System to be used Dually for Office and Gaming

[eeeyyyeee]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: SOON

BUDGET RANGE: $2000-3500

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:
1.Office use (word documents, spreadsheets, quickbooks accounting, etc), needs to have RAID 1.
2. playing games like Fallout 3 + FPS like BF2
3. watching movies.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, external HD

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg or something in canada (canada computers, tiger direct)

PARTS PREFERENCES: I dont care if AMD or Intel. I need two hard drives set up as Raid 1--so they should likely be pretty big---at least 500Gig.

OVERCLOCKING: Yes / No / Maybe SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes / No / Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 (on a 24" Benq)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: it needs to be super cool (temperature lol) because it's near the sun most of the time ---shitty apartment with only minimal options for office. graphics need to be good enough to play Fallout 3 nicely. it would maybe be beneficial to have a third hard drive to store all my non-business stuff (games pictures etc) which would be back-up by an external HD I already own. windows XP.
I don't want water cooling--I'm not that high-tech. i would like maybe 4 gig ram.


Overall I kind of need this thing to play multiple roles... there doesnt seem to be a market for office computers that can also play games well... are there any build companies that would do this for me here in ontario canada or that would ship to here, or should i build it myself with your suggestions?

thanks 1 million

 

[skora]

Take a stab at a build and we'll comment on the parts. I'd start by researching some gaming PCs since that's the most intensive requirements for the system. Movies and Office productivity software will be killed by a decent gaming machine as long as you're not trying to do everything with low power requirements.

Shouldn't be a problem to do a i7 system with that budget.

 

[eeeyyyeee]

oh i see. I wasn't really sure what to tell everyone! I'll post a potential build soon.

 

[Why_Me]

D0 stepping i7 920 w/dual gtx 275's in SLI

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26048&vpn=RC-690-KKN1&manufacture=COOLERMASTER $89.79 CAD
Coolermaster cm 690 Mid Tower Black ATX Case 5X5.25 5X3.5INT No PS Front USB Sound Firewire & eSATA

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26415&vpn=CMPSU-750TX&manufacture=Corsair&promoid=1078 $129.99 CAD After Mail In Rebate: $118.99 CAD
Corsair TX750W 750W ATX 12V 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=35757&vpn=GA-EX58-UD4P&manufacture=Gigabyte $272.06 CAD After Mail In Rebate: $252.06 CAD
Gigabyte EX58-UD4P ATX LGA1366 X58 DDR3 3PCI-E SATA2 Sound GLAN 3-WAY CrossFireX SLI Motherboard

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=38881&vpn=BX80601920%20-%20D0&manufacture=Intel $361.49 CAD
Intel Core I7 920 D0 Stepping Quad Core Processor LGA1366 2.66GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 -SLBEJ-

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=35847&vpn=SCMG-2000&manufacture=Scythe&promoid=1078 $36.99 CAD
Scythe Mugen 2 Heatpipe CPU Heatsink LGA1366 LGA775 Socket AM2 120MM

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26748&vpn=SY1225SL12H&manufacture=Scythe $8.77 CAD
Scythe Slip Stream Kaze Jyuni 120MM Fan 1600RPM 88.1CFM 33DBA

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=26895&vpn=MX-2T&manufacture=Arctic%20Cooling $9.99 CAD
Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound Paste NON-ELECTRICAL Conductive 4 Gram

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=37655&vpn=896-P3-1170-AR&manufacture=eVGA&promoid=1078 $279.99 CAD After Mail In Rebate: $259.99 CAD
EVGA GeForce GTX 275 633MHZ 896MB 2.26GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=37655&vpn=896-P3-1170-AR&manufacture=eVGA&promoid=1078 $279.99 CAD After Mail In Rebate: $259.99 CAD
EVGA GeForce GTX 275 633MHZ 896MB 2.26GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=36168&vpn=F3-12800CL8T-6GBPI&manufacture=G.Skill $119.99 CAD
G.SKILL F3-12800CL8T-6GBPI PC3-12800 6GB 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL8-8-8-21 240PIN Triple Channel Memory Kit

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=34286&vpn=WD6401AALS&manufacture=Western%20Digital%20WD&promoid=1078 $77.99 CAD
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200RPM 32MB Dual Proc 3.5IN SATA Hard Drive OEM 5YR Mfg Warranty

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=34286&vpn=WD6401AALS&manufacture=Western%20Digital%20WD&promoid=1078 $77.99 CAD
Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200RPM 32MB Dual Proc 3.5IN SATA Hard Drive OEM 5YR Mfg Warranty

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=38115&vpn=SH-S223F/BEBE&manufacture=Samsung $31.08 CAD
Samsung SH-S223F Black 22X DVD Writer SATA OEM

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=40693&vpn=66I-03525&manufacture=Microsoft $164.83 CAD
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM with Windows 7 Upgrade Offer Form

Total: $1,941.14 CAD | $1,871.14 CAD w/mail in rebates

 

[eeeyyyeee]

wow,

thanks dude. I was just going to post this:

Processor: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor

Hard drives (2 in RAID 1): Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8D

MOBO: ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

Graphics card: PNY VCGGTX260CXPB GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Don’t know about fans or power supplies or boxes.

 

[Why_Me]

This HD down below is faster than the WD Green series. With those two mobo's (Gigabyte UD4P / ASUS P6T) it comes down to whatever one's on sale atm. The differences between the two are minimal at best. Also you want the D0 Stepping i7 cpu. I will post down below why. The Dominator RAM is over priced in my opinion and a lot of others on here I believe will agree.

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=31000&vpn=WD1001FALS&manufacture=Western%20Digital%20WD&promoid=1078 $98.99 CAD
Western Digital WD1001FALS Caviar Black 1TB SATA2 7200RPM 4.2MS 32MB 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM

These two links down below will help explain the advantages of the newer D0 Stepping i7 920 cpu vs the older C0 Stepping i7 920.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-261066_10_0.html

http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=584

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11773&Itemid=1 <--- one way to make sure you have a D0 stepping i7

With the vid cards it comes down to budget imo.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-275,2266.html <-- benchmarks and review. This has the charts/scores for the gtx 260, 275, etc....

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-sli,2298.html <--- gtx 275 in SLI > gtx 295

 

[eeeyyyeee]

Yes you're right about the caviar black.

I think the D0 is the way to go. (might as well right!) thanks again!

does it make sense to run a third hard drive (not raid) for non-business related content... or is that going to slow everything down?

 

[Why_Me]

Yes you're right about the caviar black.

I think the D0 is the way to go. (might as well right!) thanks again!

does it make sense to run a third hard drive (not raid) for non-business related content... or is that going to slow everything down?

Couldn't hurt. You could run two 640's Blacks and one 1TB Black in RAID 5. Also look at the Cooler Master 922 case if you want something with a bit more bling.

 

[xsistor]

u cud go RAID 0+1 with 3 drives i think. i'm not sure if its 3 or 4 that it needs for raid 0+1.

 

[redgarl]

First off, if you plan to put that kind of money, you should at least have a proper PC case. If you plan to SLI, buy something that can actually be easy to work with. I am sorry, but putting 2 10 inch card in a smaller HAF version is something I don't recommend. I got 2 4850 in a Cosmos S and I find it to be a little tight.

Also, I don't know why you are getting an intel core i7. It's overpriced and at high resolution everything is bottleneck unless you put more than 500$ of video card.

Save some bucks and forget the extra 5 fps. Get another platform or wait until intel release the core i5.

As for hard drives, get 2 western Digital Caviar green 10EADS for storage, and buy a 500 gig Caviar Black for your programs.

You better investing in other parts than only your CPU, motherboard and graphic cards alone.

IMO, a power supply, a case, hard drives and sound card are as important.

If your gaming, get a HAF 932 or a Cosmos S.

If you prefer having something a little more silent, a simple Cosmos.

Also, the new Corsair HX power supplies are really great. Maybe putting 75$ more for that will be a huge + instead of wasting it on a motherboard with too much bling on it.

If you can grab an Auzentech Forte Low Profile for 100$, do it.

 

[redgarl]

I forgot to tell you that NCIX can build your whole computer for 50$. So you just need to check out and add the option. If you buy a OS, they will install it. So get an Unbuntu copy at 5 box and make them play with your hardware a little

 

[Why_Me]

First off, if you plan to put that kind of money, you should at least have a proper PC case. If you plan to SLI, buy something that can actually be easy to work with. I am sorry, but putting 2 10 inch card in a smaller HAF version is something I don't recommend. I got 2 4850 in a Cosmos S and I find it to be a little tight.

Also, I don't know why you are getting an intel core i7. It's overpriced and at high resolution everything is bottleneck unless you put more than 500$ of video card.

Save some bucks and forget the extra 5 fps. Get another platform or wait until intel release the core i5.

As for hard drives, get 2 western Digital Caviar green 10EADS for storage, and buy a 500 gig Caviar Black for your programs.

You better investing in other parts than only your CPU, motherboard and graphic cards alone.

IMO, a power supply, a case, hard drives and sound card are as important.

If your gaming, get a HAF 932 or a Cosmos S.

If you prefer having something a little more silent, a simple Cosmos.

Also, the new Corsair HX power supplies are really great. Maybe putting 75$ more for that will be a huge + instead of wasting it on a motherboard with too much bling on it.

If you can grab an Auzentech Forte Low Profile for 100$, do it.

+1 for the 932 for the room it allows ...but I'm at a bit of a loss with the rest of your post.

1) Why the WD Greens when the WD Black is the faster HD ?

2) Why the i5 and not the i7 when the i7 is a better over clocker according to the xbit labs review.

3) What exactly is wrong with those choices of mobo's...the Gigabyte and Asus listed above ?

4) As far as the i7 not doing so well at higher resolutions, then maybe you can explain the link below.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cyberpower-gamer-dragon,2337.html

 

[apache_lives]

Why_Me - 640+640+1000 in raid 5 (software mode) will be terribly slow + why the odd size 1tb in the mix? RAID5 will make it 1280gb ((smallest drive size) x 3 - (smallest drive size))

xsistor - RAID10 is 4 drives (even numbers etc) combinding raid1 and raid0, 3 hdd = degraded array.

The Green Power series from WD is more power saving then performance - stick with the black series for high end systems.

Any budget for an SSD or 2 in raid0? then add a RAID1 array or RAID5 with 3 green series hdd's for storage or whatever?

i7 is a monster, it may not show so much in the benchmarks but when they are benchmarked the systems are "clean" (minimal apps installed, hence no true load from a/v, torrent, msn etc) - 8 threads helps big time for newer games and heavy multitasking/megatasking environments.

i5 isnt out - cant comment on anything there till its released etc.

Gigabyte and ASUS are the top choice - the others arnt worth it.

Unbuntu? THIS IS A GAMING RIG