I'm an economics grad student and am building a new rig for running statistics apps (matlab etc) at home. Was originally waiting for the Bulldozer but decided to use SB after hearing about the AMD delay. Anyway, below is my proposed build. Critique welcome.
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[CPU] Intel Core i7 2600K [acquired]
[MOBO] ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.0)
[RAM] G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2x4) DDR3 2133mhz [acquired]
[Cooler] Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. B
[Case] NZXT Classic Series GAMMA
[PSU] Antec Truepower New 650W
[HDD] Samsung Spinpoint 1TBx2 Raid 0 + 2TB for backup [acquired]
[Video] Not important. Someone recommend a decent performance card under $100?
[Keyboard] Logitech Illuminated Keyboard [acquired]
[Monitors] Acer V223WEJbd Black 22" x2 [acquired]
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Let me know what you guys think. I personally have a few questions:
1. I'll primarily use huge datasets for statistical analysis so I don't think SSD would help that much in that regard due to their limited storage capacity. The datasets will still be loaded from the HD. However, would it be beneficial to get an SSD a sa boot drive anyway? I don't mind the added cost but I was a bit hesitant due to the difficulty with trim setting, performance degradation, etc.
2. Is the Megahalems cooler compatible with the G.Skills ram on the P8P67 board? I heard from someone that the ram sticks are a bit too big to clear the cooler. If it's indeed so, can someone recommend an alternative cooler with (hopefully similar) performance? I plan to OC a fair bit hence the fast ram.
3. Can the PSU handle the OC work? Do I need a 750W+ one?
4. Am I too cheap on the case? Is there any difference (except for the cool factor) between an NZXT Gamma and, for example, Tempest EVO? Any suggestion on case is welcome.
5. If I skip the video card altogether and instead use the build-in video from SB, will that cause any CPU performance degradation? I need to maximize CPU performance and if using the built-in GPU makes the CPU slower, I'll definitely get a discrete card.
=========================
[CPU] Intel Core i7 2600K [acquired]
[MOBO] ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.0)
[RAM] G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2x4) DDR3 2133mhz [acquired]
[Cooler] Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. B
[Case] NZXT Classic Series GAMMA
[PSU] Antec Truepower New 650W
[HDD] Samsung Spinpoint 1TBx2 Raid 0 + 2TB for backup [acquired]
[Video] Not important. Someone recommend a decent performance card under $100?
[Keyboard] Logitech Illuminated Keyboard [acquired]
[Monitors] Acer V223WEJbd Black 22" x2 [acquired]
=========================
Let me know what you guys think. I personally have a few questions:
1. I'll primarily use huge datasets for statistical analysis so I don't think SSD would help that much in that regard due to their limited storage capacity. The datasets will still be loaded from the HD. However, would it be beneficial to get an SSD a sa boot drive anyway? I don't mind the added cost but I was a bit hesitant due to the difficulty with trim setting, performance degradation, etc.
2. Is the Megahalems cooler compatible with the G.Skills ram on the P8P67 board? I heard from someone that the ram sticks are a bit too big to clear the cooler. If it's indeed so, can someone recommend an alternative cooler with (hopefully similar) performance? I plan to OC a fair bit hence the fast ram.
3. Can the PSU handle the OC work? Do I need a 750W+ one?
4. Am I too cheap on the case? Is there any difference (except for the cool factor) between an NZXT Gamma and, for example, Tempest EVO? Any suggestion on case is welcome.
5. If I skip the video card altogether and instead use the build-in video from SB, will that cause any CPU performance degradation? I need to maximize CPU performance and if using the built-in GPU makes the CPU slower, I'll definitely get a discrete card.