Big project, $3200 cnd budget

Okay, so I need to build a gaming computer
If you could use www.Memoryexpress.com for the main source thay would rock. Though www.ncix.com or www.newegg.ca are okay too. Memory express is just local. No preference for either ninvidia or ati.

Any advise is appciated.


Potential system:
Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 800D Full Tower
Video card: Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 OC Edition
CPU: Intel Core™ i7 Processor 950 3.06GHz (I know the step lower is a better bang for the buck..but it took forever to talk the person supplying the money out of the extreme core x3)
Motherboard: Asus P6X58D Premium
Ram: Corsair 6GB XMS3-1600
Hard drives:
2 x Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black
1 x Intel X25-M Mainstream 34nm
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-D14 or the Black shadow
Power supply: Corsair Hx 1000W
Optical drive: LG BH08 Super Multi Blue 8x


Thoughts?

I'll let someone else piece your build, but I wouldn't get the extreme, your money is better spent elsewhere or being saved for a video card upgrade in the future.
Get the ATI 5970 and build your system around there with a nice SSD for the OS and common applications.

i would go for i7 920, ati 5800 5900 crossfire, intel x-25 raid config, water-cooling, and much more ^^

i'm waiting for someone with lots of knowledge to bust out a killer system haha.

Water cooling, no
sli/crossfire I don't think I can do, looking to run multiple monitors

5970 or 5870?
tripple channel 12gb ddr3?
full tower case?
New thermalright venomous cpu cooler?

Thermaltake Level 10 case (designed by BMW)- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...1133089&cm_re=level_10-_-11-133-089-_-Product
$850 ($850 total)

Intel i7 920 Quad-Core CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202&cm_re=920-_-19-115-202-_-Product
$289 ($1,139 total)

Corsair H50 CPU Cooler - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010&Tpk=h50
$78 ($1,217 total)

eVGA X58 Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3188049&cm_re=evga_x58-_-13-188-049-_-Product
$240 ($1457 total)

Corsair XMS3 6GB DDR3 1600 RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145236
Two of these: 12GB of memory, $380 ($1,837 total)

Seagate Barracuda 2TB Hard Drive - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148506
$299 ($2,136 total)

Asus 5970 GPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121357&cm_re=5970-_-14-121-357-_-Product
$649 ($2785 total)

Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153054
$339 ($3124 total)

Total: $3124.

Dude, you're gonna have the most kickass computer around.

I like your setup WayOut....EXCEPT......for the Level 10 case. Yes, it is wild looking. But I would say the money spent on this case could EASILY be spent elsewhere (SSD drive, another vid card....) and bump it up ANOTHER notch.

I am looking to spend about 3500 to 4000 dollars for my system in about a month so I enjoy seeing what builds people can come up with.

Thanks

The Level 10 is so awesome though. It doesn't have a window, and I'm not sure about watercooling, but it's just so unique, and everyone who has it likes it. My second choice, for sure, is the Corsair 800D, but that Level 10 is just too cool. Plus I love BMW's.

try the corsair 800d alot of people have in oc.... check it out ^^ nvm i didnt read above.... hella yes 800d ^^

Great choice on the 800D ... I'm waiting for mine to be delivered now.

Suggestion for PSU ::


Amazing product... Should meet your needs if your sticking with that 5970.

They also come with a really good warrenty (7 years I think)

Sugestion for CPU Cooler ::


Its a sealed water unit... the 800d and this (H50) were pretty much designed to be used together.

As for HHD's get a fast SSD with a good controller and then get WD Caviar Blacks for Storage, games etc.

LucifurFox said:

Water cooling, no
sli/crossfire I don't think I can do, looking to run multiple monitors

Click to expand...

What resolution monitors? How many?

edit: I just notice you picked a $320 case. Really? 10% of your budget??

I know people hear $3200 and think "yeah, lets suggest some expensive crap!" but don't lose focus on what matters - performance... Unless you're also into Civics with 4 foot spoilers or BMWs and all that

I think people get too worked up and excited to do a build and fail to read the original post...it's in CND dollars and he would like to use that specific vendor...
A side note, 800 dollars for a case? Really, I mean Really?

Ok I was going to go to town and do a cross comparison on all 3 vendors with a suggested build, but my kid is crying, so I'll slowly fill in this with suggestions.


First - Case
I have always been a bad case buyer, because I hide my case, so I want the biggest Case with the best cooling options.
the ANTEC Twelve Hundred Ultimate Gamer Case, @ ~$200 would be my choice of case if I was looking for something to hold my ultimate gaming computer and look good.

For Power supplys, I used to have to go to the US to get them, but PC Power and Cool are the best, now you can get them in Canada which makes them even better! anyway for this build I would go for the PC Power and Cooling Silencer 910W Power Supply @ ~$230

CPU cooler, I really like the one mentioned above, Corsair Hydro Series H50 CPU Cooler and @ ~$70 it is well priced as well

For Graphics Cards the Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 OC Edition seems to be THE card, and the price varies from $699-$730


For hard drives, I don't understand WHY people are using 1TB and 2TB drives for the OS install, we have SSD HDD's you should be buying a 64GB SSD HDD like the Corsair Extreme Series 2.5in SATA II Solid State Drive, 64GB @~$250 for your OS and game install, and a secondary 1TB HDD for Media like a Seagate 1TB Barracuda 7200.12 SATA II w/ 32MB Cache @~$95

you keep the system running fast with minimal bottle necks, $250 for a SSD drive is a requirement for a system over $2500 otherwise your HDD is the bottle neck, plus they are nice and quiet, and I like quiet.

I can't really give an opinion on the motherboard RAM combo until I've done a little bit of research, but the kid wont let me for now,

but PLEASE, don't waste money on a $800 case then ignore the awesome hard drive combination options available today

If it was my money, here's how it would be spent:

Asus P6T: Great value for an X58 board, no reason to spend any more, http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX23264(ME).aspx $270

i7 920: Make sure they send you a D0, clock it up and you're all set, no reason to waste cash on an 'extreme' version, http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX22588(ME).aspx $330

U120E: It'll cool an i7 just fine, and they don't sell the Megahalems at memoryexpress.com, http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX25402(ME).aspx $70

3x2GB Corsair DDR3-1600: 6GB is plenty for a gaming rig, http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX22567(ME).aspx $178 AMIR

Corsair TX850W: Enough juice to run an i7 OC'd like crazy plus a 5970 or 5870 crossfire, http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX22748(ME).aspx $119 AMIR

(2) Intel X25-M gen 2: A pair of these SSDs in RAID 0 will make a great home for Windows, http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX26840(ME).aspx $265*2=$530

(2) WD 1TB Black: Storage and whatnot, also keep an image of the OS partition on these. I'd go with RAID 1, if you don't need a ton of space, and for a gaming rig, you probably won't. $100 each, compared to $300-$350 for a single 2TB drive. http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX22448(ME).aspx $100*2=$200

Auzentech X-Raider 7.1: I have one, and for the money, you just can't beat it. No need to waste $200+ on a fancy sound card that will sound nearly the same as a cheaper one - and you can upgrade the opamps for a sound that'll spank the pricier options, http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX24908(ME).aspx $50 AMIR

Windows 7 Home Premium: If you don't own a retail copy, http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX25758(ME).aspx $130

The 5970 is out of stock, but I'm reserving $650-$700 for one of those.

That brings the total to roughly $2550 before fans (up to your taste) and case, again, up to your taste - I like Silverstone and Lian-Li, but the Antec 900/1200 isn't a bad option for the money either.

That leaves some room to play around. Want a faster/bigger OS partition? Get another pair of SSDs. Have a huge collection of data you'll be storing? Go ahead and splurge on the 2TB drives, I'd avoid Seagate though. Their reputation hasn't been great lately. You won't need more than 6GB of RAM for gaming, but if you want to run 60 things at once, go ahead and grab a second 3x2GB kit. Want modular cables for the PSU? Add $70 to bump up to the HX850W.

does anyone know of which ssd model from ocz beat everything for performance per watt i'm talking about using the lowest power but one of the highest performing ssds.

it was in a review that was meant to compare laptop harddrives to ssd. focusing on the speed and power usage.(ssd uses as much power as well laptop hdds)

for the money he might as well get the best performing ssd. I also second the seagate thing, I don't really trust them, i'd prefer western digital and samsung spinpoints. Samsung spinpoint f3 are good for sequencial data read(the fastest which would be good for storage) and very reliable and economical so that he can blow the rest on performance.

@ratbuddy are those intel ssd's faster than an ocz vertex? (btw look for a ocz model with sata II I think that's part of the model name, those will use less power) intel's don't look bad on paper there with idle consumption and latencies.

i'd second the corsair psu's too since almost all the ones i've seen are intelligently engineered from the base model to the hx1000.

he's pretty much set on a 5970

so the only real stuff up to question is motherboard and ram. might need to review these for best performance along with ssd's since any corsair psu i7 920 and 5970 are pretty much non varying.

theres no need to spend 1000 on any extreme version cpu's when the 60% cheaper processors based on the same cores can overclock to the same speed and beyond. always get the best known overclocking stepping and you should be fine.

i7 975 extreme would be $1259 at memoryexpress
the motherboard is 270 as ratbuddy mentioned
ram is 178
ocz some ssd's are 600-700
5970 is at least 600
the bmw case is at least 800
hx1000 is around 300 or less
2x1 tb wd black =~200

what i'm trying to get to is using an extreme cpu+bmw would mess up the budget=4207

The case is really a personal choice, just pick one out that you like and is big enough for everything you want to squeeze in there.

i7 920-good for OCing
Big Corsair PSU like the HX1000 or HX850, or maybe a Silverstone Strider or Seasonic X-series.
SSD for OS-don't know much about these, so I won't say anything more
5970-if you have money

If you don't want to water cool, go with a nice big HSF.

So, after some pondering, and all your help. ive come up with this as the first possible system:

Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 800D Full Tower
Video card: Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 OC Edition
CPU: Intel Core™ i7 Processor 950 3.06GHz
Motherboard: Asus P6T X58
Ram: Corsair 6GB XMS3-1600
Hard drives:
2 x Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black
1 x Intel X25-M Mainstream 34nm
CPU cooler: Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme
Power supply: PC Power and Cooling Silencer 910W
Optical drive: LG BH08 Super Multi Blue 8x

Total cost: 3144.00

Thoughts?

That's a great setup. Tell you the truth, I would go with the Corsair H50 for CPU cooling. Yes, it is water-cooling, but it is easy to set up, performs better than air, and just looks slick, especially in that 800D. Just my two cents

That PSU is supposedly loud despite its name. If you want something quiet look at a Seasonic X-series.

WayOut said:

That's a great setup. Tell you the truth, I would go with the Corsair H50 for CPU cooling. Yes, it is water-cooling, but it is easy to set up, performs better than air, and just looks slick, especially in that 800D. Just my two cents

Click to expand...

Respectfully disagree. I think the H50 looks pretty awful, especially the kinked tubing. I prefer the looks of a big ole heatsink.