Son of a Beast

[Incongruous]

Last year I had help from Lemur and others when putting together a computer, it never happened because I went on holiday.

However this time it is different, I have the will and the money to but a true beast, here are the plans, tell me what you think and what should be changed.

[Lemur]

Unfortunately, the link you provided Bopa, is to our own, personal NewEgg accounts. It doesn't link to yours, and you wouldn't want it to. Then we could change your address, view your CC info, etc.

Maybe you could sketch out the parts the old-fashioned way?

[Incongruous]

Aaaaahhh...
ok then.

Western Digital Caviar GP WD10000LSRTL 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

ViewSonic X Series VX2260wm Black 21.5" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD Monitor

ABS Tagan BZ Series BZ900 900W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Patent Piperock Modular Power Supply

Kingston 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR1066D3N7K3/6G

ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920

EVGA 017-P3-1291-AR GeForce GTX 295 1792MB 896 (448 x 2)-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

SILVERSTONE RAVEN RV01-BW Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.156469

Thank you Lemur:shame:

[Lemur]

EVGA 017-P3-1291-AR GeForce GTX 295 1792MB 896 (448 x 2)-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card
This is the only component that jumps out and makes me say "Hmmmm." It's rarely a good idea to buy the very highest of the high-end. The price/performance ratio is all out of whack. This card is listing on NewEgg for $505 right now, which is just too darn much, especially when you can get a 285 for $385 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130442), a 4870 for $265 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121291), or a 4850x2 for $340 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102809). You're paying a $150–$250 premium to get the absolute latest and greatest, when the other cards I mentioned are probably quite close in speed.

Hey, it's your dough, so do what makes you feel good. But I recommend you consider carefully before dishing out for absolute platinum-plated top-end gear.

[Incongruous]

This is the only component that jumps out and makes me say "Hmmmm." It's rarely a good idea to buy the very highest of the high-end. The price/performance ratio is all out of whack. This card is listing on NewEgg for $505 right now, which is just too darn much, especially when you can get a 285 for $385

That was the card I was thinking of, but then this Card came cheaper than normal in a combo deal with the case.

To be honest I just clicked yes without reading up on it, it seemed a decent deal, have you heard any first hand info on it? Or played with it? Thanks for the info regarding the pricing structure though, I will remember it.

I was also worried about the case, would it be better to splash out on a brand new yet pricey case to keep it cool?

[Geezer57]

here are the plans, tell me what you think and what should be changed.

the link you provided Bopa, is to our own, personal NewEgg accounts

NewEgg does let you create public Wish Lists, in which you can place selected hardware for evaluation, if that's the way you want to roll.

Lemur's comments on your choices pretty much mirror my own - save some money on the GPU and upgrade to a bigger monitor or buy an extra HDD. That mobo has a ton of PCIe 2.0 x16 slots in it, when you later feel the need for more graphics power, just pick up a 2nd card at that time and go SLI/Crossfire with it.

[Incongruous]

NewEgg does let you create public Wish Lists, in which you can place selected hardware for evaluation, if that's the way you want to roll.

Lemur's comments on your choices pretty much mirror my own - save some money on the GPU and upgrade to a bigger monitor or buy an extra HDD. That mobo has a ton of PCIe 2.0 x16 slots in it, when you later feel the need for more graphics power, just pick up a 2nd card at that time and go SLI/Crossfire with it.

Aaah, the good advice flows in great quantity.

I am very bad at planning, an multiple card solution later on had not even crossed my mind, thanking you kindly:yes:

Do I need a bigger monitor? Its just that they tend to get very expensive after the 22" mark, what would you recomend?

Im just keen to get my hands on one of those new Core i7s:smash:

[Incongruous]

It seems I have the chance to get one of these quite a bit cheaper than priced on Newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130447

roughly just above the 380 range.

[Lemur]

Allow me to quote the most geeky of geeky website, Anandtech (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3498&p=9):


NVIDIA has the advantage on the highest end single card product, but we don't see this as a boon for anyone but people running 30" displays at this point. There really is just no reason to drop the cash on a GTX 295 unless you're looking at 2560x1600 gaming. For smaller displays, cheaper parts will work great. [...]

AMD's top of the line card is slightly cheaper than the GTX 295 and still outperforms it in some cases. Currently the Radeon HD 4870 X2 is a $450 card while the GeForce GTX 295 is a $500 part.

Look at the performance charts (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3498&p=2) (and note that most of the tests are at the insane resolution of 2560x1600) before you plonk down $500 or so for a single component.

[Incongruous]

Hmm, yes I will perhaps look into a cheaper card at this moment, and wait till say, May or June till the bigguns drop in price.

What a good website btw Lemur, it will be my tech bible from now on.

[Incongruous]

Wow, that website is awsome!
The more I read the more I am coming round to ATI and AMD.

[Incongruous]

This, I hope will force the price of the i7 and its motherboards down within the next few months, I shall pray.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/AMD-Processor-Opteron-45nm-cpu,6911.html

[Tellos Athenaios]

Yes if you want value for your money you'd be looking at the HD4xxx or HD3xxx series. And as for top of the line cards: 2 single HD4870 will work much better than 1 'X2' version since the two get double the bandwidth, yet will cost little more: only $20. And that's aside from the difference between Crossfire and SLI, or that you will not really notice much when you remain within the 'earthling' confinements of resolutions such as 1900x1200. Instead you'd probably benefit more from spending your money on cooling. :shrug: