Mid/High-End Gaming/Design Build

[Drant]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming and design/3D animation
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Budget would be 1.5k, taxes excluded
3) Where do you live?
Near Denver, CO
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Completely new build, Case, Monitor, Keyboard/mouse, Mobo, Power Supply, RAM, CPU, GPU, Hard Drives (SSD possible for OS+other depending on cost)
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
N/A
6) Will you be overclocking?
Definitely at some point
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
24-28" depending on budget
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Would be buying parts starting after the new year
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
Firewire or eSata for external drives (thoughts?), dual card support for the future, wondering what could be taken advantage of currently with USB 3.0 included, Able to put in an intel i7
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
OS is not a problem


Have as a possible motherboad: ASUS P6X58D-E
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3131641&cm_re=p6x58d-e-_-13-131-641-_-Product
Someone I know has that and is willing to sell it relatively cheaply (thoughts?)

 

[DeathSmasher]

I can speak for the motherboard you had in question i have had one since the day newegg posted them running 24/7 no probs. I have a i7920 in it OCed to 3.8 on air. its one of the better boards i have dealt with. As far as your build im not the guy for that just make sure not to cheap out on key components.

 

[Dangman]

I highly recommend waiting until Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs are available on January 5th. It's only a few weeks away. Those Sandy Bridge CPUs will be faster clock for clock than Intel's current Core i7 lineup while being able to OC very high. In fact, it's been shown that a Sandy Bridge CPU can hit 5Ghz on AIR. Granted that may not be a common thing and the average OC will probably be around 4.3Ghz to 4.5Ghz. If the price leak is true, you can get the i5 2500K for around $253. That's cheaper than the i7 950 and you can get a significantly higher OC on top of the faster clock for clock speed.

So all in all, you're better off waiting until then for an expensive PC build.

 

[munkle]

I recommend waiting also. If you can.

 

[Drant]

I will already be waiting to buy the parts until at least the new year, but I still would like opinions on the various other parts, perhaps besides the case, which I tend to be very picky on. Looking for one that has quite a few 120mm fans to keep it quiet.

I've been told the Sandy Bridge has some issues related to overclocking RAM, and I was wondering what anyone else has heard about that
http://gadgetsteria.com/2010/07/28/...e-p67-chipset-limited-overclocking-potential/

 

[Dangman]

I will already be waiting to buy the parts until at least the new year, but I still would like opinions on the various other parts, perhaps besides the case, which I tend to be very picky on. Looking for one that has quite a few 120mm fans to keep it quiet.

Case recommendations:
$60 - Cooler Master HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 ATX Case
$70 - Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$80 - Cooler Master CM690 II Basic ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K56 ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$105 - Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Case (Fill in the ++++ with "N C I X" without the spaces)
$105 - Fractal Design Define R3 Titanium ATX Case (Fill in the ++++ with "N C I X" without the spaces)
$105 - Fractal Design Define R3 Silver ATX Case (Fill in the ++++ with "N C I X" without the spaces)
$100 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$110 - Lian Li PC-7FN ATX Case
$120 - Velocity Micro GX2-W Silver Classic Aluminum Case with Side Window
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT Black Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$135 - Antec P183 ATX Case
$160 - Corsair Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$180 - Cooler Master Cosmos S 1000 RC-1100-KSN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$200 - Cooler Master ATCS 840 RC-840-KKN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$200 - Lian Li PC-B25F ATX Case
$240 - Silverstone FT02B-W ATX Case
$220 - Lian Li PC-A71F Black ATX Case
$270 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Full Tower ATX Case
$330 - Silverstone Temjin SST-TJ07B Full Tower ATX Case
Cases (ATX w/PSU):

SSD wise, stick with Intel or Crucial

HDD wise, go with this:
$70 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

PSU wise, I'd go with this:
$115 - Antec Truepower New TP-750 750W PSU

GPU wise, for 1920x1080 gaming, I recommend the HD 6870, GTX 470, or GTX 570. Maybe HD 6850 Crossfire or GTX 460 SLI if the games you're playing scale well with multi-GPU configs

I've been told the Sandy Bridge has some issues related to overclocking RAM, and I was wondering what anyone else has heard about that
http://gadgetsteria.com/2010/07/28/...e-p67-chipset-limited-overclocking-potential/

Haven't heard much about that. As that article is from a few months ago, more than likely those issues have been resolved by now.