Build Advice First build - $2250 Custom PC! Need YOUR advice on parts!

Hey everyone, I'm completely new to building PCs. After spending 1600 on a retail HP, and finding an article about building a power PC for only 1500, it changed my perspective on retail forever.

My budget is roughly 2000, but some have advised me that's cramming too much for what I want to do, so 2250 is my limit.

Here's basically what I need, with some items already picked out - feel free to suggest otherwise if you feel any of my choices are bad!

Case: Zalman GS1000 http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=310
Motherboard: All I know is there's an ASUS board that's "THE" board to have, good for SLI and the CPU I want, help?
CPU: Intel i7, but I've heard the Core 2 duo is the best? Help here..
RAM: Around 12-18Gb, what's the best quality RAM for least money?
HDD: Around 2 Tb, any links to best choices? That case^ can hold a lot of HDDs!
GPU: I want SLI with 2 cards for starters, I was advised two NVidia GTX 285's? Advice needed
PSU: I know the least here, but I need enough to run up to triple SLI with intensive workloads
Monitors: Two Samsung 23" 16:9 LCDs
Drives: Blu-ray is a must, I'd LIKE to have burning ability but if price hits the mark, I'll cut this option for just read only
Accessories: Quality mouse, keyboard, and 5.1 speaker set

I believe that's everything, sorry if this is a noob question but the soundcard is built in to the motherboard right?

Some points to consider:

• This will be a work PC first, meaning fast rendering power is a must, the ability to render Crysis at max for example is important but only as a benchmark for me to know this PC is well picked out.
• Should I get DDR3 RAM? Don't know much how it will affect my needs vs cost
• I'd like to have 2 roughly high end cards for less $ than one super card for a lot of $
• What about Windows 7? I have Vista on current PC.. Will I have to buy Vista for this new PC then buy AGAIN with Windows 7 this fall?

THANKS in advance for any help!

 

Current total: $2220
$440.00: 23" Samsung Monitor x2
$160.00: Zalman GS1000 Case
$540.00: GTX 280 GPU x2
$170.00: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB Hard Drive - 7200, 16MB, ATA-100, OEM x2
$190.00: Kingwin Mach 1 Modular Power Supply - 1000-Watt, ATX, SLI-Ready, Six 12V Rails, 80Plus
$250.00: ASUS P6T Motherboard - LGA1366, Intel X58, Triple Channel DDR3
$280.00: Intel Core i7 920 Processor BX80601920 - 2.66GHz
$190.00: LG Blu-ray burner

Wow I'm already at budget, need to rethink some options :-(

 

Core 2 Duo is the best? Who told you that? Whoever said that just failed at life. Well, kind of. What they were probably referring to were some early reviews which made it look like Core 2 and Core i7 were roughly equivalent for gaming purposes. More powerful graphics cards have shown that to not be the case - and i7 was always faster than Core 2 for everything else other than games anyway, so it's very much the better choice.

Oh - hi, and welcome to Bit-Tech.


Okay, so here's really what you should be looking for at your price point:

- Processor: Core i7 920, D0 stepping if possible (a new "stepping" is just a more refined manufacturing process; major revisions usually bring lower power consumption and increased overclocking potential)

- RAM: 6GB of RAM is a must for Core i7 (which, by the way, is only compatible with DDR3). Whether or not you want to step up to 12GB is entirely up to you. There aren't any (non-server) motherboards with nine slots, though, so 18GB won't be happening anytime soon.

- Storage: A fast solid-state drive (SSD) for your system drive (operating system, program files, etc.) and a hard drive or two for storage purposes. Capacity of each is your call.

- Power Supply: 850W for dual-SLI, 1000W+ for tri-SLI - but just about everyone would recommend you not ever go for Tri-SLI.

- Graphics: This is a tricky one. The next generation of graphics cards is coming out before the end of this year. Because of that, I and many others around here are starting to shift our recommendations for people like you who want a lot of graphics power.
Thing is, having two or more high-powered cards is nice, but unless you're running at very extreme resolution (think 2560x1600), it's not entirely necessary. A single Radeon 4870 or 4890, for example, is entirely capable of running just about any game except Crysis with almost everything turned on at 1920x1200.
So what I (and likely others) would recommend is for you to get a single graphics card of relatively high power for the time being - most likely a GeForce GTX 275 or a Radeon 4890. If you feel you need more graphics power when the DX11 cards are released in a few months, you then have the choice of either upgrading to a setup based entirely on the new cards or simply purchasing a second of the card you originally bought, and likely at a far reduced price from the first one.

- Optical Drive: Don't bother with burning Blu-Ray. There are very capable BD-ROM drives that double as DVD burners for about half what you've listed in the post above (specifically, LG's GGC-H20L).

- Monitors: Care to provide a link to the specific monitors you're thinking of?

- Sound: Onboard sound exists, yes. If you have a higher-ish-end set of speakers/headphones and want to get the most out of them, though, you should think about upgrading, and you have two choices. 1) If you're using certain speakers or a crazy good set of headphones, you could get your sound through a coaxial cable (both analog and optical sound ports are on most motherboards in addition to the standard 3.5mm jacks). Alternately, 2) get a third-party sound card like the ASUS Xonar DX ($65 after rebate).

- Case: Not much to say here. It's a great case, but there are other great cases. Take a look at the Antec P183, maybe some offerings from Lian-Li. Let us know if you find anything you like better and I'm sure it can be worked in.

- Don't forget you'll also want some form of aftermarket cooling for your processor. Stock is no good if you're planning on overclocking at all (and why wouldn't you?).


Okay. So fill in a little of the information I've requested above (options, capacity needs, etc.) and hopefully we can start drawing up some component lists soon.


- Diosjenin -

 

WOW, thanks so much for the comprehensive reply! I've been around to a few boards and no one's answered yet at them. I'm really taking this project seriously so all the more I appreciate helpful folks!

I'm going over your info piece by piece and putting everything together, so I should be posting again soon!

Thanks again!

 

Sounds good.

Oh, and I forgot about the OS. whoops. Short story is that you can download and use the Windows 7 release candidate for free until it's actually released, at which point you can then buy it. If it's an important production system, be careful, as it's still not technically a finished OS, but most reviewers online are saying that they haven't had any problems with it, so you're probably okay. If it makes you nervous, you can always dig up an XP disc somewhere (or clone your drive from your current system).

- Diosjenin -

 

Make sure you use the 64 bit OS, you will need it with this build.

MB You have a couple options, but the one you want is the ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution, it has slots for video cards, if you only use up to three you get 16x on all three (you mentioned wanting tri-sli, this is the best way). Otherwise I'd go with the ASUS P6T Deluxe (vanilla isn't too bad either) or the ASUS Rampage II Extreme.

Case, Lian-li has some nice ones, I got the ATSC 840 and love it, tons of room and looks good.

OS HD I'd go with OCZ Vertex, I just got the 30G and it's perfect for an OS drive. If you plan on doing a lot of gaming go with a 60G or 120G version. Really good, speedy, SSD.

Data HD I went with two Samsung SpinPoint F1's (1TB drives, so 2TB total). They still rank pretty high (below SSD obviously) for speed, and I'd say still the best value for size vs performance.

RAM I have 6GB in my i7 build, going to add another 6GB tomorrow. I don't know if it is still true, but a lot of reviews showed negligible increases in performance (before OC) for the more expensive brands. I don't know if this is still true, but I just went with generic Samsung DDR3 (same chips the highend brands use), but I also live in Korea so if I burn out a chip I can just walk down to their repair center and walk out with a replacement in 5 minutes.

 

k here we go - for starters, I have a friend who's built many high end personal PC, so I'll be referencing his advice from time to time. I'm not taking his word for gospel - that's why I'm here - so feel free to harshly critique his advice.

Case

MODEL: Zalman GS1000
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811235017&Tpk=zalman gs1000
PRICE: $160.00

NOTES: I've checked other cool cases, including Antec, but I've decided on this one for it's sophisticated and modernistic look

Monitors

MODEL: LG 23" 1920 x 1080 LCD monitor, x2
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824005125
PRICE: $420 (item x 2)

NOTES: For true 16:9 ratio, with 1080p, I haven't seen a better price yet. Not sure whether to pick this up at retail for warranty concerns?

CPU:

MODEL: Core i7 920
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202
PRICE: $280.00

NOTES:

Motherboard

MODEL: GIGABYTE GA-EX58-EXTREME LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128361
PRICE: $330.00

NOTES: Changed to this from the ASUS P6T upon suggestion, checked specs&reviews and this board looks definitely better!

RAM:

MODEL: CORSAIR XMS3 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600)
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145233
PRICE: $235.00

NOTES: Can anyone rate this RAM and let me know if it's ok? I've heard Corsair all over, haven't seen this stuff yet but it's cheap, DDR3, and triple-channel

HDD

MODEL: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD103UJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152102
PRICE: $85.00

NOTES:

SSD

MODEL: OCZ Vertex Series 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD)
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227394&Tpk=OCZSSD2-1VTX60G
PRICE: $230.00

NOTES:

PSU

MODEL: CORSAIR CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011
PRICE: $195.00

NOTES: Think I found the best one..

GPU:

MODEL: EVGA CO-OP Edition GeForce GTX 295 1792MB
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130504
PRICE: $510.00

NOTES:

Optical Drives

MODEL: LG Black 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-ROM SATA Internal Combo LG Blu-ray Reader & 16X LightScribe DVD±R DVD Burner
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16827136162
PRICE: $120.00

NOTES:

Sound

MODEL: Logitech S120 2.0 Multimedia Speakers (Black)
URL: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-S120-Multimedia-Speakers-Black/dp/B000R9AAJA/ref=pd_cp_e_0
PRICE: $12.00

NOTES:


Cooling

MODEL: COOLER MASTER 120mm 4 BLUE LED Case Fan
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16835103022
PRICE: $10.00

NOTES: Water/CPU cooling will come later when I get 2nd GTX 295 and OC everything

OS

MODEL:
URL:
PRICE:

NOTES: I'm going to get the W7 RC right away, and get used to it until the full version ships. I figure I'm gonna have to backup/restore my files anyways, Vista or W7 RC.

Peripherals

MODEL: Logitech G5 7 Buttons Tilt Wheel USB Wired Laser 2000 dpi Mouse
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104076
PRICE: $42.00

MODEL: Logitech G19 Black 104 Normal Keys USB Wired Standard Gaming Keyboard
URL: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126053&Tpk=Logitech G19
PRICE: $180.00

NOTES:

-----------------------

TOTAL PRICE: $2799.00
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With the case you want to also look at things like thermals, use, etc. I'd still go with the ATSC 840 (http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2008/10/31/cooler-master-atcs-840-classic-review/5) BT has given it really high marks.

Good picks on a lot of them, Drives I'd go with the Samsung.

Cooling... from your notes that sounds like watercooling, honestly I wouldn't mess with that right now. Watercooling is very easy to mess up (if you've never done it before) and could easily damage all these high-end parts (via a leak). I'd do water cooling on some cheaper HW before trying it on this kind of stuff. But since you asked, no it's not plug-n-play, you have to find specific ones that fit on your CPU (LGA 1366), fit in your case (case like that you'd probably have to remove a top fan, you do with the ATSC 840), might as well by graphics cards (assuming you want to water cool those) with pre-installed water cooling rather than opening it up and attempting to install it yourself (increases price by 150-200%)... I'd just stick with air cooling and get a good air cooler on the CPU, like the Noctua NH-U12P SE1366 120mm SSO CPU Cooler (about 75USD).

GPU, go with the 4850, or if you want some more power (without insane price) go with 2x GTX 260 in SLI.

Good board, rest of the parts look good. Here's the BT buyers guide for July (check out the other months too): http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/buyers-guide/2009/07/08/what-hardware-should-i-buy-july-2009/1

 

thnx Kunin, I added several items to the list.

BTW, Someone replied to another board I visited and very adamantly suggested using an AMD board, CPU, and Radeon cards.

I've been doing a lot of research and so far almost all suggestions, benchmarks, and articles have been pointing to the i7 based system.

Opinions?

 

Hmm, thanks for bringing that up about the cooling system. It does concern me a bit, considering this is not only expensive but my first build. However, figuring I'd be doing some real intensive work, do you think air cooling units are enough?

Also, as for the case, I will admit I've heard nothing but praise from all sides about the Antec cases. I'm not against using it, but I'm realllly looking to pickup that Zalman case, but as long as it's ok for my setup. It's not a commonly used case, so it doesn't have the reputation and proven cooling performance & compatibility that the Antecs boast. Do you or anyone know any specifics that are pros or especially cons about the Zalman? Sorry to be stubborn lol I just really would love to have that case, but wanna be at ease about the decision.

I'm gonna check out those cards and the guide, thanks!

 

I've always been a big fan of AMD, but the i7 is vastly superior to the Phenom II x4. Now if you just want a good system and an overall lower price the Phenom II is the way to go, the i7 is better but also a lot more expensive (total system cost). For most people the AMD would be more than enough, unless you plan on doing some REALLY CPU intensive stuff (video/audio encoding, etc).

Air cooling will be fine, i7 920 have gone up to 4Ghz with air cooling. As long as the airflow (thermals) of the case is good you should be able to still do some decent overclocking without really running much of a risk (beyond the risk of OCing in general).


Here is the BT review on your case: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2008/07/09/zalman-gs1000/1

Reviews aren't bad at all on it, but there are better cases out there.

I just built an i7 system 2 days ago (was going to go with AMD due to price, but I had a couple hundred extra), here is what I built: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?p=2034177#post2034177

 

me = red

Forget AMD at this price range and what you need it for, i7 kills most everything..

 

One thing to remember with the RAM is (if you go i7) you have to get in in multiples of 3. i7 will do tri-channel RAM, but only if there are three sticks (or 6 if you fill all 6 slots), IE if you put in 4 sticks (8GB) it will drop down to dual-channel which is a performance hit for you (better to have 6GB in tri than 8gb in dual).

 

I'd get the Corsair PSU, just because it's a Corsair (very good) over a CM (average).

The HX850 is a new unit aswell, it's got a very good efficiency.

 

Looks decent, though HP and Dell are preferred. Why not go 1920x1200? More pixels and the price isn't much higher

Ill check out a few other models, thnx for the suggestion

Solid board, but why do you need so much RAM? I have 8GB, and thought I was crazy at the time of purchase.. 4GB DIMMs are expensive, your friend must have spent a fortune on RAM! P6T6 or P6T7 might be better, also look at Gigabyte's X58 offerings.

Well I already max out 3gb with ease, and that's vastly limited how I work in software. I want to know with ease I can throw as much workload as I can humanly do and not worry about hurting efficiency. Also thanks I'll check out those other models today

For that price you can get 12GB (6x2GB) Corsair DDR3 1600 from Newegg

That's a relief, I'll definitely check that out!

Looks fine, but you might need a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter if the case won't let you mount an SSD.

Little confused here, is it cuz I picked a bad SSD? Like an unconventional model? Don't know much about SSD's and mounting drives so..

I've used Corsair in the past, very good PSUs. Take a look at modular PSUs, far easier routing of cables. Enermax and Corsair make great modular PSUs.

Again, I'm a bit nooby when it comes to this stuff, As long as the item title says "Modular" in it I'm good to go right? No tricky fineprint incompatibilities I need to watch for? It's the small things that stump me when it comes to this stuff. Also, someone either in this thread or another told me to go with the 1000-watt PSU cuz if I run double SLI it will be really pushing the limits of 850 handling it

Get a workstation card, or flash a desktop card with a workstation BIOS. Maya particularly doesn't run that well with desktop cards IIRC..

Not too sure what this means, I only have general knowledge about some of the mainstream Nvidia cards to be honest. GPU is gonna be the biggest issue here for me to figure out what I want to do/buy

Corsair H50, Noctua's 120mm i7 cooler, a TRUE, Titan Fenrir, etc

Are these all separate items I should get? As in utilize them alltogether?

Also, thnx Kunin I'll keep that in mind, and mmvr I'll check out that model.

Thanks everyone!!

 

Hey everyone, so I checked out those other MBs. I don't know enough of the tech specs to be able to decide between them. I saw the P6T7 was way too expensive, so I believe these are the ones to choose between:

GIGABYTE GA-EX58-EXTREME LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128361
Price: $330.00

or:

ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...er=BESTMATCH&Description=p6t+deluxe+2&x=0&y=0
Price: $290.00

Now that I look at it, it seems the reviews on the ASUS board aren't too convincing. Talking about some shutdown/driver issue?? The reviews on the GIGABYTE sound really great!

Opinions?

 

me = green

Also, take a look at cases by Silverstone or Lian-Li.

 

"Looks fine, but you might need a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter if the case won't let you mount an SSD.

Little confused here, is it cuz I picked a bad SSD? Like an unconventional model? Don't know much about SSD's and mounting drives so.."

Normal HDD's are 3.5", but SSD's are only 2.5". Unless your case comes with an adaptor to fit a 2.5" SSD inside a 3.5" standard slot, then you'll have to buy one.

"Again, I'm a bit nooby when it comes to this stuff, As long as the item title says "Modular" in it I'm good to go right? No tricky fineprint incompatibilities I need to watch for? It's the small things that stump me when it comes to this stuff. Also, someone either in this thread or another told me to go with the 1000-watt PSU cuz if I run double SLI it will be really pushing the limits of 850 handling it"

Modular means that you can add/remove the cables that you may want or not need. They usually a little bit more expensive, but makes the build a lot easier as it can help a lot with the cable management


"Corsair H50, Noctua's 120mm i7 cooler, a TRUE, Titan Fenrir, etc

Are these all separate items I should get? As in utilize them alltogether?"

These are all seperate coolers. There is the Corsair H50 which is an all in one water cooler at a very good price. Then theirs some Noctua one (Can't remember the exact name) which is around £50. Then a Thermalright Ultra-Extreme 120 and a Titan Fenrir. All of these offer amazing cooling and are at a similar prices. With the Titan Fenrir being the cheapest

Hope this has helped with a few of your questions

 

Thanks again everyone for all the info. I feel I'm really getting close now, just getting into the nitty gritty stuff.

Here's my current issue:

Will a 850W PSU handle 2 GTX 280's n SLI? or should I get the Corsair H1000W?

I've done tonssss of research, and all articles had mixed opinions. One even claimed their OSZ 1000W wouldn't even run 2 of the cards, while others claim they can with merely 750W.

Also, I spent a good few hours doing indepth research into this Zalman case, as I'm quite obsessed lol with making it happen in this project. The only issue is no front fans, and double GTX 280 SLI causes a LOT of heat, so I'm looking to get a good watercooling set now to make up for it.

I'm planning on buying a few fans, as the case allows for 5, plus watercooling, 2 280's, and then I just need to know

1) Which PSU 850 or 1000?
2) How will multiple (just 2 for now) HDD's affect which PSU I get?
3) Should I worry about getting fans for the HDDs? That Zalman case doesn't support fans under the HDDs unless modding is done.

Thanks, these should get me very close to the final setup!

 

If in doubt, get the Corsair HX1000, that should handle even tri-SLI no problem as well as pretty much anything you can fit into the case. The wattage of the PSU doesn't mean that much, my 400W Shuttle power supply runs the rig in my signature at 100% load perfectly fine, but a really cheap 600W PSU probably won't. Stick with PC Power and Cooling, Be Quiet!, Enermax and Corsair and you're good. Cooler Master isn't too shabby either. OCZ power supplies are below average IIRC.

Don't get GTX 280s, the GTX 275 is newer, cheaper, and pretty much the same, if not better performance-wise. The GTX 280 is a bit old now, the GTX 275 pretty much replaced it.

Also, just buy one. ATI and nVidia are releasing their DirectX 11 cards later this year, which would obsolete the current ones. It's not worth the extra performance when you're just going to have to do a massive upgrade in less than six months.

One GTX 275 now, sell/give it to someone in six months, and buy two GTX 3xx or HD 5xxx..

HDDs don't draw much power, that's non-issue. Don't worry about fans for them either, the normal airflow in the case will be more than enough.