I7 Gaming-Video Edit Rig...Need a few Expert Reviews

[CaryNC]

Finally got funding approval (from the wife) for the new rig.

after doing a lot of research of the posts here, this is what I've come up with:
I'm running 1920x1200 and plan on Video Editing w/ Premiere and I'm a BF2 Junkie whose current rig doesn't cut the Mustard!

If you resident experts see any needed changes or substitutions, I will greatly appreciate your advise. Thx!

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GPCase
w/ Cooler Master UCP RS900 Power Supply

ASUS P6t Deluxe V2 MOBO
Intel Core i7 920 Quad-Core 2.66 GHz (plan to OC to 3.0 -3.6ghz)
ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
OCZ Gold DDR3 1600 6GB (3 x 2GB) 3-Channel

2-ea. ASUS EAH4890 ATI Radeon Video Cards in Crossfire

WD Black 1TB Hard Drive
Samsung SH-223B 22X DVD Burner

(about $1,600 total)

 

[FallenSniper]

It all looks god to me except the Power Supply. I would look into getting a Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power and Cooling, or and OCZ power supply instead. I think the 850W Corsair would be a good choice.

 

[Twoboxer]

That Zalman Cooler shows pretty good when cooling say an OC'd E8400, but there are better out there - consider this review:

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2362&page=4

Check and find a couple of others quieter and more capable of dealing with an i920's heat.

If you are running at 1920, I doubt you will find a need for 2x4890. Preparing your PC for xfire/sli is fine . . . but especially with the next gen AMD cards being announced shortly, you might want to minimize your investment in this "older" technology.

The HAF 932 is a fine case with great air flow, and there are many reviews providing comparative test results to prove it. But the psu doesn't share that vetting.

I'd recommend a psu to match the quality of the rest of your system:

CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail $120 after $20 MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009&cm_re=corsair_850-_-17-139-009-_-Product

 

[xaira]

wait for september 23rd to get the gcards, trust me, ull see, and nice choice of cooler, but the 9900 is more for show, its sexy as hell and does an aait job,
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2362&page=5
and its pricey just as something that sexy should be
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118046&Tpk=cnps%209900

but what if there was a company who made something sexier for cheaper that performed better
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2314&page=5

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103055&cm_re=v8-_-35-103-055-_-Product

or if looks really dont mean any thing to you, get something that outperforms them both, for half the price
http://www.amazon.com/Spire-TherMax-Universal-Cooler-SP679S1-PCI/dp/B0025TCW6Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=industrial&qid=1252803809&sr=8-1

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2348&page=5

 

[Why_Me]

Finally got funding approval (from the wife) for the new rig.(about $1,600 total)

You could always try to score some points with the wife and cut down on the price of that build.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197 $109.99
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006 $119.99 ($99.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate Card) 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.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157163 $169.99
ASRock X58 Extreme LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.243917 Combo Discount: -$12.00 Combo Price: $399.98 Free Shipping*
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK - Retail


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.248853 Combo Discount: -$4.00 Combo Price: $39.98
Scythe MUGEN-2 SCMG-2000 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail - Free Scythe fan w/ purchase, while supplies last
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030 29.99 Free Shipping*
Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD/CD Rewritable Drive - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284 $94.99
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drives - OEM

Total: $964.91

http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/landing/haf922/ <--- Cooler Master HAF 922

 

[CaryNC]

It all looks god to me except the Power Supply. I would look into getting a Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power and Cooling, or and OCZ power supply instead. I think the 850W Corsair would be a good choice.

Thanks! I'll check out the Corsair ... I do hear it talked about alot here.
Just that Newegg had a package deal on the case and PS.

 

[CaryNC]

That Zalman Cooler shows pretty good when cooling say an OC'd E8400, but there are better out there - consider this review:

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2362&page=4

Check and find a couple of others quieter and more capable of dealing with an i920's heat.

If you are running at 1920, I doubt you will find a need for 2x4890. Preparing your PC for xfire/sli is fine . . . but especially with the next gen AMD cards being announced shortly, you might want to minimize your investment in this "older" technology.

The HAF 932 is a fine case with great air flow, and there are many reviews providing comparative test results to prove it. But the psu doesn't share that vetting.

I'd recommend a psu to match the quality of the rest of your system:

CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail $120 after $20 MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009&cm_re=corsair_850-_-17-139-009-_-Product

Looks like I should hold off for a few weeks and see which video cards come out.

And which CPU cooler would you guys recommend?

 

[CaryNC]

Never Mind about the Cooler choices (duh!)
I see the options above.
Thanks for the help !!!

 

[CaryNC]

And on a Side-Note.... I've found a great Graphics Card solution....

2x SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 4870 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 cards
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102826

A $400 combo.... but 4gb's of VRAM !!!

1920x1200 is gonna look real good!

And I thought about waiting for the DX11 cards, but they're gonna be pricey, possibly buggy, and it will be a while before we would see any supported software?

 

[Twoboxer]

In xfire/SLI, memory is not cumulative. You will have 2GB of VRAM.

Normally not a good idea to build new with xfire/sli. Best to start out with a single card that does the job, save xfire/sli for a future upgrade choice, *IF* and when necessary. Less power, less heat, more certain performance across *all* games.

4870, 4890, 275, 285 will all do the job at 1920

 

[psycho sykes]

You said you're going to wait for HD5000!!
They'll be like this:

HD5850:

1440 Shader procs
800MHz Core
1500 MHz Memory
256-Bit 1-2GB GDDR5
3 monitor EyeFinity tech. support
---------------
USD 219.99 ~ 269.99

Specs: CONFIRMED .
Prices: RUMORED .

Medo

 

[ComputerNovice]

Finally got funding approval (from the wife) for the new rig.

after doing a lot of research of the posts here, this is what I've come up with:
I'm running 1920x1200 and plan on Video Editing w/ Premiere and I'm a BF2 Junkie whose current rig doesn't cut the Mustard!

If you resident experts see any needed changes or substitutions, I will greatly appreciate your advise. Thx!

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GPCase
w/ Cooler Master UCP RS900 Power Supply

ASUS P6t Deluxe V2 MOBO
Intel Core i7 920 Quad-Core 2.66 GHz (plan to OC to 3.0 -3.6ghz)
ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
OCZ Gold DDR3 1600 6GB (3 x 2GB) 3-Channel

2-ea. ASUS EAH4890 ATI Radeon Video Cards in Crossfire

WD Black 1TB Hard Drive
Samsung SH-223B 22X DVD Burner

(about $1,600 total)

So are you using the entire CS4 to edit video with or just Adobe Premier pro, or do you have after effects and all that too. Once you answer that I think I'll be able to help you out a bit with picking parts etc. Seeing as I use all these programs where I work myself, one thing you might want to get is one of those Nvidia quadro cards that speeds up your render times.

 

[tortnotes]

It all looks god to me except the Power Supply. I would look into getting a Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power and Cooling, or and OCZ power supply instead. I think the 850W Corsair would be a good choice.

Out of curiosity, why? The Cooler Master UCP PSUs are tier 2 parts--just like the top Corsair and Seasonic products. The only reason I can see to change this selection is price.

 

[xaira]

the reason i suggested u wait for hd5000 is because hd4000 prices will drop again, tho the 5770 comes out in october which will be as powerfull as a 4870