High-End General Use Build

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RaphaelVinceti

Gawd
Joined
Apr 7, 2005
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600
Ok, so I am having a hard time picking out components for a new build. I haven't really been paying attention to the differences between AMD and Intel based processors, nor have I been paying attention to the video card war, so I need some help from all of you. So, to help you all out, and get answers faster, here are the answers to the questions from the sticky.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Photo/Video/Audio Editing, Gaming, Electrical Circuit design, mechanical design (AutoCAD and VectorWorks), Visual Studio (lots of Programming/compiling, dabbling in OpenCL), and Virtualization (for Testing programs and OSs, nothing that needs to be up all the time)

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~$2000

3) Where do you live?
Maine, USA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
everything but case, and keyboard, speakers

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Logitech g15, and x51 speakers

6) Will you be overclocking?
yep

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
20+. whatever fits in my budget to start, 24 to 30 when i can afford it.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
whichever will be cheaper

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Gigabit ethernet (dual preferred), 12GB ram capable or higher

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
yes

I am planning on doing a 3 monitor setup eventually, 1x24 or 30, and 2x20 or 22, would like to keep it one card as well, but thats not a big thing, cause I will probably go with a crossfire/sli setup when i get the larger monitor anyway. I would also prefer dealing with a single retailer for all the parts.

Thanks for the help in advance.
 
What case will you be reusing?
How much storage are you looking to start with?
 
I have a station I built that i use to test machines on. I will be using that for a while, until I build a new one that is more permanent, as for storage, minimum of 1TB. Would like separate O.S. drive, so getting smaller O.S. drive and larger storage drive is ideal.
 
What OS will you be reusing?

Oh and prelim build:
Samsung 2433BW 24" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor - $300
Intel Core i7 920 CPU and Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P Intel X58 ATX Motherboard combo - $539
G.Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM - $105
XFX GX285NZDFF GeForce GTX 285 PCI-E Video Card - $350
Western Digital WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $70
Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $105
Samsung SH-222F 22X DVD±R SATA DVD Burner - $25
Corsair 750TX 750W PSU - $120
Xigmatek Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm HSF - $40
---
Total: $1644 plus tax and shipping

Still got plenty of room for more RAM, hard drive space or more monitors, depending on your priority.

EDIT: Added a HSF for some overclocking.
 
RaphaelVinceti said:
will that Power supply handle a pair of those GTX 285s?
Click to expand...

Probably but with not much headroom. Gimme a sec,. Looking for a reasonably priced 1000W PSU with at least 80A on the +12V rail (as recommended by Corsair) for your setup now.
 
Just out of curiosity, would any benefit be gained by going with an AMD/ATI setup? or is the price/performance numbers in the favor of an Intel/nVidia setup? (I have been reading the reviews on hardocp, and thats the idea I am getting)
 
RaphaelVinceti said:
Just out of curiosity, would any benefit be gained by going with an AMD/ATI setup? or is the price/performance numbers in the favor of an Intel/nVidia setup? (I have been reading the reviews on hardocp, and thats the idea I am getting)
Click to expand...

Price/performance are still in favor of a Intel/Nvidia setup IMO.

Anyway, after looking up for 1000W PSUs with 80A on the +12V rail, I've decided that auceny is right and that the 850TX is capable of handling that setup. Personally I'd want a bit more headroom but the 850TX should be sufficient:
Corsair 850TX 850W PSU - $140

So the total now, with my prelim build is $1664 plus tax and shipping. Still got enough money for hard drive space, more RAM or another monitor.
 
Well, since a power supply is the one thing that you really cant just add more of to increase capacity, i think i will spend a little extra to get a decent 1000 watt psu. While it has been a couple of years since I have built a new system, (been stuck in apple land...) i do remember that the PSU is the one component to not ever, under any circumstances, skimp on.
 
RaphaelVinceti said:
Well, since a power supply is the one thing that you really cant just add more of to increase capacity, i think i will spend a little extra to get a decent 1000 watt psu. While it has been a couple of years since I have built a new system, (been stuck in apple land...) i do remember that the PSU is the one component to not ever, under any circumstances, skimp on.
Click to expand...

Well the cheapest 1000W PSU I could find on newegg.com with 80A on the +12V rail of good quality was this PSU:
SILVERSTONE OP1000-P 1000W - $260

However, this PSU is a nice little bridge between the 70A on the 850TX and the 80A on the OP1000-P since it has 75A on the +12V rail:
Tuniq Ripper PSU-RIP1000W-BK 1000W PSU - $170

It's of decent enough quality:
http://hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTYwMSwsLGhlbnRodXNpYXN0

However, the Silverstone and Corsair PSUs I linked to are more than likely of better quality than the Tuniq PSU.

My normal 1000W PSU choice, the Corsair 1000HX at $230, is sold out at many online stores, have really high prices or have extremely long lead/ship time. Must be selling like hot-cakes or something..
 
I was just looking at the 80 plus certified Silverstone ST1200 with 144A on the +12V rail (split into 6 rails, but electrically it doesn't seem like that would be a problem), Should give me plenty of headroom for expansion later, both hard drives, graphics cards, and other drives, should i need any. And, after rebate, its 269.99.

also, on the 24" Samsung, I don't really like the wide bezel, how would that monitor compare to the Acer P243WAid? Technical Specification wise, seems about comparable. That and the reviews are good, anything that i should watch out for with an Acer LCD, or are they decent?
 
RaphaelVinceti said:
I am planning on doing a 3 monitor setup eventually, 1x24 or 30, and 2x20 or 22, would like to keep it one card as well, but thats not a big thing, cause I will probably go with a crossfire/sli setup when i get the larger monitor anyway.
Click to expand...
I know SLI can only handle two monitors max, so if you want three monitors you'll need a third card (that is if you want SLI + 3 monitors). If you don't end up with an SLI setup, you can buy the 285 now and then get another nVidia card later for the 3rd monitor. Depending on the native resolution of the 30", the 285 will be fine; in Danny Bui's build the 285 can handle the Samsung's 1920x1200 without any problems. One last thing about SLI, if your main monitor's resolution will be 1920x1200 or so, I'd be willing to say that SLI wouldn't be worth it (given that you are only gaming on one monitor - on two monitors, get SLI). So save your money and pop in one of these when you need a third monitor.

Here is a single card solution for 3 monitors: Saphire 4850X2 2GB - $309.99
It has 4 DVI out.

If you are going to be doing any professional photo editing where color reproduction is important/critical, an IPS based panel will be better than a TN based panel ... but it will cost about twice as much. If not, a TN panel will have no issues. A decent IPS based display is the HP LP2475w for $599.99 (info from the AnandTech LCD Thread).

EDIT: Another great TN panel based LCD is the BenQ G2400WD
 
Most of the photo editing that I do is for the web, so color reproduction isnt really critical. My normal standard for displays is, if a movie looks good (color wise), its suitable for the photo editing that i do.
 
RaphaelVinceti said:
I was just looking at the 80 plus certified Silverstone ST1200 with 144A on the +12V rail (split into 6 rails, but electrically it doesn't seem like that would be a problem), Should give me plenty of headroom for expansion later, both hard drives, graphics cards, and other drives, should i need any. And, after rebate, its 269.99.
Click to expand...

The ST1200 has 93A on the +12V rail. You don't add up the rails like that. You determine the amperage on the +12V rails by first finding out what's the total combined, max load, combined or max wattage aside for the +12V rails/section alone. Then divide that total by 12 and you get how much amps the PSU has on the +12V rail.

That's the correct way to find out how much amps a power supply has. Don't add up the amps on the +12V rail to figure out the amperage. Doesn't work that way.

In this case, you can clearly see that the PSU labels lists the combined load as 1125W for all of the +12V rails. Divide by 12 and you get 93A.
 
Ahh, that actually makes more sense, the 144A wasn't really sounding right to me. Thanks for the advice, Danny_Bui. Im going to play with the configuration a bit on newegg. I am thinking about doing a couple of low-end 20s first, and then when I get my tax return (still haven't filed. . . I know.. Im a slacker...) I'll get the 24 or 30, depending on how much I have to play with.
 
RaphaelVinceti said:
I am thinking about doing a couple of low-end 20s first, and then when I get my tax return (still haven't filed. . . I know.. Im a slacker...) I'll get the 24 or 30, depending on how much I have to play with.
Click to expand...

Nah, just splurge for the Samsung 24" monitor I linked to. Your budget can definitely fit in a single 24" monitor. Hell your budget can fit in a 2nd 24" monitor with a little adjustment.
 
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