Please help me build a really fast PC

[jasondavis]

I am wanting to build a new PC that is fast and reliable that will last me a while.

Q1) What will you be doing with this PC?
A) I will be using this PC mainly for programming and web design but it will also be my main PC that I use for everything. So it will need to be able to run all kinds of programs ( Photoshop, PHPdesigner, Dreamweaver, MS programming software as well, FTP clients, really a wide range of programs and I would like to be able to run a lot of programs at once, it is nothing for me to have 10+ programs running at once accross 3-4 monitors as well as a couple browser windows with 20+tabs open in each at a time. Sop a lot of memory/ram is very important. Also I will be using VMware to run Linux and MacOS sometimes

Q2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?+
A) Budget is as much as it takes to get a really fast PC that should last me a few years

Q3) Where do you live?
A) Central Florida

Q4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
A) CPU, motherboard, RAM/memory, graphic card, SSD drive for Windows 7 and programs, 2-4 fairly fast and reliable hard drives for storage (data, video, photos, work files, etc.) , Possibly a RAID card if needed?, PSU, pretty much everything you need for a new PC not incluiding monitors,keyboard,mouse

Q5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially+specific+about the+power+supply. List make and model.
A) Starting fresh with all new parts on this one.

Q6) Will you be overclocking?
A) Most likely not, if I do it will be down the road sometime.

Q7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
A) 3 20" monitors, would like an output to a 30-50" tv as well if possible for video.

Q8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
A) Starting to buy parts this week

Q9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID?+Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
A) Would like 24gb of RAM support with 6 slots for DDR3. I would like to possibly run my data/storage drives in RAID-5 or 6 ( I am not sure if I need a card for this, I want the best performance and easiest to manage and setup for my RAID) Would like SATA3 support and USB3 support. Other then that I am not sure.

Q10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
A) WIll be purchasing a windows 7 pro licence 64bit

Other notes...
- I would like to use an Intel i7 920 or 930 CPU
- I would like to use a SSD for my OS and programs
- I would like to set up a RAID-5 or RAID-6 with 3-4 drive (1.5-2TB in size each) for my data/storage. I have never done a raid before so I do not know how to set it up. I beleive a raid card would be my best bet instead of a software raid. Please give me advice on this and possibly how to set it up. Basicly with a ton of video and photos it weill be very hard to backup regulary all this data so I would like to make it as reliable as I can (I know RAID is not the solution instead of backing up data but with a RAID-6 I think this stuff will be pretty safe?)
- I would like to run at least 3 monitors, will I need 2 video cards to do this? Also is it possibly to sometimes have a 4th display to play video on a TV?
- I have Satelite receiver at my home right now. If it is possible I would like to be able to hook it to my PC and record shows on to my HD if this is possible? What hardware would I need to do this?
- I would like to have 12gb of RAM at first but be upgradable to 24gb if I choose to.


I know this is asking a lot of questions but I really appreciate any help, I am trying to go all out on this and make a really nice fast and reliable PC that can do a lot of different types of stuff, from work to play. I really do not play games ever but I do watch a lot of video.

Thanks for reading and any tips/advice/help!

 

[lt_shiro]

idea of future proof a pc is a fail.

after 2 years mainstream parts will be faster than your current ones, its best to start with platform that can be upgraded over time to keep pace with your needs.

 

[jasondavis]

idea of future proof a pc is a fail.

after 2 years mainstream parts will be faster than your current ones, its best to start with platform that can be upgraded over time to keep pace with your needs.

Hello I agree completly, I consider this to be an upgradable approach myself. It will be upgradable to the 6-core processor soon as well as memory/ram upgradable to 24gb, sata3, usb3. How is it not an upgradable approach? Thanks

 

[Dangman]

Just a FYI, even you spend $7000 on this PC today, it still won't last that much longer than a $1500 PC. Just keep that in mind.

Also: RAID IS NOT BACKUP. Even RAID 6 can fail completely. It's not "pretty safe". So again, RAID just guarantees UPTIME, not BACKUP. So make sure you have an external hard drive, file server, NAS, etc to backup your data. So will you be setting aside money for a backup server/device or rely totally on the RAID array?

In addition, which satellite provider do you have now? Are you trying to record premium HD content such as HBO or just regular local HD content?

And yes you will probably need two video cards if you want a reliable way of getting three displays and if you really want to connect to a 4th display/TV.

Here's a prelim build:
$470 - Intel Core i7-930 CPU + Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R X58 ATX Motherboard Combo
$330 - 2 x G.Skill F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$130 - 2 x XFX HD-465X-ZDF2 Radeon HD 4650 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$440 - 2 x Intel SSDSA2M080G2XXX 2.5" 80GB SSD (RAID 0)
$25 - LG GH22NS50 DVD Burner
$120 - Antec Truepower New TP750 Blue 750W PSU
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Total: $1515 plus tax and shipping.

Purposely left out the storage HDDs until we know your answer to the above questions.

Choose your own case:
$50 - Cooler Master Elite 335 RC-335-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$50 - Thermaltake WingRS 201 VJ60001N2Z ATX Case
$55 - Antec 300 ATX Case
$70 - Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$80 - Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$110 - Lian Li PC-E8B ATX Case
$120 - Lian Li PC-7FN ATX Case
$120 - Thermaltake ElementS VK60001N2Z ATX Case
$130 - Cooler Master Storm Sniper ATX Case
$150 - Antec P183 ATX Case
$160 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$170 - Cooler Master Cosmos S 1000 RC-1100-KSN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$180 - Cooler Master ATCS 840 RC-840-KKN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$180 - Lian Li PC-B25F ATX Case
$210 - Silverstone FT01-B ATX Case
$240 - Lian Li PC-V1200A Plus II ATX Case
$300 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Full Tower ATX Case
$330 - Silverstone Temjin SST-TJ07B Full Tower ATX Case

 

[jasondavis]

@Danny Bui,
Thanks for the reply. I understand that raid is not a replacement for backup but I am still not certain of the best route to go about my storage. If I go with an external system for backup, it would need to be an array of drives as well I think to be able to backup such a large quantity of data. I realize it is better to have an external raid so there is 2 raids of the sames data though. For now I will just hold off for a little while on my backup solution, probably build a NAS for that after building the PC. I might just end up using 1 2tb drive for data and then building a seperate storage system to store all the data on, like a NAS or data server with windows home server, that might be better in the long run.

For satelite I have DISH network. When I say record shows and stuff I am not even sure they are in HD so HD is not that important I don't think. It would mostly be stuff from discovery channels, natgeo, and maybe some tv shows that I like.

The 80gb SSD seems like a good size for my needs but I will probably not go with RAID-0 only because I have read so much about it not supporting TRIM and not lasting very long, I could be wrong though? In all reality though, If I can make a Drive IMAGE with all my software installed and settings how I like where I could format a drive and start over with all my software and stuff ready to go then raid-0 on my SSD's might not be to bad of an idea, when the drives gets wore down, I could just throw a new set on for a couple hundred bucks and be back up in action in no time. So if I do the raid-0 with the SSD's, would I need a raid controller card or should I just use the motherboard's raid support for that?

Another note about SSD's, I was reading about the SSD's that use SATA 3. They seem to get like 300mb/s read, almost double the read speed by using the SATA3 versions, do you have any thoughts on that?

For watching some video from ym PC on to a TV display, what wuld be the best route? Also for my recording from satelite box to PC, I probably need some sort of tv tuner card?

Thanks for helping me clear some things up.

 

[Dangman]

I recommend this 2TB drive:
$140 - Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 HDS722020ALA330 2TB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

For RAID 0, the motherboard's RAID controller will be enough. RAID 0 doesn't wear out SSDs that fast.

To record from your satelite box to the PC, you'll neec this:
$205 - Hauppauge HD PVR

Also does your TV have HDMI input or just component?

A WHS server would be a bit more cost effective since a hardware RAID card (what you need for a RAID 5 array) will cost about $400 by itself + cables. Here's a prelim WHS setup:

$184 - AMD Athlon II X2 240 CPU + Gigabyte GA-890GPA-UD3H AMD 890GX ATX Motherboard
$54 - Crucial 2GB DDR3 1066 RAM
$140 - Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 HDS722020ALA330 2TB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$110 - Corsair 750TX 750W PSU
$70 - Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$100 - Microsoft Windows Home Server with Power Pack 1
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Total: $659 plus tax and shipping.