$1200 Gaming Build

[ponchato]

It will be for World in Conflict and Supreme Commander (a VERY processor intensive game). I'm currently running a 1440x900 monitor, but I will be buying a 1920x1200 soon.

Case: CM 690

PSU: Corsair 650TX

MoBo and Video BIOSTAR TpowerX58 and SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 1GB

CPU: Intel Core i7 920

CPU Cooler: XIGMATEK Dark Knight

Memory: OCZ Platinum 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600

DVD Drive: SAMSUNG Black

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit

The total cost is $1,220.

Questions
1) Will 650 watts be enough for two 4870s in CrossFire?
2) Will DDR3 1600 offer noticeable improvements over DDR3 1333?

 

[stonebattle]

A 650W power supply should work fine unless you want to overclock the CPU and video cards. If you do, as long as you don't go over about 20% CPU along with 10% video card overclock, you should be ok.

DDR3 1600 willl not make much of a difference in most applications.

 

[Why_Me]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137 $79.99
COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006 $109.99 ($99.99 after $10.00 Mail-In Rebate) Free Shipping*
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-EX58U4P $219.99 | $204.99 after rebate
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P Core i7/ Intel X58/ DDR3/ CorssFireX & 3-Way SLI/ A&GbE/ ATX Motherboard

https://www.antaresdigital.com/customer/product.php?productid=16135&cat=282&page=1" $ 280.00
Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz LGA 1366 Socket 8MB Cache CPU D0 Stepping

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029 $39.99
XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154003 $4.99
Tuniq TX-2 Cooling Thermal Compound - Retail

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=AT-4870GB $159.51
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD4870 1GB DDR5 2DVI PCI-Express Video Card, Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231247 $94.99 Free Shipping*
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319 $74.99 Free Shipping*
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152 $22.99
LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM

Total: $1,087.43 | $1,062.43 w/mail in rebates

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/dd353205.aspx?ITPID=mscomsc <--- Save yourself some money on an o/s until March 2010 and dl the 64 bit version of Windows 7

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128374 <--- more pics, specs, and customer reviews of that Gigabyte UD4P mobo used in this build

http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=584 <---short review on that D0 stepping i7. It runs cooler than the older C0 stepping i7's

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11773&Itemid=1 <--- that's one way you can tell if you have a D0 stepping cpu or not