New i7 System

J

Jagger100

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Oct 31, 2004
Messages
7,710
I'm considering hitting the hammer on the following system
GIGABYTE Triton 180 Black 0.7mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811233016

EVGA 132-BL-E758-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813188046

EVGA 896-P3-1265-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814130398

Thermaltake Thoughpower W0178RU 850W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI NVIDIA SLI Certified NVIDIA QUAD-SLI APPROVED 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Retail

Item #: N82E16817153072

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115202

CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1333C9 - Retail
Item #: N82E16820145220

Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (bare drive) - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136296
Click to expand...
Am I doing something glaringly wrong? And what is cheapest recommended OS for using this system for home finances, gaming, and some limited audio?
 
You should change from that Raptor 150 GB to a WD 640 GB Black Hard Drive. About as fast as the Raptor and four times the usable space.

Corsair powersupplies are half the price of those Thermaltake Thoughpower. Corsair 850 watt is just $130.

Savings could be spend on case with easier cable management like Antec 902, 1200, Thermaltake ElementS, Spedo and Coolermaster 590, 690, HAF. etc
 
1) What's the size and resolution of the monitor you're using? For anything less than a 1680x1050 resolution, you could downgrade the video card.

2) Why the VelociRaptor? You could get one of the 640GB hard drives, which are about 10% slower (in most benchmarks), for a fraction of the cost.

3) Are you overclocking? If so, you may want to consider an aftermarket CPU cooler as well. Regardless, G.Skill is generally cheaper than the Corsair XMS3 kit and performs just as well.

ZipZoomFly has a special on the PC Power & Cooling S75CF -- it's currently $100 with free shipping. The Thermaltake ToughPower is fine, but since you don't really need that much power, you might as well save a few dollars in the process.
 
I was considering trying to make the PS live beyond the life the the Board and CPU and keep the option open for a second Videocard. There's a $25 saving in combo of Memory and PS as well as $50 of mail-in to soften the price between the two. Although you have me reconsidering.

The HD is primarily for the OS and a few apps. Plan to add a second drive later when the system is squared away and running. Doubles the chance of failure but cuts the headache of recovery by more than half, imho. I can go right to data recovery if its my Bulk Data drive. Or my data's safe and only need to replace/recover the OS drive.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
You never answered my original question: What is the size and resolution of the monitor you are using? Unless you plan on gaming at a resolution of at least 1920x1200 and you want ultra high visual settings, a second video card would do you no good. And by the time that you finally decide on that second card, there may be new cards out that could outperform your graphics setup on their own. Unless you get the second card now and use them in SLI mode now, it will be a waste of money.

Hell, even at a 1920x1200 resolution, you could obtain medium visual settings for most games with the GTX 260.

Check out the benchmarks for the 150GB VelociRaptor as well as the Caviar Blue (WD6400AAKS) and Caviar Black (WD6401AALS) drives and see whether the "guaranteed" speed of the VelociRaptor is worth the price. While I understand your desire to have a separate OS drive, the 640GB hard drive would still be a cheaper option.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top