Gaming Rig / HTPC High End Build Advice

[Tolleywog]

I've got a nice Surround and had been using my laptop to stream movies and music to my PS3 but that's not exactly cutting it. What I'm looking for is a Cutting Edge Gaming Rig that can double as my HTPC. My goal is Massive Storage so i can Rip Blue Ray Discs to the Computer and run them through that. I'm pretty computer savvy but this will be my first ground up Franken PC build. So any help with anything I'm blatantly missing would be appreciated too.

As for my install skills I've installed and swapped video cards and ram and that's about it. I'm looking for some advice on compatibility, and finding a case that will keep all of this cool and running smoothly. I'm typing this from a hotel on my way out of the country to deploy, I'm probably not going to be building this for at least 6 months but i wanted to get a rough idea on how the build looks so i could maybe have it waiting for me when i get home to start putting together. Internet in Iraq may or may not be an option depending on where i end up. I guess that's one nice thing about deploying for 6 months, with no expenses i can probably even afford to build this. So what do you think?

Suggestions ideas and recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Or just any advice with any of these components.


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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Approx 6 Months BUDGET RANGE: <$5500

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, HTPC, Blue Ray Player, Mass Storage for Ripping Movies

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers **Include Power Supply Make & Model If Re-using**

PREFERRED WEBSITE FOR PARTS: newegg.com

PARTS PREFERENCES: GeForce, ASUS, Intel i7

OVERCLOCKING: No experience with it SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes SLI

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I'd like a fairly quiet PC, but mostly i'd just like it to play nice on the HTPC end as well as gaming

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**Computer Case**

Recomendations I'd like to go with 2 SSD drives for the Operating system Program and Game storage, and at least 6 Bays for some Mass Storage
I saw a few that looked pretty nice:

Lian-Li Yyr PC-X2000
http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/microsite4/x2000.html#



**Case Cooling**

Recomendations?

**RAM**
CORSAIR 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
Price: @236.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145235

**Motherboard**
ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Price: $369.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.177144

**Graphics Card**
Dual ASUS ENGTX295/2DI/1792MD3/A GeForce GTX 295 1792MB 896 (448 x 2)-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
Price: $1018
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121296&nm_mc=OTC-Channel&cm_mmc=OTC-channel-_-Video+Cards-_-ASUS-_-14121296&srccode=cii_7240466&cpncode=20-1135337&DEPA=0&refer=channel&CMP=OTC-

**Power Supply**
Recomendations something tells me i'm going to need a monster between the PC beast and the hard drives i'm hoping to load in here.

**Core**
Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 965 Nehalem 3.2GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
Price: $999.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.177144

**CPU Cooler**
Thermaltake SpinQ
Price: $79.99
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1148&ID=1831#Tab4

**Hard Drives**
*System Drive
Dual Patriot PE256GS25SSDR 2.5" 256GB SATA II Internal Solid state disk (SSD)
Price: $1190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220381
*Storage Drives
WD Caviar Green 2TB 32Mb Cache # dependant on Case Power and Cooling
$299.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136344

**Optical Drives*
Blue Ray Burner/ Reader Recommend a good one?
Price: $399.99
http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665491094

**Sound Card**
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro 70SB055A00000 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz
Price: $279.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102015

**HD TV Tuner**
Recomendations or Advice?

**Monitor**
I'd like to be able to use my Samsung 42" LCD 1080p HDTV maybe eventually a HD Projector.

 

[WR2]

Thermaltake DH104 case $480
ENERMAX REVOLUTION85 850W PSU $290

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 MB $290
Thermaltake V1 Max CPU cooler socket 1366 $60
OCZ Platinum 6GB DDR3 1600 RAM $110
OCZ Vertex Series 60GB (SSD) x2 in RAID 0 $245ea for $490
WD Caviar Black 1TB x2 $115ea for $230
EVGA GeForce GTX 285 1GB x2 $345ea for $690
Pioneer 8X Blu-Ray burner $200
Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit $100
HAWKING Hi-Gain IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wireless Network Adapter $80
Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-2250 Media Center Kit Dual TV Tuner $150
Logitech Harmony 880 Universal Infrared Advanced Remote Control $150

You may have to go lay on the beach somewhere for a couple of weeks to soak up the rest of the $2500 in your budget. Or, considering the time you'll be returning, you might need to find a cool, green mountain retreat (hopefully, one with high speed internet connections). Good Luck.

 

[IzzyCraft]

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_&mID=237
aftermarket vga cooler i prefer over trying to spot cool a gpu not sure if they work/fit well in sli should try to find a review

Kind of depends on the case what fans you get but if you get a proper mobo you could also turn your fans down to 800-1200 most fans are slient there but you should still get quality fans that don't scrape the edges at all