Seeking advice on this build

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ns13d1

n00b
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Jan 13, 2011
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Ive been a long time HOCP reader first time poster. I am building a photo/video editing computer for an acquaintance's step dad but im looking for a bit of advice on a couple of things. First i'd like to know what you guys think of the machine in question (parts list is below joined by newxgg links) second not sure what to charge for the actual build since ive never built out of my circle of friends or fam which you can imagine is pretty cheap labor, considering this is a pretty nice build i wanna be fair.. any help on what to charge will be greatly appreciated.

Processor: Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211

Motherboard: ASUS Rampage III Extreme LGA 1366 Intel X58
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131642

RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145224

Videocard: EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130593

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116762

The rest: LG WH10LS30K 10X Blu-ray Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136181

LG Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136177

Nippon Labs Delux 3.5" Internal All In One Card Reader/Writer with USB2.0 & eSATA Ports
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820816001

Thanks in advance
 
Perhaps consider a Sandy Bridge setup? An i7-2600 will cost about as much as that i7-950, and be faster.
 
i agree, everthing else is good but why dont u try this build too one of the forum members suggested it try if it doesnt exceed ur budget

i7 2600K + good heatsink (Silver Arrow perhaps), overclocked to nearly 5Ghz. High overclocking steppings are unkown thus far.
- Possibly the Asus p67 chipset motherboard (new hardware, but if Gigabyte has a board out, it's likely to be good as well).
- 8GB (4 x 2GB) of High-clock binned "elpida Hyper MGH-E" RAM, Super Talent brand is generally cheapest.
- Dual GTX 580's (these overclock well on stock cooling) or Dual HD 6970 GPU's [ I forgot, how well does p67 chipset handle multi-GPU setups?] - Hmm... ok, p67 will divide PCI-Express into 8x/8x, which is likely fine for up to 2 GPU's. You'd have to use X58 (or wait for "X68") for 3-way GPU and above. Still... DUAL-GPU's = fast as hell... and scaling beyond DUAL = not as good.
- Antec 1200 high-current PSU
- Corsair 700D or 800D case (because it's damned great).
- Lite-on or similar Blu-ray reader or burner of choice with 8mb of cache (I'm told that this makes some difference for some reason vs the 2mb drives)
- Samsung or Western Digital hard drives, SSD's for OS/games/programs (Crucial C300, or Sandforce based SSD's, or Intel X25-M-G2) - BUT nextgen SSDs are coming out very soon (maybe crucial c400, Intel G3, "sandforce 2," etc).
- 3 x LCD's of choice. Maybe the 27" Dell IPS displays, or 30" IPS... not sure. Get a good wall-mount system for these, and a nice U-shaped desk perhaps.
- Sound Card of choice.

or else just change your nvidia card into a a dual sli setup ull definitely need it for good video editing and when u finished putting up ur rig don't forget to install gamebooster a software from iobit. its a freeware but its pretty powerful to increase ur pc performance, it cuts out unecessary background processes
 
You are throwing away perfectly good money if the machine is being built to do photo/video editing. You need to be very careful when offering a price quote and spending other peoples money. If they shop around with your quote, you will look terrible buying the latest 'n' greatest when someone else tells them they are wasting their cash buying from you and your recommendations.

GTX570? Win7 Ultimate? 1366/Rampage III Extreme?

And as far as pricing goes, it depends on what purchasing agreements you have for hardware/software, and what level of support you plan to offer over the next year.

For example, I can get most hardware 10% cheaper then what people can run to N C I X or Newegg and get. So, I take that 10% and pocket it. Labour-wise, it's $50 to assemble and test, and $50 to load the OS and software. I can net anywhere between $250-$400 on a high-end build. I provide my clients with 1 year support on hardware, and 15 days on labour. I also provide them with a day 1 image incase they hoop their system due to user error.

So it's up to you how you price out things. Some people charge less and provide zero after sales support, which is fine also. But my value-add is my post-sales experience and my returning clients fuel a large portion of my PC business, and also become clients for my other two businesses.

There is way too many PC builders out there to make any money at this game- but if you treat them right and fair, it is a great marketing channel should you have other services that you can offer.
 
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If you are set on building them a "high-end" system, then here is a suggested list:

System Hardware ($1425):
Lancool PC-K60WB Black ATX Advanced Mid Tower Case 5X5.25 4X3.5INT
EVGA P55 ATX LGA1156 DDR3 SLI CrossFire 3PCI-E16 1PCI-E1 2PCI Sound GBLAN Motherboard
Intel Core i5 760 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.8GHZ 8MB
G.SKILL F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL Ripjaws 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9-24 240PIN
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Fermi 675MHZ 768MB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E DX11
Corsair TX750W 750W
Intel X25-M 120GB 2.5IN SSD SATA II Solid State Disk
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB SATA2 7200RPM
LG BH10LS30 Bluray Writer 10X BD-R 16X DVD-RW Lightscribe SATA Retail Box

Software ($285):
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Edition 64BIT
Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Student English 32/64BIT Medialess Product Key Card
Microsoft Security Essentials

Peripherals ($370):
Samsung BX2431 24IN Widescreen LED LCD Monitor 1920X1080 2MS 5M:1DC 2HDMI VGA
Logitech Illuminated Keyboard
Logitech Corded Mouse M500 USB

Note: These are joe-blow prices and can be found cheaper, and the brand/models can also be substituted with other options... but YMMV. For clients that like to do video and photo editing, input devices are just as important as the horsepower under the hood - which is why I included the display/mouse and keyboard. Also, from my experience, 1TB is not enough for most professionals. Load the OS and programs on the SSD and make two 1TB partitions on the storage drive.

If it is work-critical, include an option for an external storage drive for backups.
 
There is no reason not to go with a Sandy Bridge configuration. An i5-2500 is very affordable and very fast.
 
Ok guys i screwed this up big time. The guy i built this for ordered parts before i saw all this feedback and i had no choice but to go through with the build.

Thanks for all the replies/advice!
 
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