My new system: is there something I should change?

[shambones]

I am a new builder and not really up on OCing and some of the fancy ways to really max out your computer. I would like to have a computer that will do the normal data stuff but when I am able to play games, I would like it too do really well. I plan on Company of Hereos, World at War, and some other games. I would like it too expand and be able to last me at least 5-6 years. I dont need it to have the most modern thing all the time but I want to start out at least near the top. My present computer is 5 years old and I am still playing Rome: Total war. I would like to start playing these other games but know my system cant handle it.

Also, should I go with Vista or XP and should it be 32 bit or 64 bit?

Here is what I am thinking.

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0300438

ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Superior Graphic & Computing with True @16 3-Way SLI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131358

G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231247

CORSAIR 750w TX Series 80 Plus Certified Power Supply
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X2677A

2 so that I can do a RAID 0
Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136283

Now I am torn between these as I think I want to do SLI.

EVGA 896-P3-1255-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

or

EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130433&Tpk=896-P3-1257-AR

or

EVGA 896-P3-1265-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130398

I honestly cant find the difference between these cards.

free case I was given
hydraulic computer case
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/select-case,468-21.html

http://www.amamax.com/cshyda281whtesf860w.html

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=N82E16827136152

Do I need more fans to keep this cool or anything else? Thanks for all your inputs. Btw this will end up costing me about $1100 and I dont want to go much over that. Thanks,

 

[jerreece]

I would do this card of those three:

EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130433&Tpk=896-P3-1257-AR

That one is slightly OverClocked by the factory. So it'll be slightly faster than the other two cards. EVGA is a good brand for video cards as well. Plus it looks like they include World at War the game free right now. So that's a perk.

Overall, it looks like you have a pretty solid build there. Should last you a good while. Your power supply does have 4 x 8pin PCI-E power connectors, so you should be okay to SLI the GTX 260 video card.

I just installed a GTX 260 in my own system a couple days ago. It requires 2 6pin PCI connectors for power (for a single card). Some of the 8pin PCI-E power connectors allow you to remove 2 pins to convert it into a 6pin.

Take a look inside your case. The GTX 260 is 10.5 inches long. It takes up a lot of room from front to back in your case. If your case isn't very large, you may have hard drives and such get in the way.

Also, your case appears to use 3 x 80mm cooling fans. With the gear you're putting inside, you may want a case that allows you to use 120mm fans. Not only do they move more air, they are MUCH quieter. Though it's hard to argue with a free case, you might consider something like this:

Antec 300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042&Tpk=antec%20300

I'm told the GTX 260 will fit into the Antec 300, though it's gotta be a tight squeeze.

 

[jerreece]

Oh, in case you did not notice. The motherboard and CPU you want are available through NewEgg.com with a Combo Price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.177142

 

[Zenthar]

Any specific reason why you chose this MB over a ~250$ one (like ASUS P6T or EVGA 132-BL-E758-TR)? With the money you save, you can get a GTX285 instead.

 

[geofelt]

I see litttle value in an expensive motherboard that canrun three way sli. Two way is enough.
I would get a more basic P6T. Spend the savings elsewhere.
SLI/crossfire has been a poor upgrade path in the past. It should be used only by
those who will not currently be satisfied by the fastest available single vga card
which is currently the GTX295. The 4870, or GTX260-216
offer very good performance for the money now.
To get SLI. you have to spend more up front for a SLI capable mobo,a
more powerful SLI capable PSU, and better case cooling. Upgrading a single card later with a
second equal card does not get you 2x increase, it is more like 1.3x to 1.8x depending on the game.
At that time, you will still be paying top dollar for a card that is closer to
being obsolete.
It would be better to sell the old card and use the proceeds
towards a better new generation single card.

I would get a very good single card up front, something like the GTX260-216-superclocked, or a GTX285. It will run everything well. If you want to upgrade in the future, you have options. If in doubt, get an evga card which allows you to upgrade within 90 days.

The first card is the basic 55nm version.
The second is the same card with a factory warranted overclock.
The third card is the basic card with the older 65nm technology.
For the small premium, I would go with the overclocked card, particularly since you don't want to overclock.

Do you have a specific reason for wanting raid-0?
There is generally no real world(vs. synthetic transfer rate benchmarks) performance advantage to raid of any kind.
Go to www.storagereview.com at this link: http://faq.storagereview.com/tiki-index.php?page=SingleDriveVsRaid0
There are some specific applications that will benefit, but
gaming is not one of them. Even if you have an application which reads one input file sequentially, and writes
it out, you will perform about as well by putting the input on one drive, and the output on the other.

Do you need 1.5gb of capacity? If not, just get a single WD 1tb drive. You could also consider using a WD velociraptor for your os and application drive. The only thing better is an expensive SSD.

If you like the case, fine, but I would dump it, or donate it to a good cause. 80mm cooling fans are noisy and ineffective.

With 6gb of ram, you need a 64 bit os, otherwise you will only see about 3.3gb of it. I would use vista home premium -64. XP is on the way to being no longer supported.

I would install a oem cooler up front. It does not cost much, and will allow your i7 920 to run at 3.33. All you do i change the bclk perameter in the bios from 133 to 160. Yes, that is overclocking, but with a good cooler, it is safe and trivial to do.

 

[Outlander_04]

The case you have is not going to be good enough .

The case fans are very small and the air flow will not be good enough to handle the heat of the computer you are building .

Which gfx card you need it totally down to the resolution of the monitor you are using . Definitely not worth buying a 3 way sli board . You lose too many other options and no one needs 3 way sli unless they are very sexually inadequate and trying to prove something .

If you have xp 32 bit I would use that for now . It will be 10 % slower than a 64 bit os on a system like that [ but still way fatser than you are used to ].

Vista in all flavors is a dog . The UAC hang time will make you wonder if they shot the guy who decided to include it . Windows 7 is coming in a few months and fixes all these problems so spend on a 64 bit OS then

 

[Why_Me]

The case you have is not going to be good enough .

The case fans are very small and the air flow will not be good enough to handle the heat of the computer you are building .

Which gfx card you need it totally down to the resolution of the monitor you are using . Definitely not worth buying a 3 way sli board . You lose too many other options and no one needs 3 way sli unless they are very sexually inadequate and trying to prove something .

If you have xp 32 bit I would use that for now . It will be 10 % slower than a 64 bit os on a system like that [ but still way fatser than you are used to ].

Vista in all flavors is a dog . The UAC hang time will make you wonder if they shot the guy who decided to include it . Windows 7 is coming in a few months and fixes all these problems so spend on a 64 bit OS then

+1 about that mobo.


btw I thought everyone turned their UAC off ?

 

[knotknut]

Gigabyte makes a SLI MB avaiable at Egg for 209.99, no combo deals yet.
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R-SLI LGA 1366 Intel X58
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128386

You will want to run 6GB Ram for the best action. XP X86 will not address any more that 4GB Total.
64-bit OS will address 128GB.
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit OEM is $99.99
If you have or have a source for a copy of Windows 7 64-bit and activation key use that untill August for free and save up for the release.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116488

 

[shambones]

Thank you all that have replied. You have been very helpful. Let me be a little more honest with you and the things I have already purchased.

I have already bought the Asus P6T6 WS Revolution MOBO because about 3 days ago, Newegg was running a special on the MOBO where you get the MOBO and the 6GB G.Skilll RAM for $369. I figured that was a good deal since I was originally going to do the

Intel BOXDX58SO LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121361

and the RAM I was going to get was the

OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

That would be about the same price but I am getting a better MOBO and the RAM seemed about equal. It was $99 off so I figured that was a good deal.

As far as the Case goes I was really hoping to use it since it was free and it seemed like a good case. I would prefer to spend as little as possible but I am sure someone is going to say dont skimp on the case. I have read many other posts and there are 2 cases that have been mentioned besides the one that jerreece (Thanks for the Help) just told me about.

This one would be my first choice because it is the cheapest

Rosewill Wind Ryder RZLS142A-P YE Dual 120mm Cooling Fans and Mesh Design Front Panel Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147113

If it was absolutely not a good case then I have heard this one is good but it starts to get a little more expensive.

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC/ ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137

Other then that I just bought the CPU from Amazon from recommendations and the good price on there and today I found the i7 920 processor at Micro Center in Minneapolis for $229.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0300438

So I still have to get the hard drives and decide on a video card. I wanted to do RAID because I thought it would be faster and you have some backup if your hard drive fails. The other drive would still be running until I replace the bad one (That is what I am told). I would love to get the

Western Digital RE3 WD7502ABYS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136316

But the 750 Caviar Black is suppose to be almost as good and $100 cheaper. I guess I could go with just one 1TB Caviar Black and that would save some money but I really like the back up of the RAID formation.

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

As far as the monitor goes, I have a Sony SDM-HS73. Yes it is old but still works good. Someday I would like to get a 20" or higher but it is not in the budget right now.

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SDM-HS73-Flat-Panel-Monitor/dp/B000092ZLF

Now Video card. I have thought about the ATI 4850 or maybe the ATI 4870 but I am at the peak of my dollars to spend so $200 is really the Max I think I can go right now and the GeForce GTX260 seems like the best deal for the money that still allows for me to expand if I need too in the future by doing SLI.

Finally it still seems like a tossup with XP or Vista but I am leaning towards Vista 64bit. (Thanks for all your input) I am not familiar with the Windows 7 thing but I would be a little upset if I have to pay alot more to get that upgrade after I just did this computer.

Anyway, Thanks for all the help so far. Please continue to add comments about this especially the case and RAID formation but also the video card thing. I am in the middle of the build and still purchasing things.

 

[geofelt]

Raid-0 has no redundancy, if one drive fails, you lose both. Raid-0 helps with sequential processing of large files, and hurts everywhere else.
raid-1 duplicates data on both drives. It is for drive redundancy.
The value of raid-1 for protecting data is that you can recover from a hard drive failure quickly.
It is for servers that can't afford any down time.
Recovery from a hard drive failure is just moments.
Fortunately hard drives do not fail often.
Mean time to failure is claimed to be on the order of 1,000,000 hours.(100 years)
Raid-1 does not protect you from other types of losses such as viruses,
software errors,raid controller failure, operator error, or fire...etc.
For that, you need EXTERNAL backup.
If you have external backup, and can afford some recovery time, then you don't need raid-1.

A case is somewhat of a personal thing. Most will work. MY preferences:
1) No front doors; It is easier to switch dvd's without them.
2) Washable air intake filters. Lessens dust in your system.
3) Not too big. All you need is enough room to hold your parts. A small case can have good air flow.
4) I am not a fan of lights and "bling".
5) At least one good 120mm intake fan, and one 120mm output fan. More is better, but less is no good. Side fans are not that helpful, they disturb the natural air flow from bottom front to high rear. ( a related issue, I like vga cards with dual slot coolers that get the hot air out directly)
6) Quiet. Full flow baffled air intakes. Sound deadening on the panels
7) I place little value in removeable mobo trays, toolless features, and not too much on cable management. You only deal with that during the build.

Be careful shopping for a case. They are heavy, and shipping costs can be $20 or more. You might want to check some cases out locally, or at least look for free shipping deals. I think the Antec 300 is a great value case. Get one that appeals to YOU; you will be looking at it every day.

 

[shambones]

Thanks for the Post and information geofelt. Now I am not totally sold on the RAID idea. I guess what I really wanted was the RAID 1 so I could have redundancy but maybe I will just get an external hard drive to back up pictures, music, etc. and then get the

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM Your Price:$119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

Anyway, here is my build so far I would please like some help on the case that I didnt think I was going to have to buy and now it looks like it may be a good idea.

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
http://www.microcenter.com/single_ [...] id=0300438

ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Had Free RAM with it for $369. Shell Shocker Deal
Superior Graphic & Computing with True @16 3-Way SLI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131358

G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail Got free with MOBO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231247

CORSAIR 750w TX Series 80 Plus Certified Power Supply
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X2677A

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 $24.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152


What I dont have yet but I am thinking of getting:

The Hard drive mentioned above.

The Video card I was going to get was this one but I see it is now deactivated (this was listed 2 days ago, sheesh)

EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] P3-1257-AR



Now I guess I should get the

EVGA 896-P3-1267-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail $210 with $190 after rebates
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130400

or

EVGA 896-P3-1258-A1 GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 SSC Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail $234.99 with $214.99 after rebates
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130443

Any preferences from anyone?


Finally, this is where I am at with the cases. I want to spend as little as possible but get the best looking and best quality for the price. (dont we all) This piece has put me over my budget but I would do it to make sure my computer runs for many years.

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $54.95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

NZXT Alpha Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Open Window - Retail $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146041

NZXT Apollo Black SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $69.99 ($49.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146025

COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP Black Aluminum & Mesh bezel / SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119106

RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WB Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case - Retail $69.99($59.99 after $10.00 Mail-InRebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156063


Thanks once again for all that have replied. It has been great to get feedback. Please let me know what case you think would be best and if you have any other ideas for video cards.

 

[geofelt]

The last card, the 1258-a1 SSC is the newer 55nm version that is highly overclocked. It should be the fastest and run cooler. You get fair value there.