new workstation build, 1200-2000

C

cbliss1000

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 15, 2009
Messages
361
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Adobe Suite, ARC GIS, Rhino, CAD: some gaming (TF2, MW2): some video editing.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1200-2000, all inclusive. Cheaper is better.
3) Where do you live?
Ithaca, NY (eg not anywhere near a microcenter or fry's)
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
CPU: Mobo: RAM: GPU: PSU: optical drive: case: monitor. Basically, I'm building this for my neighbor and he only has a mouse + keyboard.
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?
Naturally.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Looking for a 22"/23" 1920 x 1080 (?)
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
firewire or esata yes: no xfire or sli needed: no RAID needed
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Yes - Win 7 Enterprise 64.


As I say, I'm helping my neighbor build a new workstation. He's an urban designer who does some serious multitasking: he's not much of a pc gamer, a fact that I suspect will change (I wanna make this thing smoke his xbox).

Anyhow, here's what first came to mind - but I'm looking for any deals anyone knows about/any other input ya'll have.

i7-930 ~$240
gigabyte ud3r x58a $210
Gskill DDR3 1600 170$
Intel x25 80gb SSD 225$
samsung f3 1 tb 90$
sapphire 5770 175$ OR power color 5850 270$
antec ea650w psu 70$
antec 300 50$
optical drive 30$

Note sure about that gpu or about the mobo support for that RAM, and I'm (wishfully) hoping to find the 930 @ that price. Also, I don't know twat about monitors so I haven't included one.

EDIT: forgot to include a cpu cooler. Suggestions?

Thoughts?
 
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Looks good, for cpu cooler you could just look @ maybe the Hyper 212+ (its cheap and has good cooling). As for the gpu I would go with the 5850, better to go bigger then smaller.
 
For a workstation build, more RAM (e.g., 12GB) would help. Fortunately, you could buy the first G.Skill 3x2GB kit along with the Core i7 930 in a combo deal. You should also look into picking up some RAMDisk software, which turns part of your RAM into a very fast swap disk.

For decent gaming on a 1920x1080 monitor, you'll want the HD5850 over the HD5770. You may want to look at the EA650/Gigabyte HD5850 combo deal.

For a good yet relatively inexpensive CPU cooler, choose either the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus or the Cogage TRUE Spirit. The TRUE Spirit, based off the same design as the ever-popular Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme (aka TRUE), is the better of the two.

For a monitor, get the NEC EA231WMI-BK. It's not cheap, but its IPS panel offers excellent color reproduction compared to cheaper monitors that use TN panels.
 
You are all awesome - much obliged. I shall confer w/ said neighbor and post back with updates.

@tiraides: A TN hater, eh? 300 bucks is a lot but it sure looks pretty.
 
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