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System Build

V

vbc22

n00b
Joined
Sep 27, 2007
Messages
13
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
will be used as a multi-tasking system ranging from software development (will run VM Ware), videos, databases, currently do not game, but may--out of interest--for later on; want a system that will be expansive and flexible


2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
don't really have a budget; want high-end, quality components that will endure years of service and stay competitive


3) Where do you live?
Canada; have taken a liken the two retailers as provided in the products links below...


4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.

case: Corsair Obsidian Series 800D Full Tower Case EATX 5X5.25 4X3.5 Hotswappable 2X3.5INT No PS USB 1394
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=41960&vpn=CC800DW&manufacture=Corsair

motherboard: ASUS P6T7 WS Supercomputer LGA1366 Intel X58 EATX DDR3 7PCI-E16 SAS Sound GBLAN 1394 Motherboard
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=42089&vpn=P6T7%20WS%20SUPERCOMPUTER&manufacture=ASUS

processor: Intel Core i7 960 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.2GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S OEM
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=45598&vpn=AT80601002727AA&manufacture=Others

memory: Corsair XMS3 Dominator GT CMG6GX3M3A2000C8 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-2000 CL 8-8-8-24 Core i7 Memory Kit (2x)
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=41799&vpn=CMG6GX3M3A2000C8&manufacture=Corsair

hard drives (C:\): Western Digital VelociRaptor 150GB 10,000rpm SATA II w/ 16MB Cache (2x)
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX21900(ME).aspx

hard drives (D:\): Western Digital WD15EADS Caviar Green 1.5TB SATA 32MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive OEM (2x)
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=37813&vpn=WD15EADS&manufacture=Western%20Digital%20WD

video card: BFG GeForce GTX 295 1792MB PCI-E (Rev. B) w/ Dual DVI, HDMI
(optional: get 2 so that each monitor plugs into separate video cards? will this only benefit gaming? I open a lot of PDFs, have videos running...basically I use the 2 monitors to its full extent and want good rendering performances)
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX24822(ME).aspx

power supply: OCZ Z-SERIES 1000W 80+ Gold Certified 24PIN ATX 83A 12V Afc Modular Power Supply W/ 135mm Fan
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=44873&vpn=OCZZ1000M&manufacture=OCZ%20Technology

cd & dvd Liteon IHAS124 24X DVD Writer SATA Black OEM
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=45244&vpn=IHAS124-04&manufacture=Liteon


5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
will reuse the following, other than that all-new components except monitors, keyboard, mouse
audio card: Audiophile 2496 - 4-In/4-Out Audio Card with MIDI and Digital I/O
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496.html


6) Will you be overclocking?
will not


7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
currently use:
monitor: Samsung SyncMaster 305T (2x)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001098


8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
within the week; have been reviewing components for the past few months


9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
want to RAID 0 on each of the C:\ and D:\ drives


10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
no, will purchase:
operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64BIT DVD OEM
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=45278&vpn=GLC-00736&manufacture=Microsoft

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

having never built a system myself, this will be a first

am I missing anything?

is this overkill?

are there better parts choices that can be improved upon? bearing in mind what the system's envisioned purpose, capability, and compatibility

appreciate any suggestions or guidance
 
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also want to add that I work with a lot of high resolution photos ranging from 1.5 to 5 mbs, greater than 3000px

images are accessed from a networked NAS
 
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To an extent it seems overkill.

If your not going to OC the processor seems fine, but you could spend less and clock up to that speed.

The motherboard is overkill if not overclocking. Just because ASUS calls it "Workstation" doesn't mean anything. Unless you need some feature found on it that the lower end boards don't have, I'd spend less and get a P6T or P6T LE.

Raid 0 for the hard drives seems a bit overkill as well. Unless your going to be doing some crazy I/O I'd think you would be better off getting a SSD for the OS drive and perhaps doing Raid 1 on the storage for some degree of data protection. Or using the 2nd drive to back up every once and a while or the like. But I'm not sure how much I/O you would really be doing.

The graphics card is way overkill if your not a gamer or doing 3d rendering or cad or something like that.

Lastly I'm thinking you could get away with a lower PSU. Check http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp It should help you figure out what you need.


Though the computer you have there is certainly powerful. It's most likely a bit more than what you really need.
 
Such a horrible system in terms of price to performance value. You could spend $5000 on a PC today and it still would be matched by a $1200 system the next year. In addition, you could totally get an equally powerful system for 2/3 of the price.

So for my recommendations:
1) Ditch the GTX 295. It's a straight up gaming only video card. If you are not gaming whatsoever, the cheapest PCI-E video card with two DVI ports will be the same to you as that GTX 295 with the usage scenario you're describing. If you're planning on watching HD content, just make sure that the video card is at least a ATI HD 4350 since the HD 4XXX series and the HD5xxx series can offload the decoding of properly formatted HD content which means significantly less CPU usage. At least $480 CAD in savings

2) Ditch the Dominator RAM. Dominator RAM are never ever worth the extra costs for them as you would not be able to notice the difference between them and a RAM set thats half the price. Since you're not overclocking at all, DDR3 1333 RAM will be more than enough for your needs. There is no difference between DDR3 2000 and DDR3 1333 RAM in real worlds apps and games outside of headroom for overclocking. The same is also said of lower latency RAM: You would not be able to notice a difference between CAS 9 and CAS6 RAM. So basically: get DDR3 1333 thats rated at a voltage of 1.65V or lower and you'll be set. Something like this RAM:
$149 CAD - Patriot Extreme Performance Pgs 6GB 3X2GB DDR3-1333 RAM

You're not gonna notice a difference between the Dominator RAM and the above Patriot RAM at all. $270 CAD saved.

3) The clock speed that the i7 960 does not warrant the extra $258 CAD for it over the i7 920. The difference is very very minute: At most 5%. Is 5% really worth it for $258 CAD? Yeah, thats what I thought. So go for the i7 920. Another $258 in savings

4) The OCZ Z-Series is a good PSU no doubt about it. However it is compeltely overkill as well as horribly expensive for what it offers. A good quality 550W PSU would be more than enough for that setup. If you still want a high quality PSU, there are better high-priced but high quality and overkill PSUs out there for the money. The Seasonic M12D is a good example:
$160 CAD - Seasonic M12D 750W PSU

Another $113 CAD saved.

So far, we shaved off $1080 CAD off the total cost of the system while mainting the same performance and quality. And there's still more we can do:

5) Motherboard wise, unless you're gonna use SAS drives right off the bat or plan to actually use all of those PCI-E x16 slots. From what you have said so far, the Asus P6T is more than enough for your wants and needs. That's another $170 CAD

6) Velociraptor drives, for all intents and purposes, are dead. Many consumer grade video cards can EASILY perform on par if not better than the Velociraptor drives. Examples would the Western Digital WD6400AAKS or WD6401AALS drives. If you really want a fast and response system, go SSD all the way. Good link to check out:
http://www.alphaq.org/enginurd/hdd/ocz_vertex.html

Notice that the WD Velociraptor is pretty much smacked by the Intel and OCZ SSDs. So either get the cheaper WD 640GB Blue or Black drives for the same performance as a WD Velociraptor or an Intel (only get the G2 models) or OCZ SSD (Vertex and Agility IIRC) for a huge improvement in system responsiveness and load times. Not gonna mention savings here since going the SSD route would probably cost the same amount of cash.

7) WTF is with the RAID 0 1.5TB array for? If they're just storage drives, just leave them separate.

Ok so far, we've cut the build down by $1250 CAD and still have the same performance, quality, competitiveness, and capability. I know you want a high quality system but, as I showed above, you can get the same but for less.
 
EDIT: I type slow, so I'm probably repeating many or all of the things Danny mentioned in my post below. :p
===============

I agree w/ JSki. You could do a lot better as far as bang for buck is concerned. I'll leave the build to others who have more time to shop around (like HG and shiro), but I'll comment on your parts choices...

Great case! expensive, but great. However, it won't do anything for you as far as performance goes, lol, so just be aware you're paying a lot simply for looks/convenience.

I see no SAS drives on your list, so no need for that Asus board, as JSki pointed out; the P6T SE would be fine if you're not doing SLI. SLI is still single monitor, AFAIK. If you want to use both for gaming, you'll want ATI w/ Eyefinity, so the SE version of the P6T should suffice.

The i7 960 is double the price of the i7 920, but its only 600Mhz faster -- definitely not worth the price premium regardless if you're OC'ing or not, IMO. If you're afraid of OC'ing because this is your first build, no need to worry, Intel Turbo Boost will auto OC for you. :p

Dominators are never worth their hefty price premium over standard XMS3 sticks. Also, since this is your first build, for best compatibility, it would be best to stick with 1.5v DDR3 RAM, since thats the JEDEC standard setting.

VRaptors are worthless these days. If you want speed, get an SSD. Here, take a look at my VRaptor getting murdered by my SSDs: http://ssd.alphaq.org

The HD5870 would be a better option -- wait for it to get in stock if you'll be gaming. If you're not gaming, no need for such a high end card. Even the lower end cards can open PDF files (its all 2D, which is cake for these cards). If you don't want something too low end, get something like the HD 4770 or HD 5750.

1kW is overkill for a single vidcard system, and OCZ isn't the brand of choice for PSUs (though, that is a good model from them). If you're planning on a dual card system, an 850W should suffice if you only have 4 or less HDDs. Personally, I'd stick with Corsair, Seasonic, PC P&C, and Antec TruePower New instead. If you're staying with a single card system, then a 650W would be more than enough.
 
Hi,

Appreciate the suggestions, thanks. I'll re-evaluate the parts recommended.
 
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