$1500 Build Review

R

regnak

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 29, 2007
Messages
165
Just what we need is another "Review my build thread" :D I'm building this for a friend so I want to make sure that he gets the best possible for the budget.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Primarily video editing and photoshop. Throw in some light gaming and a lot of firefox/chrome instances open at the same time.
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2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1500 all inclusive (so yes, tax and shipping have to work in the budget)
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3) Where do you live?
Long Beach, CA
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4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, Video Card(s), Hard drive(s), RAM, Case, PSU, DVD drive, Monitor
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5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Just keeping keyboard and mouse, need to buy everything else
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6) Will you be overclocking?
More than likely no, if needed it'll happen but this should [hopefully] have enough power to being with
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7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
We're trying to pick up a 20-24" which would be included in the budget
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8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
About a week, just trying to finalize the parts like before hitting the order button
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9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Right now it looks like we'll be utilizing Crossfire and possibly RAID later down the line.
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10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
No. I'm considering having him run the Windows 7 Release Candidate. If that doesn't work out I can get a legal copy of Vista that price will be negligible through my fathers work.
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***NOTE***
We have already acquired a Intel i7 920. I don't know the stepping (he picked it up and I haven't seen it) but with Microcenter's deal on it for only $200 I felt it was an opportunity that couldn't be passed up. After tax the total came out to $217 so there is $1283 left in the budget.

Anyways, the build:
Case: Cooler Master 690 - $74.99
CPU: Intel i7 920 - PURCHASED at $217 after tax
CPU Cooling: XIGMATEK Dark Knight - $39.99
DVD Drive: LG 22x DVD Burner SATA - $23.99
Hard Drive: Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $99.99
Motherboard: ASUS P6T - $249.99
Monitor: Dell 2208WFP - $189.00
PSU: Corsair 850TX - $149.99
RAM: OCZ 6GB DDR3 1333 - $85.99
Videocard: 2x XFX HD 4770 512MB - $109.99/ea so $219.98
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Newegg Subtotal: 944.91
Newegg Total (Tax and Shipping estimated): $1065.23

Dell Subtotal: $189.00
Dell Total (Tax and Free Shipping): $205.07

Processor: $217

Total: $1487.30

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make this build better? Let me know if I should change out parts or anything of that sort. And I also know that sourcing two 4770s is going to be quite difficult but hopefully something will come up.

Thanks for reviewing and the comments.
 
Try to pick as much of your parts as possible from Amazon.com. They do not charge us CA residents tax and usually have free shipping on their parts. That should cut down costs some.

Oh and for just a few $ more, you can get faster RAM which will help out with overclocking later on:
$90 - G.Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
 
I agree with Danny.

Get that G.Skill DDR3. Many parts (motherboard, hard drive, PSU) can be found on Amazon or Buy.com so you don't have to pay 9.25% CA sales tax.
 
PC_User said:
I agree with Danny.

Get that G.Skill DDR3. Many parts (motherboard, hard drive, PSU) can be found on Amazon or Buy.com so you don't have to pay 9.25% CA sales tax.
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Buy.com charges tax to CA. :( They're located in CA. :mad:
 
flazh said:
For crossfire, a good 650 Watts PSU should give you more than enough, unless you intend to crossfire a dual GPU VGA.
PSU: 650TX corsair PSU ($99)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R ($200)
VGA: 2x Power Color Radeon HD 4870 512MB ($320)

No change in the total budget.
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Are the ATi cards really that low in power consumption? I realize that 850watts could be a bit excessive but will a 650watt PSU really power the whole thing without running too close to its limit?

Thanks for the advice it cuts out sourcing 4770s which are pretty scarce. I'm going to have to take some time looking at that motherboard. The newegg reviews were kinda all over the place but I know to take them with a grain of salt. I did find one post here that said that when overclocking with this board it'll act like it's booting twice which could be kind of annoying as [slight] overclocking could happen in the future. Also sounds like the ethernet port likes to die, that doesn't sound too fun at all. I'll keep looking but maybe I'll downgrade the PSU to the 650watt and then move the videocards up to 4850s to keep the price about the same. It looks like I can grab some XFX 4850 1GBs for $140 each. So increase of $60 - $50 PSU savings means a $10 Net increase, coupled with Danny's saving suggestions I should still come in with the budget.

Danny Bui said:
Try to pick as much of your parts as possible from Amazon.com. They do not charge us CA residents tax and usually have free shipping on their parts. That should cut down costs some.

Oh and for just a few $ more, you can get faster RAM which will help out with overclocking later on:
$90 - G.Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
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Yeah, thanks for the tip. Newegg prices are mostly for reference as you can easily put together everyone just on one site with reasonable prices. I usually scour slickdeals in hopes that I can grab better prices but nice to know that there's no tax from Amazon and there's a higher chance of scoring free shipping.

And just to make sure, the increase in speed outweighs the loss in timings correct? Makes sense thanks for the suggestion.

Again, thanks for the help I really appreciate it.
 
Danny Bui said:
Try to pick as much of your parts as possible from Amazon.com. They do not charge us CA residents tax and usually have free shipping on their parts. That should cut down costs some.
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I agree with Danny....I saved a few hundred in just taxes and shipping buying from Amazon for my i7 build, plus-free 2 day shipping with a free trial of Amazon Prime...

Also, check out the PC Power & Cooling 750w PSU, it's on sale for $70 after rebate
 
With that screen I would just get like a GTX285 as you will really do not need dual graphics at that res.
 
regnak said:
Are the ATi cards really that low in power consumption? I realize that 850watts could be a bit excessive but will a 650watt PSU really power the whole thing without running too close to its limit?

Thanks for the advice it cuts out sourcing 4770s which are pretty scarce. I'm going to have to take some time looking at that motherboard. The newegg reviews were kinda all over the place but I know to take them with a grain of salt. I did find one post here that said that when overclocking with this board it'll act like it's booting twice which could be kind of annoying as [slight] overclocking could happen in the future. Also sounds like the ethernet port likes to die, that doesn't sound too fun at all. I'll keep looking but maybe I'll downgrade the PSU to the 650watt and then move the videocards up to 4850s to keep the price about the same. It looks like I can grab some XFX 4850 1GBs for $140 each. So increase of $60 - $50 PSU savings means a $10 Net increase, coupled with Danny's saving suggestions I should still come in with the budget.
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Take a look at these for reference:
(wattage shown is system wattage)
http://techreport.com/articles.x/16681/11
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-4870-x2-review-crossfire/6

The one I'm using is EX58-UD4P, so far so good. I don't have trouble overclocking.
I saw from the reviews that quite a lot of people having trouble with the on board NIC, not sure if it just old driver issue.
 
regnak said:
And just to make sure, the increase in speed outweighs the loss in timings correct? Makes sense thanks for the suggestion.
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Actually, you won't notice the increase in RAM speed at all in real world apps and games. Nor will you notice the lower timings at all in real world apps and games. I just recommended faster RAM so that you'll have some overclocking headroom. And you'll benefit far more from overclocking than lower timings.

regnak said:
I'll keep looking but maybe I'll downgrade the PSU to the 650watt and then move the videocards up to 4850s to keep the price about the same. It looks like I can grab some XFX 4850 1GBs for $140 each. So increase of $60 - $50 PSU savings means a $10 Net increase, coupled with Danny's saving suggestions I should still come in with the budget.
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I wouldn't recommend going with that 650TX since for just $15 more you can get a significantly larger PSU:
$110 - PC Power & Cooling S75CF 750W PSU

Also, I would not recommend a crossfire setup at all for a 22" monitor. A single HD4890 will perform on par with the HD4850 1GB CF setup yet costs about $30 less ($50 less with that rebate):
$250 - XFX HD-489A-ZDFC Radeon HD 4890 1GB PCI-E Video Card
 
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Oooh all these good replies. Thanks for the input everyone and especially the links: enginurd and flazh.

Danny: After reading glancing at some of the reading material I was given I have to agree that the 4890 seems like a better option all around.

So now, let me reiterate the build with the changes that everyone has suggested (I'm still using Newegg pricing and links just for reference but will look around and definitely consider Amazon like many have suggested):
Case: Cooler Master 690 - $74.99
CPU: Intel i7 920 - PURCHASED at $217 after tax
CPU Cooling: XIGMATEK Dark Knight - $39.99
DVD Drive: LG 22x DVD Burner SATA - $23.99
Hard Drive: Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black - $99.99
Motherboard: ASUS P6T - $249.99
Monitor: Dell 2208WFP - $189.00
PSU: Contemplating here - See below.
RAM: G.Skill 6GB (3 x 2gb) DDR3 1600 - $94.99
Videocard: XFX 4890 1GB - $249.99
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So above everyone has been making [great] recommendations about better RAM, Video Cards, and PSUs that will suit my purpose better at the price I want. I settled with Danny's suggestions for the RAM and Video card changes however I'm a little unsure which PSU to choose. I'm trying to decide between: the Corsair 750TX and the PCP&C 750W Silencer. They're both the same price (or near enough to it) and I've seen stellar reviews for both of them. They both have the same power ratings and what not so I believe it's probably coming down to noise and cable length (The case is going to be a CM 690 which has a bottom mounted PSU, I really doubt cable length will be a problem but I'd just like to make sure). Anyone have first hand experience with both, or better yet both of them and would like to share your experiences? Thanks.

Once again, I thank you all for your help it's really appreciated.
 
enginurd said:
Buy.com charges tax to CA. :( They're located in CA. :mad:
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Really? I don't think I've ordered anything from them in a long time so I can't recall. If I ever want to avoid CA sales tax, I just go to Amazon or eBay.
 
From personal experience, the Silencer 750 is pretty loud. Then again, noise is very subjective. Just flip a coin. :D
 
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