Jump to content

Welcome to Geeks to Go - Register now for FREE

Need help with your computer or device? Want to learn new tech skills? You're in the right place!
Geeks to Go is a friendly community of tech experts who can solve any problem you have. Just create a free account and post your question. Our volunteers will reply quickly and guide you through the steps. Don't let tech troubles stop you. Join Geeks to Go now and get the support you need!

How it Works Create Account
Photo

My first build...


  • Please log in to reply

#1
Buji

Buji

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 16 posts
Okay, I am currently serving in Afghanistan. I have been here for three months, I come home April of next year. I get out of the Army a few months after we get back. In saying, I plan to start a Digital Media company when I get out. The business will include, Audio/Video Recording and editing, Music Production, 3D/ 2D Graphic Design, Photography, 3D Animation, Software programming, Game Programming, Web Site Design, and web site hosting. I have a team of 6 people who know a little about each subject, maybe not experts but enough to get things done. All this time that I have been working with computers, I have yet to build one. So I have put together a list of components that I thought would create a rig capable of doing these tasks. I was hoping to get a little help with this one before I start purchasing, as the total price is $6,500. Here is the list of parts that I came up with:

4x Ultra Thermal Memory Cooler with Heatpipes
6x ThermalTake A2427 Cyclo Hard Drive Cooler
ThermalTake Big Water 760i Liquid Cooling System Kit
Ultra X3 ULT40064 1000-Watt Power Supply
Philips SPD7000BD Retail Blue-Ray Writer
6x Hitachi Deskstar 7k1000 1000 GB Hard Drive
Transcend 2.5” 8GB Solid State Hard Drive
Creative Labs SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite Pro
2x EVGA GeForce 9800 GX2 Video Card – SSC Edition
2x Patriot Extreme 2048MB PC15000 DDR3 1866MHz (2 x 1024MB)
Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775 Processor
XFX nForce 790i Ultra SLI Motherboard
ThermalTake VG4000SWA Xaser VI ATX Full-Tower Case

My question is, are there any recommended parts over what I have selected? I would appreciate any advice (except, ATI or AMD...lol). Thanx in advance - Derek
  • 0

Advertisements


#2
happyrock

happyrock

    Tech Moderator

  • Retired Staff
  • 9,285 posts
a year from now is a eternity in hardware ...you should wait for about 8 months before starting to spec out a system...
what software are you planning to run ...that will decide what components you will need...I bet you can build a system that will run anything you need for about $1500.00

or here is another option..
Component

Processor.......Intel Xeon X3350...............$343.99

Motherboard....XFX nForce 780i SLI.............$259.99

Memory...Mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2-800........$ 75.99
.........Mushkin..4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2-800.............$ 75.99

Graphics......EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX............$299.99
..............EVGA GeForce 9800 GTX.................$299.99

Storage......Western Digital Caviar GP 1TB.....$199.99
................Western Digital Caviar GP 1TB.....$199.99

Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB........$169.99
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB........$169.99

LG GGC-H20L Blu-ray combo drive................$179.99

Audio.....Asus Xonar D2........................$169.99

Power supply..PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750..$148.99

Case.....CoolerMaster Cosmos 1000..............$209.99
==============================
Total...$2804.86

Edited by happyrck, 24 April 2008 - 05:46 PM.

  • 0

#3
Buji

Buji

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 16 posts
Wow,

that sounds nice, but i just found out that ocz has created RAM just for the 790i Ultra SLI, 2000 MHz, PC3 16000. I think I want to try that out, just to see how it works. I know its always nice to be able to spend less on a rig. But seriously, I'll be in Afghanistan for 15 Months, while my wife is at home shopping... lol! She okayed me spending 7,500 on building this PC, so i'm just trying to make it interesting. My main concern is, will all of these parts be compatible, or if there is anything out that might be better? - Buji


P.S. - I really appreciate the feedback happyrck!
  • 0

#4
happyrock

happyrock

    Tech Moderator

  • Retired Staff
  • 9,285 posts
AGAIN...what software are you planning to run ...that will decide what components you will need...
give me the names of the programs you will be running..

I'll be in Afghanistan for 15 Months

unless you plan on using the new system over there...
wait for a year to see what kind of hardware will be out then..technology is moving real fast..
  • 0

#5
Buji

Buji

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 16 posts
OK,

I run 3D StudioMax 2008, AutoCad 2007, Maya, Reason 3.0, Pro Tools, Cool Edit Pro 2.0, Dreamweaver MX, Fireworks MX, Flash MX, a couple of virtual servers for Site testing, a couple FTP programs (mostly filezilla), Photoshop CS3, Illustrator CS3, ColdFusion, Visual Studio 2005, C# Express, Python, MySQL, Apache Web Server, I tend to try any new music creation software I can get. I also run Vegas 8, Acid Pro, FL Studio 7 XXL, Acrobat Professional 8, and Dragon Naturally Speaking 9 Pro. I am pretty sure thats it, other than the usual (ie - firefox, office, and anti-virus programs) - Buji
  • 0

#6
happyrock

happyrock

    Tech Moderator

  • Retired Staff
  • 9,285 posts
any mainstream processor will run those apps...
good luck with the water cooling...that would require major mods and not something you should be doing on your first build...and probably not necessary anyway..
now about that fast memory...

DDR3-2000 support sounds impressive, and it is, but we should qualify it with a couple of limitations. First, the 790i SLI only supports memory speeds beyond 1800MHz with one module per channel, and then only in a motherboard's second and fourth DIMM slots. This "0101" memory configuration is necessary at high speeds because of how Nvidia's reference motherboard design for the Ultra configures slot addressing...

you would be limited to 2 sticks of 2048 GB or the speeds will drop to 1600...you should be running 8GB RAM for what your trying to do..

another thing of interest...

this particular chipset (790i Ultra) is also suffering from stories of data corruption when using high memory and FSB speeds, an issue which NVIDIA are currently investigating

...found here..

go here for benchmarking on the XFX nForce 790i Ultra SLI Motherboard...the X38 and the X48 chipset might be a better choice because of the apps you want to run X38 and the X48 beat out the 790i

about your hard drive choices...go here and see hard drive benchmarking...

The Spinpoint F1 employs its three 334GB platters to provide incredible performance with low power consumption and noise levels.
The transfer rates this drive can sustain are staggering, and as we saw in our FC-Test results, it makes little difference whether you're throwing the drive a heaping helping of smaller files or just a few extremely large ones. Other terabyte drives—or even Raptors—are simply no match for the F1


Edited by happyrck, 25 April 2008 - 05:17 PM.

  • 0

#7
Buji

Buji

    Member

  • Topic Starter
  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 16 posts
i was considering the X48 board, but I was kind of liking the idea of SLI support. Obviously not an option with an intel board. But being i have never experienced the SLI in person, nor know if I really need all the video card support. For what I am running, should that be something i should take into consideration, or will 1 video card sufice?
  • 0

#8
stettybet0

stettybet0

    Trusted Tech

  • Technician
  • 2,579 posts
I strongly agree with happyrck in that you should wait until you are actually ready to build and use the computer before you start planning or buying it. A year is an eternity in PC hardware. For every single component that you have picked out, there will be a cheaper, faster, cooler, and more energy efficient component which has taken its place.
  • 0

#9
happyrock

happyrock

    Tech Moderator

  • Retired Staff
  • 9,285 posts
any hardware you buy today will be about 4 generations back by the time you get home...
  • 0






Similar Topics

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

As Featured On:

Microsoft Yahoo BBC MSN PC Magazine Washington Post HP