would you recommend? Should I switch from a single MLC SSD to a pair of SLC SSD's in RAID-0? That'd be about a 15% increase in price, but I doubt you'd get a 15% or greater increase in system performance by doing so. But maybe I'm wrong?

From where did you get the five times factor? Are you looking at just the cpu and ignoring the big picture? I'm not building a chip in isolation, I'm building an entire system.

Are you saying that a core i7 920 is infinitely more powerful than a Pentium 4? Because I already have a P4 -- thus it's free. Even if it's five times faster, the cost is infinitely more than free.

 

[Bolas]

LOL, I pd almost this much for an old loaded Dell P3-500!

I remember those days, LOL! I paid $2200 for my Alienware P4 back in '00. I would have paid more for earlier computers, but I was a poor student at the time.

 

[yh125d]

Read what I wrote above, please.

A $6000 overclocked core i7 975 system is 17% faster than a $5300 overclocked core i7 920 system, but THE SYSTEM is only 14% more expensive. I'm saying that 17% is greater than 14%. Where did you get the 5 times faster figure?

Sure, the CPU itself is over three times more expensive (not five times as you imply). But so what? If I could spend 10% more on the system by beefing up some other component in the system instead and get a 15% improvement in SYSTEM performance, I would do it. What would you recommend? Should I switch from a single MLC SSD to a pair of SLC SSD's in RAID-0? That'd be about a 15% increase in price, but I doubt you'd get a 15% or greater increase in system performance by doing so. But maybe I'm wrong?

From where did you get the five times factor? Are you looking at just the cpu and ignoring the big picture? I'm not building a chip in isolation, I'm building an entire system.

Are you saying that a core i7 920 is infinitely more powerful than a Pentium 4? Because I already have a P4 -- thus it's free. Even if it's five times faster, the cost is infinitely more than free.

So just OC a 920 to 975 speeds and have 100% of the performance for 25% of the price. Don't be foolish with your money

 

[daw123]

PM Aigomorla, the Cases and Cooling mod.
http://forums.anandtech.com/member.php?u=180190

He has that CPU amd MB. Supposedly the Classified is fussy when it comes to PSUs; it will only work with certain PSUs (I believe Aigo when through 3 different PSUs before he found one that would work with that MB). He can advise you on which PSU to buy.

 

[Bolas]

Updated my build a bunch due to feedback on the boards. Toned down the processor and the motherboard. Pity the video cards are out of stock everywhere.

Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B - OEM
Item #: N82E16827118030
$31.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822148337
$119.99

CORSAIR CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Compatible ... - Retail
Item #: N82E16817139007
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$239.99


Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Item #: N82E16835100007
$6.99

Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M160G2R5 2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail
Item #: N82E16820167024
LIAN LI PC-P80 Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811112159
-$275.00 Combo
$693.99

ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution with NF200 3xPCIe true x16 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813131358
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8D - Retail
Item #: N82E16820145224
-$35.00 Combo
$544.98

Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115202
Vigor Monsoon III LT Dual 120mm Fan CPU Cooler Socket 1366 Ready - Retail
Item #: N82E16835702007
-$25.00 Combo
$319.42


Pioneer Black Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD Writer SATA Model BDR-205BKS - OEM
Item #: N82E16827129051
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
Item #: N82E16832116758
-$20.00 Combo
$339.98

Verbatim 25GB 4X BD-R Single Disc Model 96434 - Retail
Item #: N82E16817130042
Return Policy: Consumable Item Standard Return Policy
Free (with Blu-Ray purchase above)

This comes out to a more reasonable $2333.64, including shipping. I still need a graphics card, but everywhere seems to be out of ATI Radeon HD 5970 and 5870. Either one would probably work for me. A $600 graphics card would put my total at just under $3k for the computer, then I can spend the rest of the money on more monitors or Christmas presents for my family.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Read what I wrote above, please.

A $6000 overclocked core i7 975 system is 17% faster than a $5300 overclocked core i7 920 system, but THE SYSTEM is only 14% more expensive. I'm saying that 17% is greater than 14%. Where did you get the 5 times faster figure?

Sure, the CPU itself is over three times more expensive (not five times as you imply). But so what? If I could spend 10% more on the system by beefing up some other component in the system instead and get a 15% improvement in SYSTEM performance, I would do it. What would you recommend? Should I switch from a single MLC SSD to a pair of SLC SSD's in RAID-0? That'd be about a 15% increase in price, but I doubt you'd get a 15% or greater increase in system performance by doing so. But maybe I'm wrong?

From where did you get the five times factor? Are you looking at just the cpu and ignoring the big picture? I'm not building a chip in isolation, I'm building an entire system.

Are you saying that a core i7 920 is infinitely more powerful than a Pentium 4? Because I already have a P4 -- thus it's free. Even if it's five times faster, the cost is infinitely more than free.

what state do you live in?

 

[yh125d]

You can either build it now with a cheapo card like a 4350 just to get it up and running until stocks are better, or wait til you find one in stock to buy it all. Your call there, the parts won't likely drop much in price in that time so you probably don't need to worry about that


For the HD, don't go for that seagate. It has been wrecked with horrible, horrible reliability ever since its release. Either get another brand 1.5TB drive (I own 4 of the samsungs, though they are 5400rpm and should only be used for storage) or a diff brand 1TB or 2TB drive (WD Cav Black/Samsung Spinpoint/Hitachi all good 1TB options, WD cav black 2tb is good if you can find one and think you need the space)

If you live near a microcenter you can pick up an i7 920 for $200 (thats $90 off). Since no combo that way, go to sidewinder computers (google), pick up a thermalright ultra extreme with a medium speed yate loon fan, a small bump in vcore maybe, and bump it up to 3.6-3.8gHz and good to go


The PSU is overpriced. Its definitely a good one, but its not that great considering its competition and price point. Plus even assuming an upcoming 5970 OCd with an i7 OCd you don't need 1000w. A good 750 could do that (oc'd GPU 400w, 200w CPU, still 150w for other stuff), 850 for headroom

I'd recommend (in descending order)
Corsair 850HX - $160 AR newegg
Seasonic S12D 850 - $150 AR newegg
Antec SG-850 - $210 newegg
Seasonic M12D 850 - $190 AR newegg




Spend what you save overall on like a nice camcorder, or christmas presents, or just stick it in the bank/pay down debt. You'll feel better about it

 

[Bolas]

I can actually pull the cheapo card out of my old Alienware and use it to get the system up and running, I would think. Wouldn't need to buy one.

Two 5970's = 600 to 800 watts, 200 cpu, 150 for other stuff = 1150W. I want to buy a power supply that has room on it for me to add a second graphics card.

Yes I know I do not need two 5970's unless I plan to run three 30" monitors. Which I do.

There's a microcenter 4 hours away in Kansas City. I will be going to Kansas City on December 11th, maybe I'll check out what they have there with which to build my computer.

 

[yh125d]

What a great way to blow 6-7 grand :\


We really do our best to keep people wasting money on over-exorbitant systems... Do you *really* have nothing better to spend that money on?

 

[Mothergoose729]

What a great way to blow 6-7 grand :\


We really do our best to keep people wasting money on over-exorbitant systems... Do you *really* have nothing better to spend that money on?

Does it matter? It is his money, let him do what he wants.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

What a great way to blow 6-7 grand :\


We really do our best to keep people wasting money on over-exorbitant systems... Do you *really* have nothing better to spend that money on?

yeah, seems more like a epeen thread to me.
ooh look at me and my budgetless rig!
$800 difference in cpu price is only a 1% percentage difference when my overall system costs $80000.
:\

 

[yh125d]

Does it matter? It is his money, let him do what he wants.

He comes here for advice, as a community it is our duty to try to give him the best advice we can, and in this case, try to convince him he really doesn't need to drop 6-7k on a COMPUTER

 

[Bolas]

Well I'm bidding on the Nvidia charity auction, so if I win that, I won't be building my own system after all.

Feel free to bid on it, for a good cause!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ultimate-NVIDIA...eNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ht_7185wt_1161

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

the 975 if you don't plan on overclocking, the 920 if you do

if you aren't aware and are looking to overclock the hell out of the 975, you will definitely need better cooling like a h20 setup with a Heat killer block and a Swiftech 320QP rad...

the 5970's need a huge PSU

 

[Bolas]

I'm building it now. Ongoing build log posted here:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=248797

Thanks to everyone that offered me advice, it's appreciated.