My newegg system for <$1,500!

[tpaschal]

Okay, this is my first true build from scratch but I think I'm ready. I've got a newegg cart ready and waiting for only one item that isn't in stock (SSD). I already have a HP-L2475W monitor (heart it), Wacom tablet, trackball, keyboard... I just need a box full of speed.

My main considerations:
·This is going to be an Adobe CS4/Lightroom system mainly, so I didn’t need the absolute best GPU but did want a decent one. I DO need fast CPU/scratch disk. (Hmmmm, I might have to load up Crysis just for the heck of it.)
·I wanted to get as much out of the combo savings as I could by pairing up any items that I was gonna buy anyway. (They threw in the mouse, I wasn’t gonna buy that.)
·The 1TB drive is for working data/storage. I’d planned to use my external drives for backup. (Can you do RAID1 with external USB drives? Would you even want to? I’ve already rung out all the budget out I can – eh, can’t - afford. Lol. I’ll be disconnecting a backup drive and carrying it with me to the office every day as my offsite data protection (in case of fire mainly).
·The copy of Windows will have a free upgrade to Win7, of course. But I’m going to install the x64 Win7 RTM on this machine as soon as I get it and then use my free upgrade key when it arrives in October to make it legit.
·Here are the fans that come with the case... think this will be sufficient for cooling, along with each component’s stock heatsink/fans?
1 x 120mm fan in rear
2 x 140mm blue LED silent fan (19DBA) in front
1 x 230mm blue LED silent fan (24DBA) on top
1 x 230mm blue LED silent fan (24DBA) on the side

Are there any glaring issues or conflicts that you guys see that I might face? And do I need to pick up any small accessory items like cables or any special tools, maybe thermal compound?


Thanks!




CASE AZZA Solano 1000 Black/Black Japanese SECC Steel/Metal mesh ATX Full Tower

POWER SUPPLY CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC

MOBO ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

PROCESSOR Intel Core i7 920 (2.66GHz, Overclocked to 3+)

MEMORY CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit TR3X6G1600C8D - Retail

HARD DRIVE 1 (BOOT/SCRATCH) Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2MH080G2C1 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail

HARD DRIVE 2 (DATA) Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal

OS Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 32-bit for System Builders UPGRADING TO WIN7 x64

VID CARD 1 XFX PVT98GYNF3 GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI - Retail

OPTICAL DRIVE SAMSUNG DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L LightScribe Support

[R.Perez]

Looks pretty good, I prefer Lian Li cases and EVGA's X58 Mobo. Honestly you can not beat their customer service, plus lifetime warranty. I would switch the video card to Evga as well.

I know I am new here, but I have been a [H]ard Forum member for over 5 years, we know our system building over there let me tell ya.

Also, ditch the stock heatsink and fan if you plan on overclocking at all. I use the Noctua U12-P on my Core i7 920 system overclocked to 4ghz and it stays cool and quiet.

[basroil]

Looks pretty good, I prefer Lian Li cases and EVGA's X58 Mobo. Honestly you can not beat their customer service, plus lifetime warranty. I would switch the video card to Evga as well.

I know I am new here, but I have been a [H]ard Forum member for over 5 years, we know our system building over there let me tell ya.

Also, ditch the stock heatsink and fan if you plan on overclocking at all. I use the Noctua U12-P on my Core i7 920 system overclocked to 4ghz and it stays cool and quiet.


You can actually keep both and overclock to 3.6, half the tweak sites have machines that do it perfectly fine (and some up to 4gh, but those aren't stable). But yea, it'll be running loud if you do.

Another thing you should get is a new AC unit for your house, because i7's pump out massive amounts of heat ;)

[squaresnappr]

Looks pretty good, I prefer Lian Li cases and EVGA's X58 Mobo. Honestly you can not beat their customer service, plus lifetime warranty. I would switch the video card to Evga as well.

I know I am new here, but I have been a [H]ard Forum member for over 5 years, we know our system building over there let me tell ya.

Also, ditch the stock heatsink and fan if you plan on overclocking at all. I use the Noctua U12-P on my Core i7 920 system overclocked to 4ghz and it stays cool and quiet.

I agree, I love the Lian Li cases but they can get pricey in the higher models. Although they look classy, they are also quiet cases. And you guys over there at [H]forum do know your stuff, I used to lurk there all the time when I was into modding and watercooling but that was a while ago. Now the wife and kids take a lot of my time. I just built my friend a similar pc with the same proc, same power supply 750watt, same ram and same hard drive the WD black. He got the Lian Li pc v1010B and just absolutely loves the quality.

[tim]

From what i've read putting windows and programs on the ssd everything will load fast... but putting images on it will make processing fast. I'd suggest experimenting around that yourself.

You don't RAID external drives. That's a lot of huge fans too.

[nphsbuckeye]

Get Vista 64, not 32, so you can use all of your RAM.

[tpaschal]

Thanks for your comments, folks! I have made a couple of changes based on your suggestions.

Buckeye, I guess I didn't draw enough attention to the fact that I'm not even going to use Vista but Windows 7 RTM x64. Been an XP 32 user this whole time. Skipping Vista completely. From what I understand, Win7 will ship with both 32 and 64 bit versions on disc. I have the x64 version of RTM at my disposal right now.

The copy of Windows will have a free upgrade to Win7, of course. But I’m going to install the x64 Win7 RTM on this machine as soon as I get it and then use my free upgrade key when it arrives in October to make it legit.

[ZGMF-X20A]

If you're not going to run three-way-SLI why not get the P6T SE Motherboard and get yourself a single Nvidia GTX260?

Also, if you getting from newegg, use mrrebates (http://www.mrrebates.com) for extra 2% cashback.

[R.Perez]

let us know when you actually end up ordering and congrats on the new rig!

[tpaschal]

Okay, I ended up submitting my order Friday and receive most of my shipment Monday. (wow) Here's what I've received thus far (made a few changes)...

CASE AZZA Solano 1000 Black/Black Japanese SECC Steel/Metal mesh ATX Full Tower
PROCESSOR Intel Core i7 920 (2.66GHz, Overclocked to 3+)
POWER SUPPLY CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC
MOBO EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX X58 SLI LE Intel Motherboard - Retail
MEMORY CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit TR3X6G1600C8D - Retail
OS Microsoft Windows Vista Business SP1 64-bit for System Builders w/ Tech Guarantee - OEM
HARD DRIVE 2 (DATA) Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal
VID CARD EVGA 512-P3-1150-TR GeForce GTS 250 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

This will arrive tomorrow according to tracking...

OPTICAL DRIVE SAMSUNG DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L LightScribe Support (open box)

Annnnnd as for this...

HARD DRIVE 1 (OS/APP) Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2MH080G2C1 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail

...I couldn't get my SSD from Newegg as they seem to have lost their minds and started charging $499 for a drive that was listed at $229 last week. Well, I guess it isn't Newegg that lost their mind but consumers who will pay that much. So I found one at pugetsystemsdotcom for like $270 but had to pay $67 for shipping. (FWIW, I was concerned that they were having to order my drive from a supplier and I sent them an email asking what was up since it had shown to be in stock. They promptly called to let me know that I would receive the drive either tomorrow or the next day at the latest. William was the CSR's name. Very good experience so far.) Normally, I don't give in and pay more than MSRP but here I've got all my components for a new build but no drive to install my OS/apps. :-( Until Thursday. :-D

BTW, you guys ever use Corsair PSUs? If product/packaging/presentation is any indication of their quality, I'm impressed. Very nice.

[basroil]

Pretty sure corsair made psus long before before adding ram manufacturing

[tpaschal]

Okay, my new build is complete, with Windows 7 RTM installed as well as Office 2007. I'm surprised it went so well. The results thus far are pretty impressive. Finished up around 2AM so didn't get around to installing PS or LR2.

Windows boots around 10 seconds after beep (of course, this is with minimal apps installed on a fresh OS). Shutdown takes less than 5 seconds. MSOffice installed super fast and the individual apps open as soon as you release the mouse button.

I realize that large sequential writes will be slower than 10k Raptor, but hopefully will be faster than what I'm used to. Aside from that, my SSD should more than hold its own. Tonight, I'll have to get everything else installed, maybe try to process an HDR image on both my new machine and my laptop just to get a gauge of speed.

[basroil]

I realize that large sequential writes will be slower than 10k Raptor, but hopefully will be faster than what I'm used to. Aside from that, my SSD should more than hold its own. Tonight, I'll have to get everything else installed, maybe try to process an HDR image on both my new machine and my laptop just to get a gauge of speed.

Just use the large 1tb disk for working files and leave your ssd for programs and cache. It'll give you the best performance and lower price than 100% ssd

[tpaschal]

Yeah, my SSD is a system/boot/scratch disk only. FWIW, it hits 7.5 on my Windows Experience, as does my i7 920. My weakest link according to the WE scale is my graphics card (GTS250) but even then it's at 7.0. I wasn't sinking a ton of money in it anyways since it isn't the workhorse for CS4 and LR2.



HARD DRIVE 1 (BOOT/SCRATCH) Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2MH080G2C1 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail

HARD DRIVE 2 (DATA) Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal