New i7 any suggestions before i order

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Jbort1984

[H]ard|Gawd
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May 28, 2009
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OK well gf suprised me with my xmas gift early her new shiny newegg credit card and a $3000 spending limit she paying for half of it. So after a few hours of searching the website this is what ive come up with to build as my newest pc. I all ready have the matrox digital 1dvi to 3 dvi for the 3 monitor setup and i have 4 2tb sata hdd drives and my 2 bluray burners to add in. Have no problem changing anything in the comp if theres something thats around the same price but better performance except I DO NOT WANT ANY ATI video cards this is an nvidia build my current rig has the ati cards and the case was themed around them this pc is going to be themed around nvidia logos colors.

$2,909.67 was my total shipped so remeber i oinly have $90.33 of play room

Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower

3x ViewSonic VA2702w Black 27" Full HD WideScreen LCD Monitor

3x EVGA 768-P3-1360-TR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Antec TPQ-1200 1200W Continuous Power with PowerCache Technology SLI Ready CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular

2x G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9T-12GBRL

ASUS Rampage III Formula LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601950

1xCrucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
 
To be honest I would go for a GTX 580 and down the road get another one. You also could wait for the 6900 series to come out on the 13th to see what price and preformance they offer.
 
This should probably be moved to the General [H] forum.

I see a few pointers about that build:

-Stay away from using 3 mediocre videocards (460 768MB) as its not the most efficient in scaling and power draw.
I would replace that with 2x GTX 460 1GB as it can compete and even surpass a GTX 580.
And you won't need that matrox thing for triple monitor support.

You're going to want a bigger SSD than 64GB. That will run out really quick.
opt for the 128GB version or a Intel X-25 160GB or something.

by '2x G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB)' do you mean 24GB total?
I don't know what you're going to be doing with this PC but even 12GB may be way overkill for your needs. Cut off the fat as necessary.
 
Is it just me or does that build feels underwhelming for the price? I recommend using following this thread and posting a build help thread in General hardware. No harm to see what the [H] guys can whip up together, just deduct your monitor setup price unless that is also flexible.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1349433
 
Ok Well i know 24gb of ram is massive overkill but ive always had something in my pc that wasnt needed and this ones gonna be the 24gb ram just because. Im using a matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition Video converter so i can have make all 3 of my monitors 1 monitor. This computer will be used for everything from gaming to auto cad and mya. I also play with photo shop and music recording and mastering software. For the recomendation on the ssd My current pc has a 40gb and im happy with that i ahve 6 tb of sata 2 hdds for the new pc so storage space and software installation space wont be an issue want the ssd for mostly my os.
 
Nightbird said:
Is it just me or does that build feels underwhelming for the price?
Click to expand...


Not just you. It is not a good selection of parts when you consider the price.

First, I suggest waiting till January for Sandy Bridge. To spend that much 6 weeks before a new architecture comes out will result in buyers remorse...


I also agree with the 2x460 1GB vs. your current 3x460 768MB selection.

PSU is way oversized for either 3x768 or 2x1GB 460 videocards. I would get the Corsair 650HX or TX if going with the two 1GB videocards. Maybe the 750W version if those 6TB are spread out over a lot of little drives
 
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I doubt you need more than 8GB of ram. Hell, if you're just gaming, 4GB is enough.

I highly suggest waiting as the 69xx are just around the corner, along with the Sandy Bridge.
 
i say hold your horses until sandy bridge.

do not get those video cards to run 3 monitors, not enough ram.

whats up with 24gb of ram and only 64gb ssd? thats so odd for some reason.

its like buying a server with that much ram but with only 64gb of space, lol.
 
Jbort1984 said:
Ok Well i know 24gb of ram is massive overkill but ive always had something in my pc that wasnt needed and this ones gonna be the 24gb ram just because. Im using a matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition Video converter so i can have make all 3 of my monitors 1 monitor. This computer will be used for everything from gaming to auto cad and mya. I also play with photo shop and music recording and mastering software. For the recomendation on the ssd My current pc has a 40gb and im happy with that i ahve 6 tb of sata 2 hdds for the new pc so storage space and software installation space wont be an issue want the ssd for mostly my os.
Click to expand...

You're negating the benefits of an SSD if youre only using it for OS install and your games/apps are still all on HDDs. You want a fast responsive experience, then load your programs from an SSD. I'd say its worth it.

I really think 24GB is pointless and a waste of money if you're not going to utilize it.
12GB is plenty overkill. I know bigger number is tempting but you're not going to see any real world difference so go with 6/8/12GB
 
Okay so first things first:

1) You cannot run 460s in tri-SLI, so the setup you have described is not physically possible.

2) A video card with 768MB frame buffer will not handle tri-monitor resolutions even if you could link three 460s together.

If your really want to blow 3,000 on a SLI Surround build, cut your RAM back down to 6GB or 12GB, take the extra money and go with 2x 580s. Having 24GB of RAM will net you very little, certainly nothing 12GB won't handle. And 2x 580s will guarantee you can handle all your games at the resolutions you are looking to push.

FYI I have a 2x 580 and i7 system driving 3x Dell U2410 monitors (www.thetechaddiction.com if you want to see my detailed build) so I know from experience what works.
 
Rizen Beat me to it with the gtx 460..

Another thing to add, having soo much ram will leave you with very little disk space. Windows likes the page file to be the same as the amount of ram (preferably 1.5x), having less than this will at some point show up low system memory warnings. I wouldn't use a drive less than 128gb in a desktop (in fact Id go for at-least 240gb).

I recommend you go with 12gb (of 1600mhz) to start with (this will also make over clocking easier), and if you find you need more - by all means go ahead (after all this is the easiest thing to upgrade). Also the PSU is over kill, something smaller will easily suit your needs, just check it has the connectors your need (namely 6/8 pin PCIe).

I second waiting a month or so for Sandy Bridge, much faster clocks but the downside is only two memory channels and a limit of 16gb.

PS: I like your gf!
 
Nightbird said:
Is it just me or does that build feels underwhelming for the price? I recommend using following this thread and posting a build help thread in General hardware. No harm to see what the [H] guys can whip up together, just deduct your monitor setup price unless that is also flexible.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1349433
Click to expand...

Nah, the advice here has been fairly solid so far, along the lines of what the GenHard people would say.

Anyway, considering that we're only a month and a half away from the release of Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs, I'd hold off on such a massive purchase, especially one that's rather terrible for the reasons that other people have stated (Impossible GPU setup, limited GPU performance setup, overkill RAM, etc, etc)
 
I would also cut the RAM and put the money to 2x 580 SLI, if you're dead set on building now.
 
Danny Bui said:
Nah, the advice here has been fairly solid so far, along the lines of what the GenHard people would say.

Anyway, considering that we're only a month and a half away from the release of Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs, I'd hold off on such a massive purchase, especially one that's rather terrible for the reasons that other people have stated (Impossible GPU setup, limited GPU performance setup, overkill RAM, etc, etc)
Click to expand...

Cool, and good idea.

Get a 1155 MB for 250$, get a i7 2600K for 350$, overclock it to 5ghz with a 65$ HS. This will beat any MB-CPU-HS combo you can buy now for Performance/~650$ ratio by 30+%.
 
I would change everything for Sandybridge on January 5,2011. I would bet that the i7 2600K will be faster than the i7 950.
 
First thank you rizen for your detailed response was very helpful. changes ive made so far is going with
1 set of 2x4gb memory pc 1600
2x Corsair Nova Series 128GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) raid 0 prolly
2x Galaxy 58NLH5HS8GGX GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
1x Antec CP-850 850W Continuous Power CPX SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC "compatible with Core i7" Power Supply
I no longer need the monitors got 2 32in plasma 1080p displays from work today so my total down to $2500 ish with shipping.

OK now for the dumb questions whats this sandy bridge you keep talking. Work 7 days a week till january and only have like 45 min a night on my comp before bed. If i wait for sandy brodge whats there prices goinge to be like if theres quotes out cool if not no biggy and whats the performance gains going to compare to. Like 478 to pentium d or pentium d - core 2 duo.
 
Jbort1984 said:
First thank you rizen for your detailed response was very helpful. changes ive made so far is going with
1 set of 2x4gb memory pc 1600
2x Corsair Nova Series 128GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) raid 0 prolly
2x Galaxy 58NLH5HS8GGX GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
1x Antec CP-850 850W Continuous Power CPX SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC "compatible with Core i7" Power Supply
I no longer need the monitors got 2 32in plasma 1080p displays from work today so my total down to $2500 ish with shipping.

OK now for the dumb questions whats this sandy bridge you keep talking. Work 7 days a week till january and only have like 45 min a night on my comp before bed. If i wait for sandy brodge whats there prices goinge to be like if theres quotes out cool if not no biggy and whats the performance gains going to compare to. Like 478 to pentium d or pentium d - core 2 duo.
Click to expand...
2 things:

1) If you are going with an i7, it is 3 channel, so you need 3x sticks of RAM. I'd recommend 3x2GB or 3x4GB DIMMs depending on budget of PC16000.

2) I would highly recommend a 1000W PSU. My 1000W handles my 4.2GHz i7 and 2x 580s fine.
 
IMO I would suggest getting a single 120GB SandForce based SSD. Those Nova ones aren't that great from what I remember, and TRIM (the technology that keeps SSDs at their fastest) isn't supported over RAID. 120GB should be plenty for all your games and apps. You don't want the page file on your SSD, so no matter how large it is, it wouldn't take up the valuable SSD space. Either disable it or move it to an HDD since it will rarely (if at all) be accessed.
 
Jbort1984 said:
OK now for the dumb questions whats this sandy bridge you keep talking. Work 7 days a week till january and only have like 45 min a night on my comp before bed. If i wait for sandy brodge whats there prices goinge to be like if theres quotes out cool if not no biggy and whats the performance gains going to compare to. Like 478 to pentium d or pentium d - core 2 duo.
Click to expand...

Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs are Intel's new CPU line. They will be available on January 5th. Those Sandy Bridge CPUs will be faster clock for clock than Intel's current Core i7 lineup while being capable of high overclocks. In fact, it's been shown that a Sandy Bridge CPU can hit 5Ghz on AIR. If the price leak is true, you can get the i5 2500K for around $253 or the i5 2600K for $340. That's not that much more than the i7 950 but you can get a significantly higher OC on top of the faster clock for clock speed.

So all in all, you're better off waiting until then for an expensive PC build.
 
Rizen said:
2 things:

1) If you are going with an i7, it is 3 channel, so you need 3x sticks of RAM. I'd recommend 3x2GB or 3x4GB DIMMs depending on budget of PC16000.

2) I would highly recommend a 1000W PSU. My 1000W handles my 4.2GHz i7 and 2x 580s fine.
Click to expand...

You don't *need* tri-channel, X58 can handle Dual-channel too so 2x4GB option is there if you think 6GB is too low (really...?)
 
If you don't go for the Triple Channel you may as well drop back to a P55 Motherboard and an i7 860 and save some money..
 
Thanxs for all the input Im going to wait till january to build a new one. Going to prolly go sandy bridge or if nothing else save some money on the i7 system if there prices drp wirth the new stuff coming out. Happy thanksgiving to all
 
Get 3 of these 8 gb kits at $270 vs two of those 12gb kits for $370 if you must have 24gb

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...c=EMCPB-112010-_-PB112510-_-Item-_-20-231-311

Definately get two 1gb gtx460 hook two monitors to one and the third to the second card you can make one big display out of the three without needing the matrox piece. Was your third card for physx? the 460s will not tri sli there is only one bridge contact per card. maybe get a gts250 for physx

Have you considered the intel 120 gb ssd? Have your OS, a few critical apps, and a couple of your favorite games, and move the swap file to one of your storage drives. Use the savings on the ram and get the 128gb C300 at least. I am waiting for the intel gen3 personally as the 80 replaces the 40 gb bracket, and the 160 takes over the 80's price point

You want what you want and thats ok, but there's room to compromise in your build. a 22 at full hd is nice to me, $400 for triple monitor vs $780 on the 27's. Do you really need 1200 watts of power supply? I have a corsair hx 750, I'd reccomend the hx 850 as it has 6 6+2 pin pci express connectors. I'd also suggest waiting for the new products as the i7 2600K looks nice.
 
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