New Parts - Big

[mosmef06]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
a.) Gaming - All
b.) Video & Photo editing
c.) Most other things

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
under $1500 (for some of the parts) - Under $1000 leaves more room for additional monitors, etc. for the future so value is always taken into account on a part by part basis.

3) Where do you live?
USA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU, GPU, MOBO, Memory & possibly (PSU, HDDs)

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

To be reused:
a.) Cooler Master COSMOS case
b.) Logitech Keyboard/G9x mouse
c.) Dell 3007WFP LCD
d.) Lite-On DVD writer

May or may not be reused depending on what the community here thinks:
a.) 2x500GB SATAII WD HDD's
b.) 620W HX Corsair Modular PSU

Would not be reused:
a.) memory - ddr2
b.) cpu (e6750)
c.) gpu 8800gt
d.) mobo Gigabyte p95

6) Will you be overclocking?
Not planning on it

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
30" Dell 3007 WFP LCD 2560x1600 (may buy two more of these in the future, or two additional monitors to sit on each site)

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
This week

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
RAID 0

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

Basically, I'm looking to reuse my case, gut it and replace the internal components, primarily mobo, proc, video card, memory and more than likely (PSU + HDD's) and am looking for the best value / optimal lineup for these combined parts. I play a fair amount of games and do a lot of intensive tasks that stress various parts. The 8800GT can't really handle 2560x1600 very well so I'd like to get a GPU that's capable of doing that at least with decent settings for most games. I would lean towards having more memory as well, my current 4GB seems like it's getting capped pretty frequently. In reading a bit, I'm guessing this build would consist of an i7, X58, 6 or 12GB DDR3, and some ATI or NVIDIA variant. Note that although I'm fine upgrading HDDs for performance reasons, I don't really need them for space. With 50mbit FiOS it hardly makes sense to store huge libraries of data, and right now I've got about 1.5TB unused between the RAID0 and the external 1.5TB drive. I'm not sure what's out there since I last checked so I'm doing a gut check here to see what you all might recommend. Thanks in advance for all of your help.

 

[Dangman]

You can definitely reuse those SATA drives and PSU:
$480 - Intel Core i7-930 CPU + Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R X58 ATX Motherboard Combo
$165 - G.Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$410 - XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
---
Total: $1055 plus tax and shipping

However whether or not you need a HDD upgrade depends on how fast that 1TB RAID 0 array you have now performs. Download, install, run and screenshot the results of HDTune and upload that screenshot so that we can get a better idea of what kind of HDD performance you have now.

 

[mosmef06]

Here's the read performance.

 

[stephen0983]

Danny's build looks good to me. 6GB of RAM should be enough. It may make sense to crossfire two 5850s, at that high resolution it would be an improvement over a single 5870.

 

[mosmef06]

So no upgrade necessary for the HDD's based on the read performance shown? How about GPU - I saw he recommended the $409 version of the 5870 - which apparently has the Eyefinity technology. The biggest problem with that is that my main monitor is DVI, not sure if that poses a signficant problem if I try to extend it but maybe. Also, not sure of the performance benefit of the $409 version vs. the $379 versions that I saw similarly priced on newegg with the same outputs and card specs.

From THG:

"For $10 less than this card, a couple of Radeon HD 4890s will easily perform faster in the titles that matter today. And for $100 less, a couple of Radeon HD 5770s in CrossFire will keep up with the 5870 and offer the same DirectX 11 capability to boot. From a raw price/performance standpoint, this makes the Radeon HD 5870 a hard sell. But that is not to say this card is underpowered: it sports the fastest single GPU on the planet, relatively low power usage (remarkably low at idle), and DirectX 11 support. For folks without a motherboard that supports CrossFire and a hefty power supply, the new Radeon HD 5870 is definitely a more-than-viable option. "

Also, what's the word on the upcoming Nvidia GPU to launch later this month? Any significant reason to hold out for that part? I've not read much about it outside of a few posts here that mentioned it.

 

[Dangman]

So no upgrade necessary for the HDD's based on the read performance shown?

Nah no upgrade necessary

How about GPU - I saw he recommended the $409 version of the 5870 - which apparently has the Eyefinity technology. The biggest problem with that is that my main monitor is DVI, not sure if that poses a signficant problem if I try to extend it but maybe. Also, not sure of the performance benefit of the $409 version vs. the $379 versions that I saw similarly priced on newegg with the same outputs and card specs.

Umm, if you look at the cards again, the HD 5870 does have two DVI ports. Main reason why I went with the XFX HD 5870 over the $380 HIS HD 5880 is because XFX has far better customer support and double lifetime warranty. In addition, I feel that XFX is a far more trustworthy company to deal with than HIS. So IMO, the extra $30 is worth it.

But if you trust HIS more and don't mind the fact that it only has a two year warranty, by all means, save the $30 and go with HIS.

Also, what's the word on the upcoming Nvidia GPU to launch later this month? Any significant reason to hold out for that part? I've not read much about it outside of a few posts here that mentioned it.

So far, no significant reason to hold out for the Nvidia GPUs since A) word is that it's gonna be basically a paper launch with a handful of cards going to reviews and select customers and B) they're gonna be priced ridiculously high.

 

[mosmef06]

Excellent feedback. I appreciate the help. How about two 5770s in Crossfire on the X58 for $100 less, I agree with the point on the XFX for the $30 extra but if I can go with two 5770s for much cheaper and equal or better performance then that may make more sense. Gonna go ahead and pull the trigger tonight based on your help, thanks again Danny and Stephen.

 

[Dangman]

Excellent feedback. I appreciate the help. How about two 5770s in Crossfire on the X58 for $100 less, I agree with the point on the XFX for the $30 extra but if I can go with two 5770s for much cheaper and equal or better performance then that may make more sense. Gonna go ahead and pull the trigger tonight based on your help, thanks again Danny and Stephen.

I usually recommend Crossfire when its a relatively high-end build that demands the best performance possible. And usually not HD 5770 Crossfire.

Anyway, the main issue with Crossfire is that not all games scale well with Crossfire. In addition, games that do scale with Crossfire never see an increase higher than 30%. Then there's the issues of increased heat and slightly higher power usage (216W for HD 5770 Crossfire VS 188W for HD 5870).

So while yes HD 5770 will offer similar performance to that of a HD 5870, that's only if the game has decent Crossfire scaling. If there is no scaling, then all you'll see is HD 5770 performance.

So it's up to you dude. It is a price difference of $100. Up to you to decide whether that extra $100 is worth no Crossfire scaling issues, less power usage, and lower heat.

Personally I don't want to deal with potential Crossfire scaling issues so I'd go for a single GPU setup even it costs $100 more.

 

[mosmef06]

Fair enough, I'll go with your exact initial recommendation. I lean away from multi-GPU for the same reasons as well. Thanks for the help, is there a way to +rep someone on this board?

 

[Dangman]

Thanks for the help, is there a way to +rep someone on this board?

Nah. But just take a bunch of pictures and upload them and we can call it even

 

[mosmef06]

Right on, I'll upload a bunch of stuff once the build is complete so you all can see it in action.