Help me design a monster gaming PC!

I

IamTheShadow

n00b
Joined
May 22, 2010
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4
Greetings!

I've decided that it's finally time that I got a new PC. Some of the various problems in my life (ex-wife, custody problems etc.) have been sorted for good and I wanted to celebrate with a new system that I'll use primarily for gaming, but also for office/internet stuff, some video and audio multimedia work and some digital photography work with Photoshop. My current system was something I built back in 2003 (no kidding!) so the situation is pretty grim for me. I've got a budget of $4400 (excluding any shipping charges) to make this happen. One of the key things for me is that my systems tend to last a good long time, so I like to ensure that my system is ready for the future and has plenty of expandability.

I'd like to start out by listing the full components of the system I have now, and the few things I plan on salvaging from it for the new system.

-Pentium 4 Northwood 3GHz/800FSB (socket 478)
-Zalman 7000 heatsink
-ASUS P4C-800 motherboard
-2GB Corsair DDR-400 memory (4x 512MB)
-BFG Geforce 7800 GS
-2x Western Digital 74GB Raptor HDD
-Auzentech X-Fi Prelude sound card
-4x 120GB Seagate HDD (two sata, two pata)
-Liteon 8x DVD-RW (pata)
-Enermax 460W PSU
-Antec 1080 Case
-MS keyboard/mouse
-Logitech Z-680 speakers
-Dual Dell D1226H monitors (19" CRT)
-XP Pro OS

This system was bitchin' when I put it together all those years ago but now it's pretty damn old and is in dire need of a replacement.

I plan on keeping the Logitech Z-680 speaker system, the Auzentech sound card and the two Raptor hard disks. The rest of it is too old to be of any use in a new system. I'll put my old Audigy card back in the P4, and reinstall Windows on one of the 120GB drives to keep the system running as a backup once my new PC is setup. I'll do a bit of overclocking, but nothing really hardcore though. My monitors are ancient and are in dire need of replacement too. The $4400 must include the cost of monitor(s).

So to the new system, this should be fun. This is what I have so far, and I'd appreciate any comments/suggestions etc.

Core i7 930

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225

$288.99


Noctua NH-D14 Cooler

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018

$88.99


EVGA X58 Motherboard (SLI and Crossfire support, dual gigabit ethernet and firewire support are all must have features for me)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188039

$259.99


Corsair DDR3-1600 12GB kit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145235

$359.99


2x EVGA Geforce GTX 470

2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130550

$699.98


OR

2x XFX Ati Radeon 5870

2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150490

$799.98


2x Western Digital 2TB SATA HDD

2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136514

$279.98 (I can add more of these later for storage)


ASUS Bluray Player/DVD Burner

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135203

$109.99


Corsair TX 950W PSU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139013

$149.99


Corsair Obsidian 800D Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139001

$269.99


CM Storm Sentinel Mouse

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826570005

$64.99


Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109160

$37.99


Windows 7 Pro 64bit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116758

$139.99 (I have Office 2003 on the old P4, I'll just transfer that to the new system.)


3x Dell U2410 (Eyefinity/surround vision)

3x http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-8277

$1497

Audio handled by my Auzentech X-Fi card and my Logitech speaker system both of which are still in good shape. I'll put the OS on my Raptor drives, which I'll be running in a striped RAID configuration.

Total is $4247.86 with the GTX 470s, or $4347.86 with the 5870s.

So this is what I came up after my own research, reading reviews etc. It seems the Core i7 CPUs are the fastest around at the moment, with the X58 platform having good longevity being able to hold the Gulftown six core CPUs if I decide that I want one of these in the future. At the moment $1000 for a 980X is too steep for the performance offered, at least IMO. I decided to go with 12GB of ram so I won't need to worry about ram again for the lifetime of this system. I could get away with 6GB now, but going with 12GB has me future-proofed.

Running a three LCD array for Eyefinity or Surround Vision will need a couple of powerful cards, so I've narrowed it down to the GTX 470s or 5870s. I'm not really sure which to go with, so advice in that area is particularly welcome. I've read reviews and the Corsair 950W does well without breaking the bank, and I'm just in love with the Obsidian 800D case. It looks gorgeous. Reviews of the U2410 monitor have been very impressive, and the panel quality is top notch. That's why it's my choice. There are cheaper options but they lack the same quality that the U2410 offers.

My Z-680 speakers, X-Fi Prelude sound card and 74GB Raptors are all in good shape so I saw no reason to replace these items at this stage. If these items should be replaced for a new system, please let me know.


As I stated earlier, help/suggestions/comments are all very welcome.

Thanks!
 
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You don't need 12GB of RAM for a system that's primarily focused on gaming. Stick to one 6GB kit; better yet, go with the G.Skill 3x2GB kit.

Are you planning on overclocking the processor? If so, how far? Regardless, there are cheaper yet still effective heatsinks available for overclocking. For example, consider the Cogage TRUE Spirit.

You would be better served with an 80GB Intel X25-M SSD than by keeping your RAID 0 Raptor setup. As for storage drives, stick with one 2TB drive for now.

Do you have any Blu-ray media (playback) software? You'll need that if you plan on taking full advantage of that BD drive.

Why Windows 7 Pro? Why not Home Premium?
 
Definatley opt for an SSD

and in my own opinion windows 7 pro is a good choice ( i would choose it because i like tinkering with the extra bullshit they give me)
but,please take a look at this chart and choose your optimal version accordingly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7_editions#Comparison_chart
hey, if you don't like tinkering like i do, you might as well go for home premium :)

oh, and i would choose the 5870's
 
Ok, I'm sold on the SSD after reading some more reviews. 80GB isn't really big enough for my needs. What if I was to use the SSD to install my OS, applications and most frequently played games on it, and then to keep the Raptors around for the games I tend to play from time to time? Alternatively I could just buy a larger SSD, but they are pretty expensive. Newegg has the 160GB Intel for ~$420.

Another thing I was thinking about regarding the video cards was the amount of RAM on them. Would there be any benefit to using 2GB cards? I do want to run games at 5760x1200 with fluid framerates and high detail settings.

I have to be able to connect with Windows domain controllers, so Win7 Professional is a must-have for me.

I don't really need BluRay playback software because I'm just going to be using the drive for ripping Bluray movies for playback on my Plasma TV. I've assembled a nice collection of movies and it would be nice to be able to watch them without changing discs all the time.

Thanks.
 
Well i think you should just maybe buy a SSD off [H]? And i personally think it would be a waste of energy using those old raptors. Just stick with an SSD and if its a tad to expensive, then purchase a Velociraptor instead.

Just my 2 cents
 
Ditching the WD 2TB drives for now, sticking with the XFX 5870s, and using two Intel 80GB SSDs (striped) or a single 160GB Intel SSD sets the price at roughly $4440.
 
EVGA motherboards dont come with the same lifetime warranty the rest of their products do, they come with an industry standard 3 year one, so there really is no reason to get one over a cheaper MSI/Asus/Gigabyte board (all of whom also offer a standard 3 year warranty).

Go with one of the board's thats less than $200, the features you lose are insignificant. Ghetto mod a fan onto the northbridge or pickup an active northbridge heatsink (something you cant do with the more expensive boards because they're all heat piped together) if you really wanna push those clocks.

And yeah as for SSD's the performance difference is subtle. Stuff just moves quicker. Its strange...

Something to keep in mind though is that to keep your write speeds up you're going to want a drive thats aware of the TRIM command, and right now that means a RAID configuration is out (it requires a driver intermediary to decode the filesystems TRIM command across the drives in the RAID, Intel has said they're working on it but currently they do not exist --dispite what a google result might tell you).

Also worth noting, Steam does 1 drive and 1 drive only right now. It seems they have no intion to allow installs to multiple drives so, if you run Steam off your SSD that means all your steam games will only be playable on that drive (or raid array).
 
The EVGA board is actually the cheapest board I could find that has dual gigabit ethernet and firewire included, which are must have features for me. Going with a cheaper board means I'd need to add ethernet and firewire through expansion cards, eroding any price savings. That hardly seems worth it to me.
 
4.4k?! that will be one killer system. Why not throw 1000 into dual gtx 480s? Pretty much the fastest thing on the market right now.
 
Here is my best try, i changed out the Noctua for the h50 its smaller and if you're not doing any crazy OC it will net you 3.5-4.0 depending on how hard you work. This is with 2x 480. Check to make sure PSU will be good enough, i believe 950 should be good enough.

Evga 3x SLI Mobo + GTX 480 $714.98 -$30 rebate
EVGA GTX 480 - 499.99
i7930 + GSkill 6gb 1600 $443.98
800D + 950TX + H50 - 479.97 - 10 rebate
Intel x25M SSD 194.95
ASUS Blu-Ray Drive 109.99
Win7 Pro - 139.99
CM Sentinel Mouse - 64.99
2 xWD 1TB $279.98 (139.99 each)

Total is 2,928.82 for PC + 1497 for your monitors = 4425.82

If you want to save money there is an Evga 470 + Evga Mobo combo for $574.98

if you go that route instead with 2x 470's the total is 2,638.82 + your monitors = 4,135.82


hope that hels.
 
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