Whole new system building, a little help needed

helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
edited July 2009 in Hardware
So, after the first two threads I still haven't bought anything and, in the meantime, I've switched my attention to i7. What do you think of the configuration below? I've saved a little on the case (from Antec 900 to 300) and graphics. Any extra help will be greatly appreciated. ;) Just hope I'm not too demanding but I really want to get this right. Thanks.

mobo - Gigabyte EX58-UD3R, s1366, Intel® X58 + ICH10R Chipset, 4x DDR3
processor - Intel i7 920, 4x2.66GHz, 1333MHz, 8Mb cache, socket 1366
RAM - DDR3 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair, 1333MHz, 9-9-9-24, COR-TR3X6G1333C9
graphics - Sapphire HD 4850 Vapor-X, 1GB GDDR3 256bit, Dual Slot Vapor
HDD - WD 640GB, WD6401AALS, SATA II, Buffer 32MB, 3Gb/s, 7.200 rpm
power - CORSAIR 550W, VX Series CMPSU-550VXEU
case - Antec Three Hundred - EU, Midi tower, ATX
optical - Pioneer DVR-216DBK, DVD±RW, 20x DVD±R , 10x DL

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    What's your budget?
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Well, all of that stuff will fit together well. But, what is this box intended for, and budget?
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2009
    Thrax wrote:
    What's your budget?

    What I listed up there would cost me around 1200$ (that would be my budget) without a monitor and other peripherals (I can get those later). It would be used for gaming, surfing, watching movies, downloading music etc. but I want something that I can upgrade later easily that's not a 'dead' platform (LGA775) as some people here have said. Etc. and so on.
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    You looking to overclock this system?
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2009
    MAGIC wrote:
    You looking to overclock this system?

    At this time, no.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Last question: Are you in the US?
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2009
    Thrax wrote:
    Last question: Are you in the US?

    No ;D, Bosnia but would buy the comp in Croatia.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Can you please list the websites you'll be shopping from? We need these sorts of details if we're going to help you.
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2009
    Thrax wrote:
    Can you please list the websites you'll be shopping from? We need these sorts of details if we're going to help you.

    It's just one shop, ADM in Croatia. They're the most affordable out there.
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    I'll have to brush up on my Slavic to navigate the site...
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2009
    MAGIC wrote:
    I'll have to brush up on my Slavic to navigate the site...

    You just hover over 'PC OPREMA' on the left side, then over 'KOMPONENTE' and there you have the components. Also, comp. cases are 'KUCISTA'. ;)
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2009
    Just a couple more things. As I said previously, I won't be overclocking this system so I hope the Corsair 550W VX PSU is enough. I have a dilemma about the graphics. Should I maybe go with XFX HD4870 512Mb DDR5 750MHz, Dual DVI, HDTV out, HDCP ready or stick with the Sapphire HD 4850 Vapor-X, 1GB GDDR3 256bit, Dual Slot Vapor? Any other thoughts? Your opinions and advice will be strongly considered. :)
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Definitely go with the 4870 512Mb.
  • MAGICMAGIC Doot Doot Furniture City, Michigan Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Thrax wrote:
    Definitely go with the 4870 512Mb.

    Agreed, and really everything you have on that list will do you well. Gigabyte boards are decent overclockers should you decide to go that route. Corsair 550W VX PSU is a very reliable psu and you shouldn't have a problem with power unless you wind up with a dozen hard drivers. The only thing i would change is, given you may want to try OC'ing in the future, get some faster ram to give yourself some head room.
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2009
    To insert my opinion into this topic...

    The build looks fine like you have it, but I have a couple things to note both of which are in relation to the graphics card(s). The PSU will run that system fine, but if at any point in the future you're looking to turn the rig into a crossfire system, you'll probably have to buy a bigger one, especially running an i7 platform. I actually have a differing opinion in regards to the specific two graphics cards you're choosing between... the HD4870 512MB may be a technically faster card than the HD4850 1gb vapor-x, but it isn't as future-proof as the 4850. Why? Because of the ram. I run an ATI configuration myself, and in doing my own research to try to decide what card(s) to buy for more graphics bang, have turned up the following things about crossfire:

    1) Crossfire can be done with two different card models, as long as they're same-generation (eg. HD3650 and HD3850 can be crossfired, HD4850 and HD4890 can be crossfired, but HD3850 and HD4850 cannot).
    2) Clock speeds of the cards do not matter. As a general rule, you want the fastest card to be the primary, and the slower to be the slave(s). Confirmed this for myself by underclocking my secondary HD4850 to 50% of stock speed on both GPU and ram. It made NO difference in my PC's graphics performance.
    3) Video RAM will be forced to operate at the level of the card with the least amount of RAM on ALL video cards in the array. This means that if you have an HD4870 512MB crossfired to an HD4890 1GB, the HD4890 will be forced to use only 512MB of its video RAM. I have no way to test this for myself, but I found this posted by an ATI forum mod on their actual game forums.

    What this means is that if in the future you want to add more graphics power via crossfire, the vapor-x HD4850 1GB will be a better choice now, because you can then buy and use an HD4890 1GB as your primary card, and it will not be RAM-limited by the secondary card. If you buy an HD4870 512MB now, and later crossfire it with an HD4890 1GB, the HD4890 will be forced to use only half its ram, resulting in potentially lower performance in recent games than having it crossfired to a 1GB HD4850.

    Sorry for the long-winded-ness. It's a topic I've done a lot of looking into myself, so I did my best to provide a comprehensive post.

    Edit - if no crossfire is intended or desired, then the HD4870 512mb will be the higher performer. I have no argument against the 4870 if you do not intend to crossfire the rig.

    Second Edit - I keep thinking of more stuff. You may want to also consider the HD4770 for performance on a budget. It's cheaper than the HD4850 and offers performance essentially on par. Plus, it runs cooler, and creating a crossfire setup using multiple HD4770s is currently the cheapest way to get highish graphics performance, I believe. They're low-power, too - might even be able to run two of em on the 550w PSU.
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2009
    Thanks for the extensive advice lordbean, I'll go with the 4870 since I'm not considering Crossfire at the moment.
    Also, has anyone got the Antec 300 case? I've searched the forum and articles and it looks like a decent case. I'm not planning on getting 2 front fans, so I was wondering if I can set both the top 140 and rear 120 fan on low or should at least one be set to medium?
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2009
    I can't say much about the antec 300, other than antecs in general are usually solid cases. The top fan is honestly the most important, imo... As a general rule, heat rises, so the top exhaust fan is the most important fan in the system, as it helps the most to expell heat.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    I have the Antec 300 and absolutely love it! If you only want to run 2 fans it will be better to put the 120mm fan in the lower front position. This adds more cooling to the graphics and CPU Then you can set the top fan to low and the front fan to medium. If you want quieter I would set the front fan to low and add a low spped quiet 120mm fan to the side panel. I have tried and proven this personally and it works great!
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2009
    Mt_Goat wrote:
    I have the Antec 300 and absolutely love it! If you only want to run 2 fans it will be better to put the 120mm fan in the lower front position. This adds more cooling to the graphics and CPU Then you can set the top fan to low and the front fan to medium. If you want quieter I would set the front fan to low and add a low spped quiet 120mm fan to the side panel. I have tried and proven this personally and it works great!

    Thanks for the tip. I'll try it and see what works best. I've also decided to go with the Corsair TX 650W PSU instead of the VX 550W because the price difference is minimal.
  • HawkHawk Fla Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    I have the Corsair TX650 PSU in one of my pc's for at least 6 mnths.
    It has been very stable on all the voltages..
    I'm very happy with it's performance.
    You can see in my sig what it's powering.
    Also, It's pretty much silent with the large Thermally controlled 120mm fan.
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    yea i only really recommend the corsair or OCZ power supply's, Great performance good prices
  • HawkHawk Fla Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    NZXT TEMPEST $79.99 after MIR / Free shipping.
    This case has the coolest temps I've ever had in a case...
    Six 120mm fans and one of the quietest pc's I've ever built.
    Not to mention very nice looking.

    attachment.php?attachmentid=27262&stc=1&d=1247410291
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited July 2009
    I'm currently running an Antec PSU atm (had OCZ before, but the store didn't have any OCZ 1000w modulars in stock). I'm fairly pleased with it so far, but I definitely agree you can't go wrong with an OCZ psu. Haven't tested Corsair's models myself so no opinion either way there.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    The Corsair TX series have very good DC output - tight - and good ripple suppression. Above 75% load though, they start to get annoyingly buzzy. I've used the TX550, 750, and 850 and they were all that way. The HX series does not suffer that affliction and is modular. Quality is very good with both series.

    Antec - their current lineup ranges from humdrum average to top class quality.

    OCZ, as a family of PSUs, is overall very good. They source from different manufacturers and not all their PSUs are created equal, not by a long shot.

    If you still have time for more research before purchasing, I recommend you visit HardOCP and JonnyGuru for the best PSU reviews. Even if they don't review a model available to you, you'll learn a lot about PSU performance and quality characteristics from the two sites I named.
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2009
    Leonardo wrote:
    The Corsair TX series have very good DC output - tight - and good ripple suppression. Above 75% load though, they start to get annoyingly buzzy. I've used the TX550, 750, and 850 and they were all that way. The HX series does not suffer that affliction and is modular. Quality is very good with both series.

    Antec - their current lineup ranges from humdrum average to top class quality.

    OCZ, as a family of PSUs, is overall very good. They source from different manufacturers and not all their PSUs are created equal, not by a long shot.

    If you still have time for more research before purchasing, I recommend you visit HardOCP and JonnyGuru for the best PSU reviews. Even if they don't review a model available to you, you'll learn a lot about PSU performance and quality characteristics from the two sites I named.

    Thanks. I've already read at least a dozen reviews from both sites (and Icrontic :respect: and others) and frankly, I've learned more in the last two months, since I began reading about components for my new comp., than in the last 3 years of using my current PC.
    I've chosen the TX 650W over VX 550W just to be on the safe side. Also in the price range of those two is the HX 520W and the OCZ StealthXStream 500W.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    Unless you will be powering more than 500W continuously, the TX650 is an excellent choice.
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2009
    It's finally done. I've ordered all the components, and it should arrive (assembled by some very nice people) in about 2-3 days. The final build looks like this:

    - Intel i7 920 proc.
    - Gigabyte EX58-UD3R mobo
    - DDR3 6Gb (3x2Gb) Corsair, 1333MHz, 9-9-9-24
    - WD 640GB, WD6401AALS, SATA II, Buffer 32MB, 3Gb/s, 7.200 rpm
    - XFX HD4870 512Mb DDR5 XXX 775MHz, Dual DVI, HDTV out, HDCP ready
    - Pioneer DVR-217FBK, 22x, Labelflash, SATA
    - CORSAIR 650W, TX Series PSU
    - Antec Three Hundred case

    Also, I'll install Windows 7 RC (64bit) on this rig until the final thing becomes available in Europe.Thanks to everyone who helped on this thread. Very nice as always. ;)
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited July 2009
    That's a solid rig! Nice choices.
  • helicon1984helicon1984 Sovici, Bosna i Hercegovina
    edited July 2009
    Buddy J wrote:
    That's a solid rig! Nice choices.

    Thanks. All with a little help from Icrontic! Hopefully when everything is up and running I can start Folding finally.
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