A friend of mine (who never build his own computer...gasp) asked me for help. He wants the best he can get and with 4k euro's to spend I think I can go a long way. Was just fiddling around and got the following item, what do you guy's think? 2x Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz, 4.8GT/s, 8MB Asus Z8PE-D18, 2xS1366, i5520,18xDDR3,SSI EEB 3.61 Plextor PX-B940SA 12x Blu-Ray writer 2x Kingston HyperX 6GB(3x2) DDR3 2000MHz C8 THS XMP 2x Sapphire Radeon HD5870 1GB, 2xDVI, HDMI, DP, PCIe OCZ Agility SSD 120GB, 2.5", 64MB, SATAII 2x WD Caviar Black 2TB, 7200rpm, 64MB, SATA2 Microsoft Windows 7 Pro UK, 64b, oem Now all I need is a proper case, psu and water cooling. The total cost so far is 3112 euro (2770 gbp). Suggestions? Anything missing? Questions? ... think i'm nuts?
i have no idea what cases will manage to fit that MB in. But i would also say to get another SSD in RAID0 and a 1.2k PSU (enermax, be quiet or something similar). oh, and a creative x-fi or asus soundcard.
yeah the case isn't gonna be the problem, just mentioned it before people say I forgot it. I actually saw a few on the site which should be able to fit this into it. how about: Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro 1200W, ATX12V v2.2, 80+ Creative SB X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion and what kind of SSD would you recommend then?
Blade_Reaver, I would recommend a Antec 1200 (Budget Option) case or a Lian Li Armorsuit PC-P80 (Premium Option). For water cooling I would recommend a Corsair Hydro H50 (Budget Option) or a Swiftech H20-220 Apex Ultra (Premium Option) PSU wise I believe a Corsair HX would be best, with either the 1000W (Budget Option) or 1200W (Premium Option) option. Soundcards aren't all that important unless your a die hard music addict but if your set on getting the best I would say go with a Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro or the Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium - Fatal1ty Professional Series. In the last CPC magazine they had a mass SSD test with the end result nominating a 128GB Crucial M225. You HDDs are good but I would change it for 2x 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3. Hope it helps. Rotcrack
i dont think a 1200 will fit that MB - its a server MB so will need a massive case. Just get 2 of the same SSD to run in RAID0. and the PSU and soundcard look ok, but the asus ones have digital out over HDMI (the HDAV model iirc). i just suggested these as it seems a waste to spend 4 grand on a pc and not have a decent sound card Edit: Looking at the motherboard specs a few things worry me: http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=sqbdCm0nmFxn3sS4&templete=3 will 2 gfx cards fit? will the 920 work in it? im just thinking that for the money you would be better off gettting one of those dream pcs in the latest custom pc
If your friend is not running a server, you do not need two CPUs. You PC is seriously underpowered where it is most needed and overstuffed where it does not matter for home use. The list needs a serious rebuild; in the last month I have advised here some 10 builds, that are much cheaper and better performing.
I suspect that the post before yours, could be a blow-job pleasantry; so, it is desired by some; yes.
For the PSU the Enermax Revolution 1.2Kw is the best you can get for the money. If you wanted a real monster, you could get one of those crossfirex evga classified motherboards and strap 4 hd5870's onto it inside a Cosmos S or equally giant case. Then Have two of the Patriot 128gb SSD's in raid 0 for the OS and two Samsung F3 1tb's in raid 1 for your data. Finally to finish off, 12Gb of Dominator GT 2000MHz Ram combined with an i7 975 OC'd to 4GHz.
Second. Although the thought of 4 way crossfire with hd5870's fill me with apprehension. Itll be pot luck whether it works or not.
What do you want the PC for? If it is only for school/work with some occasional heavy gaming try this PC: Case: Antec 300 CPU: Phenom II X3 720 BE Motherboard: Asus M4A79XTD EVO RAM: 2x 2GB Corsair DDR3 (1333) Hard Drive: 1TB Samsung F3 PSU: 650W TX Corsair CD/DVD Drive: Samsung Black Graphic s Card: 1GB Sapphire HD 4890 Vapor-X Then give your friend the 3550 euros left.
I don't think a regular i7s will work in that server board. But yeah anyways, don't get that motherboard. It's EEB and a completely different beast to anything you'll have ever used before. Get a Supermicro X8DAL-I, it's ATX so it'll fit into a regular case. Also ditch the second GPU. Max out the RAM
I'd stay away from Creative soundcards, they are more trouble than they are worth. Use a Asus Xonar Soundcard instead: -Essence STX for Headphone gaming (no surround, but 6.3mm jack plus no headphone amp needed) -HDAV1.3 Deluxe / D2X for surrond sound gaming, depending on the connectors required Oh, and if he doesn't have one yet recommend him a good 30" screen, worth more than a dual i7 setup which will gain you nothing for gaming.
SSD's get 3x the accesstime in RAID. Core i7 950. 12GB Mushkin BlackLine 3x4GB 1600MHz (will be released soon.) EVGA X58 SLI Classified 2x XFX HD5870. Intel X25-M 160GB or X25-E if you want to go extreme. PC Power & Cooling 1100W. 2x WD Caviar GP 2TB for storage. Silverstone TJ07. As for W/C, I don't have the slightest idea. Otherwise he could just go the easy way and order a MurderMod-PC...
jeez using a nuke to kill an ant much. Unless you are hunting for a 3D Mark world record or something 2 i7 920s are overkill. just get something like i7 920 p6t (deluxe if you want) 6gb ddr3-1600 for graphics it wont hurt to wait around and see how good fermi is gonna be spinpoint f3 1tb (data) and a mid range SSD 64gb (OS and programs) if you end up with 1 gpu then a 700w is enough power if yo have more than 1 then go for a 800+ watt. the apex watercooler thats expensive or the corsair cheapie (if you dont want to install the apex). antec 902 case
agree'd that supermicro board looks awesome, so compact and alot of power potential! Rather blow £250 on that than a over priced EVGA or foxconn board!
Seriously, do that. Spending so much on components is just burning money as they'll be outdated so soon. A murdermod would never stop looking incredible Or there are other modding shops closer to home which have project logs on here that you could look at.
Overkill - Anything over £1500 and in 18 months you'll feel like a complete douche (excuse the language)
