APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Around mid-August
BUDGET RANGE:~USD1000 give or take ~150
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: 3DS Max workstation with a healthy side of gaming
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: hard drive, optical drives (reusing from current build)
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg
PARTS PREFERENCES: Don't mind paying for reliability
OVERCLOCKING: Planning on a pretty modest OC - probably as far as the stock HSF will take me
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe - see below
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 19" 1280x1024 and a 32" 720p HDTV I run games on
Hi. It's been 4 years since my last build, and I want to upgrade. I'll be reusing my current optical drives and hard drives (2 of each), so I just need the guts. Here's what I have picked out so far:
Core i7 920
Asus P6T mobo
BFG GTX 275
BFG MX 680 psu
GSKILL 6gb ddr3 1600
NZXT full tower case
Assuming everything above is good to go, I'm torn on a couple things. First, I don't know whether to try and support SLI with my psu. I run games on a pretty low resolution (32" 720p hdtv) so I think I can get by with a 550w and save like $40 if I don't, and to really support SLI I should probably get like what, 750w? To further complicate things, I was planning on trying to use my leftover 8800gt as a physx card cause it's free... until you factor in power usage. If I want to futureproof enough for 2 gtx275s and an 8800gt , what kind of power reqs am I looking at? I couldn't really find a straight answer anywhere I looked. I'm aware that two GTX275s is overkill for current gen games at 1360x768, so all of this is with futureproofing in mind. Recommendations on whether a physx card is worth it are also welcome.
Regarding the card itself, I was told a GTX260 was all I needed for 720p, so I took that to mean a 275 would provide ample futureproofing. Y/N?
Last, a friend recommended I wait for i5 instead of jumping on i7. Apparently socket 1366 is going to be discontinued as far as normal consumer use is concerned and intel is planning on releasing super expensive workstation chips for it? I guess my question is - will the i5 line have an equivalent to the i7 920 at a lower price? I'm not really worried about buying into a dead socket cause I don't think I'll want to upgrade soon enough to it to matter.
The only parts I'm more or less set on are the i7, mobo, and graphics card. Everything else is still in play as far as I'm concerned. I only spent like 5 mins looking for a case, so I might change that up before I order.
Thanks for any help.