Looking for approval on New Build

[Galmo]

Hi all.

I’m putting a new build and wanted to get the Tom’s forum blessing. Three years ago I posted my build and got a ton of advise that saved me money and I got an awesome system that is still doing a pretty good job after so long. So I’m asking for your help again, to make sure that I’m getting a good build that will last me a while.

This will mostly be for gaming. I may at some point overclock the CPU, but not right off the bat, and not a whole lot when I actually do. Other then the keyboard, mouse, and monitors I’m going to get all new parts. I'll be running Vista Home Premium 64bit for now, might try Win 7 RC though at some point.

Parts:
Intel Core i7 920
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131359

OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381

SAPPHIRE 100251SR Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102768

x2 Raid - Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136283

Antec TPQ-850 850W Continuous Power ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371009

ZALMAN CNPS9900LED 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118046

Antec P182 Gun Metal Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129025

LG Black DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152

Total: $1,577.90

The Brands I chose because I've used them at some point in past builds and have gotten good life and performance from them, but if there are any brands or models that you can recommend that would out perform any of these parts and still keep me under $1600 on the build, I'm all ears.

A few questions:
1. Is this power supply enough to run everything I've selected, and will it be enough to do a little OC later down the line or will I need to upgrade it at that point?
2. The case I chose because I have two other machines with the same case and love it, it will help my office match which will make my wife happy. But I want to make sure that the Zalman CPU fan will fit without a problem in this case. Anyone else used this combo before?
3. Does this system look like it will do a good job for the next couple of years at least gaming at 1920x1200?

Thanks allot!

 

[thephilly]

1. Power supply should be plenty at 850. The Corsair 850tx is cheaper but minus modular cabling. I had bad experiences with antecs in the past but I think they have gotten much better. They usually don't skimp on the higher end stuff.

2. Theres a few reviews under the fan stating it does fit the P182, but no personal experience with it.

3. Should be great performance at 1920X1200.

OS? Just cause you left it off and others may ask.
Caviar blacks in raid are probably great but I love my Vertex SSD.

Solid build.

 

[Helloworld_98]

switch the dual 750GB's for dual 640GB's as the 640GB's will be faster.

PSU is fine.

try another case, that gfx card is big and outputs a lot of heat, so get an antec 300 and a few extra fans or a coolermaster 690 if you're going cheap or a high-end coolermaster case.

get the asus tri-fan 4870 X2, it's a bit quieter than the standard one with lower temps and they can OC to 850mhz+.

also noctua's heatsinks are generally the best for i7, only air coolers which beat them are the titan fenrir ( which are really hard to find in the US.) and the prolimatech megahalem.

 

[sublifer]

Looks good for the most part although Zalman coolers have fallen way out of favor with me... you'll get better performance with an HDT style cooler like Xigmatek S1283
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

I concur with Hello's rec on the 640 drives. Also, If you're going to run them on RAID 0, I would get a spare drive to backup your important files to. An external would be fine...

GL

 

[Galmo]

Thanks for the feedback all.

Ok, so I'm switching to two WD 640gb drives instead. I have plenty of other drives on my network for backingup and I keep that up todate, so that shouldn't be a problem incase the Raid goes down.

As for the case, taking into account what Helloworld_98 said, how about:

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160&cm_sp=MyNewegg-_-TopSel-_-Pst03Descrip

It's priced pretty much the same as the Antec I orginaly picked. It should do a better job of cooling givin that the vid card is going to pump out so much heat, am I right? It's not as pretty I think, but I can live with it.

Also, with all the suggestions on CPU cooling I think I'd like to do a little more research on that before I get one. I wasn't going to OC the CPU anyways right off the bat so... the stock cpu fan that comes with the retail i7 920 should hold me over ok without any OCing for now, correct?

Thanks again!

 

[Helloworld_98]

yeah the HAF series are great cases.

the stock fan will do ok if it's a D0 but I'd look into a Noctua or low-noise, high-performance heatsink for the i7 if you want to OC later.

 

[sublifer]

Stock fan is tested to work... but keep in mind that i-7's run hot and it will be even hotter with the stock fan. I'd highly recommend you get a good cooler with it.

 

[Galmo]

Hate to bump up an old thread, but I just wanted to thank you guys. With your recommendations this build came out awesome. I ended up getting the Xigmatek S1283 cooler. I have the CPU slightly OCed to 3GHz right now, runs perfect for me so far. I've been testing it this whole week. Temps are in the 30 - 54 range from ideal to full load with prime95. I'm extremely happy with my FPS on my games now. Well all that's left to do is to go replay all my games.

Thanks again!!