New Build - Please Inspect

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Lionblade

n00b
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Nov 14, 2007
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Here is my following future build, torn between a 7950 and the 3850 until I can get an 8800. Biggest concern is if the that PSU is sufficient on running this rig in SLI with 8800s later on down the road. I'm also worried if the mainboard will accept a single 3850 but I don't see why not. I wanna overclock my proc when I need to and later add two 8800's to make SLI. I am aiming for future proof on a $860 budget for now Tell me what ya think, I am open to suggestions. Thanx again and Take Care.

Case: ULTRA Black Aluminus
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1215768&sku=ULT31824

PSU: ULTRA X-Finity 600W
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2974508&sku=ULT31847 K

Proc: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115029

Motherboard: EVGA 122-CK-NF67-T1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i LT SLI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188015

Vid Card: SAPPHIRE 100216L Radeon HD 3850 256MB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102714

OR: XFX PVT71JYPF4 GeForce 7950GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150197

Memory: Patriot Extreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220144

HDD: Seagate 160GB SATA 7200 RPM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148230

Proc Fan: ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

Thermal Paste: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

Case Fans: APEVIA CF12SL-UBL 120mm Blue LED Case Fan (Quanity: 2)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811998121
 
First of all, go with the HD 3850. It outperforms that 7950GT by a large margin. Check out this review here:
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151&p=9

Second, you only need SLI if A) there is no single card that can provide the card you want and B) if you're playing at a resolution at or beyond 1920x1200 since thats when SLI will really help. Though I'm doing a bit more research on this just to make sure that's still the case.

Third, get the Crucial Ballistix RAM instead. It's cheaper and has Micron ICs, meaning that it can OC pretty high:
Crucial Ballistix BL2KIT12864AA804 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM - $60

Fourth, ditch the AC7 Pro. For that price, there is a much better cooler:
Scythe SCNJ-1100P Ninja HSF - $34

Fifth, don't bother with those case fans. Yate Loons are slightly quieter and cheaper:
120mm Yate Loon D12SL-12 Case Fan - $3.50

Sixth, there will no problem with using the HD 3850 with that mobo.

Seventh, if my math is right, with all of the changes I've recommended, your total is around $745 sans power supply. Since you're planning on 8800GT SLI and you have about $115 left over, I recommend getting a better power supply. I don't think that X-Finity is up to 8800GT in SLI. So with that in mind I recommend any of these PSU:
Corsair VX550 550W PSU - $95
Corsair HX520 520W PSU - $106

Now before you go and say that these power supplies won't offer as much power as that X-Finity, you're wrong. They have plenty of power for your system.

Remember that wattage doesn't mean as much these days. What matters most is where those watts are being delivered. For current rigs, it's all about how much amps are on the +12V rail since most PC parts draw their power from there. You determine the amperage on the +12V rails by first finding out what's the total combined wattage set aside for the +12V rails alone.

In this case, the Corsair 550VX has 492W on the +12V rail. Divide that total wattage for the +12V by 12 and you get how much amps the PSU has on the +12V rail. In this case, 492W divided by 12 is 41A. So the Corsair 550VX PSU has 41A on the +12V Rail. And that's plenty of power for your current system.

To put it into perspective:
- The Corsair 520HX has 40A on the +12V Rail
- The Ultra X-Finity 600W has 35A on the +12V Rail.
- The Corsair 450VX has 33A on the +12V Rail.

Considering all of the above and the fact that the Corsair PSUs are of better quality, I highly recommend getting any of the PSUs I linked to above.
 
Wow, I appreciate the help. I took your considerin for the HD3850, Now I need to decide on a PSU. I ditched the X-Finity but those other two are out of my price range. After shipping for all other parts, I am left with 95 for the PSU WITH shipping :\.

I was thinking of going with the StealthXStream,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010

what do you think? Another thing, how do you determine the combined wattage for the +12v Rails?
 
Well just read the label. For example, this is the kind of label you'll see on power supplies
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI...CZ+StealthXStream+OCZ600SXS+600W+Power+Supply

Now look where it says Max Combined Power. We can see that the StealthXStream has 580W on the +12V rails. Divide by 12 and you get 48A.

Speaking of power supplies, I don't recommend the StealthXStream. It's an FSP Epsilon based PSU that has out of spec ripple, or voltage fluctuations, at high loads that can damage your PC over time. While you may rarely reach such high loads, why buy a PSU that has a greater chance of killing your PC than other PSUs?

And if you had checked out the link for the Corsair 550VX 550W PSU, you can see that it has free shipping. In fact most parts from zipzoomfly.com comes with free shipping. So the price of that Corsair PSU is $95 shipped.
 
I appreciate the lesson there. I did notice the free shipping but for some reason my total came out wrong when I had added. I think I found my psu. Thank you a lot, I appreciate it. xD
 
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