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Build Advice Please

R

ryan3786

n00b
Joined
Aug 10, 2010
Messages
6
Hello,

First post here at [H]ard|forum. Hope I can get a bit of advice because I have not been keeping up with hardware like I have in the past. Just thinking about putting together a whole new build:

1. Gaming, Media Center, Photoshop, general use
2. Approximately $2,000.00 USD
3. Colorado
4. Will be purchasing a new system sans keyboard/mouse/monitor. Will be purchasing a CPU / RAM / Motherboard / Disk Drives / Optical Drive / Power Supply / Case
5. I will be purchasing a new case, but plan on using my Antec P182 for this build. I will put the new parts in the Antec and the old parts into the newly purchased case.
6. Yes, I plan to overclock the CPU
7. 24" LCD, runs at 1920x1200 resolution and I prefer to run my desktop and all games at that resolution
8. Plan on buying and building now, most likely from the Egg
9. I have never used RAID on a home PC, so I would like to dabble with a RAID 5 array, and have support for SLI or Crossfire
10. Legit copy of Windows 7 x64 Home Edition and Vista x64 Ultimate, plan on using Windows 7

My current rig is Intel/Nvidia. I was thinking it would be fun to go with AMD/ATI this time around. I don't see the need to go with SLI or Crossfire right out of the gates but I'd like to have the option to add a second GPU within a year. I was hoping to have 8 GB of ram. Also, I wanted a RAID 5 array with three 1TB drives. I'll probably just use a regular drive for the OS (no raid) but I don't know yet.

Here is what I've been eyeballing:

CPU AMD Phenom II x6 1090T
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849-

MoBo Asus Crosshair IV Formula AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131644

RAM G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR 1600 (PC3 12800)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231329

PSU Rosewill RGD-1000 1000W Continuous @50°C,80 PLUS Gold Certified, Single +12V Rail,ATX12V v2.3/EPS12V v2.91,SLI Ready, CrossFire Ready
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182235

CASE Rosewill CRUISER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Side Panel Window, comes with Four Fans
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147145

Video XFX HD-587X-ZNFV Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150490

Disks (4) Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

Optical Pioneer Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 8X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA Internal Blu-ray Burner Blu-ray Disc/DVD/CD Writer BDR-205BKS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129051

Cooler ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118020

Is it a mistake not to go with Intel?
Is it a mistake not to go with Nvidia?
People crap on Rosewill PSU's, but that one is new and gold certified. I realize it isn't the best 1000W PSU. Is it dumb to not spend another 100 bucks for a quality PSU? Do I need greater than 1000W for SLI/Crossfire in the future?
Is the HSF/cooler dated now? Is there a better model I should be looking at? I figure it will get me a good overclock but I can't really say what made me choose that cooler.
 
I wouldn't suggest 1090t, 1055t is great overclocker and generally only fall short by 2-300 MHz.

quality of that psu is unknown.

but really I would suggest getting i7 930, 6 GB, SLi GTX 460 rig and may be SSD.
 
Is there a good guide somewhere for figuring out a systems power needs? I guess I feel that is the area I need the most help.

Sorry, but I don't understand why I would want to go with two 460's in SLI. 1GB 460's cost about $220-240 thereabouts from what I've seen. It seems like I'd be better off with a single card solution and leave myself the option to upgrade to SLI in the future unless I am missing something.

So if I were to go Intel the memory runs in triple channel?
 
Wow that link was very telling. I really thought it would be fun to go AMD/ATI, but I must admit right now conventional wisdom is saying that Intel/Nvidia is the right path at this moment.

Any motherboard and memory recommendations? Also I have a feeling I need more than 850W in the power supply. Will 850W cover an i7 with SLI and about four hard drives?
 
ryan3786 said:
Wow that link was very telling. I really thought it would be fun to go AMD/ATI, but I must admit right now conventional wisdom is saying that Intel/Nvidia is the right path at this moment.

Any motherboard and memory recommendations? Also I have a feeling I need more than 850W in the power supply. Will 850W cover an i7 with SLI and about four hard drives?
Click to expand...

A quality 850W PSU will cover an 4GHz Core i7 with GTX 460 SLI and 8 drives. So you should be fine.

$485 - Intel Core i7-930 CPU + Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R X58 ATX Motherboard Combo
$145 - G.Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
---
Total: $630 plus tax and shipping.

PSU wise, I recommend these:
$130 - Corsair 850TX 850W PSU
$150 - XFX XPS-850W-BES 850W Modular PSU
$150 - Corsair 950TX 950W PSU


Just a FYI, the Corsair 950TX has 78A on the +12V rail. The Rosewill you chose only has 75A on the +12V rail. Since most PC parts these days draw power from the +12V rail, the Corsair 950TX actually offers more power than the Rosewill where it is needed.

In addition, unlike the Rosewill, the Corsair 950TX has been confirmed by proper PSU reviews to be of good quality. Having 80+ Gold Certification doesn't really mean anything since many PSU manufacturers will send cherry picked PSUs to the 80Plus guys. IN addition, the 80Plus guys only test at 25C and never checks the ripple/voltage fluctuations coming from the PSU. So basically, 80Plus certification is more or less marketing fluff.

As such, the Corsair 950TX would be a significantly better buy than the Rosewill 1000W.
 
Thanks for that Danny Bui, very helpful and I wish I had noticed the link in your signature earlier as that has great info.

I've decided that I will be buying this new machine in two phases. First I will be buying a new PSU and a 480 gtx (I really want to start with a smoking card and have room to add in a second card later). To that end I have rolled the dice and gone with the Sparkle brand for both the PSU and card. I realize they are not a well established brand but I am going to give them a shot :)

I need more time to digest all the info about these x58 chipset mobo's, how important/beneficial sata 6Gb/s is (doesn't seem terribly important) and what I should do for storage.
 
SATA3 won't be worth it during the motherboards lifetime.

HD wise, just go for a 500gb Samsung Spinpoint for your OS and a 1-2tb WD Caviar Black for data/media.
 
ryan3786 said:
To that end I have rolled the dice and gone with the Sparkle brand for both the PSU and card. I realize they are not a well established brand but I am going to give them a shot :)
Click to expand...

That's a bad idea. The one part you NEVER take a risk on is the PSU. There has been no proper review yet of any of the newer Sparkle PSUs. Considering that a PSU can kill an entire PC if it's of low quality or overly stressed, it's simply not a smart idea to to give an unknown PSU brand "a shot". Not to mention even at $150 with the combo deal discount with the GTX 480, the Sparkle 1000W is still not that good of a choice for the money considering that you can get the confirmed quality Corsair 950TX 950W PSU for the same price.
 
I am not one to endorce the usage of a no name PSU, But from the surface that appears to be a solid unit. The price ends up right as well if you count all the perks. The starting price at 250 - 105 for the combo discount - 60 for free SC2 (from newegg) - 100 free in other games from sparkle leaves you with a profit of 15 bucks. Now any what way you slice it that is a hell if a deal & it would be enough to entice me to a no name PSU.

Also I can find no proper reviews, but here is a half assed one. & I Can find no negative info for this anywhere else on the web.

One thing you may consider is get it & then tear it apart & snap some good pics of the board & put it on the PSU forum.. Chances are someone can tell you who made it if its a good unit.. & if its not you can decide at the time weather or not its worth the risk.

Edit: the upper 1250w model was manufactured by "great wall" & there is a review of it in Chineese.
 
Last edited:
Got the 1250w version. $633.12 shipped in the combo.

I will either sing Sparkle's praises or curse them and myself for a long time. Honestly I'm far more worried about card than the PSU. I will be sure to open the PSU and take some pics for the psu forum.

The games look fairly terrible but they're free. I've seen the (limited) reviews on the net for the 1250w unit and while they aren't very thorough reviews, they certainly don't make me cringe or think twice. I want the power headroom as I will be buying a second gtx480 at some point and I might get stupid with hard drives.
 
That's all the more reason to go with the reliable Corsair over the Sparkle unit.

Which reviews are you talking about?
 
 
Gotta say, those sites are mostly new to me, and those reviews were not very thorough, in my opinion. I also think "rolling the dice" on a PSU is crazy-talk, especially in the same paragraph as a discussion of multiple GPU's.

Heh, as far as I'm concerned, when it comes to PSUs, if Jonny Guru, [H], or another reputable site hasn't reviewed it, it doesn't exist. Finally, while these things may be sometimes overstated, I have noticed a lot of talk about troublesome noise and heat coming from GTX 480's. This is the reason many NV fans have opted (read: waited) for the quieter, cooler, GTX 460 SLi solution.

But of course, the choice is yours. Good luck!

Edit: Oops, sorry. Didn't see the purchase had already been made. Please ignore.
 
ryan3786 said:
Some of those reviews are terrible, but some of them have decent info. They really seemed to like the packaging!
Click to expand...

What decent info are you talking about? I went through each of those reviews and not a single one of them properly tested the PSU like HardOCP or JonnyGuru did. The reviews weren't even half-assed considering that none of the linked sites actually took apart the PSU. Each and every one of those PSU reviews were just glorified gallery pics with info thrown in from the spec sheet.

I still don't see why you chose the Sparkle PSU. It doesn't make any lick of sense.
 
bastage said:
These are supposed to be better reviews with more info

http://www.pcpop.com/doc/0/553/553860_all.shtml
http://www.pcpop.com/doc/0/554/554334_all.shtml

Now if you can read it you have 1 up on me..
Click to expand...

Surprisingly enough, those do have a ton more info about the PSU than the English reviews. Unfortunately, I can't tell if the PSU was tested at room temperature or more realistic temperatures of 40C or so. With that said, assuming 40C testing, the Oscope shots shows a PSU with pretty good voltage regulation.
 
Danny Bui said:
Surprisingly enough, those do have a ton more info about the PSU than the English reviews. Unfortunately, I can't tell if the PSU was tested at room temperature or more realistic temperatures of 40C or so. With that said, assuming 40C testing, the Oscope shots shows a PSU with pretty good voltage regulation.
Click to expand...

Yea.. I dont figure the sparkle PSU will be seasonic quality.. but everything points to it atleast being a decent buy when you count the spiffs..
 
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