I5 components check for a new builder

[calvin1]

First I want to say Aloha and Happy Thanksgiving. This is my first post, but I have been reading Toms Hardware for a while and really appreciate the great advice. I am not a gamer, but am heavy in photo and video editing. My primary concern is reliability and of course speed with working with large images. This is what I am looking for:

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: this week

BUDGET RANGE: $1000-$1300 (without monitors)

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Photoshop, Lightroom, Adobe Premier, some 3D rendering

- Not into gaming

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: amazon.com (because they have free shipping to Hawaii), newegg.com

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Probably not needed

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200 (Would like to support two Dell Ultrasharp 24 in monitors)

OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Parts:

$89.99 Antec Nine Hundred Steel ATX

$179.99 CORSAIR CMPSU-850HX 850W - Perhaps an overkill

$199.99 Intel Core i5 Processor 2.66 GHz

$169.99 GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P

$52.99 Cooler Master V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP

$189.98 8gb of G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

$109.99 Western Digital 1.5 TB WD15EADS Perhaps 2 in RAID 1 mode - I have also considered a 128 SSD for the OS but this raises the price significantly

$174.99 eVGA e-GeForce GTX260 SC

The video card I have really struggled with. Will this drive two 1920 x 1200 monitors? It needs to perform well with Photoshop, but I am not into gaming.

Thanks for letting me know what you think. I am happy to save money if you think some of the parts are an overkill. I order from Amazon when I can. They are about the only company that ships free to Hawaii and shipping from other places can be a real killer.

Will this setup work with Windows 7 64-bit without any problem?

Thanks!

 

[tarquinbiscuitbarrel]

i haven't got a clue about the requirements of graphics software.

i think your PSU is overkill, you could go 750w and still have room for SLI if needed.

i agree SSD are too expensive.

windows 7 64bit should work fine.

 

[cyberkuberiah]

get the ftx 260 now , but considering selling it and upgrading it when nvidia's next gen fermi comes out , it will perform like a champ on all CUDA enabled apps , but if you require that much throughput in your professional needs then only .

 

[Niklas_13]

If your not doing xfire or sli i would look into a cheeper mobo and save some bucks, I also went with a i5 860 that would be better for photowork and a DX11 GPU and lowerCL Ram.

I would change some things around




SAPPHIRE 100283-2L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814102864
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)

$164.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102864
1
OCZ Diesel 4GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Model OCZUSBDSL4G - Retail
Item #: N82E16820227331
Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
-$13.99 Saving $13.99
$0.00



CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power ... - Retail
Item #: N82E16817139004
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)

-$15.00 Instant
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$104.99
$89.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004



G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH - Retail
Item #: N82E16820231276
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
$104.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231276



GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 Intel P55 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813128405
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)

-$5.00 Instant $109.99
$104.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128405



Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I7860 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115214
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
-$10.00 Instant $289.99
$279.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214
1
Intel Gift - INTEL LYNNFIELD KIT - OEM
Item #: N82E16800995081
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
-$39.99 Saving $39.99
$0.00
Subtotal: $744.95


Also a HSF http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

Add another 104 for 4 gig more ram

You can price match parts it was just easy for me to do it @ newegg and also look for Combos

CPU review http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3641&p=1
GPU review http://www.*****/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/25786-sapphire-hd-5750-1gb-vapor-x-video-card-review.html

 

[calvin1]

Thanks for the comments. I like the idea of the core i7-860, but in looking at the reviews of the GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 it doesn't seem to get quite as good of reviews. Why that board? If I went with that board the GIGABYTE web page says it supports DDR3 1600 which is actually a little cheaper than the 1333. Is there a reason for the DDR3 1333? I also like the suggestion of the SAPPHIRE video card. Is the 550W power supply really sufficient if I decide to add more hard drives? Would I be better off with a 750W?

Thanks!

 

[RetiredChief]

Have the UD4P board. I whent with the Ripjaw 1600 CL 7. When using XMP Profile 1 it set the BClk to 160 and mulitplier to 17 (Have the i5-750). For a modest OC all I had to do was change the Muliplier to 20 and instent stable 3.2 GHz. Am also planning on geting a 5770 card. As to PSU, you will probably draw less than 350 W. Look at my config, and I only draw about 325 running Furmark to max out +12 V Rail.

 

[cyberkuberiah]

no , the 550w is more than enough . it would be a waste to get anything more .

question , could he consider the antec 300 instead of the 900 , perhaps someone would comment on this suggestion ? the airflow space etc , is it enough for this build ?

 

[calvin1]

Here is my revised Build. The total comes out to about $1255.00. Does this look good? Other than Amazon does anyone know if there is someone that gives free shipping to Hawaii?

$169.99 GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P LGA 1156
$279.99 Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz
$29.98 COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5
$164.99 SAPPHIRE 100283-2L Radeon HD 5770 1GB
$89.99 CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V
$189.98 8gb of G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
$219.98 Western Digital 1.5 TB WD15EADS Two of this drives for RAID 1 mode
$89.99 Antec Nine Hundred Steel ATX
$139.99 Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM

Thanks for all your suggestions!

 

[calvin1]

This is no longer an i5 build, but does it look good and reasonable?

Thanks.

 

[dpaul8]

That is a really nice build.

The i860 is the perfect processor for your applications -- Photoshop, Lightroom, and Adobe Premier. I am not exactly sure of your reasons for using RAID 1, but let me suggest an alternative approach.

I would replace the two Caviar Green drives with two Caviar Black drives because you can use the faster read and write speeds with your applications. However, I would not set them up in RAID 1. I would designate one for your operating system, applications, and data files; and designate the other as a scratch disk for your applications and also as a backup disk. Then I would use the excellent backup and disk imaging capabilities of Windows 7 to create a backup of all your files on the scratch disk and also to create a disk image of your operating system. This can be automatically setup to be done daily, or at whatever time interval you choose. This gives you similar capabilities that you would get with RAID 1, and should improve your overall system performance.

Although RAID 1 would work with these drives, you really should be using enterprise class drives for RAID because these enterprise drives handle error correction differently and are less likely to cause problems with the RAID controller. If you are using this computer for a photography / video business, then you might want to consider a networked accessed storage RAID system.

Currently, Newegg has the Corsair 650TX on sale for $90:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005

Windows 7 Professional has a few extra features not available in the Home version, and I am assuming you need these extra features. If not, consider the Home version and save a few bucks.

Good luck with your build.

 

[Niklas_13]

Thanks for the comments. I like the idea of the core i7-860, but in looking at the reviews of the GIGABYTE GA-P55M-UD2 LGA 1156 it doesn't seem to get quite as good of reviews. Why that board? If I went with that board the GIGABYTE web page says it supports DDR3 1600 which is actually a little cheaper than the 1333. Is there a reason for the DDR3 1333? I also like the suggestion of the SAPPHIRE video card. Is the 550W power supply really sufficient if I decide to add more hard drives? Would I be better off with a 750W?

Thanks!

That P55M-UD2 Is a grate mobo for a single card setup and OCing under 4 gigs read this review http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3652&p=1

and its 70 bucks cheeper.


You cant go off peoples reviews on newegg most of them dont have the tools to test the board like the testing labs.
The P55-UD4P is a grate mobo also i have one as you can see in my sig, but i am also into games more then photo work. Thats why i went with a lower CPU and a bigger GPU and a mobo that supports xfire/sli and a 750W PSU so i can add a 2nd GPU latter on. For your needs the i7 860 P55M-UD2 HD 5770 and a 550W seemed to be the best setup so thats why i went with that mobo.

Anyways gl on the build it looks good so far happy hoildays

Also like the op said get the faster WD blacks or if you have some left in the budget maybe a SSD for your OS and apps and a 1TB for storage http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185