I7 gaming rig

[Dodger1]

I was going to build a E8500 rig but for an extra ~ $400 I can build this one:

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz

ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution motherboard - with the new bios that addresses most of the complaints that Kyle had in his review

G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit

COOLER MASTER HAF 932

CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX

Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB

Lapped Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme CPU heatsink, Thermalright LGA1366 Bolt-Thru Board Mounting Kit, 2 Thermalright Ultra-120 Series Fan Brackets and 2 Yate Loon 120mm x 25mm Fan (D12SH-12) for a push/pull CPU cooling solution.

SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R SH-S223Q

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit

Scythe KM02-BK 5.25" Bay Fan Controller

Rosewill RC-401-EX 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI-Express Gigabit Low Profile Network Card

ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound

I already have a GTX 280, an LG L246W monitor, keyboard, mouse and UPS.

 

[tiraides]

Do you really need all of the features on the P6T6 WS Revolution? If not, drop down to one of the X58 boards that cost around $300.

Swap out the Caviar Black 500GB hard drive for its 640GB sibling. The long story short is that the 640GB drive runs about 10% slower than the VelociRaptor.

Do you already have the TRUE 120 on hand? If not, go with the RT 1366 model instead. (No, you don't really need to lap it in order to obtain maximum cooling performance. You probably won't need the additional Yate Loon fans as well.)

All of today's motherboards come with one Gigabit Ethernet port already... and many boards (including the P6T6 WS Revolution) come with two. Why do you need a third?

 

[Dodger1]

"Do you really need all of the features on the P6T6 WS Revolution? If not, drop down to one of the X58 boards that cost around $300."

After some initial dd I narrowed the field down to the Gigabyte GA-EX58-Extreme ($328.99), Asus P6T Deluxe ($299.99), Asus Deluxe/OC Palm ($338.99), the Revolution ($359.99) and the Rampage II ($389.99). After reading every review I could lay my hands on, and factoring in the price, the Revolution came out as a clear winner. Do I need all the features, not right now but considering the total cost of this rig, I consider $50 a drop in the bucket.

"Swap out the Caviar Black 500GB hard drive for its 640GB sibling. The long story short is that the 640GB drive runs about 10% slower than the VelociRaptor."

Done, thanks.

"Do you already have the TRUE 120 on hand? If not, go with the RT 1366 model instead. (No, you don't really need to lap it in order to obtain maximum cooling performance. You probably won't need the additional Yate Loon fans as well.)"

Thanks. I will order that one, along with another Thermalright TR-FDB-12-1600 fan and an extra Ultra-120 fan bracket for my push/pull setup. I’ve read some pros and cons regarding lapping this cooler but I’ll try it “as is”.

You’ve probably already read this review but it convinced me that the push/pull is a better setup for the TRUE

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...ra-120-extreme-1366-rt-cpu-cooler-review.html

"All of today's motherboards come with one Gigabit Ethernet port already... and many boards (including the P6T6 WS Revolution) come with two. Why do you need a third?"

Thanks, that was a n00b mistake on my part.