New Build Suggestions

[Gben 20]

I was quoted:-

 

– Windows XP PRO OEM SP3

– Intel Core i7 920 Processor

– Gigabyte EX58 Motherboard

– Corsair 3GB RAM Triple Channel Memory

– WD Veloci Raptor 150GB 10,000rpm (system drive)

– Seagate 1TB SATA2 (data drive)

– 56in1 Multimedia card reader internal

– Gigabyte ATI 2GB Video Card

– Pioneer Dual Layer DVD Burner

– Logitech Quickcam s7500

– BenQ E2200 HD 21.5inch LCD Monitor (x2)

– Antec P182 Studio Case

– Antec 650watt Signature Series Power Supply

– Logitech MX5500 Wireless Keyboard Mouse Combo

 

for $3949.

 

Well ok, this price is probably way too much. I'm looking for feedback for lowering the price without suffering too much performance loss and whether I'm forgetting anything important. With this amount of money, I will probably be prepared to wait a couple of months too - so if something new is coming out that I should be aware of... feel free to chime in.

 

Now all I have to do is find out what all this stuff is!

:0

[Malevolence 6]

What will you be using this new rig for? More on multitasking, or gaming, or entertainment (HD)?

 

-Do you have other OS discs with you for the time being? It's a little waste if you plan to buy XP now where you can choose to get Vista now or if you could wait, Windows 7.

 

-Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.66Ghz. Do you intend to overclock it? If you do you are short of a 3rd party Heatsink, and there are reports that D0 stepping variants perform well in overclocking than the older C0 steppings.

 

-Gigabyte mobo is a good choice for durability. However as above, will you be overclocking the processors and rams? Also, will you be doing SLI or Crossfire?

 

-Cosair ram (No comments)

 

- WD Veloci Raptor 150GB. Excellent Choice!

 

– Seagate 1TB. A big NO NO to Seagate Hard Disks, especially if you intend to use it as storage. Thanks to the confusion and scares from the Seagate Hard Disk Firmware that turns the HDD to a brick, my personally preference is to spend a little more on reliable brand such as Western Digital Caviar Black.

 

– 56in1 Multimedia card reader internal. Do you need it?

 

– Gigabyte ATI 2GB Video Card. More info please? HD4870X2?

 

– Pioneer Dual Layer DVD Burner. Any 22X DVDRW SATA (not IDE) will be fine, a cheap one will be decent. I'm a happy Samsung 22X DVDRW user, its the cheapest of the lot at my place, and performs pretty good too.

 

– Logitech Quickcam s7500. No comments.

 

– BenQ E2200 HD 21.5inch LCD Monitor (x2). No comments, your preference.

 

– Antec P182 Studio Case. No comments. Your preference.

 

– Antec 650watt Signature Series Power Supply. A good Modular PSU with 80+ Bronze certfied.

 

– Logitech MX5500 Wireless Keyboard Mouse Combo. No comments, your preference.

 

If overall still cost too much perhaps there are some stuff you may need to remove, for example the card reader, webcam and one monitor should suffice. If not, I guess Core i7 is not for you yet, and perhaps you may wanna wait three months for a cheaper alternative mainstream quad core 8 thread processor Intel Core i5 (Lynnfield).

Edited April 6, 2009 by Malevolence

[Sonic 296]

To much overkill in that system, a few things I've commented on.

 

– Windows XP PRO OEM SP3

You should be using Vista. This way you can prepare for Win7. Or jump to Win7 now using a beta.

 

– Gigabyte EX58 Motherboard

I would be looking at ASUS boards these days.

 

– Corsair 3GB RAM Triple Channel Memory

Corsair is good, but GSkill is cheaper, well it here in NZ anyway.

 

– Seagate 1TB SATA2 (data drive)

Seagate's rep has gone down in the past 12 months, especially with there 1 TB drive be delivered as DOA to consumers. Got for the WD 640 GB, if you really need a TB of storage get 2 of them.

 

– 56in1 Multimedia card reader internal

Waste of time, use the USB cable from your camera.

 

– BenQ E2200 HD 21.5inch LCD Monitor (x2)

The LG range of 22" LCD monitors are really popular now and excellent.

[Malevolence 6]

– BenQ E2200 HD 21.5inch LCD Monitor (x2)

The LG range of 22" LCD monitors are really popular now and excellent.

 

Actually the top 3 monitors in my list (not in order) are LG, Philips and Samsung.

 

gben, in regards to quality of the rig and the cost of the rig, one simple rule to this is: "You get what you pay for."

 

Another issue to take note that you are building an Intel Core i7 rig WITH peripherals, you can't expect that to be cheap to begin with.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

– Windows XP PRO OEM SP3

I'd wait for Windows 7 unless you plan on dual booting.

 

– Gigabyte EX58 Motherboard

Feh. Not as good as they used to be. Still a tad low level for this.

 

– Corsair 3GB RAM Triple Channel Memory

Better pray your X58 board can handle higher voltage RAM.

I don't recommend Corsair anymore. I recommend G.Skill, PNY Tech and Kingston.

 

– WD Veloci Raptor 150GB 10,000rpm (system drive)

You're better off going solid state.

 

– Seagate 1TB SATA2 (data drive)

Seagate. Hahahaha, no. A pair of 750GB WDs will suit you better.

 

– 56in1 Multimedia card reader internal

External readers are better... they don't take up interior space.

 

– Gigabyte ATI 2GB Video Card

Seems like overkill especially since Gigabyte doesn't seem to make a dedicated 2GB card. Must be dual 4870s in Crossfire... if that's the case, I don't think your PSU is adequate.

 

– Antec P182 Studio Case

Use a Lian Li. Big ass cases are awesome.

 

– Antec 650watt Signature Series Power Supply

May not be enough as mentioned earlier.

 

 

In the end, if you want to literally waste that much, go for it. I won't stop you but I don't think you'd be as happy with it as you think. It's pretty much a lot of fluff and pricey parts. You don't need to spend that much to have a good machine.

[Gben 20]

Hey thanks for the feedback so far, the seagate tips are obviously the most helpful so far.

The system is for working not playing, the Adobe Master Collection in particular especially the little bit of video editing I do.

 

I'm actually looking at the components now in terms of pricing, but reviews of performance/reliability are critical.

Beside most of this stuff I have no idea what it is... so your advice/reccomendations are appreciated.

[Malevolence 6]

Do you need a new rig urgently, or can you wait?

[Luk3us 63]

Go buy a copy of PCPowerplay from your local magazine shop and go buy the beastie. Its about $2956 Aussie. Or you could get the beast, which comes in at $27,583 bucks.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Hey thanks for the feedback so far, the seagate tips are obviously the most helpful so far.

The system is for working not playing, the Adobe Master Collection in particular especially the little bit of video editing I do.

 

I'm actually looking at the components now in terms of pricing, but reviews of performance/reliability are critical.

Beside most of this stuff I have no idea what it is... so your advice/reccomendations are appreciated.

If it's for work, and you don't actually do a lot of 3D rendering, a single 1GB, or even 512MB, card would suffice fairly well. The only thing I would recommend then is Vista x64 and 4 to 6GB of RAM for the editing process so you can really get the most out of your memory. There are a vast amount of Vista tweaks to make it run smoother and hog fewer resources so that won't be an issue.

 

or get a Mac.

[Gben 20]

Go buy a copy of PCPowerplay from your local magazine shop and go buy the beastie. Its about $2956 Aussie. Or you could get the beast, which comes in at $27,583 bucks.

 

That's an expensive magazine Luk3us!

 

I started researching the components, but I'm waiting for a more detailed quote from the comp guy.

[Malevolence 6]

The magazine cost that much or a new rig that cost that much???

[Fiesta 0]

I hate being late to these threads... to the OP, yes, that's far too much money for those parts, however it's a very solid configuration and if you cut the price in half I'd say go for it.

 

If you do you are short of a 3rd party Heatsink, and there are reports that D0 stepping variants perform well in overclocking than the older C0 steppings.

 

Yes, D0 is doing for the i920, so far, what the Q0 stepping did for the Q6600.

 

– Seagate 1TB. A big NO NO to Seagate Hard Disks, especially if you intend to use it as storage. Thanks to the confusion and scares from the Seagate Hard Disk Firmware that turns the HDD to a brick, my personally preference is to spend a little more on reliable brand such as Western Digital Caviar Black.

 

There's no reason now to downplay Seagate's drives. They've long fixed the firmware across the board for the 7200.11 drives, it's just going to take a while for the negativity to wane.

 

To much overkill in that system, a few things I've commented on.

 

Nothing is overkill when it comes to a new build.

 

– Gigabyte EX58 Motherboard

I would be looking at ASUS boards these days.

 

Actually Gigabyte boards are very reliable and stable; however I wouldn't go for the UD3 series in the X58 range, those seem to carry a few bugs for some people.

 

 

– Seagate 1TB SATA2 (data drive)

Seagate's rep has gone down in the past 12 months, especially with there 1 TB drive be delivered as DOA to consumers. Got for the WD 640 GB, if you really need a TB of storage get 2 of them.

 

It was actually the 500GB 7200.11 drives that generated so much heat online. The firmware they shipped with between August and December was horrendous, and Seagate tried to fix it but instead made it worse. Only in mid-January or so did they finally release new firmware that worked. The firmware for the 1TB drives was fixed very quickly in comparison.

 

 

– 56in1 Multimedia card reader internal

Waste of time, use the USB cable from your camera.

 

Card readers are so much more convenient, believe me.

 

 

– BenQ E2200 HD 21.5inch LCD Monitor (x2)

The LG range of 22" LCD monitors are really popular now and excellent.

 

Yes. If in the market for a new monitor, I'll always put my money toward either Samsung, LG, Viewsonic, NEC, and Asus; maybe a few Acer models as well.

[Luk3us 63]

The magazine cost that much or a new rig that cost that much???

 

The mag is like $12 bucks, the PC is what costs the big bucks.

[Malevolence 6]

It's pointless getting those computer magazines anyway, the internet has the answers.

[Luk3us 63]

True, but I still like getting the odd comp mags. Besides they always come packed with demos and patches which does save bandwidth.

[Malevolence 6]

Call me cheapskate if you want, I prefer browsing these magazines for free in the bookshops.

[Inferno 22]

I used to browse through them/buy them, but I kinda stopped caring

[Gben 20]

BTW I couldn't find the mag you were refering to Luk3us, but the latest issue of APC has several configurations of the I7. So I grabbed a copy to see some variations.

 

Back in the day, I bought a Sony 17" CRT... it cost me AUD$900.

Best investment I ever made.

(Still have it as a spare!)

[BioBen 3]

Why CRT? Why?!?

[Malevolence 6]

Why CRT? Why?!?

 

CRT! It's better lasting than the newer LCD monitors, for that, it rules.

[BioBen 3]

It's like watching things in a fish-tank. For this, it fails.

[Inferno 22]

Not to mention you nearly die of magnetism/radiation/static electricity/etc when you even get close to the thing.

[Malevolence 6]

Alright alright, I get it.

[Inferno 22]

And a TFT is flat

 

 

Need more arguments, Malevolence doesn't seem convinced yet.

[Malevolence 6]

Let's just say I am also using a CRT once in a while. Thanks for the radiation whatever whatever poisoning reminder.