Please advise on building a new computer

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mario_nt1

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Hello,

I am planning to build a new computer to replace my Pentium 4 @ 2.8 GHz. I will mostly use the computer for math calculations/number crunching. I would also use it to play games and do some Photoshop/Corel Draw work on it. My budget is about $1500 with taxes. I do not need the monitor or the case. Below is a list of the things that I am planning to get:

Intel i7 920 CPU
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P Motherboard
Corsair XMS3 Matched Triple 6 Gb DDR3 1600 8-8-8-24
BFG 275 GTX Video Card
OCZ Vertex 60 Gb SSD Drive
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700 W Power Supply

I would like an opinion if this is a good build or what I can improve, I am not sure about power supply, should I go for other brand and is 700 W maybe too much? Also for the video card should I go lower to lets say 260 GTX or higher to 285 GTX?
Thank you for any advice,

Mario
 
Out of curiosity, which monitor and case are you reusing? Do you have a separate HDD for storage (and if so, what)?

The XFX HD4890 would perform just as well, but costs comparatively less.

I personally don't trust any of the OCZ --XStream series PSUs (or, rather, anything from OCZ not made by their PC Power & Cooling team). Go with the Corsair HX/TX series or the Antec Earthwatts line instead. The Antec EA650 can often be found at a good price online, and the Corsair TX750 is a much reliable PSU. (If you're not gaming at a resolution higher than 1920x1200, you don't need a better video card; in fact, if you're gaming at a resolution lower than 1680x1050, you don't really need the GTX 275 or HD4890.)

If you plan on overclocking your machine, you need to get an aftermarket CPU cooler -- the Xigmatek Dark Knight S1283V or the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus are good choices -- and some DDR3 RAM that runs between 1.5V and 1.6V (off the top of my head, G.Skill and Mushkin have RAM capable of those voltage levels). If you aren't overclocking, you can drop down to DDR3 1333 RAM, but make sure that it doesn't run at a voltage level higher than 1.65V.
 
Ditch the OCZ PSU. Yes, 700W is a bit much. All you need is a good quality 550W, but you can get an EA650, Corsair 650W/620W, or some other model instead. (Seasonic and Silverstone are other good brands).

Add a 2nd Vertex drive for RAID0:
http://www.alphaq.org/enginurd/hdd/ocz_vertex.html

As far as I can tell, the HD4890 has the most bang for buck, but please answer tiraides' questions.
 
Hello,

Thank you for the answers, I have a Samsung 2253LW 21.6" monitor max res 1680x1050. The case which I have is made by Kingwin, it is made of aluminum and it looks pretty much like Lian Li PC-50 (could be a copy of that case). I got it about 4 years ago when I build my P4@2.8 Ghz computer. I have Seagate Barracuda 7200.10, 320 Gig hard drive which I plan to use for storage. I was wondering if it is worth getting OCZ Vertex SSD drive, will I see big improvements in speed and load times as opposed to regular drive? For the power supply I will go either with Corsair HX750 or TX750.

Mario
 
You don't need to worry about a multi-card SLI or CrossFire setup for the resolution you're using. One HD4890 is more than enough. In fact, since you're using one video card, you don't need a 700+ watt power supply. The only reason that I recommended the EA650 in the first place is because it's cheaper than the Corsair PSU, yet it has more than enough power for your setup.

The OCZ Vertex is one of the better SSD series available. It'll outperform the VelociRaptor, and it'll be noticeably better than your 7200.10 HDD.

Is your case virtually identical to the PC-50? If so, I recommend that you buy a different case, as the Core i7 setup will run hotter than what you were using before. You can easily afford a new case with your budget... a good case, like the Antec Three Hundred or the Cooler Master RC-590, won't break the bank.
 
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A single Vertex SSD is faster than a HDD, but you won't get blissful speed unless you put at least two in RAID0. Check out the screenshots in the link I posted above.
 
I would just go with a GTX 260 since the computer is not used primarily for gaming. A GTX 260 is still pretty good for 1680x1050 resolution.
 
Hello,

The case I have is pretty much the same as LianLi PC-50, it has two intake fans in the front and one exhaust fan in the back, all 80 mm size. The Antec Three Hundred case looks nice and the price is good. I would like my new PC to be as quiet as possible, the one I have right now is pretty noisy. I have a question about the video card, my friend is selling his eVGA 8800 GTX super clocked bor $150, is it a good bargain or this card will be much slower as for example GTX 265?

Thank you,

Mario
 
mario_nt1 said:
Hello,

Thank you for the answers, I have a Samsung 2253LW 21.6" monitor max res 1680x1050.

Mario
Click to expand...
Be careful when you do photoshop work on this. That is a TN panel monitor (very poor color reproduction).
 
mario_nt1 said:
I have a question about the video card, my friend is selling his eVGA 8800 GTX super clocked bor $150, is it a good bargain or this card will be much slower as for example GTX 265?
Click to expand...

As gwarren007 said: You're getting ripped off. You can get the XFX HD 4870 1GB card for the exact same price and that's significantly faster than the 8800GTX. You can also get the XFX HD4850 for $110 and that's also a bit faster than the 8800GTX. So for the 8800GTX to be a good bargin, it'll have to be around $80 to $80 IMO.
 
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