I have budgeted $1,500 for a computer build and need your advice on what I should get... Most likely I will be building it myself with help from friends.. Below is a sample of what I have so far. I have locked down I will be using a Core i7 920 and a Direct X 11 Graphics Card (Most likely an ATI 5850). I live in the U.S. so please keep this in mind. Below is what I have so far in what I will be getting along with current prices (as of Oct. 2nd) on Newegg. What is your opinion on the selected components? I am thinking spend a little extra and get a SSD for a Boot Drive and HDD for Data. CPU- Core i7 920- $279.99 Motherboard- ASRock X58 Extreme LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard- $169.99 (-$10.00 w/ mail-in rebate) RAM- OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK- $129.99 (-20.00 w/ mail-in rebate) Graphics Card- ATI 5850- SAPPHIRE 100282SR Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity - Retail - $259.99 ATI 5870- XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity – Retail- $379.99 PSU- CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply – Retail- $99.99 (-10.00 w/ mail-in rebate) Hard Drive- Boot Drive- 64 GB SSD- Kingston SSDNow V-Series SNV125-S2BD/64GB 2.5" 64GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) Desktop bundled accessory kit- $129.99 (-30.00 w/ mail-in rebate) Data Drive- 640 GB HDD- Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive – OEM- $69.99 DVD Drive- LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk – OEM- $29.99 CPU Cooler- Scythe MUGEN-2 SCMG-2000 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail Free Scythe fan w/ purchase, while supplies last- $36.99 Case- Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case – Retail- $134.99 Monitor- ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers - Retail SPDIF out connector- $199.99 (-10 w/ mail-in rebate)
just some added thoughts to your selection. on the data hdd... why not spend a few extra dollars and get a 1tb hdd? or at least a drive with a 32mb cache for 'better performance'? on the boot ssd... i suggest a ssd with cache and better read/writes. ie. ocz vertex, patriot torqx, g.skill falcon. all of which perform excellent and were reviewed by bit-tech. on the case... personally, i am not a fan of your case choice. front panel flaps make it awkward looking. and it is extremely large and heavy. i suggest a CM 690 or Antec 90x cases. or CM HAF for a full atx case. still large and heavy but better layout and looks. lxrysprtmscl
Good point about paying a bit extra for a 1 TB HDD.. Is it worth even looking at 10,000 RPM drives? Boot SSD- I will look into those, thanks! I just grabbed hardware, wasn't sure if what I selected was any good. Very true about the case.. I will look at what you suggested...
change your board to the Asus P6T Deluxe V2 the one you have chosen isn't so good and for ssd check out the crucial M225
10,000RPM drives are sort of an odd child - they made lots of sense one year ago when SSDs were still atrociously expensive. However, SSDs have become cheaper and 7200RPM drives have gotten faster, so no, they really are not worth it anymore. At the moment, I would suggest going only for a single, fast, and large HDD (some good choices 1TB choices HERE) and then add a SSD in a few months as the the price per GB ratio will continue to fall rapidly.
Don't know about others, but both Lite-on drives I've had have been utter crap and have broken on me. I've never had a problem with NEC drives. Too bad MSI doesn't make burners anymore as my DR8-A2 has been great.
Core i7 920 280$ Asus P6t 240$ Scythe MUGEN-2 38$ RAM- OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) OK 120$ Graphic card ATI 5850 260$ (next year you can sell it and buy a 5870x2) HDD Samsung F3 1TB or 500GB (depends on your needs) 55/80$ DVD drive cca. 30$ Case Cooler Master 922 for 100$ it's nice and has everything you need now and for future upgrades, solid built SUM 1150$ (with 1Tb drive) a premium monitor (it's very important since you interact with the PC through it) HP 2475W for 540$ otherwise we can choose something cheaper (if you wish) Dell 2408WPF for 430$ Or a TN panel monitor for less HP 2509m for 280$ with TN panel 1430$ Optional Intel SSD 34nm G2 Postville 80GB 270$ (sum 1700$) Uppps!! I forgot the PSU. non modular: Corsair 750TX for 110$ or modular 750HX for 160$ Non modular is great; you must have just a little patience when putting everything together. sum 1540$
PLEASE, for the sake of your sanity and airflow in your case, go modular on the PSU. You can get a Silverstone Decathlon DA700 for pretty cheap (100% modular cheesecake)
don't buy the silver stone decathlon they don't give out there rated watts buy one of the enermax series or the be quiet series
