First homegrown system for your input

[nevadarain72]

Hey all!

After reading lots of forums and articles here, I've finally decided to post something. I've seen how everyone is genuinely helpful in regards to suggesting improvements on new systems, so I'm hoping you can do the same for me.

I'm currently surviving on a 4 year old Dell Dimension 4700 that is failing piece by piece. P4 3.0GHz HT, 2GB DDR2, 300GB system drive+500 storage, MSI 8600GT, and Audigy 2 ZS. I waited until Core i7 made it out of the gates, now I've come up with the following replacement:

-Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two ($159)
-PSU: Tuniq Ensemble 1200W ($289)
-Mobo: Biostar T-Power X58 ($269)
-CPU: Intel Core i7 920 ($279)
-CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283v ($39)
-RAM: Patriot Viper 3x 2GB PC3-10666 ($139)
-GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 55nm ($239)
-HDs: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB ($229)
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB ($129)
-Optical: LITE-ON 20x DVD+/-R Burner iHAS220-08 ($27)
-Sound: Onboard ($0)

Total cost (via Newegg) runs around $1800, with current MIRs bringing that down to $1650 or so. Trying to keep it to $1800 or lower so my wife doesn't flip out.

A few things of note for directing suggestions:
-My goal is to have this new system last another 3-4 years, and only have to ADD things, rather than replace them (i.e. add a second GPU, additional drives, sound, etc)
-Not interested in full tower cases
-GPU is preferred Nvidia because of PhysX capability
-I'll be interested in SLI down the road, but only dual card solutions (i.e. dual GTX 260s, or GTX 295s)

Thank you in advance everyone!

 

[jjbtexas]

1200W is pretty high, 850W is all u really need. sounds like a nice pc though

 

[Why_Me]

Hey all!

After reading lots of forums and articles here, I've finally decided to post something. I've seen how everyone is genuinely helpful in regards to suggesting improvements on new systems, so I'm hoping you can do the same for me.

I'm currently surviving on a 4 year old Dell Dimension 4700 that is failing piece by piece. P4 3.0GHz HT, 2GB DDR2, 300GB system drive+500 storage, MSI 8600GT, and Audigy 2 ZS. I waited until Core i7 made it out of the gates, now I've come up with the following replacement:

-Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two ($159)
-PSU: Tuniq Ensemble 1200W ($289)
-Mobo: Biostar T-Power X58 ($269)
-CPU: Intel Core i7 920 ($279)
-CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283v ($39)
-RAM: Patriot Viper 3x 2GB PC3-10666 ($139)
-GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 55nm ($239)
-HDs: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB ($229)
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB ($129)
-Optical: LITE-ON 20x DVD+/-R Burner iHAS220-08 ($27)
-Sound: Onboard ($0)

Total cost (via Newegg) runs around $1800, with current MIRs bringing that down to $1650 or so. Trying to keep it to $1800 or lower so my wife doesn't flip out.

A few things of note for directing suggestions:
-My goal is to have this new system last another 3-4 years, and only have to ADD things, rather than replace them (i.e. add a second GPU, additional drives, sound, etc)
-Not interested in full tower cases
-GPU is preferred Nvidia because of PhysX capability
-I'll be interested in SLI down the road, but only dual card solutions (i.e. dual GTX 260s, or GTX 295s)

Thank you in advance everyone!

Well if your more into gaming than you are bright flashy lights you might want to look at some changes to your build. This hardware down below along with the cpu and heatsink you have posted above. You can run those HD's in RAID 0 and get the speed your looking for and save a chunk of cash. Same with the psu, case, etc... what this allows you to do is buy better vid card...which is always a plus for gaming This 285 runs circles around that 260 and it doesn't need a whole lot of juice to push it. With mobo's I would say Gigabyte > Biostar. btw that Gskill memory I posted has the same timings and latency as what you posted....it's just cheaper and has free shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133256 $334.99 ($314.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate) Free Shipping*
PNY VCGGTX285XPB GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

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=N82E16817139009 $139.99 ($119.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate) Free Shipping*
CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128374 $269.99 ($249.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate)
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD4P LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231230 $127.99 Free Shipping*
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152 $22.99 Free Shipping*
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

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319 $79.99 Free Shipping*
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319 $79.99 Free Shipping*
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

 

[theAnimal]

What resolution?

 

[nevadarain72]

1200W is pretty high, 850W is all u really need. sounds like a nice pc though

I had a friend of mine recommend 1200W because he thinks that down the road, new graphics cards will probably require that much power. I was skeptical though.

 

[nevadarain72]

What resolution?

Pulled this from the link in your sig, Animal:

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: (By the end of March) BUDGET RANGE: (US$1500-$1800)

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: (Gaming, movies, photo editing, surfing the web)

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: (Keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: (Newegg.com, open to other recommendations)

PARTS PREFERENCES: (See above)

OVERCLOCKING: (Maybe) SLI OR CROSSFIRE: (Yes)

MONITOR RESOLUTION: (Currently 1280x1024, monitor on the way is 1920x1080)

 

[Outlander_04]

I had a friend of mine recommend 1200W because he thinks that down the road, new graphics cards will probably require that much power. I was skeptical though.

1200 is way too much

850 is too much

650 - 750 max will be more than enough and have plenty of overhead to add a second gfx card .

Theres a more than even chance your friend is wrong about gfx cards needing more power . As cpu have been manufactured with smaller and smaller circuits they have used less power , and gfx chips are likely to use less power too

 

[geofelt]

I think you are on the right track.

I would look at the PC P&C 750watt unit. $100 after rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011
It is a tier 1 unit which can run sli GTX285.
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

I would look at the Asus or gigabyte X58 motherboards. They have been out the longest and are likely to be the most stable.

Keep the velociraptor. It is a bit pricey, but it is the fastest hard drive out there. Only intel ssd's at a much higher price will beat it.

 

[donpacific2k]

650 - 750 max will be more than enough and have plenty of overhead to add a second gfx card .

Theres a more than even chance your friend is wrong about gfx cards needing more power . As cpu have been manufactured with smaller and smaller circuits they have used less power , and gfx chips are likely to use less power too.

Agreed! Heck, 640 watts ought to be enough for anyone! I think I'd rather buy a new PSU 3-4 years down the road if necessary, rather than dropping $300 on the assumption that power requirements are going to skyrocket (or at least spend the money on a more efficient/higher quality, but lower watt one) While we don't necessarily know how many cores they're going to cram on a graphics card in the future, it's probably a safe assumption that power reqs aren't going to be too much worse than today due to the smaller nm fabrication techniques.